Time to clean the dead weight off of this roster. Besler, L Silva and M Silva need to be shown the door.
It was a good ride, not perfect, but we got further than we thought we would. Almost made a stand of it at the end.
Kyle Beckerman needs to have his jersey retired and moved into an academy assistant coach role. He can’t keep up with the game anymore
Waibel out, Petke out. Period. Let's not forget that we barely backed into the playoffs and our play was mostly mediocre for the majority of the season. It's just not good enough.
He was our engine today. I’m not against trading him though since he should be high value on the market.
For me, that's where Baird and Saucedo should be getting minutes (really, three wingers in Baird, Saucedo, and Savarino) while we get a goop #9 to play in the middle. But you absolutely want Baird on the field.
Some key dates, from SoccerAmerica: Dec. 9.Half-Day Trade Window. Dec. 11. MLS Expansion Draft. -- Free Agency Begins. Dec. 12. MLS Waiver Draft. Dec. 14. MLS Re-Entry Draft – Stage 1. Dec. 20. MLS Re-Entry Draft – Stage 2. Jan. 11. MLS SuperDraft. Note: Option exercise deadlines are Nov. 26, Nov. 30 or Dec. 9, depending on how far a team goes on the playoffs.
I think RSL would be better served with Baird, Saucedo, and Savarino rotating between two different positions (forward and winger or both wingers) and Kreilach and Rusnak taking the other two spots. Whichever of the five of them doesn't start is the first one off the bench. I think taking time away from the Baird/Saucedo/Savarino combo by playing Plata isn't good for RSL. As for the rest of the dmids and CBs, I dunno. I like Lennon and Herrera, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest other than find some consistency.
Yup, Besler, Luis Silva, Beckerman, Allen, Barry, Henley, and Pablo Ruiz should not be on the team next year, I'm not ready to cast of M. Silva, despite his injury problems.
Herrera was a weak link tonight. SKC knew it. They subbed out Johnny Russell and put in the French Flopper to exploit him and goad him into a 2nd yellow. It almost worked. It also almost cost SKC the game. It just again makes me wonder what craziness exists that Acosta is not playing. Maybe he doesn't recover well after going forward? Herrera got obliterated tonight (Nick Besler too!). I gotta think Acosta would have been a better option. Onuoha is solid. Who are we planning on playing beside him now? All those things aside, this team can play when it cares to. Why don't they always care to?
I don't have a problem with Beckerman being on the team next year. I have a problem if Beckerman is used more than a 60' sub more than a couple times a month when the schedule is tight, even with his disproportionate salary. Ruiz is fine if he still makes close to the minimum. No argument on the rest.
You’ve identified my main issue with his play. Related to that, he free lances and goes forward when he should be holding the line. The second issue I have is that he can make some really crummy passes in the back that lead to dangerous attacks on our goal. Of course, all of our guys do that, but his are disproportionately high.
If the club/Petke/Waibel was willing to actually move KB out of a constant starter role, I'd be fine with him on the roster even at his bloated salary. The problem is those people won't do it. First and foremost, the club needs to figure out if Waibel is the GM or not. I don't want him to be. There is argument to keep him. There is argument not to. I side with the latter. If they do go with him, I don't think we're totally ********ed. I just think we could do better. Same with Petke. I don't think he's the worst coach in the league, but he's average, at best. I think this team has enough talent to be better than they were. I don't think they have enough talent to compete for the big trophies (MLS Cup and SS).
Agreed on Allen, Barry, Luis Silva, Henley. More limited role: Beckerman, Ruiz as he learns, Besler in his actual position. Talk to the physios: M. Silva.
He is also playing behind Plata. If you want to use Plata offensively, you have to accept that you will get 0 defensive help. Acosta is NOT good defensively on an island.
Is he much worse than Herrera defensively on an island? I wouldn't say so - in fact I would pick Acosta over Herrera - but maybe I'm making more of what Acosta did than was there. It has been like a ********ing year since Acosta was allowed to play.
It would be nice to be a fly on the wall at practice to see what happened and why Herrera beat out Acosta despite Herrera's obvious weaknesses. Perhaps Acosta will never get past the impression he created for Petke at the FC Dallas game at the beginning of the year. He was brought in for one specific purpose, and then completely "ignored? misunderstood?" the instructions and made himself look awful. He never got back out of that doghouse IMHO.
be that as it may, it never felt like Acosta got a chance to redeem himself. Granted, I don't see trainings, but what the hell are the Monarchs for then? Danny had 371 minutes with the Monarchs this year across 5 games.
No disagreement here. If he was in the doghouse for his play (note the assumption here) then showing the staff that you can follow instructions with the Monarchs would go a long way toward keeping Petke happy. Like you , I have no idea how and why RSL uses the Monarchs like a stand-alone, unrelated club.
Venture here, if you dare - Things that jump out at me: There were only 5 players that logged more minutes than the aging Kyle Beckerman (2891). They were Glad (2961), Kreilach (3054) Savarino (3114) Lennon (3120) and in the biggest irony Rimando (3196). For all of the "Play your youth" stuff this club likes to push, we also like to play our oldest players. From their statistical approach, these were our top 11 players with more than 500 minutes (sorry to Luke ). Herrera (6.66), Rimando (6.73), Acosta (6.74), MSilva (6.75), Beckerman (6.8), Lennon (6.8), Glad (6.81), Plata (7.03), Rusnak (7.07), Savarino (7.07), Kreilach (7.09) Those numbers, for comparison sake, are not good when looking at other playoff teams. So the theory that this team has the talent to compete doesn't seem completely sound. The following teams have the amount listed in parentheses players better than Kreilach - our best player, statistically speaking (minimum 500 mins): SKC (7), Seattle (4), LAFC (3) Dallas (3), Portland (2), NYRB (6), Atlanta (3), NYCFC (4), DCU (2), Columbus (0), Philadelphia (0). We don't have top end talent on this team. I don't think that's a big surprise, but it is shown, nonetheless. So are we are missing top end talent to really compete with these other teams? Maybe we get more out of our squad, overall? That would seem true if the team rating was higher. Lets take a look at that. Overall playoff team ratings: RSL (6.76), SKC (6.96), SEA (6.8), LAFC (6.88), FCD (6.79), POR (6.79), NYRB (6.92), ATL (6.88), NYCFC (6.83), DCU (6.82), CLB (6.69), PHI (6.75). So, kinda. We make up ground but don't jump anyone. I guess that's alright, but it's not going to get wins. It's also interesting to see just how much better SKC is despite how well we seemingly matched up with them.
Put me on the "we don't actually have that great of talent overall" side. Which kinda means that Petke probably did a little better job than he is getting credit for by some or most around these parts. You can't say on one hand that RSL isn't as talented as the other teams in the playoffs and then say that with the talent on RSL they should have performed better. I guess you can and by saying that someone will definitely come in and make that argument. GM'ing and Coaching definitely needs improvement. Of the two I would get a new GM first. If it were my choice, and strangely I think it is, I would find a new GM pronto. Then, I would have said new GM "assess" the situation and have a discussion with Petke on where this team is headed and if they are on the same page I would give Mike a very, very, very, heavy on the very, short leash. Will Mike become a good, great coach? I don't know but I think he has the potential to become a great coach if he learns from and is actually willing to learn from his mistakes. I wouldn't be too disappointed if Petke was let go but I think starting over has as much or more peril as seeing if Mike comes around in the third year. RSL definitely shouldn't have been needing the Gals to lose to Houston and I think that is definitely on Mike but I'm also willing to give him some credit for putting this team, which isn't the most talented, in the playoff chase even those they almost played themselves right out of the playoffs. I believe that I have been pretty consistent this year in stating that I don't believe that RSL has the talent needed to win MLS. I also think that some of the players on this team are over valued for their perceived potential. Thank you head cheerleader Brian Dunseth. Over rated players that need to go #1 Bofo #2 Plata I think that both of these players have peaked and need to be traded for maximum value. Trade them for one of the MLS acronyms that are so valuable. Both players show glimpses of paralyzing brilliance and by that I mean they play just well enough for people to think that they aren't already at their peak level of play. I don't think either will get much better. Good players both but if they are starting for you your team will need help getting into the playoffs. Kinda like this year. #3 Rusnak The guy has been a ghost since getting a new payday or at least the announcement that they had come to an agreement on said payday. Definitely could be the best player on the team but come on, step up. #4 Kyle #5 Rimando Whomever it is that is keeping Kyle on the field is not doing RSL any favors. Dead horse around here, I know. Maybe that could be a good nickname if Kyle is here next year. And Nick. Nick, Nick, Nick. I think he has another season in him especially if they ever figure out what the back line will actually look like next year. You can bag on Besler for the howler but if Nick doesn't give away the goal to FUKC the week before it's a totally different story. Amirite? For me the following should be gone for next season. Either trade, release, whatever. Danilo Acosta Jordan Allen Shawn Berry Tony Beltran Adam Henley Jose Hernandez David Horst Alex Horwath Ricky Lopez Espin Demar Phillips Joao Plata Bofo Luis Silva Some of these guys have significant trade value and others significantly do not. I would put Kyle on there but we all know he aint going anywhere. This better be an interesting off season because if it isn't this team gonna suck next year.