The off field garbage has been beaten to death so back to the fun side of things. There is no argument that KC, when healthy, was MLS' best team by a wide margin. USOC Champions, tied the Cup Final, and one goal scored short of the shield; all accomplished having been without three All-11 perennials for the final third of the season and the playoffs. Not bad. Still, KC is in the unusual situation of being a title holder and having holes to fill as the continuous sports business problem of age and defections edges in. Up top: This is the best story for KC. Davy and Wolff appear secure as the starters. Pore, Detter, and a cheaper returning Igor certainly seems like a nice bench. The questions are not new. Can Wolff stay healthy for a period of times longer than he ever has before? If so, he will produce 10-10-30 and fill some of KC's traditional "Preki" role of playmaker. Davy's 9-8-26 is a question only from the standpoint of how his '04 season finished. I'm sure he and Chet North have devised a program to allow him to produce in October as well as May. Best of all worlds is if Pore is a true ROTY canidate then Arnaud filles his most dangerous role from midfield. Centre of the park: The two important things about midfield is they are generally smart veterans and will not be outworked. Oh yeah, and it's infinitly better with Klein in it. Klein, Guti, Victorine, and an emerging Jewsbury is a good four. Nobody can run with Klein at 100%, JJ can do things, and Guti/Sasha are smart at worst. Stephenson, Walsh, John M-W, and Preki (if he signs) gives a workable bench. A fantastic one if #11 returns to even a shadow of his '03 MVP self. Consider this, Victorine gets displaced by Stephenson and physicly kills everone for 70 minutes only to be spelled by Preki who then dismantles the remains with clever passes for GWGs every week. Works for me. Regarless, competition will certainly be there. Two Qs, one small and one huge: If Stephenson can click into BG's sytem and show consistent play instead of just the awesome physical presence, KC will be MLS' best midfield. Second, someone must step up to fill the majority of the gaping vaccuum left by Zags' departure. Best of all worlds is Zags re-signs where he is loved. That happens and you can start talking East Champs, IMO. At the back: Last season the guys returning not only solved the '03 problem of aerial coverage, but put up numbers to earn MLS' #1 defense in '04; not that you would know it outside of the 435 loop. They gave up only 1 goal a game over a full season. Outstanding. Don't fix what isn't broken, huh. Garcia and Jim-may are pencil-in guys at top form. Burciaga and Graham look to be the other 2 to make up a back 4. Inconsistent Thomas, smallish Zotinca, and rookie Roberts are the bench. Seemingly KC must find bench strength at a minimum, if not an upgrade for the 3-4 spot. Regardless, someone has to be Zags or this crew will undoubtedly slide from #1 form to mid-pack. For me this slide will manifest in the form of countless fouls in dangerous areas that KC keepers can't cancel. That's the big question here. I'd like to see Burciaga be healthy for longer than a two months. Big Tiny's (Graham) development continuing wouldn't hurt. Conrad went from 4 goals in '03 to just 1 in '04. He missed many headers in good positions. If midfield can't deliver punch night in and night out, Jimmy will be forced to go forward more often leaving bigger holes and facilitating blowouts. Without effective cover from Zags slot, it's difficult to see how #12 gets to be dangerous on anything but sets. Best of all worlds is that KC signs a stud before February and everyone stays healthy. GK: The huge hole. No answers here just questions. Barring something unforseen, Sawyer and Hesmer are the #2 rookies fighting to carry Bo's jock. Bo is a career backup that played with the #1 defense in MLS the last 9 games and playoffs. He's a capable fill-in with good numbers from last year: 84% save percentage and an .89 GAA. That said, it was an obvious dropoff in physical skill from Meola. Bo's Achilles', distribution, was pummeled with with arrows throughout the playoffs. You have to be able to hit a guy at pace beyond 10 yards from your own 18. If not things like Esky's handball goal happen. Cheating or not, credit Esky as he spotted the discomfort and poached it. Unfortunately that was just the most costly of 20 or so plays like it that KC was mostly able to overcome. 40 games of that over four competitions will simply not get it done. We have seen Championship won by a GK's ability to cancel out the previous four or five mistakes. Bo hasn't yet demonstrated an ability to do this for an otherwise Championship caliber team. With or without Zags, he will have to. Coaching: Gansler is one of the best coaches in MLS, period. Winning titles after losing an MVP and a whole offense in February, Klein, and Meola later is evidence enough. Bliss is worthy of a head coaching job. John Cone is the rookie here. He has the unfortunate position of coaching perhaps the on-paper worst tandem in MLS. Nowhere to go but up. Welcome to KC and MLS Mr. Cone, have a fantastic season. Best of all worlds is that we get to enjoy a full season of these men coaching a healthy team. That would be something to see. Intangibles: Not all good here. You do have the returning West Champs and the talent that goes with it. You do have a team with an assortment of "chips" on the shoulders of just about every man. You also have a returning head coach with a plan in place and enough time in to have selected almost the entire team, including Preki. That's the good. Less fantastic is being dumped uncerimoniously into the crap East. Less games with the teams you know and more with the ones with which you are less familiar. All of the sudden you have 9 rivals in the short term, 2 more teams who want to prove they belong, and everyone wanting to kick the dog. Add to it that KC's future is at best in flux and at worst in doubt overall. Crowds don't like a pariah and will be smaller accordingly. Lamar Hunt should be ashamed at the view in the mirror. A whole season of rumors, stories, and worry is in store for everyone on the team with a friend or family in town. In other words, pretty much everyone. This can work positively in that many times when in crisis it's easier to focus on the job because it's simply less stressful than life. It's a "known". The season starts with CRC Champs Saprissa. The worst possible CCC draw and definitly not a tasty appetizer. No time to lick wounds and with four competitions on the slate, no coasting allowed. Lastly, if the whole world down to your greedy owner and the league is against you all that is left is to fight. In the words of "Major League" manager of the Cleveland Indians, "...I'm all for wasting sportswriter's time and giving them a nice big sh1tburger to eat. Whaddya say?". Works for me.
Don't forget we also have our first round pick Sealy, who many people are saying is one of the best game ready players in the draft, some people seem to even be believing that he could win ROTY. He's the first forward off the bench if both Wolff and Arnaud start up top, and then is starting with Davy when Josh is gone. That's my opinion.
My mistake forgetting Sealy. If it happens, great. That would seem to make either someone expendable in a multiple player D for O trade to a team that struggles to score by mid-season OR pushes offense to a level that can begin to compensate for the loss of Kerry. Both are appealing.
Welcome to the East. I think that by your moving here and the complete dissolution of the Galaxy team as we know it that ya'll are actually coming into a stronger conference than you are leaving. Sure Dallas and Colorado are going to be a bit better. And San Jose may turn out to be okay. But unless Chivas gels quickly, I think the West is going to have a much work interconference record. ReAL Salt Lake strikes me as one of the weakest (relative to its contemporaries) teams in MLS history. The analogy I made on another thread was that John Ellinger is building a Boston Celtics team along the lines that Rick Pitino did - with all of his favorite players from college in a real (pardon the pun) man's league. On the other hand, the East has improving teams in Chicago, DC (that is the best way to look at them) and New England. I think that Columbus is going to be like the Fire of last year - purely due to their terrible coaching staff. They don't know how to build or organize a team and are tactically inept. But Stern John could heal many ills if they get him or someone in his class. Metrostars are also a bit of an enigma. I think that they are sort of like the Galaxy. I agree that your team is pretty strong - and their consistency will really stand them in good stead in the east, where teams seem to really go up and down. You have great depth and a solid core in the center of the field (especially if Zavignin returns). I think that your biggest weakness is a lack of attacking/defending balance amongst many of your players. Each of your players does some job VERY well, but apart from Burciaga and Klein - most of your players are either very solid defensive players or very effective attacking players. That makes it a bit easy to key on certain players and let the others fiddle around - cause they cannot hurt you. If either of the rookie strikers turn out to be ready to contribute - and it frees Arnaud to drop back into a slightly more withdrawn position - that might do the trick. Or if you can find a player who is a real foil to Klein along the left - you could probably just flow things through them. I don't think that Stephenson or Jewsbury are Ready For Prime Time, but they will provide you with excellent depth. I don't think that Simutenkov or Preki are 90 minute players anymore either. Simu because he just disappears for too long and Preki for the obvious physical reasons. Another advantage - Gansler has a lot of continuity in his roster and he usually does a great job tweaking his tactics (year-to-year, though not so well on the fly) to keep them fresh and a bit unpredictable. Every one of your players is good at what they do and I think your team has excellent depth. I think that the pace of your center-backs might begin to be exposed a bit more by the playmakers in the East (Guevara and Moreno for instance). I agree that Oshoniyi is a risky proposal as a full-year starter. Following MLS Cup, teams are going to be very aggressive coming after him. I pray that Preki does not re-sign, because he kills us. Basically we don't play that well against you anyway, so I was surprised at how well MLS Cup went. It will be fun seeing Gansler's response to Nowak when we get together again.
Dave, I completely disagree with most of your assessment on our goalkeeping situation. Coming from a goalkeeper's perspective, and having watched Tony VERY closely over the last 4-5 years: Tony is losing it. His reflexes have gone down. His footwork isn't nearly as good as it used to be. The fact is: at the end of the season last year, Bo was not only physically more fit than Tony, but he was also performing technically at a higher level. (Yes, he has his weak areas; the weakest of which is his control of his area in the air... I still don't think his distribution is as bad as it is made out to be). The stats back this up also... His numbers were comparable to Tony's in the 2000 MVP/Championship season. Then you've got who I think is going to be the starter for us next season: Will Hesmer. I'm calling it now. I think Will is going to be starting for us come April 2 (Bo will probably get the start against Saprissa, give Will a little more time). This is a guy who was across the board considered the most talented goalkeeper in the draft two years ago, but because of the injury his senior year at Wake Forest, slipped down the board. Don't forget, Steve Cronin was also in that draft, and he's been playing for the youth national teams forever. Will has more talent. His statistics at Wake were incredible, especially considering the fact that he had to play against ACC competition day in and day out. And he's got the size and athletic ability as well. This guy IS the future of the Kansas City Wizards in goal, and I think he's got a great future ahead of him in this league. And the new kid I just hope could be a serviceable back up in case Will or Bo goes down. So I definitely wouldn't say that goalkeeping is a "hole." I think we'll be just fine between the pipes. Works for me as well. Besides, it'll be really nice to be playing in front of larger, more enthusiastic crowds this year. When they announce our new stadium deal and ownership group, attendence is going to soar. p.s.- It's entirely possible that I'm being overly optimistic here... but I really do like what I see with our goalkeeping situation.
assuming we lose Zavagnin and Meola here's my opinion of our starting XI next season: ---Wolff--Sealy--Arnaud---------------Victorine-----Klein-----Gutierrez--------------Burciagra, Jr.--Thomas--Garcia--Conrad--------------Oshoniyi---
Nice, but I don't think you can play with 3 midfielders and expect to succeed in this league, just my opinion. I think the team could work with a box style midfield. Also, over the last half of the season, Thomas was a little too inconsistent for me, so I don't see him starting either. I would figure our back 4 and goalie to be the same as MLS Cup, although, I would love to see Will and Bo go at it in the preseason for the starting job. That said, here is who I think we'll probably see. Arnaud - Wolff Victorine - - - Klein Guti - - - Jewsbury Jr. - Conrad - Garcia - Zotinca Bo/Hesmer
Best case scenario for the Wizards (in my opinion): Klein is able to return and Sealy is able to contribute immediately. You can therefore move Arnaud back to midfield, playing a U-shaped or box shaped midfield with Klein and Arnaud ahead of Gutierrez and whomever in midfield.
Indeed. You've got to think that either moving Arnaud (or possibly Wolff) back was the thinking behind Gansler drafting two forwards in the first two rounds. Frankly, WC, I'm not nearly as impressed with the midfield as you are - Sasha is a mediocre MLS player, Jewsbury may be average this year; sure Gutierrez and Klein are good, but that doesn't add up to a dominant midfield in my book. It's not better than D.C.'s, it's not better than Dallas's (though I'm biased), and it's not markedly better than the Metrostars'. If you replace Sasha or Jewsbury with Arnaud, however, you've got two very dangerous flanks with a couple of quality two-way central midfielders.
Good read Thomas will start. Wolff will lead the league in scoring, my homerized prediction. Can't wait for the season to start.
I would move Arnaud back to the midfield if I thought he'd be as good there as he is up top. But keep in mind 2004 his breakout year was his first playing at forward, also his production did tail off at the end of the season when Simutenkov their 3rd forward returned. Also I think Sealy should start considering that in every column I've read that mentions who they think will be ROTY they all pick Sealy. I don't think you can't win ROTY coming off the bench. Plus if he's more ready than anyone else in the draft he should start.
The only thing I would disagree with is the intagibles. I think this team has an enormous amount of character. What other team could lose it's four best players for most of the year and still accomplish what we did? It finally got us in the final... but to do what we did with our injury situation speaks so highly of the character and professionalism of this team. That's why we were successful. I don't believe we're the most talented team in the league, we don't have the biggest superstars. But we've got the most heart. That's why we have been as successful as we have the past 2 years. *gone to dry my eyes*
I don't know why everyone seems so intent on Arnaud moving back. Here's a crazy idea" Why not Wolff? I think he proved last year that he can function in somewhoat of a withdrawn role, and, arguably, he was more effective at doing that than actually being a n out and out "striker". I think that if you start Sealy up top with Arnaud, and move Wolff back into a slightly more withdrawn position where he can not only service balls in, but also make some dangerous runs at the defence, we'll be set. Another idea would be to have Wolff and Arnaud rotate dropping back, much like they did last year, only this time you throw Sealy into the equation. Another good thing this does is that it makes it a whole lot less important that Simu re-signs. Last year, we were thinking that he as a major need, because we were really suffering for depth at forward, as well as attacking midfield. But now, with the emergence of Arnaud, as well as the drafting of Sealy and Pore....I'm really not that convinced that Simutenkov is someone we should be making an effort to keep. I mean, I love the guy, he was probabaly my favorite player the year before last...but i just don't think we need him. Basically, I'm thinking: -----------------Sealy---Arnaud---------------- ---------------------Wolff---------------------- --Victorine------------------------------Klein--- ----------------------Guti---------------------- --Burciaga------Garcia----Conrad-------Graham- ---------------------Hesmer-------------------- Then you have Jewsbury, Pore, Thomas, Zotinca, Stephenson and Bo providing solid depth at basically every position on the field.
assuming we lose Zavagnin and Meola Wolff - Arnaud Victorine - Klein - Jewsbury Burciaga - - - Gutierrez Conrad - Garcia - Graham Bo
...Because I think Taylor Graham is better than Alex Zotinca. I mean...i dont think Zotinca is terrible. In fact, I think he's one of the most useful players on our squad. BUt as far as playing right back in our system, Graham wins it for me. I was WAY impressed with what I saw out of him last year.
I've never seen Wolff play midfield, nor have I heard of him playing there. Its one thing to adjust to playing as a forward who comes back for the ball, but quite another to play as a midfielder. Plus, he is still better suited trying to make runs at the defense. It would have been nice to have had any attacking presence in the midfield against DC in the final. I would have loved to have seen Wolff be able to run at that three man back line. Arnaud has played as a wide midfielder before and I think his work rate would be an asset as an attacking midfielder in a box type midfield.\ I also prefer Zotinca as a right back, but that could be because I am biased towards fullbacks that can contribute to an attack, especially since we won't really get width from our midfield.
a 3-5-2 with wolff-arnaud burciaga-stephenson-klein guti-jewsbury garcia-conrad-thomas hesmer (if bo plays look for one soft goal every 2 games) that back 5 will be an amazing defense again this year. jewsbury will be our surprise player this year on film, yet the media like's guti's status as a veteran so he'll get the national attention. burcuiaga can't defend, yet he shoots and dribbles well. please take him off the back line, bob. this leaves solid subs in victorine, zotinca, probably one of the two rookie forwards, and some guy named preki and yes, thomas has enough speed for this league. watch film from last year against any player other than donovan. he uses his body really well in 1v1 speed situations anyway.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks Thomas should start, but Conrad at center while the other two (who are both center backs) are at the wings, would work better if Conrad was put on the wings. He's played outside defense almost as much as he's played central defense I beleive. sorry, if i'm wrong.
Thank you Tyler66. Absolutely Shavar Thomas should start. Graham in 2004 was a terrible excuse for a defender.
If Thomas starts, who do you drop? I assume you are gonna say Zotinca. If so, who plays right back? Conrad? I'd prefer: Burciaga - Garcia - Conrad - Zotinca at the back With your line up I expect you would like to see: Burciaga - Garcia - Thomas - Conrad Personally I don't want to break up Conrad and Garcia in the middle, they work well together and balnace each other out well. I like Thomas, don't get me wrong, but he is slower than these two in the middle. I think Conrad is wasted outside and would prefer him in the middle. Thomas on the bench for cover if either of those two goes down injured.
I really think I would take Burciaga - Garcia – Thomas – Conrad or Burciaga - Garcia – Conrad - Thomas Sure Thomas is not the fastest guy out there but, aside from Donovan, I have never seen anyone get past him. I am surprised more Wizards fans do not give him credit for the consistent outstanding defensive play he displayed last year.
It's hard to give a guy credit for "consistent outstanding defensive play" when he didn't play at all the second half of the season because coach benched him after he had three mediocre to poor matches in a row.