Tony Tchani, the poor man's Patrick Viera, was once again left out of the 18 this week. There has been on again/off again talk of a calf strain, though this week he wasn't on the injury report. The guy was a stalwart for last year's team. His play was so impressive that he played himself into two national teams (and wound up choosing Cameroon). It's not difficult to imagine there is something more going on than just on field performance here. Team performance has not improved markedly with Saeid in the same role. I'm pretty comfortable saying Tchani has a higher ceiling than Saeid, your mileage may vary. There was a heated exchange between Tony and Berhalter after he was subbed off in the Seattle game (Meram had a similar exchange with Gregg in the same game). Twellman cryptically tweeted about "The Tchani situation" and then deleted the tweet. I'm pretty much certain that we will see Tchani traded in the July window. The team seems to be wanting to purge itself of any malcontents, and I think it's safe to say that Tchani isn't happy with the status quo. Will Tchani actually get enough playing time between now and then to re-establish trade value? Is there more going on than meets the eye?
I thought we really missed Tchani on Saturday. Saied's not a bad player. But he does not have the physical presence or the height. Tony messes up the opponent's plays simply by being there, many times. That said, I'm willing to wait and see if the injury report proves to be true.
I'm all for having the coach run things with a firm hand in the tiller, as they say but Berhalter is beginning to come off as a kind of cranky, thin skinned, quick trigger, don't dare challenge me kind of guy. And that's never good.
Correct you are. It's a shame that Pipa is nowhere near the player or man that Guille was. This wouldn't have even festered if it were Guille. And the quote from Hesmer about how he would rather be teammates with Kei over Pipa has to hold some weight, Hesmer still has his contacts all over MLS. Eboe
Sigi is certainly far from cuddly - ask Danny Szetela - and Arena is the most arrogant, obnoxious guy imaginable. But players love playing for them.
That whole team was filled with stand up players but Sigi made his job easier by bringing in a certain type of player. Everyone on that roster was dedicated to the team and it showed. Hesmer's comments are one thing, Kei's amount of teams says another. Kei seems like a great guy just incredibly selfish and immature.
If Tchani is fully healthy, I'd be very interested to see an extended run with Saeid playing as the #10 in Higuain's place, and Tchani back in his normal position. I don't think it will ever happen. That doesn't seem like a Gregg thing to do. But, I don't think we lose much at all. I think it could be our strongest lineup.
Spot on, sir. Saeid is normally a #10. And he and Kei got along great. If we had dumped Pipa and kept Kei the team could have maybe righted itself. But yeah, get Tchani back in there and make Saeid your go to #10. Send Pipa a message. Eboe
I am glad Hesmer tweeted about the Kei intubation because now we can say for certainty that 100% of former players would have preferred Kei over Higuain. Eboe, weren't you the most vocal Tchani hater not much more than 2 years back? You should be fine with getting rid now.
Even without Kei still here, I think it makes the most sense. Maybe even more sense than if he was here. This team isn't gonna score a ton of goals. It just won't. Despite some people thinking Ola will pick up the slack, Kei drew 2-3 defenders at times. He was that much of a force on the field. This will make things more difficult for the likes of Finlay, Meram, Cedric, anyone really. A lineup with Saeid as your 10, and Tchani back in is by far your strongest defensive lineup. Saeid's work rate is higher than Pipa's, and he is more willing to defend. Offensively, I don't think you lose that much if any at all. Saeid is already taking some set pieces that Pipa normally would (how benevolent of Pipa!). He's also shown vision and creativity so far and doesn't turn the ball over. At some point this team has to learn what they have to move on from Pipa. It works two fold cause if they are shopping Tchani, it gives him a chance to rebuild his value. Besides Higuain could still come on as a late sub and possibly play as a false nine, or right underneath Kamara and maybe just once we could play without two defensive holding midfielders. I mean it's worth a shot. But I'm wasting my breath, it will never happen.
Yeah, teams simply do not put their most expensive player on the bench for an extended period (I do expect to see this occasionally when we are playing on turf, though).
I am a Sigi fan but it has to be pointed out Berhalter's overall record (winning and points) is better than Sigi's.
I got the feeling after Tchani's Cameroon call up that he would move this summer. African players seem to get more looks in Europe. I also wonder about Finlay, Trapp or even Meram too. As I learned with this management, anything is possible.
Because Sigi inherited a team full of turds and couldn't get much better in 2006 so he tanked that season, 2007 was a building season, and then in 2008 we double silverwared. So records be damned, Sigi gave us our crowning achievement. Eboe
And Sigi did a great job. He will always have that. But thankfully Lord Guillermo came up from Argentina and brought many wins in 2007. Praise to Lord Guillermo, for his blessing upon Sigi. Lord Guillermo even brought silverware to Warzycha. I will say 3 Hail Frankies and 5 Guillermo Prayers for you.
Very interesting discussion here of possible "plan B's". Nevertheless, just wondering why you guys hate the club so much. I'll hang up and listen.