Happy with the point. As for Halsti, I would like to see him more, but he is in the rotation now and even US Open games are against MLS teams the rest of the way, so it's not like his skills are wasted there.
I have to believe that a team that was wanting to spend money could throw enough at Aron Johansson to get him to come. The Eredivisie is a selling league, but at 24 Aron is probably close to being out of time for a 'prospect sell-on' to a major club for a major fee. But in general I don't think this team is as straightforward a proposition to improve as many typical teams are. We aren't really 'carrying' anyone in our regular rotation who isn't up to snuff for being an MLS PT player. So that means anyone we insert takes someone decent off, and changes the style/chemistry of the team that might backfire, even if it wasn't that individual player's fault. This FO is so snakebitten that I would not at all be surprised to see them not wanting to risk it, even if they did have a little bit of money to throw around.
I think that analysis is very good. I know DCU lacks a "game changer", although Espy has his moments. What DCU does have is a very deep MLS roster. Look at TFC -- 16 million for 3 players. Altidore and Bradley are gone for Gold Cup. What if Giovinco gets a knock? That entire TFC roster minus those 3 doesn't scare anyone. Put another way, look at this week. Olsen uses 7 "subs" against Chicago and gets a result against its "first team". Can you imagine players 12-19 on the TFC roster doing as well against Chicago? Olsen's offensive subs yesterday were Aguilar, Coria and Arrieta. Those are all MLS quality players and marginal starting quality. Remember when the "offensive" subs were the likes of Boyzz Khumalo, Ange N'Silu and Ty Shipalane? You have to be careful changing around the parts on this roster. For that last two years, Olsen has a bunch of "grownups" playing out there and it's working.
I'm worried Espi hits the wall just like DeRo did after we paid him. Hopefully not this season! EJ was supposed to be "that guy" but never panned out for a variety of reasons, not all of which I would place on his career ending situation. I'm looking for that centerpiece striker we'll have for a few seasons, not just the final six months of this year. Pickings are slim, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable not having to rely on the likes of a typical MLS backup striker. But the prospect of getting a name or a young-ish player with a track record for more than a short-term deal likely wilts under the FO not spending until the supposed stadium is built. Thx, Jay!
Except maybe at LB. Kemp and Korb are both worthy of MLS PT player sort of. They're more of backups on a team that wants to win an MLS Cup. They could both be enough if we just want to win the Eastern Conf regular season. I think you could bring in a good LB and it wouldn't mess up the style/chemistry too much. That's where the most upside is.
All very true in the regular season. The depth is why we are a *very* good regular season team (especially with one of the best GK in the league if not the best), but regularly get beat in home and home series. We are 0 for our last 3 I think...
Makes sense. This team can compete with anyone in MLS, and the depth is impressive for this salary cap league. I can tolerate and even appreciate the bunker/counter tactics. It just feels like we will not have a realistic shot at MLS cup, without a more dynamic attack. I think that our best chance at success this year is finding a way to create more goalscoring opportunities without dramatically changing our current philosophy/tactics. This could potentially be achieved by one of several mechanisms: - an attacking midfield player with better passing vision - a striker capable of creating his own scoring chances facing goal - a speedy striker (make us less predictable on the counter) - winger upgrade ( true winger for better crosses; draw out opposing defenses, and create more space in the middle) - signing a penalty box "predator"/scorer (good header to get on the end of set pieces and crosses) - player with all of the above attributes ; . - tactical adjustments (such as situational high pressure to create more turnovers) Since EJ was getting DP money, it makes sense that DCU should be able to add one influential attacking player to the mix in July without upsetting the current salary cap apple cart. EJ was the "penalty box predator", and he didn't have a huge impact. So, I am hoping for one of the first four options (+minor tactical adjustments).
For the Home & Home playoffs, we need to score goals. We need somebody who can either score lots of goals or make the others score more goals. I think Halsti, even as a Holding Midfielder, is the one guy who can spring loose the goal scorers. Rolfe can do this, but we often need him up as a Forward to do the scoring.
Anyone else starting to worry that this mythical "EJ money" won't actually become available until the offseason? Think about it … if it was that easy to discard EJ's contract why hasn't it been done yet? Unless I missed it EJ hasn't announced a retirement and he's still on the books. If I had to take a shot in the dark I'd say the reason he's still on the roster is because there must be some legal snag. Perhaps terminating the contract would expose the league to a lawsuit. Supposedly the league is trying to get out of paying the contract on the grounds of deceptive medical records … but who knows how long that takes to sort out in court. For all we know EJ could be holding us hostage in hopes of a settlement/buyout. If that's the case I wouldn't hold my breath considering Thohir's roster spending record. Most likely he'll just wait the 6 months and let the contract expire naturally with no additional costs. Of course if this was Seattle or LA the league would have fixed this months ago and we'd be watching Pirlo in midfield instead of Arnaud. This is all speculation of course … but personally I refuse to believe in this supposed EJ money as long as his name remains listed on the roster.
It was reported DC stopped paying him. But you are right. It don't mean squat. Seattle got the Cooper situation cleared up in like a week. Thx, Jay!
DC stopped paying him, but I read that as more of the league assuming responsibility for the issue. The contract still exists until the league can prove that it should be voided. If it terminates the contract preemptively without legal grounds it could be sued by EJ for breach. Until it can be proven that EJ or his agent or his doctors lied, we are still committed to him. Being injured is not a breach of contract on his part and the league has no precedent of unilaterally terminating contracts for season ending injuries. If this was a priority for Thohir or MLS HQ I'd feel much more optimistic about this whole mess … but our FO is not exactly proactive on other issues so I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't even on the radar. If only this country had proper soccer journalism … I'd love to see someone ask Thohir what he thinks about the EJ issue. $10 says he answers : "What's the EJ issue?"
Since I don't see him appearing before the press outside of Indonesia or Italy, I don't see this happening no matter how proper the press gets.
well, then I guess Thanks to the MLS HQ are in order. And I'm not a giant Arnaud fan. I am still very curious about the EJ situation as it relates to DCU's roster in July and August. I have not heard one official type peep, just the occasional rumor. Is no-one asking or am I just not reading the right things?
You guys are whinerbabies. I for one am elated with a draw on the road against a legit Shield competitor.
Not the prettiest game but I'll take it. We did a great job frustrating Giovinco. On to the next one.
Yeah, I hadn't really been thinking about that. Most MLS teams never really get around to the point where LB is their primary means of upgrading the team. LBs often don't get a ton of touches past the center line compared to central/attacking players, and most MLS teams are at the stage where if the guy is solid on the defensive side, they're good. We, however, could probably find the cap room to go out and get someone who might add something going forward, and the main risk would be just that he might flop, in which case you go back to the guys we have now. I had been thinking about an ACM or F as a guy who's going to be involved in more attacking sequences, but there is a reason why, before Halsti, our last signing from outside the league of any note was a LB. LB also has the advantage of possibly being a spot we could improve through trade--although given what I just said, is there anyone who has an LB worth trading for that isn't a championship contender that would never part with their guy. (By my mark, the only two teams in the league that can be relatively sure they won't make the playoffs, the type that would readily trade an established player for just future considerations, are Chicago and Colorado. Neither of their LBs help us much, but maybe someone stuck in the middle of the league might take a moderate risk for some allocation money.)
I very much disagree. Silva and Espy, with Arrieta off the bench, is good enough. Our wide midfield outside of Rolfe is not. We need someone to play opposite of Rolfe.
When DC starts its best 11, on the bench, they have Arrieta as the striker, Halsti as the central mid, Opare as the central defender, Franklin or Korb as the outside defender (whichever doesn't start), and...Aguilar? Farfan? Pontius? as the wide midfielder. I doubt any MLS team ever has had that kind of quality on the bench. The downside is that while this team is extremely well built for the regular season, and we're odds-on to wrap up another CCL berth by finishing #1 in the East, we are NOT build for the playoffs, at all. I have become a big fan of Korb's defending. He is really hard to beat.
If you could combine Korb's defending with Kemp's crossing......... You probably end up with a defender that doesn't stay in MLS long.