If those 2 road draws happen, then the first part of the season is a success per Petke’s remarks following the pre-season.
So, slightly off topic... i can't help but think that the wrong person is going to take the fall for what is shaping up to be a San Jose-eske nightmare of a season. Del Loy may not know much about soccer, but he does know about entertainment and the bottom line. Continued displays like last Sat will have to force him to make a change by the end of the season as attendance will plummet, and he just re-signed Waibel (mind-blowing to me.) I would be really interested in seeing what Petke could do with MLS-comparable talent. I don't agree with everything he does (his build-up shape and patterns don't fit his personnel) but if Petke was ever given equivalent talent, I think the team would overachieve. Oh, and i watched Sam Johnson carefully on Sat. IMHO he brings absolutely nothing to the table. If he has great speed, you cannot tell because his first step is slow. It takes him 10 yards to get up to speed. I also didn't see any anticipatory runs or cleverness to create space for himself. Simply stated, I think Waibel missed on a DP-forward, AGAIN. Add in his inability to sign the academy prospects that appear to have real upside, and I am baffled as to how Waibel talked himself into an extension. EMBRATSU!
Not to sound bitter, but German Cano is leading the Colombian League again with 11 goals in 12 appearances. I don't think he could put up those numbers here at RSL if Waibel HAD signed him with the service we provide... but still. Not bitter.
I’m being patient with Johnson. My main issue with him is that he was lauded as a guy who (1) had blinding speed and (2) would go right at defenders and always win. As you say, that speed has yet to be shown. I don’t think he has gone right at a defender yet in either the preseason or the regular season.
Seems like he's played less than a full 90 minutes combined (although I haven't actually added it up), so I'm not really sure where everyone is getting their assessments from. My skepticism still comes from the lack of a pedigree, and so far he's done nothing to change this with his little bit of time on the pitch. A start, which may be coming this weekend, will allow us to see much more of what he brings to the table. And Cano was likely really never coming RSL's way. That was just a tool used for leverage.
yeah, look, I'm all for questioning players/coaches/GM's but doing it off of the time that Johnson has had with the club is absurd. He's not mailing it in like the Pool Boy. He's making the bench so he's obviously putting in work (this seems to be Petke's measure of talent, I suppose) and he's getting minutes in games that aren't exactly ripe with chances. It is worth remembering that Johnson is a TAM DP. By this I mean he is currently a DP but could very easily be lowered with TAM. He's DP only because of the transfer fee that falls off this year. So, in a sense, he really should just be a rotational player of sorts, not the allstar a DP tag usually comes with. Further, because of how long it took for the club to get him involved, he had all of what felt like 3 weeks to gel with this squad across something like 4 games. That is just not enough time to acclimate on a personal level (Norway to SL) let alone a professional sport level. Lastly, the Cano thing (according to Waibel) was all but a done deal and then Cano's agent wanted more. The word from Waibel (who always seems to look good in these stories) is that Cano was all set to come play but the agent was greedy and wanted more for himself. I shrug at that. Dealing with those personalities is part of the job. Waibel's reaction of "we're not going to be taken like this" is understandable, but also can feel a bit childish.
I understand everyone’s point about Johnson not having had much time to show what he can do and to help with the others. But he has had opportunities to go 1 v 1 against defenders, and has not done so.
The last season or so I have been waiting for this team to either actually come together or dramatically implode into a thousand little pieces. Each time I think, yea this is the end, they come together and put a little run together to make me think this could actually work. Not this season. I've been fools golded to death. I think that this team is running on fumes. Incredibly flammable fumes that will combust into something spectacular.
So, I get the concern about judging a player without giving them enough of an opportunity to acclimate, but come-on...We could all see what Rusnak brought to the game the moment he stepped on the pitch (touch, touch, touch - nice change of pace) Sava (quicks, nice dribbling - it wasn't until later that we learned his final 1/3 decision-making is problematic), or even the early reviews of Holt (looks the part physically, need to learn how to play the position at this level.) Watching Sam, in his time on the pitch so far, he has shown nothing to suggest he is a starter-level forward in MLS. IF that is true (and he has shown nothing in his touch, dribbling, change of pace or off-ball movement to suggest he is anything more than a USL level player) Waibel screwed up on yet another forward. I would love to be proven wrong, but, well, have enough time and experience around the game to not have any confidence that he is good enough. It's not like he is Luke, who is obviously flawed but has top 1/3 MLS quality in certain aspects of his game. He is showing nothing! Even Dad-bod figured out how to hang around the penalty area and make everyone else do the work so he could finish 1 in 10 chances. So, EMBRATSU! Let's hope that Karate K and Rusnak figure out how to make the false 9 position work. (No, Schmitt is not the answer, unless the question is, do we have a 9 who will run his socks off pressuring the other team? Again, not starter quality in touch, dribbling, heading, anything. He is another USL level, placeholder, piano mover.)
if Sam has a rough go in a start against Seattle I'm all for it. I agree he hasn't really shown much to be inspired by. But any sort of judgment from the Dallas game should be thrown out the window. That was one of the most painful RSL games I can remember watching. Johnson has logged 87 minutes for the club. 23 mins against Houston that actually weren't all that bad. I remember him making a few runs that were good. He then put in 25 against Vancouver - a game I didn't watch so I will not give any sort of judgment here. 28 against DC after we had been ran off the pitch. And then 11 against Dallas once the game was gone. Something that is irritating, in looking at those numbers, is that he hasn't played with the Monarchs. He should be playing there in games he gets less than 30 mins. That this isn't a requirement for the club is sooooooo stupid to me
Yes, that's exactly how agents get their players more money. And nobody put a gun to his head to accept the deal. In fact, throughout the process he said consistently that his first priority was to stay with DIM. That's an excuse Waibel has used before. It's his job to close deals despite all those mean agents out there who undermine him. Having talked to both GM's and agents during the negotiation process, I can tell you that there is plenty of gamesmanship throughout the process, and once again Waibel got played. If he's not recognizing this for what it is, I'm deeply concerned.
RSL now has 4 points through six games which ties 2007 for 2nd fewest points through six games. In 2006, RSL only had 1 point through six games.
It’s been a tough schedule. The only result that I’m truly disappointed with was the FCD game at The RioT.
My 15yr old daughter and I did the following exercise after the Seattle game: Which RSL players are: A starter for any team in MLS = quality ("S") A starter in the right circumstances = some weaknesses so need a great fit ("SRC") A bench warmer = nuff said ("B") Here's what we came up with: Nicky - SRC Onuoha - SRC Silva - B Glad - SRC Brooks - SRC Herrera - B Everton - S Becks - SRC Sava - S Rusnak - S Bofo - SRC Baird - SRC Kreilach - SRC Plata - SRC Sam - tbd So, to me, RSL has only 3 players that have enough quality to start anywhere in the league. I think that lack of overall, high-end quality is showing up every game. (team spin) But we are the deepest we have ever been! Yes, with flawed players. EMBRATSU! I do not expect this season to turn around, but would be pleasantly surprised.
I actually think you were rather generous in your assessments. I think that there are a few more Bench players on this roster than Starters in the Right Conditions but either way this team is deep. Deep in mediocrity.
That was probably a fun exercise! Like the post above, I think ya’ll were a bit generous. Several SPCs would be Bs in my list. As for starters, I think Savarino and Onuaha are mostly SRC across the league.
I made the point of going with my daughter's assessments where there were folks on the fence. What became obvious to me was that, even with the generous assessments, the amount of mediocrity, especially with the home-growns that management is relying upon, is very high. If RSL is looking to the long term and growing their youth, I'm really concerned because these youth players do not have nearly the same upside as either the Red Bulls or Dallas kids. At the end of the day, the offense is fairly toothless because RSL cannot get the ball in front of the goal inside the 18, the center mids are below average defensively due to lack of speed, the center mids bring next to nothing offensively, the offensive pattern is not set up to get the best player the ball, and the defense is inexperienced on the outside and only barely competent on the inside due to Onuoha (Holt, Silva and Glad? - oh my.). It's going to be a VERY frustrating year for the team and coaching staff. I do think that Waibel is one heck of a salesman! The fact he sold Del Loy on himself and his plan and got his contract is amazing.
I don't understand how our front office appears to believe the midfield has been ok, for like, several years. It's been a mess for several. Our back line is not what it used to be either...and it's not heading in the right direction.
I’m not sure they believe it’s ok. I’ll point out that they recently upgraded it both offensively (Kreilach) and defensively (Luiz). The bottom-line issue is that ownership isn’t opening up the checkbook to the level that competing ownerships do. So the FO cannot simply upgrade all areas as needed. Plus, because of the restricted budget, the team cannot afford for the FO to “miss” on expensive signings like it did with Yura and Pool-Boy. That money could have been used to upgrade several other positions, but it was not available.
It's mind-boggling to me that there isn't more criticism of the horrid contract Waibel gave to Beckerman.
Meh - it is often the case that really good players are underpaid during their heyday and then overpaid later in their careers. Becks has been a good player, good in the community and apparently good with his teammates. Paying a premium to Becks now pales in comparison to the Yura and Poolboy misses. IMHO.
Well sure, but if we hold every contract to the standards of Yura or Ortuno then any contract will look great. Honest question. Of the 6 teams we've played this year, which of them would Beckerman start for? I'd say maybe Vancouver. He wouldn't even be the first player off the bench for DC. We're paying Beckerman more than they're paying Moreno, Canouse, and Durkin combined. Basically Waibel gave a guaranteed multi-year TAM contract to a 35 year old defensive midfielder who was below average at his position at the time. Now he's almost 37 and he's getting circles run around him in midfield every game, but nobody talks about it because it's only Waibel's 3rd worst contract.