From another thread: I think that's a good way of looking at it. A lot of people have been talking about who to cut and what to use that cap money for, but I don't think the league works that way. With these expensive foreigners, whoen you bring them in, you've brought them for the season (at least) so we oughta think about how much can be done with the current roster. With that in mind, here's some of what I've seen: 1 4-4-2 I think it's true that we have wide players who don't want to stay wide and serve in a cross, or can't play two ways, so it might be a decent idea to adjust, but this is what we were playing six weeks ago (not to mention down the stretch last year), so I have trouble believing switching back solves too many of our issues. 2 Quaranta to forward Seems like a solid idea, Q isn't anybody's aerial specialist, but at least he's reasonably tall. And he's not a bad finisher. Downside is it could bring up as many questions as it answers, since we've got a real dearth of wingers, and you can argue he was only playing there from necessity in the first place, since Olsen, Fred, Mediate, and McTavish were all hurt. As far as I can remember, the only other winger on the roster is rookie Ryan Cordeiro. He wasn't a high draft pick, and has only played one reserve match (though he scored the game winner in it), so I don't know that I should put much stock in him. 3 Switch Quaranta and Niell A more intriguing version of the same theory. Could work, Niell seems to have the work rate. Probably can't cross, but c'mon, this is DC United, when's the last time we had a winger who could? 4 Fred to forward Depends on him getting healthy first, but so the theory goes, he doesn't want to play wide, why force him? Only because, like Q, there aren't many other choices at the position. 5 Martinez to midfield OK, I haven't heard anyone talk about this, I came up with it myself. I just noticed the guy does seem to have the range and ballwinning skills to make it work, and if we are going to go 3-5-2, he plays with bundles more confidence and authority than Dyachenko. But then, who the hell are we going to find to man the back line that's any good? Especially if McTavish isn't an option? What other options do y'all think we've got with the hand that's been dealt?
My lineup with our whole team healthy: ---------------Wells------------ Namoff--Martinez--Peralta--Burch ------Simms----------McTavish-- -------------Gallardo------------ --Quaranta--------------Fred--- --------------Emilio------------- Call it a 4-3-3 or a 4-5-1 as your heart desires. I think this lineup maximizes the comfort level for players and gets the most players into a good position. Wells: I haven't been as down on his play as some. I think he has looked like an average keeper, which is about what I expected. Perkins looked average too his first year starting. Namoff: Natural RB in a 4 man back line Martinez & Peralta: Both are natural CBs. Martinez has been the best defender on the team, Peralta is a bit shakier and could lose this spot to McTavish. Burch: Natural LB in a 4 man back line. Sometimes he looks very good at this position, sometimes he looks below average. Either way, he looks better here than anyone else on the team or anywhere else on the field. Simms & McTavish: Simms is more of a two way mid than McT, but both are primarily defensive minded. Going back to 2 defensive minded mids should help give the D some more confidence. McTavish is the starter I am least thrilled with in this lineup. I almost flipped him and Martinez just to see what Gonzalo could do in the midfield role. Gallardo: Natural CM. Can play both ways, but this formation has him a bit more attacking than defending. Matches nicely with his game. Quaranta & Fred: Almost the natural position for both. Q should likely be a bit closer to goal and Fred should likely be a bit more toward the midfield, but this is pretty close. Both have the skills to play out wide, so long as you don't ask them to play much defense. This formation lets them attack the goal from a wide position without having to add much on the defensive side. Both are good dribblers who can take people on. Emilio: While he would likely work better with another true forward, he isn't working well with anything right now anyway. With 2 outside forwards/wings, he might get more chances inside the box like he had last year. This role gives him more of a pure finisher position, which is what he really excels at. Bench: Moreno: can sub for any of the front 3 or Gallardo Dyachenko: can sub for any of the front 3 or Gallardo Niell: can sub for any of the front 3, but better for Fred or Q Doe: can sub for any of the front 3, but better for Emilio Stratford: can sub for Simms or McT Kirk: doesn't fit in this system well...likely sub in a formation change Carroll: can sub for Simms or McT
Quite frankly I think the 4-4-2 will do wonders with the current personnel. One has to remember that is what we used against Harbour View and Pachuca getting some decent results (not great mind you). I think using the 3-5-2 against MLS teams is a HUGE mistake as it implies we have more talented players in midfield than other teams, that is not so. Quaranta needs to be playing up top. Emilio & Jamie, Emilio & Quaranta, Neill & Jaime, Doe & Jaime (maybe Neill & Quaranta or Doe & Quaranta) are the only combinations that could work (anything else is asking for trouble). Hopefully Fred and McTavish come back, if not Mediate has to play wide. Burch should go back to defense and overlap occasionally (what other defenders do we have besides Namoff and the double Gonzalos?). [I just saw Todd's post in the post game thread regarding McTavish, so he is another defender, but given the lack of wide players, not that he is a real wide player but the lack of options there, then he should not be playing defense] Also, I would also give Carvallo a few starts to see how the team responds to him. DC United needs to keep it simple, wait patiently for errors from the other team and take advantage of them. Not pretty but they need to win their confidence back.
Simplify things and stop putting young/fragile players in bad positions. Burch -- put him on the back line and leave him there. Quaranta -- forward and maybe central midfield in a pinch (behind Gallardo, Moreno or Fred, but ahead of Dyachenko). McTavish -- central defense or holding midfield. Keep a four man back line with either a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 (really doesn't matter). Don't ever play a 3-5-2 until DCU signs two competent wing players. Give Carvallo a start on a grass field. Stop calling out players to the press. Given that the players "called out" are either young like Stratford or reclamation projects like Quaranta, Soehn is demonstrating another facet of DCU's greatest weakness, the ability to scout, recruit and coach young players. That, long term is a recipe for disaster because you overpay for serviceable, but not great second-division Argentinian players and cripple your salary cap in the process. To put it bluntly, is Peralta twice as good as Namoff or 4 or 5 times better than McTavish (based on salaries paid)? Fire Ashton and find a coach/tactician to work with the younger players.
I have also been calling for Fred at forward and Niell out wide trial. Does any one know whether Fred ever got any time up front in Australia? Seems like he could make the transition to withdrawn forward and has some pace. Has Niell ever played on the wing with his previous club? I thought he had at least two good crosses Thursday, one of which should have been a goal. Martinez at midfield is a new one. Interesting. He does have good ball winning skills and he does distribute fairly well. Maybe if you put him next to Clyde and push Gallardo up closer to the forwards. I think some feel that such changes are too much. However, it's not like we risk ruining chemsitry when none exists. In addition, it's hard to imagine the current tactics ever having success. As I and many have mentioned in other threads, we simply cannot succeed without wide play. Defenses will continue to pack it in the center of the field.
I think WFU03 has written a brilliant post. Insightful, explained well. Rational. Frankly, he should probably be banished from this forum. We are used to way more reactionary thinking. Well done, sir! Edit: I meant that sarcasm thingy to be after the first part, not for the whole post. I didn't know it would do that, and don't know how to fix it. I really do think WFU wrote something excellent. Sorry my computer skills are so lacking as to that possibly detracted from what he wrote. I meant well done for real!
With a small exception of adding with respect to GK- either Carvallo needs a shot between the posts, or Wells should be spending considerable time getting Spanish lessons from him or elsewhere... Alright, already- if you're a front office insider scanning these threads, scan this post and fax it to the attention of Tom Soehn, with cc's for the other usual suspects. Because we can say definitively it's one of two things- 1)WFU's post has the answer, or 2) the answer can be derived with the help of WFU's astute analysis, if one can add having all the necessary club information we poster's aren't necessarily privy too. 'Nuff said. Vamos United! Vamanos!
Brilliant, BTW when will we have Fred back? Burch isnt just cutting it for me. The only good thing hes done is that one cracking pass to Gallardo. We need to have more intensity on the field. We need to stop acting like we have sand in our hoo hoos and shoot the ball.
While I doubt I should stop studying for the bar and just become an assistant to Tommy Soehn, I do appreciate the props. I'd love to see him trot out that lineup for a few matches just to see what we could do with some developing chemistry.
Robin - David was playing in a puddle on Friday. If he has a cold, this quite possible is the most likely explanation. Mike - could seeing you!
Are you effing kidding me??!!?? Did you actually put that into words? Are you crazy!?!Thank the sweet lord that endowed my wife with no tolerance for this board, or I'd be effed completely! Thank the lord she thinks this board is too crazy to spend any time on. But, I warn you. If she happens by and somehow comes across that blasphemus post, I'm throwing you completely under the bus! I'm blaming you for everything up to and including global warming. No chance I'm going down alone!
I think this is a step in the right direction, though I'm still not sure if it's quite ideal. It does solve some of the problems, but it also, in essence, takes Moreno off the field in favor of Quaranta or McTavish. I think getting back to a level of success will rely on a few things, and a formation change away from this terrible 3-5-2 is one of them. The others are: 1) Getting Fred and Gallardo healthy. I'd love to include Olsen in this statement, but I think we all know that that's not going to happen any time real soon. On the occasions we have looked good this year, Fred has been a big part of it, and I think his return to the lineup is absolutely critical. 2) Building on the few bits of solid chemistry this roster has shown. Fred and Quaranta were a dynamite tandem in both of our wins. Any formation change should be mindful of allowing them to work together closely on the field. They have shown a good understanding an an ability to break down defenses. Also, our back line hasn't looked terribly cohesive in any games, but they have looked better with 4 in the back than 3. I think anything from here forward has to start with 4 in the back. 3) Figuring out what to do with Moreno. First off, I think we should keep him out of the midfield unless we're sitting on a lead. For all his skill and experience, he spends way too much time on the ball when he's in the midfield and basically kills any semblance of transition attacks. Should he start at forward or be on the bench as a super sub? I'm not sure, but I lean toward starting him. 4) Where to play Gallardo? He's not a strong defensive presence (though he has shown a willingness to defend) but he's also not an attacking engine like Gomez was. Playing him deeper in midfield might expose our back line, but playing him further forward like Gomez doesn't really play to his strengths, and might leave us with too many defensive-minded players on the field. I think the 4-5-1/4-3-3 posted earlier has some merit, and it could also be diagrammed as a Christmas Tree, but I think a 4-2-2-2 might make effective use of our personnel as well. Namoff - Peralta - Martinez - Burch ------ Gallardo - Simms ----Quaranta ------ Fred --------Moreno - Emilio Playing Gallardo on Namoff's side gives him a little more freedom to roam forward, as Namoff is much less likely to press forward than Burch. Neither Fred nor Quaranta are proper wingers, and this formation allows them the freedom to move inside or find space outside as needed. Moreno tends to drift out toward the sides of the penalty area as well, and giving those two the freedom to make runs centrally will give Moreno targets to pick out on late runs as he holds the ball. Really, all this formation talk aside, the real problem with this team is accountability and desire. At some point, the players in this locker room have to make a turnaround and a commitment to playing smarter, faster and with more commitment to the team. Losing Olsen hurts in this regard, but Gallardo, Moreno, Fred and Martinez are all veterans and winners. One or more of them has to step up, call a players-only meeting and get this team playing the way it's capable of playing. If that doesn't happen, all the tactics and formations in the world won't make any more difference than changing the fertilizer used on the training field.
Count me among those that think a switch back to the 442 is what we need. We simply do not have the type of wide players to succeed there. I don't see a single Gros or Olsen on this roster. Quaranta is a defensive liability there and Burch is average. Both are significantly better in a 442.
What could we do with what we have now? - Esp with our current injuries I've never been a believer in the traditional coaching dictum of "Find your 10 best players and figure out how to put on them all on the field at the same time" - NO - You put your best players in their most effective positions first - Let them be where they're at their best - - Esp up and down the middle - Then you make do as you can Forwards - 2 Up Top - This means Quaranta at Forward - PERIOD - He's Forward not an outside halfback who's supposed to contribute when the coaching staff instructs him NOT to go forward into the box - I don't care who the other forward is - None of them has shown anything consistent - At least Emilio might be able clean up some rebounds off Quaranta's shots Fullbacks - 4 Across - I'd put the Gonzalo brothers together in the middle and add Namoff to the right and whoever is left that's healthiest - Possibly Carroll Midfield - 4 Across - I think Simms will be more comfortable and more effective playing in front of 4 Defenders - He's at DMid - At the Wings I'd to put Burch/McTavish/Kirk depending on injuries - I don't think we can reasonably expect an outpouring of goals from McTavish but I think he's gotten used to the outside and can contribute on Defense against his counter-part (as does Burch) - And Burch needs to unload his cannon: Shots, Crosses, Switching Fields, etc That leaves Stratford at AMid - - Yeah - But I'm not looking for sparkling creativity, just possession passes and not letting the other team easily pass their way up field - Of who we got out there I'd say he's the most likely to one to have an effective soccer brain AND ENERGY than anyone else we got - Moreno is TOO SLOW - Dyachenko needs to play in Reserve games and be a monster before he's allowed back with the starting 18 - Niell (?) maybe like Tevez at ManU coming back while somebody else - I'd consider putting Quaranta out of his natural best position of Forward and taking advantage of his passing skills and creativity and vision, but my major problem with him is that he seems to lose track of the game too readily - If you're a Forward or Defender this isn't a problem because there will easily be periods of inactivity at your position and all you have to do is watch and be ready - You can mentally relax and only watch for the chances to start - But at Halfback you need to be in the game ALL the time - Only if he's ready to do that would I try Quaranta at AMid