Was just looking over a salary list ("cap figure")and saw that if you combined the salaries of Javi ($590,000), Olave ($215,000) and Wingert ($235,000), that would be a good chunk going toward a MLS top 5ish AM. Sure you have to replace those guys, and find a good CB, but the FO needs to realize that it is going to have to spend $$$ to keep up. Can't rely on getting lucky and finding a diamond in the rough for low pay.
agreed there are certain positions that this league just still hasn't figured out how to develop. AM is, IMO, the very top of that list. You have to spend on players there, we just can't develop them yet. That said, MLS has shown the ability to really develop GK's at the top level. Good CBs. Good enough box to box middies and holding mids. Totally hit and miss on wingers and forwards, though. my point is I would leave a very large amount of that available space for a new AM in his prime or just thereafter (28 years old range) and then spend the next most on an outside back that can bomb up the right (adding Beltran's salary) and lastly a CB. The price level, according to transfermarkt, for CB's drops off considerably after the top players in the world.
1. New coach. Someone that will make Marine Drill instructors look like Miss Manners. 2. Players who run, run, run, run, (did I say run?), their collective asses off for 90 minutes every f*ckin' game. No more f*ckin' walking on the pitch. If the player is walking, it's because it's the end of the game. I want opposing teams to hate playing RSL because they will leave with their d*cks in the dirt from all the running. I want to see the CBs on the opposing team falling down on the pitch at half-time and barfing their guts out. 3. A formation that is so simple that everyone on the team can play in their sleep. A plain vanilla, 4-4-2.
With Cassar staying, I'm fairly certain we'll see his bastardized 4-2-3-1 again next year. Given that, this is the current setup and what I think this team needs to be even remotely successful. Current Real Salt Lake Roster: (Starter) GK (3): Nick Rimando, Jeff Attinella, Lalo Fernandez LB (1): Demar Phillips CB (2): Justen Glad, Chris Schuler RB (1): Tony Beltran CDM (3): Kyle Beckerman, Sunny, Danilo Acosta AM (2): Luke Mulholland, Omar Holness, Ricardo Velazco RW (1): Jordan Allen LW (1): Joao Plata CF (1): Yura Movsisyan Current Real Salt Lake Roster Needs: GK (0): NONE LB (1.5): One player on first team for depth and Monarchs player for 3rd CB (3): DP next to Glad, Sign Maund and Kavita for depth RB (1.5): ***One player on first team for depth and Monarchs player for 3rd*** CDM (1): 4th player for depth as this consists of 2 positions and only have 3 current players AM (1): DP, depth isn't terrible as I think Velazco can prove himself to be worth the time RW (1): Depth behind Allen, this should be his spot from the start LW (1): Depth behind Plata, this system was supposedly designed for him CF (2): Depth of a speedy player that can play wing in a pinch and a true number 9 prodigy ***I'm still of the opinion that we have a really strong trading piece in Tony Beltran. The league respects him and would trade well for him. I'd love to get a more attacking minded defender in exchange*** Total player needs: 12 DP/Starter needs: 2 (CB should be a DP, IMO) Will Yura and Plata still be DPs? Depth needs: 10 It's kind of shocking, really, to see how small our roster is yet see that we are just a few players away from completing a starting XI under Cassar's tactics. Take that for what it is worth.
For fun, same exercise as above but playing a 3-5-2: Current Real Salt Lake Roster: (Starter) GK (3): Nick Rimando, Jeff Attinella, Lalo Fernandez LCB: Justen Glad CB: Chris Schuler RCB: Tony Beltran* DM: Kyle Beckerman, Sunny, Danilo Acosta RW: Jordan Allen LW: Demar Phillips AM: Luke Mulholland, Omar Holness, Ricardo Velazco FW: Joao Plata, Yura Movsisyan *Tony doesn't fit the system at all, I just don't see him working in a 3 man defense, so he'd have to be traded* Current Real Salt Lake Roster Needs: GK (0): NONE LCB (1): Depth (Maund) CB (1): Starter RCB (1): Starter and depth (Kavita) DM (1): Depth RW (1.5): Depth LW (1.5): Someone that can compete with Phillips as a starter AM (1): Starter FW (2): Depth x2 Total player needs: 10 DP/Starter needs: 3.5 (CB should be a DP, IMO) Will Yura and Plata still be DPs? Depth needs: 6.5
Completing a starting XI =/= being a competitive team. This team was already BARELY competitive and really it road the merits of a strong first 6 games to a mediocre season. We now don't even have a starting XI, let alone a 26 man roster, and expecting this "team" to all of a sudden incorporate pretty much a brand new back half of the roster and be competitive is absurd. What we know is this: 1) The guys 1-11 are important, the guys 12-~18 are critical. I see A LOT of fans blame the crumble of 2016 RSL on one single player, Sunny. We apparently lost 1 guy and the whole season fell off the rails. So right now we don't even have a real competitive XI and we know that at some point during the season we will definitely lose guys to injuries and other absences, the guys that occupy spot 12 through maybe 15 HAVE to be starter quality, the guys from 16 to maybe 20 have to be serviceable. How the hell is this team going to incorporate 10 players in a couple months and be competitive in 2017? It's not. Look back at when Kreis took over as a best case scenario, things REALLY fell into place for Kreis, they brought in an absolutely PERFECT mix of players (stars like Javi, Kyle, Nick, and Olave with a blend of very solid pieces like Russell, Borchers, Wingert, and Johnson) and we still struggled for 1-2 years. 2) Cassar's tactics failed with guys we knew could compete in this league, now we're straying into the unknown and like you say, this is Waibel territory now more than Cassar. We have a ********load of cap space, not spending every dime we can to bring in a good mix of very high quality guys to fill Javi's/Burrito's empty positions as well as roster spots 12-18 will doom this team to years of mediocrity. This offseason will shape the team for the next 3-5 years, regardless of whether or not Cassar even makes it to mid-season next year. The way we sign players to contracts, the type of guys brought in, the other kinds of moves we make from now until the roster compliance day, those things will shape this team for a while. 3) Cassar won't make it to mid-season next year. If there is one thing he's proven it's that he is utterly clueless when it comes to developing and making players fit his mold, now he has to figure out how to do that with a roster in which half of it has never played for him. The odds of us starting out fast like we did last year and riding that success to a playoff spot are near zero. Really the best case scenario is that we find real high quality players to replace Javi and Burrito (like a Lodeiro level player) that the rest of the league can't prepare for and we surprise out of the gates like we did in 2016. If we don't or it takes a long time for the guys we do sign to get integrated and functional with the team than the start of 2016 will be very poor, Cassar will quickly lose what's left of the team, and DLH will have no choice but to can him before the season is over to save what fan support he can.
I think RSL should play a basic 4-4-2 since that's the formation that everyone should be able to play in their sleep. Nothing special. If RSL starts winning playing something that basic, then go to a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-1-3 or a 3-5-2 whatever else floats your boat.
I could see this working with Plata combined with Yura. They would need a VERY dynamic 10 to make it successful. Would need to find a left mid (although I think I like Phillips at left mid in a 4-4-2 as much as I like him in the back.) Agree completely that RSL NEEDS a DP center back regardless of the system. If RSL plays a 4-4-2, then Beltran is fine. Any other system, which typically requires talent going forward, and Beltrans needs replacing.
to play devil's advocate: tell me what the significant change to Seattle was this year to go from shit team to MLS Cup finalist? One (really really REALLY) good player
Yes, but they already had a bunch of players around him that were familiar with each other and pretty decent themselves, we've basically cut half our roster and will be bringing a bunch of guys that have never played for this team before. It's easy to take a good guy and plug him into the team to take then to the next level. It's much harder to take a bunch of new guys, maybe some great, definitely several that'll be mediocre, and make the team work.
Mostly. The other thing that happened is that Roman Torres, one of the best CBs in CONCACAF, came back from an ACL injury. He was out from early September 2015 to late August 2016. He really settled their central defense so the Sounders had two quality players there. Also the coaching change was more or less the same week Lodeiro arrived.
And they played Morris and Roldan into maturity..and they sacked the human cheeseburger. ..and guys stepped up to fill in for Dempsey. Lodiero was VERY impactful but several other changes worked.
I'd argue that in today's game, more people are used to a 4-3-3 vs a 4-4-2. I wish we'd actually play a 4-3-3 instead of the 4-2-3-1 we currently play. Our current setup often put Yura on an island, and he's not the type of player that is good at it. Sabo would've been perfect for how we setup now. I personally am not looking forward to this offseason in the slightest. I'm sure we'll see a lot of talk about players possibly coming in, we might get a couple of them, then we'll go with the tried and true method of re-signing former RSL players, or taking back guys like Olmes who shouldn't be with the team. This current FO doesn't have the slightest idea about how to move forward.
UPDATE WITH JEFF LEAVING With Cassar staying, I'm fairly certain we'll see his bastardized 4-2-3-1 again next year. Given that, this is the current setup and what I think this team needs to be even remotely successful. Current Real Salt Lake Roster: (Starter) GK (2): Nick Rimando, Lalo Fernandez LB (1): Demar Phillips CB (2): Justen Glad, Chris Schuler RB (1): Tony Beltran CDM (3): Kyle Beckerman, Sunny, Danilo Acosta AM (2): Luke Mulholland, Omar Holness, Ricardo Velazco RW (1): Jordan Allen LW (1): Joao Plata CF (1): Yura Movsisyan Current Real Salt Lake Roster Needs: GK (1): Backupto challenge Lalo for the number two spot LB (1.5): One player on first team for depth and Monarchs player for 3rd CB (3): DP next to Glad, Sign Maund and Kavita for depth RB (1.5): ***One player on first team for depth and Monarchs player for 3rd*** CDM (1): 4th player for depth as this consists of 2 positions and only have 3 current players AM (1): DP, depth isn't terrible as I think Velazco can prove himself to be worth the time RW (1): Depth behind Allen, this should be his spot from the start LW (1): Depth behind Plata, this system was supposedly designed for him CF (2): Depth of a speedy player that can play wing in a pinch and a true number 9 prodigy ***I'm still of the opinion that we have a really strong trading piece in Tony Beltran. The league respects him and would trade well for him. I'd love to get a more attacking minded defender in exchange*** Total player needs: 13 DP/Starter needs: 2 (CB should be a DP, IMO) Will Yura and Plata still be DPs? Depth needs: 11 It's kind of shocking, really, to see how small our roster is yet see that we are just a few players away from completing a starting XI under Cassar's tactics. Take that for what it is worth.
Oh, wow! I read the first paragraph and thought you were talking about Jeff Cassar, not Jeff Antinella. Duh.
Question: I didn't see much of the Monarchs this last season. I've seen a ton of references to Velasco being in the CAM role with this team. Although he has played that role previously and even with the academy, my scouting report of him (including from talking to Freddy Juarez about him when he was in the academy) was that at the major league level he projected as more of a winger than someone who would consistently spend time on the ball in the middle of the park. Admittedly my insights and observations are a couple of seasons old or more, but has he really evolved into a player that has those skills on the ball at the big league level? I always understood that his heart, drove, and nose for goal were his best attributes. Ball skill and vision were a little bit more secondary. That smacks as a player higher up the field to me. Anyone watched a ton of Monarchs that can comment?