That boat sailed, and from what I understand it was mostly Jaime. I'd love to see him back, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Apples and oranges. As shown by how well Cleveland is doing in USL1, the USL2 (where Jamie's playing now) isn't the same level.
Yep. Shame isn't it. Regardless of the league's division, it's about the individual player's ability on the field. And we're suffering from a lack of attack or killer instinct. I hope Gift get back to fitness as well as Alvarez ASAP. My apologies for bring this on, but this USL-1 winless streak is pissing me off.
u an me both bro. But hey I have two quesitons, in regards to who could/should we pick up. 1) What happens to our defence when we loose the loaners . We all have seen a "vast" improvement in that third of the pitch since they came on and I assume we were all, including Inchy, taking notes as to what kind of players they were soo we can sign some of our own at the first opportunity. 2) Once "El Rifle" (Yordany Alvarez) gets healthy and once "the Gift" gets back up to speed and once we find a "Midfield Boss" type player are we set as far as the attack goes?
I wouldn't mind seeing another strong defender brought in. And maybe a back-up striker. I think we've seen already this season that we need some redundancy in positions - especially playing on what passes for turf in Austin. We've had a rash of injuries, thankfully mostly minor, and if we plan on taking both the league and cup seriously, which I'd like to think we (we being Phil) do, we (we being the team) need more than a solid starting 11. I personally am not sold on the loaners yet. There were enough mistakes during Sunday's match that nicknames like "Dumbstruck" popped into my head, and both Rhinos goals were from absolutely and unforgivably unmarked guys.
Here is a player to think about. Darel Russell. http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10355~8738,00.html He has attended our last few matches. He is currently living in the states and is a former Stoke player. I had a chance to speak with him and he mentioned that the Aztex are his new/favorite American side. We could certainly use some help. Since we have to return our loan players, it would be nice if we had him for the cup match next week. Additionally, like many of our players, he is a delightful guy to speak with. He has a nice header at the 1:18 mark of this video. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Fv51k9_ek"]YouTube - Norwich v Barnsley[/ame]
Interesting thought but I don't think we could convince him to leave Norwich City (for the next couple of years anyway.) His contract is through the 2010 season. And his home in the states is in Vegas, not Austin. He told me he likes his poker.
With all this talk about defenders, I must say, I quite liked our homegrown back line for the Open Cup games: Zack Pope, Wes Allen, Josh Alcala. Now, maybe it was a lower quality opposition, but it still seems to me they're kind of the forgotten guys here. With one more strong central defender (Sias?, one of the loaners?) that seems like a back line that could work.
you know to tell the truth I kinda like Nick's idea of a back line myself. Only I would swap his Defensive Holiness, ie Zach, out for the slightly larger Dr. Adams because I've seen how easily Zach can be beat by a larger, more aggressive, forward. I think Inchy should try the following starting line up, baring injuries/loss of loaners and all that Jazz and with the formation stated, at some point in the near future. Miguel "El Primero" Gallardo Josh Alcala Wes Allen David Sias Dr. Adams Sao Sullivan Mike Callahan "Ryan Caugherty "El Rifle" Alvarez EJ The Gift
Yeah, what's happened to Lyle Adams? He was a fixture for the first few games; has he even played since his graduation furlough? He's certainly big and strong and fast, and good coming forward; I seem to recall him getting beat several times by being out of position and letting attackers get behind him...
http://www.austinaztex.com/news/headlines/index.html?article_id=121 Yep. Another player on loan for the week along with Erik Ustruck (until August). And the Aztex signed GK David Winner.
So we have our first player/coach. It's a grand tradition to be sure. Didn't Adrian start out that way?
Thought that name sounded familiar. Man, he's been around a while. The question is, where has he been since 2001? And why didn't we get Mark Dodd?
I wonder if, after watching todays match, that maybe a change in formation is whats needed. how do you lads feel about a 3-5-2 I see the following players, and subs, barring injuries etc. Gallardo Adams, Keiron, Alcala Sao Sullivan, Callahan, Ryan M. , Ryan C., DD Harwell "Bruce" Johnson, The Gift Subs: Yordany, Gareth, KGB, Sias, The Pope What u lads think?? Personally, now that I look at it, if we could get two defenders to "effectively" revolve around a "Spoke" central defender this would acctually be a pretty solid formation for us, given our current crop of players and our huge load of Mids.
The following is a written version of the oration I began after the Cleveland match at Cuatro's on Fri: This is a brand new club, from top to bottom, with no real soccer/footie infastructure, top notch youth academy, or past club ground work to build upon. Everything, on and off the pitch, is being cooked up from scratch. On top of all that most of the starting players have no real top level pro-ball experience. Therefore, in the offseason, it would behoove the FO to do the following. 1) Sign nobody, regardless of possition or talent, younger than 25 and even that might be pushing it. 2) GET A BUNCH OF 25+ yr olds, we need depth and experience right now more than talent, in fact I will even say we've all ready got talent. 3) Sign players from USL-1/MLS experience. Comments, additions, etc. Fire away gentlemen. Note: This was brought on by our drubbing at the hands of the Leatherheads and I figured this was the best thread to post this. Thank you
We should of kept Dave Hertel, Hes out playing with anpther PDL club now, when he should of played with an MLS team, He played awesome in the preseason game vs Dynamo Unfortunately that was all we saw of him, Another is Willy Guadarrama,why not call him up from the PDL squad? And Kendell McFayden is tearing it up in the U-23's
Everton just signed Anton Peterlin out of the Ventura County Fusion PDL squad. He's a midfielder... kinda wish we'd seen that one earlier.
I'm not criticizing our scouting. Just being wistful. Though it is interesting to me that he ended up PDL and not drafted, or if there's more to that story than meets the eye.
Yeah, his coach was a former West Ham Keeper and referred him to David Moyes, thus getting him a successful trial