Yeah obviously you want to squeeze every dollar, but Artur popped up after Abu and if he's a better option and we have a price in place to buy him, then so be it. And then there's Tchani, we clearly have to move him with those two additions and I'd think his value would go down within MLS since we made the additions. Abroad, maybe not so much. But you make up for an Abu fee with HG Crognale, SuperDraft additions, etc. Plus if we used TAM for it (not sure if we did, but we might've) that cash might be use it or lose it anyway. So it's probably a wash.
Also, I hope il Bruce was watching because I've never been convinced by Birnbaum and there are so many guys I'd prefer to him in the middle.
Yeah, Birabuam is good in the air, especially on corners and free kicks, but I've always wondered why the biggest interest in him from Europe was only the Israeli league.
Always great to beat DC. ******** everything about those guys. GREAT 3 points. Early in the season but not to early to say they will be amongst the most enjoyable given our history in RFK. Absolutely fantastic to walk out with a win on our last visit. The following all typed with the realization that DCU has not scored in 270 minutes this season: Steffen, fantastic. Crognale, fantastic. (Why did we spend DP money on Mensah?) Berhalter MONTHS too late showing tactical flexibility, mostly fantastic. Can we score a goal from the run of play without Justin Meram? Doubtful.
Pleased but not satisfied. Like has already been posted I was impressed by the youngsters for the most part. Both Pipa and Kamara failing to finish great chances was the most concerning thing that I saw. Defense as a whole was impressive, I was just waiting for some kind of meltdown...never happened! The W has me looking forward to next week, just win baby!
Decent performance. The formation as listed had Meram up front with kamara. If we do ever go that way I would prefer finlay up there. But in reality it was almost 3-4-2-1. The cm pairing work ok. Pipa was frustratingly in consistent. To be honest DC are not the best opposition to judge our performance or tactics/formation as they were awful.
Crognale got MotM and he had a great game but for me it should have been Steffen. He had some great saves.
He's still young as a regular starter (though he got a lot of time with SC Freiburg II last year) and may be a tad rusty as he didn't play much the last 6 months after his transfer in. Let's see where he's at in a month.
If you want better players who can challenge the current starters for playing time, you are going to have to pay some transfer fees now and again. The league is a lot better, and we (as a league) cannot rely solely on cast-offs like we used to.
If I knew what it was, maybe. But I don't judge a guy on a couple games. As some of you know, it's a tradition in my house to attend Opening Day down in Cincy (the last one I missed was 1982). One season, 1984 to be exact, the Reds were playing the Mets and the Mets were *woeful* the prior year. 68-94. Reds beat them 8-1 and we figured more of the same that year. But the Mets had a bunch of (then) no-name rookies and young players--guys like Darling, Gooden, and Strawberry. You may have heard of them. Mets ended up finishing 90-72 that year and would win the Series a couple of years later. So it's a mistake to theorize on early season results.