Interesting item over at the11.ca https://the11.ca/inescapably-canadian-power-rankings-thats-a-wrap/ with the Canadians listed in the comments section with how they did from a stats perspective. I know, I know. Lies, damned lies and statistics. But it does give a independent view. Here are the Whitecaps players: Davies 415 Henry 329 deJong 182 Levis 178 Teibert 133 Colyn 28
ya, i know you are not a teibert fan, but hell, the guy bleeds Whitecap and Vancouver- MDS has to keep him just for his passion and committment to the white and blue
I am not a "hater" but realistically Teibert is a journeyman. Nothing wrong with that. Teams NEED players like Will Johnson or Russell Teibert & Nico in the Caps case. They are reliable, dependable and the coach knows what he will get. It may not be a great level but consistently good enough. I've never wanted Russ to leave the Caps. That said I don't know why he has been played at DM for the last 5 years. He is not a DM. The only way he was passable was when it was the 4-2-3-1 where he had another DM with him. Since Robbo's departure we've seen a 4-1-4-1 with Russ up higher. That IMHO has always been his spot. He constantly presents himself for the ball, back checks and creates openings for his teammates with his constant movement dragging some defenders out of position and passes very good. All great things just not a DM. He and Nico will always have a place on the Caps in my view. They are good enough for MLS and while not great have plenty of "good enough" qualities. The problem arises when you have more quality players coming into midfield. Russ & Nico will never replace a Davies or Reyna and that is the level we need more of.
I really like his run and finish vs TFC but overall, Teibert's a journeyman, like you say. He's a back up, especially if he's used in a more advanced role. It might indeed be his best position but it's not good enough consistently for an upper echelon MLS team. Lack of a bona fide creator in central midfield was the big offensive issue with this team. Most of the attacking play was generated off the counter attack against a home opponent pressing against them or the Davies Show where he blew by guys like they were U15s. Thrown in the odd free kick and corner kick threats as well as upfield pressured turnovers, and that would be about it. If a decent team was compact defensively, the Caps had very few answers apart from crosses into the box. When you had both Kamara and Reyna coming back so deep so often, that's an indictment of central midfield service. If the club gets that DP type of creator mid, Rusty goes back to being a second banana coming off the bench.
well, by december 10, all MLS teams will have declare their unsigned option players for the Expansion Draft for cincy the Caps have 17 on options!!!!!!! plus mutch from a loan- i can see the Caps re-signing levis, henry, mezquida, richy, norman jr, kamara and reyna (if he is a good off-field player - locker room, training, and hanging out with the boys) so i see 8-10 players gone from the option list, plus jordyn mutch (too injury prone and too slow for the MLS speed, vigor and athleticism), plus 1 buy-out, a loan player or 2 and a trade or 2 then he has to deal with waston, juarez and blondell he will be a busy guy, but he is the type of coach that carefully thinks through his decisions and then acts- he knows what he wants from his team, the type of players to build the team and how to get there in 2 years i look for 10-12 new players to start the rebuild
i am hearing from some supporters who think and believe that the davies transfer money-a large chunk of it anyway say in the $3-5 mill USD range- wont be used for adding new and better players for 2019 and that MDS will have to live within the MLS pots of money that will be in the $8.5-8.8 mill USD range as we all can agree, if robo had have done a better job at selecting players to fit within that MLS range (keeping tim parker and adding 3 players better than blondell, juarez and ghazal in particular), the Caps would have made the playoffs-- why he was so incompetent/foolish is the biggest question of all, IMO- he even had the audacity/foolishness to say in february that the Caps roster was the best he had mustered in his tenure- i knew otherwise and chose them to miss the playoffs (having said that, i was amazed at just how close they came, even with some of his 'major siginings' not even making the starting 11 or up in the viewing box in the last month of the season) however, i truly believe that the owners will release $3-6 mill USD from the transfer money, taking the budget to the $13-15 mill USD range- if they dont, then i will be 1 of the supporters to walk away from the Club... and i think many others will do the same its time for the owners to PUT UP OR SHUT UP ABOUT TAKING THIS TEAM TO THE TOP ECHELONS IN MLS
It would be typical of clubs when selling a HG prospect to plow some of the proceeds back into the academy. Anything you can do to increase the attractiveness of the academy, especially to non-local players, increases the chances of finding another Davies. Although I wouldn’t expect another Davies for many years, if ever.
to only have 1 talent be a first team starter in 10 years of running the academy and after pumping millions into the program, one would hope that the Caps recognize there is as SERIOUS problem- i think they have part of the reason in hiring MDS is for him to increase the real- not token- opportunities for academy players to the first team rotation- being canadian also helps as he recognizes the need for the canadian mens team for advancing mens soccer in canada no longer will canadian talent need to leave the Club for greener pastures and opportunities- with robo's distaste and unbelief in canadian youth now gone, there is hope for young talent to get serious looks at advancing to the first team i think that MDS and john herdman will have a prosperous relationship over the next 3-4 years
On a positive note, young Norman is getting more minutes on his loan to Queen of the South in Scotland Championship (2nd tier). Supporters seem to like his work rate and two way play. The experience will do him well although lower level Scottish football isn't exactly the best preparation for MDS's desire to play possession football.
You forgot your /sarc tag I've always said first team minutes are never GIVEN. They are TAKEN. Taken by a player who will help the coach keep his job. Taken by a player who is clearly better than all the alternatives the coach has. Taken and kept. Larin was a prime example. 3rd or 4th in the striker pool but when he got on the field he took the spot. Davies is another case in point. Coming up he had Manneh and others with more experience yet he took and held the starting spot most of the last season. The one thing you can NOT blame Robbo or the Whitecaps for is not giving minutes to Canadian youth. So far we have one journeyman (Teibert) a couple of promising LBs (Levi & Adekugbe) and one bona fide superstar Davies. The rest have left and found their level below MLS. They just were not good enough. That is the stark reality. At some point you have to put the onus on the player. That is first team minutes. They'll get their chances to show their stuff in MLS and V's Cup but this is pro sports and "screw up and you're benched" is normal. If they get their asses handed to them by a D2 team as they have in the past then they won't get more time. It really is that simple.
while i agree to a large extent about it being on the player, the Club has mouthed words but followed with little action to really set the stage for canadian youth to succeed- lets face it- davies could not be ignored- the Club was 'throwing spaghetti at the wall' with no real design of what type of player they wanted for the first team it seems to me that the coaching staff (robo in particular) lacked faith in the canadians in the academy and reserve squads- hell, he even gave more opportunity to the inept debyi flores just because he was a non-canadian, signed him to a 5 year contract (RIDICULOUS, HUH!!!) and now he is gone with some kind of hushed buy-out package its all about belief, training/coaching and opportunity- and i believe that dos santos will be the head coach to build the Club from the bottom-up and we will begin to see fruit within 2-3 years
I really like the fact that MDS has had experience and success with U15/17, second team for SKC, 3 D2 teams and assistant with LAFC. He understands the whole pyramid from a practical point of view. He knows what to expect from players at different ages. Don't think for a second that he will favour inferior players just because they are Canadian. Players will take a spot or not as usual. What I do think he brings is more experience dealing directly with players at more levels than most coaches.
maxime crepeau- Montreal goalie on-loan to ottawa and won first team all-star in the USL for 2018 -contract ends january 31, 2019 worth a look if montreal doesnt want to move him up to the MLS team- i think that maxime seems ready and Vancouver could surely use a new look in goal or as a quality back-up- anyone seen his play ? i think he is canada's # 3 goalie https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/maxime-crepeau/profil/spieler/189014
Maybe but no thanks is my initial feeling. I don't think Max is that high up our pool yet. Don't think we need a keeper when we have 2 very promising ones we've developed already. We have 4 currently on the Caps roster with Marinovic 1st, Rowe is a goner as his play was just not good enough when he got the chance, Melvin, and Richey both have their positives. Melvin was recalled from Fresno and signed and Richey had 14 appearances for top of the USL Cincinnati side who are about to promote to MLS (we'll see if he goes up with them or not soon). Max would be battling with those 2 for second keeper role. Great review over at eightysixforever.com of the Caps on loan. https://www.eightysixforever.com/2018/10/23/17975698/vanvouver-whitecaps-on-loan-year-end-review
I do believe he'll recognize that most of the Canadian guys who played for him in NASL/USL are that level of player and should stay there. Hopefully his Brazilian contacts will find a few more guys who can play the style he wants to establish here.
I'm sure given his time in Portugal and Brazil there will be a wider net cast to identify and sign some quality players.
Option player news : whitecap options not picked up- marinovic, ghazal, shea, aja, maund, bevan, emnes, ritchie, dominquez, no word on juarez but maybe bought out- he is a cancer; blondell might be loaned back to his former club Seven players had their options picked up at Monday’s contract deadline: defenders Doneil Henry and Brett Levis, midfielders Nicolas Mezquida, David Norman Jr. and Yordy Reyna, striker Erik Hurtado and goalkeeper Sean Melvin. Goalkeeper Brian Rowe, defender Sean Franklin, midfielder Cristian Techera and striker Kei Kamara are currently out of contract. Midfielder Jordon Mutch has completed his one-year loan with Whitecaps FC, and is under contract with English Premier League club Crystal Palace FC. dos santos- We’re excited about the roster flexibility we have as the process of identifying new targets is well underway.” so we can guess anew goalie with some experience, 2 CBs or 3 depending on waston, a DMF, 1-2 strikers, DB i think the only out-of-contract player brought back might be kamara, but at a lower salary... if he agrees if not kamara, somebody younger for the cash + who has a goal-scoring pedigree in a quality league no way that EPL Palace keeps mutch- they will loan him out to a lower tier team young canadians will be given some quality 1st team time if you need anymore reason why robo was fired, look at his 2018 signings that, adding to millions in salary, are gone or going- ghazal, blondell, juarez, mutch, aja, bevan, emnes, rowe, dominquez; the only player who really worked out was kamara, with henry being satisfactory- and both were MLS players-- carl basically didnt have a clue for recognizing quality non-MLS players... incompetence, stubbornness, paying heed to the wrong advisors, or ????-- his poor choices caused us to miss the playoffs
goalie richey is a surprise non-signing- i wonder why melvin was chose-- salary costs ?? goalie, Spencer Richey,, was the first team all-star in the United Soccer League last season with FC Cincinnati.- maybe cincy is making an offer to the Caps
If Waston doesn't come back, the first signing needs to be a CB who can lead the back line, especially if MDS wants to go with domestic keepers.
and thats one of the major reasons MDS took the job when he could have- potentially- had others, such as SJ- he thrives in challenges what a position to be in- he has over 1/2 of the roster on option years so he can he can majorally begin to shape HIS team the way HE wants in a matter of a few months-- and he has already started the process-- the only big issues will be what to do with kendall waston, efrain juarez, anthony blondell and kei kamara, none of them reeking of catastrophy no matter which way they go, although i would be shocked if he kept juarez and blondell, especially efrain as he sucks energy from the team MDS will have millions of available money- potentially in the $7-9 mill USD range to go after players HE wants- and he has a terrific supporter base of 22 000 that are on his side, an ownership group that i believe will be ponying up more money, the domain of selecting his 3 assistant coaches, more available GAM and TAM money in the +$1 mill range, some promising young, canadian, local talent and a new infrastructure for scouting and signing players that will be held accountable for results unlike the past that was a complete disaster it couldnt be any better for MDS