UnitedMania Podcast Reunion Show: Hong Kong Phooey

[British Accent]Jolly good show, I say![/British Accent]

Please don't wait another year to do this again.

 

Great show with a little rust showing.

For one thing, MLS currently has 23 teams, not 21. When FC enters in 2019 the League will go to 24. Two other teams, Miami and Nashville, have already been added to the League but will not start play until 2020 or 2021.

United was clearly not ready to open the stadium on time. For example, the openings in the roofs were not meant to be left open and they will be closed for next season so more of the crowd will not be rained on.

As for the team, United still has problems with having another dependable striker up front. Also, the center backs are below average in MLS. They were shielded by the work of Canouse in front of them and Hamid behind them. I am also not sold on Moreno and Segura. I thought Segura, in particular, was below average. He was a black hole on offense, couldn't cover space and constantly made poor decisions with the ball in the attacking third.

My Christmas wish list for United includes:

1. A second Striker to take some of the load off Rooney
2. A backup for Acosta - someone who can run the team in midfield
3. A Center back to replace Brilliant
4. A left back or fullback (who can actually defend) that can play either side

I loved hearing you take on a number of issues. If you guys can't or don't want to go to a regular weekly format like old times, can you go monthly during the season? That would commit you to only10 shows for the whole year but would make your analysis and comment more timely.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

 

Something weird showed up in my podcast feed.

 

That was probably it!

 

An hour and 40 minutes into it I realized I needed to update what podcasts get automatically downloaded and added to my playlist.

 

Thanks guys. A pleasure, sort of like meeting up with friends you haven't seen for too long -- and Mike too.

 

Hey now!!! As one of Mike's three fans I might have to take umbrage with that statement........................

 

When did Randy get so angry?

 

The best thing is that they keep track of the US Mens team so I don't have to.

 

lol - I haven't been able to finish listening, I was wanting to throat-punch Randy so I turned it off - usually I like his balance with Mike - but he was making me want to take Mike's points too seriously
I figured I just need the guys to do more episodes so I can re-acclimate myself to the dynamic Either that or a tailgater at one point killed Randy's pets and he's still really mad.
Maybe I'll try again this afternoon.

I forgot how much I miss Martin (first name, not last )

 

Maybe the pets were part of Martin's "litter."

 

Great show. Really hope you guys decide to do far more in 2019.

 

Amen! My corollaries would be:

I'd like Acosta's backup to be dynamic enough that we're tempted to rotate the triangle just to get them on the field when that's tactically sound. Canouse, Arriola, Acosta are all on display and impressing, and all would leave a pretty big hole in the depth chart if one left that would have ramifications beyond their preferred positions. Someone with the lungs to play an offensive-minded 8 would provide insurance and probably net them additional playing time.

I'm actually OK keeping both Opare and Brillant for another year, but if we dump one, it should probably be Opare. The way we play now doesn't really favor one over the other. They both did well in their final games. But, Brillant lead Opare in almost every (per game) statistical category last year. He's proven to be sturdier, and with Steve's concussion history, that's pretty critical. In addition, he'll naturally age out in the next few years, giving the new guy increasing opportunities to earn the position. That means we might get by with a young prospect that we're confident in. I'm not a big fan of cheaping out on the defense, but we've got a lot of good players that gots to get paid. I don't envy Kasper this offseason.

On a related note. Brek Shea is due for a resurgence, and is out of contract / needs a salary adjustment. If we could get him for Vytas money, might be worth it? I think he's played for some mediocre clubs, got stuck behind some good players and made his money. He's still young-ish, probably has a chip on his shoulder, and might be now interested in impressing a new NT coach...? Sometimes personal growth happens. Curious about opinions on him from the peanut gallery.

 

So happy to see this show up in itunes. I really enjoyed it.

From the way you all were talking over each other for the first half hour or so, sounded like you guys were eager to get back to it.

Thanks for putting this together. Many thanks- the best United podcast, regardless of frequency.

 

Brek Shea is a latter day Cletus -- WYSIWYG. Al Davis engaged in ""reclamation projects" with the Oakland Raiders many years ago. Olsen is no Al Davis -- which is a good thing in most ways.

 

I'd argue that Olsen is MLS' master of reclamation projects actually.

 

Would tend to agree. Of course, some "projects" are resolutely unreclaimable [sic].

 

Now why would you do that?

 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

 

So if Acosta leaves, we might have to revisit the conversation about Olsen not losing the locker room. The first half of the season and his apparent unhappiness might be understated.

 

Fair enough. But if Acosta doesn't leave, we should take it as a sign that he was very happy to mature under Olsen.

 

When we’re talking about the locker room we’re talking about players we want to keep, who have upside. If the team were so poorly run and things were worse than we think and we lost Birnbaum and Acosta that is a big thing but losing a few deckchairs is something else. Losing Acosta and Mattocks and something like a Steiber or Asad turns this off-season into a rebuilding year.