THREADBARE GAME REPORTS, 2018

i have lost my mind!!

i wasnt into any liquids of the spirit type when i made the Caps winning 3-0; but i agree it was a moment of soccer insanity, leading more with an emotional hope more than common sense

i will bow to your wisdom in 8-9 hours

 

i bow to my soccer insanity

we can only imagine- and after playing 2 top MLS sides and loosing only by 1 goal- what the team could achieve if robo had have made better non-MLS sigings-- every week, those selected signings- are either on the bench or in the viewing area, to a tune of millions of wasted money- mistakes happen even with the best of coaches, but robo's record is horrible for 2018

just look at these non-MLS signings of wasted money- mutch ($156,000), blondell ($249,999.96 plus a reported $1.6 mill transfer fee- he has 1 goal!!!!!), juarez ($525,000), aja ($240,000), myer bevan ($54,500.04) TOTAL= $ 1 225 500; add in shea's salary ($700,000) TOTAL= $2 mill

take this $2 mill plus another $2-3 mill from the davies' transfer and with the proper signings, this team can be much improved for 2019- priorities:

- a better goalie
- another experienced quality CB
- a replacement for davies in AMF (this will be the hardest to find)
- a higher quality distributing, ball holding MF

 

and i am not questioning the committment from the players- its usually 100%- they fight to win every game

its the continual wasting of money to buy better players- 2018 is the worst- thinking that things will be different in 2019 should be dismissed after the foolish signing of marvin emnes, regardless of his money contract

with the owners stating that they will invest some the davies' transfer money into salaries beyond the MLS level, we need to make sure it will be used wisely by a new coaching and scouting team

 

kristian jack is a close friend of carl- its impossible for him to be objective

since you and i started to present the case for robo's firing over 3 years ago, we have had many other supporters mock us- finally, most are seeing that we were right

 

GAME AT TFC, OCTOBER 6-- 2-1 WIN---some thoughts:

1. What goes on inside his head???-- doneil henry looks so good for long parts of the games, and then he looses it with moments of madness that cost his teams mightily- he did it with TFC and has done it with the Caps, including yesterday where he flailed his arms up high on a cross ball and giving a PK to TFC

he needs a soccer shrink or he will never reach his potential

2. POTM- russell teibert played his socks off and was a force in MF

3. Oyster shells- TFC looked a team loaded with pure pearls in 2017, now they look like pastry pearls in 2018-- hard to understand, even after the grueling CCL play which ended a long time ago- i think they need a defensive restruct- just too many stupid, careless, naive goals given away

4. How was the booth??- just wondering what MDS thought of the game and the players in his planning for 2019- no matter what some neophytes think, the Caps owners and FO got it right by firing robo with 5 games to go

5. Dead but not buried- wondering if the robo ties to baldwin will be buried or brought out after the season ends

6. The longgggggg shyte- waiting for the Caps to end our misery by failing to make the playoffs- the fart goes on and on and on, but does anyone really believe they will make the top 6 ??

7. WTF-- davies should be given an assist on rusty's goal- he passed to reyna who slipped it to Teibert for the goal

8. How does that happen ??- how does brek shea start over mezquida?? as a starter, brek is just non-existent and has little impact- i wonder where his pay cheque will be for 2019 as i dont see the Caps new coach entertaining a new contract anywhere near his +$700 000 contract or even bothering to resign him for $200 000- i expect at least 10 players gone for 2019, plus the buying out of juarez's contract which will free up another +$500 000

9. Smart is as smart does- it should be a no-brainer for the new coach to offer a new contract (1 year plus an option) to kei kamara- his legs aint done yet- kei had another solid game yesterday

10.Reading our mail- goalie marinovic had a solid game- he's fighting for a new contract for 2019, but i just dont think he is quite good enough

 

GAME VS SKC, OCTOBER 17- 1-4-- ANALYSIS:

1. A flash from the past (or was it one of the 3 stooges- gotta say that commentator, nick dasovic, with hair split down the middle, reminded me of shep howard-- have to say though that nick says it as it is-the good, the bad, and the ugly- a very good commentator

2. POTM- Brent Levis had a very good game, but faltered in the second half as his MF support weakened leaving him exposed

3. Ship him back- noway that jordon mutch should be back for 2019- his game conditioning and endurance is more like a +34

4. Dont let the door hit you on the way out- shea, hurtado (sadly), maund, emnes (an embarrassing signing by robo), franklin, juarez, techera, rowe and blondell all need to be gone, either by end of contract or buying out or a loan or a trade

5. Bubble bath- riding the bubble of getting a new contract- aja, marinovic, felipe (on a smaller amount of money)

6. Scrub-a-dub- definitely should be brought back- kamara, reyna (if committed to the cause), mezquida (he does enough to warrant it)

7. Gritty, gritty, gritty- ya, i know the score reads 4-1, but the Caps played with heart for 75 minutes when it was 1-1- SKC just have better players who fight hard as the game goes on

LET THE REBUILD BEGIN... starting with a new head coach

 

well at least i dont need to eat crow-- i predicted in february that the caps would end anywhere from 7th to 9th

 

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN ??

both teibert and davies played for canada the previous night and yet russell played vs SKC and alphonso did not

the game colorman, nick dasovic, mentioned- where is davies? if russell can play, why cant a 17 year old do back-to-back day games??

the answer is simple- several times, i watched davies grab and massage the inside of his leg during the dominica game- it might be a groin strain and playing vs SKC could have led to a more serious injury- a serious groin strain can last 1-2 months- its not easily rehabbed

the Kid wears soccer- including the blue and white- with passion and if he were completely healthy, i believe he would have been in the starting 18

 

GAME AT LAFC OCTOBER 21-- OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTS:

1. Was he shedding tears?? - if the new head coach is indeed Marc dos santos, the LAFC assistant coach who was on the bench, was he shedding tears that alphonso davies will not be in Vancouver for 2019?? the Kid was sensational with some of his dribbling and pace WOWS!

2. Looking through the looking glass- so what did MDS see about the Caps and some of its players, and what does he need to do
:
a. they played with grit- except for last week, somehow the team grinds it out, even though being out-talented- players like teibert, levis and nerwinski are worth keeping around for another year- yes they make mistakes, but their passion and committment will help them improve for 2019

b. the team has has some talent in waston and reyna (who should be re-signed), a do-able DMF tandem in the gangly ghazal and mr motor teibert-- not great or good, but passable if needed

c. some players are just not MLS quality and their contracts should not be renewed- shea, marinovic,hurtado and mutch, regardless of his howitzer (he runs like he is 35)

d. supposed starters in techera and felipe were bench warmers

e. blondell is just too slow in all ways and should be loaned out, traded, or whatever- another of robinson's blunders that cost the Caps over $1 mill

f. CB, doneil henry, is hust too mentally stretched to be anything more than a #3 behind waston and some new addition- he continues to make crucial mistakes at the wrong time, a pattern he has had all of his career

g. let the new signee- emnes, attend training camp on his own dime- he hasnt played a game in 1 year and obviously does not train hard enough to avoid injuries

h. i would be wondering what is wrong with techera who has sat out the last 2 games- attitude ??

i. i would be wondering if felipe is worth even $200 000 from his $425 000

j. i would be asking/demanding the amount of player money to reach $13 mill USD (MLS + owners' money from the davies' sale)

k. i would stay away from a player agent whose initials are DB or any agent connected to DB

l. get ready for a very busy off-season- i hope he has already started making quiet contacts- he has a lot of filling to do to rebuild this team for 2019, but its not impossible in MLS

 

SEASON CLOSING GAME VS PORTLAND, OCT 28-- 2-1 WIN:

1. Rain keeps falling from my eyes- knowing i will not see Davies again in a whitecap shirt was a tear-jerker- he played a blinder of a game- THANKS KID!!

2. The Whiz Kid- MF russell teibert raced around the field, spraying accurate passes around- he has arrived as a regular starter

3. Where's the dotted line- the new head coach just has to bring back Kamara and reyna- they bring some class on the field

4. The Fans- tremendous support all season long- we will be patient if we see committment and ambition from the owners and FO and a coaching staff that can evaluate and sign quality players to fill all the holes

5. Roll the dice- i would keep a healthy mutch over felipe who faded the last month, but maybe both should not be resigned

6. The piss-off- listening to kristian jack spray accolades over a dumb-ass head coach who wasted millions in foolish signings and let CB tim parker go to RBNY

7. Growth- i see an emerging talent in defender, brett levis (not so much in nerwinski who got his pocket picked again on the back post)

8. Slow but crafty- aly ghazal - is he worth having back on his +$500K salary?? probably not

9. What we didnt see and wont see again- robo's off-season 'huge signings' in juarez and blondell, costing the club over $2 mill USD; and the Bug has slithered away and probably wont be seen in a Cap jersey again- hope all 3 are gone for 2019; and shea will also be gone- total money for these 4 = almost $3 mill USD

10. Gloating time-CB tim parker went to a team for a salary of $115 000 and RBNY has won the Supporter's Shield- and we ended up with a mess on defence, another of robo's blunders- congrats, Tim !

 

right- but i do see more potential in levis--

the bigger problem is at CB with probably waston on the way out and we are left with henry, aja and maund, none of whom are WOW players and defence leaders- the new coach has to get 2 significant CBs to turn our fortunes around- the money will be there, but he has to get it right- finding 1 is quite easy, finding 2 that can work together- like waston and parker did- is not so easy

then he has to move onto a better goalie (easier to find), another frequent goal scorer (not so easy to find), an outside speedster to create havoc (not so easy) and another significant MF (not so difficult if they keep reyna)

he will have the money and the understanding of what the team needs to be able to move into the top 3rd in MLS-

I AM HOPEFUL

 

with waston probably gone, the Caps are left with a BIG hole to fill so probably both nerwinski and levis get dibs to start the season- but its possible that 1 if not both stutter

so the new coach will have to come up with another experienced quality defender- with de jong a suitable replacement on the left, it leaves the need for a right defender

BUT the biggest question is - can the Caps replace waston and then have henry beside the new CB?? doneil plays so well at times, but you always wait for a classic blunder at critical times that cost the team- its been his soccer DNA for years, all the way back to his days at TFC

if i were the new coach, i would make the resigning of yordy reyna and kei kamara, a new assertive goalie and a strong CB my first 4 major signings- they are easier to do than finding a quality striker who can score and another quality MF to compliment reyna and kamara

levis (in his option year and should be resigned) and nerwinski need competition so finding an experienced quality right-sided defender is the next priority

the rebuilding IMO should be from the defense out and the resigning of reyna, kamara and levis

as a side note, Eighty-six Forever and probably a few others want kamara gone so blondell can be given top priority in the hope anthony can find his MLS boots on his remaining 2 year contract- simply put, blondell is nowhere near MLS quality as a goal scorer- Slow runner, Slow dribbler, Slow passer, Slow shooter, Slow thinker on the pitch- agree?

 

not WILL BE A BUST-- he is a bust and its not his fault-- i watched him play 30 minutes and i knew he wasnt MLS calibre- too damn slow- how robo never saw that is a mystery, but its entirely possible he watched a few clips and believed some agent that this guy could be the answer to the Caps scoring woes

robo sold us a big signing that cost the club a transfer fee of $1 mill USD and then a $250 000 USD salary- all for 1 sitter of a goal

since the club can only buy out 1 contract- ie juarez at over $525 000- blondell will have to be loaned out so he can play some competitive soccer at his level- i dont expect to see him playing in the MLS and if he is on the roster come March, its not a good sign for 2019