Agudelo was moved back to striker, as NE went with Nguyen at the 10. Agudelo has2 goals and a drawn pk on the season. Despite being on a horrible team, Ramirez has 2 goals and 1 assist so far. No Crognale, as Berhalter went with 4 in the back against Portland. When does Marco Farfan get the starting LB spot in Portland?
This article raves about Tyler Adams performance http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2017...new-york-red-bulls-vs-real-salt-lake-2017-mls
Adams is so young that he's eligible for the NEXT U20 cycle. So is Paxton Pomykol, who has been getting minutes for FCD. We have a joke on the US youth threads that every cycle we say "this is going to be the best U20 cycle ever!!!!" Sure enough, the 2019 cycle is going to be the best cycle ever!!!!!! 2017 U20 group is damn strong, though. The domestic crop (predominantly) just won the U20 CONCACAF championships without Pulisic, Carter-Vickers, Zelalem, McKennie, Perez, Wright, and the list goes on..................... Now that Adams has started and earned more playing time, Palmer-Brown and Tommy Redding have to be the next two to get significant minutes. EPB is a total beast. SKC has to figure out a way to get him on the field. I can understand that Besler/Opara are good. So OK............but they have to figure it out.
Right? Play him at the 6. Or move Besler to LB, which like the Zusi to RB move could help extend his national team career by giving him more roster versatility.
If they do that, they don't gain anything. They have to either sell him before he becomes a free agent, or play him. If they play him, I suggest it's at the 6 spot. They can have Zusi at rb and Espinoza at lb. EPB as a stay at home 6 empowers them to get forward. Sinovic and Mustivar aren't must plays. Vermes develops these weird affinities to guys. Had one for Kevin Ellis and Conor Hallissey. SKC really needs some attacking wings though. Vermes' signings really haven't panned out there. I think someone also suggested loaning Carleton to them as a result. Now that's a loan that makes a lot of sense. Or if they are going to move EPB, maybe a trade makes sense, like EPB for Carleton, or a win-now a-wing. Johan Venegas for EPB could work for both teams, if he signed a couple year extension with Minnesota, declaring intent he's a starter and foundation piece for them. Still don't know if it's worth it for EPB given the u-20 wc and free agency is looming.
I'm not sure if EPB is still recovering from the u20 championship but I don't think he has even made the bench this season.
My theory is that EPB has already told SKC that he's leaving at the end of the season. [All sorts of rumors about scouts taking a look at him at the CONCACAF Championships.] So what is SKC's incentive to "develop him" now, especially when the CB combo of Besler/Opara has been playing very well? SKC will probably only play EPB when one of those two isn't available. And that could be quite often since Opara is an injury waiting to happen and Besler is still in the USMNT pool..............
If these rumors are true, Kellyn is going to have a ton of eyes on him ========================= MLS Transfers @MLSTransfers 11m11 minutes ago So that's Celta de Vigo, Stuttgart, Schalke, Ajax, Anderlecht, and now PSV attending FC Dallas v Pachuca.
Kekuta Manneh to Columbus. Columbus acquires #usmnt candidate Kekuta Manneh from Vancouver for Tony Tchani, $225,000 in targeted allocation money, $75K general. #mls— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) March 30, 2017
Tchani fits a need for Vancouver. Manneh is fast but his game looks no different now than 3 yrs ago. A bit of a risk by Vancouver but I think it could work for them.
I think it could be a good fit for both. Berhalter might be able to help him round his game. A front attack of Kamara, Higuaín, Manneh and Finlay looks good on paper.
Perhaps the Crew are thinking of: -------------Kamara --Manneh---Meram---Higuan--Finlay-- ----------------------Trapp------------- Also, I'd love to see Kelyn Rowe go somewhere that would better develop him.
thats a good trade for both teams. Did manneh re-up? isnt he likely off to Europe soon now that he got his citizenship?
Well, this is not entirely surprising . . . Juan Agudelo is the third player to win MLS Player of the Week after playing Minnesota. The season is four weeks old.— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) March 28, 2017
Gatt (+ Saied) was traded already for Burch and Cronin. Kind of a weird trade for both teams. I don't see the value for Colorado. Gatt wasn't even making a crappy team's bench unless they had massive attrition. He could realize his potential in Colorado still, but Minnesota had no leverage. They needed defense. They got two respectable defensive-oriented players. But neither are cb's and both are 30+. They won't be part of the future. Minnesota has no present in reality. And if they wanted to take advantage of Colorado's depth in defense, why didn't they just do it for free in the expansion draft when Watts and Burling were exposed. Watts is actually a youngish player to boot. Whoever is running that club doesn't seem to have much of a clue. I don't know if it's Adrian Heath, but if you look back at Orlando's expansion draft when he was there, it was similarly wasted like in Minnesota. Look at what NYCFC did in comparison. Orlando got Ricketts-Cascio-Anibaba-Ribeiro-Neal-Arrieta-Pearce-Mwanga-Sherrod-Gehrig. That's practically a net nothing on those picks. Meanwhile, NYCFC netted Grabavoy-Mullins-Hernandez-Lovitz-Taylor-Ballouchy-John-McNamara-Zizzo-Wingert. NYCFC blew them away. Look at their comparative standing in the league. I think Orlando is going in somewhat of a better direction under NYCFC's former manager Kreis, but they effed up those first couple years under Heath. And now Minnesota is doing the same. Coincidence? Don't know what was funny about that. They cleared Dax primarily to give him a chance, they were winning last year with him while he was playing well, and they were winning enough this year while he was decent. But yeah, it just seemed like they were trying something different. Now he just has to re-seize the job from either him or Felipe. Most players go through this. Lletget got benched a few games last year by Bruce, then he retook a starting spot, playing in somewhat of a better position for him more central. I think ideally Davis is an 8 or double-pivot. In replacing McCarty, they used him as more or less a straight 6. Felipe was allowed to get forward. Last year when Dax got injured it looked much more like a double-pivot.