.......Kreis-Selolwane ...........Mathis ....Brown-Kremealmeyer ...........Kamler Pierce-Akwari-Pope-Rojas .........Countess Comments: Williams out with injury, Bechnke benched Where is Dunseth (still injured)?
So long as Benhke is never on the pitch I'll be less worried. I think a cripple would be more effective as a left back. Does RSL have anyone that can play the holding midfield role other than Kamler? He was aweful against the Galaxy as well.
Kamler is there for now. Our first draft pick, Nic Besagno is the holding mid for the U17s and is big enough to play in the pros. We'll get him in May or June so we'll see what happens. But until then, Kamler is it. I think O'Brien is his backup.
Well, at least we have the future to look forward too. I hear the Rapids are aweful, with any luck we can get a W this weekend.
He's a stop-gap at best a left back. He's a fairly solid central defender. His problem, as I'm sure you've all noticed, is that he's SLOW. That's the biggest problem with your roster. No depth at dmid. (that's IF you consider Kamler a real Dmid) Mark Chung, Henderson, and Pablo are going to have field day with your midfield.
I guess. Hell, it's not like I actually got to SEE them play my team last weekend. Their midfield play was awful, by most accounts. Still, I've got too many memories of Chung beating Dallas in the past. Good luck in the home opener. I'll be watching.
Seems Pablo is suffering from Nat syndrome. He doesn't think he has to perform for his club team now that he's playing for the Nats. Combine that with recent injuries and he's pretty much useless. Chung and Henderson will have to do SOMETHING because Cunningham and Peguero are pretty beat-up and might not even play. As far as D-Mids, what about Beckerman? That guys not playing much better than Kamler right now.
henderson may be old, but he still gives it 100% every game. he chases down lost causes, he works his ass off. other rapids players that are getting long in the tooth (wolde harris) i would agree with you, but hendo is a solid performer.
A better question: Why didn't we draft O'Rourke instead of a 17 year old that won't contribute, when we NEEDED a d-mid NOW? In my mind we still don't have one. Kamler is an outside mid or a marking back. I like the guy, he's got a lot of heart, but he was absent last weekend. Everyone knew coming into the season that our midfield was going to have to overperform to keep up in this league. Our defenders are adequate and we have talent and skill up front (if not speed). The midfield will likely get chewed on this year. I expect the lineup will be exactly what was listed in the opening post, except Pierce and Rojas will flip sides.
Hasn't it been said on a number of occassions that Nic will likely spend the entire season with the reserves? I may be waaay off base because I can't remember where I read it. It could have been just speculation from other posters that I am now unintentionally propagating.
I'm not going to try and defend RSL choice of Besagno over O'Rourke because I don't agree with it. However, there are two clear reasons he was chosen. 1) Besagno is Generation Adidas which means he's cap exempt for the next few years. O'Rourke would've counted against the cap. 2) Ellinger knows Besagno and is the one that talked him into turning pro. If you look back over all the picks that RSL made both in the expansion and super drafts, the majority of the players were former U-17s. They picked players Ellinger was already familiar with. From what I heard before the season, RSL was looking to bring in an SI D-Mid but obviously didn't. Combine that with the dissapointing performance and drop of Ara and we're screwed. I suspect RSL will probably bring in and SI at some point this season because Kamler isn't cutting it. We really need a D-Mid and an outside midfielder.
You're correct. Besagno will play with the reserves this year AFTER he graduates (in May) and when he's not playing with the U-17s. So basically, he'll rarely play this year even for the reserves. This kid BETTER be good...
A recent article mentioned Dunseth would be starting in the middle with Eddie this Sat. That would make sense because he played a full 90 with the reserves last week. http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/55230 So it looks like the lineup may be: .......Kreis-Selolwane ...........Mathis ....Kremealmeyer-Brown ...........Kamler Rojas-Dunseth-Pope-Pierce .........Countess
A good post. Those were some details that escaped me at the time, but I have heard used since. And again, I don't agree with the selection, but I see what he was trying to do. I think you are spot on about bringing in an SI d-mid. As for the winger, this may be an unpopular thought among some and a bit premature, but what about trading Williams for a decent winger. This is all operating under the assumption that I think Mathis will succeed at O-mid while Williams is injured, and that Selolwane will play well enough up top that we won't want to remove him from the starting lineup. I know it is way too early to be seriously talking about trades (after all, we only have one loss), but in my mind Clint could be very good at attacking mid and we need more speed up top (something Selolwane gives). If we could work out a trade for a solid outside mid, I think it might be worth it, again pending Mathis' performance at the O-mid spot over the next few weeks.