Halsti was a cancer. Wouldn’t - didn’t show up to training camp in shape, constantly injured with the types of injuries that come from lack of training. Slow of foot, not physical — a complete waste of space. Sure, Hamid was good, I could have told anyone that Hamid was the best player on DCU, what does that mean?
Yeah, I mean what does that say about himself? Friggin' Jeffrey is better than Halsti. I don't necessarily disagree with his take, but if it's some kind of parting shot, he's only shooting himself.
You had the snarky comment saying that Halsti’s player evaluation shouldn’t be trusted. Yet he had been quoted saying Hamid was the best player on the team. I don’t understand what point you were trying to make because no matter how you slice it, Halsti was right. Hamid was the best player on the team by a long way. Halsti being a fat bum, or not, doesn’t have anything to do with it.
If you bring up Halsti’s name on this board in any context it will get a response. The fact that Hamid was the best player on DCU’s squad is incontrovertible. Anyone can make that observation. When you put those words in Halsti’s mouth, you then bring in the Halsti baggage. It also is incontrovertible that Halsti was a disappointment here. He was injured a great deal of the time, and in his last season reported to camp out of shape and then promptly got injured while trying to get back into shape. When DCU finally parted ways with him, he had the gracelessness to call Olsen clueless. I’m not going to defend Olsen’s abilities, but I found it beyond classless for a mediocre player who had failed to make any impact for DCU to complain his lack of success fell on the coach and not on himself.
Well, I think the point was, Halsti might have had a hand in getting Bill a look. I think we can all agree he didn't cover himself in glory while he was here, and that he left stomping through some sour grapes. Did he have a kid that off season, too? I seem to recall there being a vaguely understandable reason for his unprofessionalism. That doesn't excuse it, of course. He was probably a better player than he gave himself the opportunity to show here, is all. He made some terrible choices, and the team paid for it.
And Halsti left the talent balance of power unscathed by his departure. More to the point the team made some terrible choices and we paid for them
That anyone with a straight face could make the claim that Jared Jeffrey is better at soccer than Markus Halsti is hilarious.
Halsti's probably better at soccer. Hard to say, really. Jeffrey's exposed himself as more of an 8 than a 6, so there's some argument that the skillsets are apples and oranges. And I never did see Halsti play up to his purported potential. But Jeffrey's undoubtedly a more professional soccer player, and they both reaped what they sowed, to our great detriment.
I'd split the difference because I believe the above is how DC ended where they are over the last five years. james
We need owners with deeper pockets. Asia, with China leading the pack, now has more billionaires than the US. Chinese President Xi is a soccer fan, and has urged wealthy Chinese to buy into soccer clubs. Conclusion: urge Thohir/Levien to sell out to a wealthier Asian at a handsome profit (it's not clear that these newly minted billionaires would bargain too hard if the object was a soccer club in the US capitol). If this doesn't work, try Jeff Bezos. He is now the world's richest person, has a Washington home, and owns the Washington Post. Recently, he asked for suggestions as to how to employ his wealth. I have a suggestion: buy DC United and sign foreign megastars to insane contracts that will ensure a packed Audi Field for the foreseeable future. Oh, and hire a respected International manager to guide these superstars and manage their egos. As you may suspect, I am not totally serious - but it could happen. After all, some of the smaller billionaires may not be able to bid for EPL and Spanish/Italian teams, and might be willing to start small.
Not sure why there is so much frustration over someone being both simultaneously part of the problem and describing the problem completely accurately. Who would better know how screwed up everything was than the guy who, more than once, had the ball taken from his feet in mid jog by a weak opponent with no effort to maintain possession? The effort he put out probably corresponded to the effort he saw put into the organization overall, but he was also not very good. Also Jeffrey is horrible and that’s not a statement of comparison but just a fact I wanted to throw out there.
Correct - Halsti did not perform well, Jeffrey is rubbish. Jeffrey is the embodiment of no skill but lots of effort which has a low ceiling and was the basis for our team mentality since 2013. Neither are acceptable. Both are on the FO. james
Jeffrey actually played himself into the lineup in 2016 ahead of NDL in the middle of the season. Surprising as I think plenty of us thought he might not even be on the team in 2016. His problem this season is that he was playing defensive midfield, while in 2016 he was playing between Acosta and Marcelo, where he looked a lot better. He did look worse this year even when playing back in the center centermid role, so maybe he just had a good run of form in 2016. Unsure what his contract details are, but at $105k/$115k salary as of September, that's not the worst combo of skill/salary to keep on as a reserve, especially when you play 3 center mids. If he is on the team in 2018, he shouldn't see much time but some of these guys are on every MLS team.
I'm certainly not trying to say Jeffrey isn't a serviceable MLSer. He is. But to say he's better at soccer than Halsti is incorrect.
You forgot * Took time to post a response indicating I didn't care that showed I cared enough to post a response James