with having till sometime in sept to have the roster set, how about some trades? dc in looking for trading someone and now that dallas got denilson they will have to get rid of someone. I wonder if we are still looking to make more trades. Some players on others bench would be probably better than what we have!
The problem with trades is that unless you know Jedi mind tricks, you have to have something of value to get anything of value back.
Well then, Kreis must have Jedi mind tricked the hell out of Lalas and Clavijo because we didn't have jack 2 months ago.
While I'm sure we got the better on both of those trades, I think that LA and Colo (not necessarily the fans) are probably ok with the trades. Mehdi had some things that Colorado needed and he wasn't going to come cheap. I think LA was looking for immediate results, not youngsters who needed seasoning. I am glad for whatever their reasoning that we picked up who we got. I liked Mehdi and think he will do good things but I'm happy to have Beckerman. Klein was ok but I think we really came out ahead on that one.
Dallas just traded Nunez for a draft pick, and rumor has it Hislop is set to "retire". I do believe they will have to get rid of one SI once Denilson's visa comes through, which should be sometime soon. I would have to think Serioux is on the block, with his injuries and salary size. I am not sure he fits here. DC is looking for a forward, so unless they want Esky back, I don't see them looking to RSL for a solution. I wouldn't mind picking up Boswell, he isn't playing for them anymore, but I think he is in the last year of his contract. Do you think JK would trade Pope, if he got the right offer?
The Crapids are 3-0 with Mehdi in the lineup, so I think they feel pretty good about things right now. Jedi mind tricks on LAG? Absolutely. We stole those two youngsters for a solid, aging and boring player in Klein.
Don't confuse correlation with causation. Not to split hairs, but the trade occured 7/16... since then Colorado had a draw, loss, and three wins. 7/22 - Draw - Ballouchy played, 8/4 - Loss - Ballouchy sat out the loss due to a suspension for an off the ball cheap shot in the previous game. 8/11 - Win - Ballouchy did not play. Colorado won on an OG by DeRo. 8/16 - Win - Ballouchy played 58 min. no goals, assists. Kirovski scored the first one unassisted, the second on a PK, and the 3rd by Cummings happened after Ballouchy was subbed out. 8/26 - Win - Ballouchy played 56 min. and assisted on the first goal. So in 5 games, Ballouchy played in a draw, sat out a loss and a win, played 58 and 57 min of two wins respecitvely and has a total of 0 goals, 1 assists... AND it came in a game against an LA team that is depleted, road wary, and played perhaps one of the worst games I've seen an MLS team play this year (including our game vs Chivas). While Ballouchy's arrival CORRELATES with an up turn in Colorado fortunes, if you've watched any of those games, I think it's hard to say he's part of the CAUSE for the up turn... particularly when all anyone could perhaps point to is one good play in one of those 5 games. I like Ballouchy too, but the longer we've had Beckerman the more happy I am about the trade. Frankly, Ballouchy still has some weaknesses he needs to overcome (he's easy to push off the ball, has a suspect shot, and is really a one way player who's struggled to make his impact felt on the stats side - cute moves / flick ons = goals/assists). Beckerman, despite the weakness of RSL is a much more complete player and adds something RSL desperately needs - toughness and grit. We just now need to really create a solid supporting cast for him.
I disagree with the conventional wisdom on the Ballouchy/Beckerman trade. Beckerman is admittedly solid--but all the "grit" in the world doesn't make RSL any more dangerous. Without Ballouchy, RSL's attack has been stagnant and one-dimentional. Whatever dynanism RSL once had is gone. Both Ballouchy & Beckerman are similar in that what they each provide doesn't necessarily show up in stat sheets. IMO, RSL was slightly better with Ballouchy (flaws and all). Under competent management, RSL might have been considerably better with Mehdi. We'll never know. Colorado might some day.
This is where Morales comes in. We will have to wait and see what he can do to give us some fire to the offense. I assume that the Ballouchy trade was made with the following in mind: a) Adu stays with us and fills the ACM role, or b) We pickup an ACM somewhere along the way (which we have done).
Wasn't this part of the reason Beckerman was traded from Colorado? I seem to remember (looked for a post, but couldn't find one) that Beckerman is best suited for playing d-mid and moving forward -- not at playing the CAM role. I have no idea what the original goal of the Ballouchi/Beckerman trade was, but I assumed that the JE/JK were trying to shore up the defensive half of the field, and not hoping to directly spice up the attack. It seems that Beckerman could complement a decent attack, but not figure prominently in one. Am I way off on this? If not, is it clear that the team understands this, and is working on putting together a team that can actually put balls in the net?
You pretty much nailed it with your post. A much higher correlation for Rapids success has been the work of largely unknown Colin Clark replacing an ineffective Niko Hernandez in the lineup. Colin's had a direct hand in four of the last 6 goals. Add to that the removal of Jovan Kirovski from midfield where he's not good into the forward where he's made some plays and his weaknesses haven't hurt the team. Finally, Petke's healthy and has shored up the porous defense. These are all more highly correlated with our success than any trades we made. Not to mention an own goal by Derosario, a Noonan-and-Ralstonless Revs team, and a Xaviar-Donovan-Beckhamless Galaxy. Ballouchy has been good, and I'm happy to have him but he hasn't made a difference for us beyond what Beckerman or even Danny Wasson would have done. Even his "assist" was the famous MLS second assist. The great frustration is that the Rapids lost two very good midfielders before making the adjustments that were available while those players were here. You got the better end of this one. As for Beckerman I'll wish him luck with Real. My opinion is that you'll do best with him if you play him box-to-box, keep the passing short, and keep players moving off the ball - NOT running away from it. He's got a very good short passing game. His long passes are occasionally neat, but mostly too long. Kreis needs to make him keep the ball on the ground.
I'd agree on several points, but we were offensively miserable WITH Ballouchy too. He definitely has more flair than Beckerman, he's more creative, but sometimes that seemed like a liability to me... season one he seemed to make VERY good creative passes that really showed some genius, but personally I felt he took a step backward in season 2 - up through the games we had him with us. Often because some of his weaknesses became more apparent - I saw him get at least 10+ good looks at the top of the box and either: shy away from the open shot OR miss OR but a too soft shot on target. I guess this is what I was getting at, the fact that Ballouchy 2007 was not the same as Ballouchy 2006 - perhaps the pressure of performing or that opposing players weren't as surprised by him anymore made him less effective. 2007 Ballouchy - 18 games across all competitions (0 goals, 1 assist) - 14 league games (0 goals, 0 assists) for the guy playing central/attacking midfielder is unexcusable... and Ballouchy was never asked to play as much defensively as Beckerman is. Now, I am one of those people who think soccer is more than simple stats, but 18 games we should have seen at least something in terms of goals/assists. Unlike Adu or others, he played every game and significant minutes of every game (if not all)... he also was involved in MOST attacking sequences as the offense would try to run through him when he was in the game. Now, is Beckerman a solution to all our problems? No. As I said originally, he needs a supporting cast... I just think Beckerman is probably slightly better for RSL than Mehdi was or even could have been (unless he starts to improve on some of his weak areas - taking MLS roughness and shooting). Don't get me wrong, Ballouchy really has something special but it's not there yet in terms of being able to translate to consistent results for his team. In the right environment and supporting cast he could definitely be a more exciting player than Beckerman... I just think for both teams, this was a good trade - Mastroeni made Beckerman surplus and at RSL Ballouchy wasn't good enough to produce on his own. Beckerman at least provides a threat around the box because he has a VERY good/hard shot and he stands up to the constant hacking in MLS.
So is it the general concensus from "those who know" that RSL is done with transactions of any kind for the season? They're going to leave that salary cap money and the DP just sitting un-used on the table while the team continues to flounder? Or is there someone in the organization that is still actively looking to improve, if for no other reason than to get season ticket holders to re-up?
Personally, I'd like to see them focus on 2008 in terms of the excess cap space and the DP... at this point in 2007, we're done. I'd rather have them looking hard for who they can bring in between now and the end of the January transfer window that will help this team get better for 2008. We have some good mid-level MLS guys we just need 1-2 difference makers. Looking at tonight's probably line-up, it was actually depressing to me. Talley, Harris, Williams, Eskandarian (due to constant injuries) seem likely to be destined for eternal journeyman status... looking to these guys to come out and dominate/win games just seems like such a stretch - more like, if we get lucky, we MIGHT win. Any 1 or 2 of those 4 in the line-up is probably fine, but having all 4 has the potential to be very problematic. Those are all role players who excel at ONE (or maybe two) aspects of the game and with the right guys around them are decent in that specific role... beyond that, weakness start to become apparent. Talley is really good at clogging the middle defensively and can gift you every now and then on far range shot. Ask him to get out on the wings, cross the ball, or try to funnel offense through him beyond the first transition pass from defense to offense and stuff goes wrong fast. Eskandarian is a good poacher and will make endless runs, but him and Findley seem a bit like the same player to me with slightly different strengths. In fact, with Findley's speed, his ability to get the ball with a man on his back, and his (so far) seemingly solid finishing skills... we need to find a "target man" to compliment him. Eskandarian has much of the virtue of Findley but both of them together? How does their respective play compliment eachother? Williams? aka... "The Player That Could Have Been"... Here's a guy who is GREAT on the ball, great possession, a very good shot, but simply can't get fit enough for 90 min of soccer. It's one of the biggest tragedies in player potential in MLS... Losing 20 lbs is not that hard and guess what Andy, you can run faster for longer as a result of it. It will improve your mobility... IF Williams was mobile and 90 min fit - he would have been one of the best in MLS (in fact, he'd probably would not have been in MLS for long)... He's a big disappointment for me ONLY because of what he had the potential to be. Harris... oh, Harris. He's not bad as a goon / defensive midfielder / thug. He's tough, willing to go all in, fast, and well conditioned... His technical ability just betrays him (his first touch and passing mostly).
If the money isn't spent for quality, it is worse than a waste. It puts the team in the situation of a multi-year contract with a marginal talent sucking money out of the team. Better to develop the current players, find out who is worth keeping for next year and shopping in the off season for an impact DP and other players.
I'm guessing the original intent of this thread was all the talk of Dallas, Chicago and DC rumored to be moving players. My guess is that Dallas will unload Saragosa (d-m), DC might move Carrol or Boswell and Chicago might move Thiago. Personally, after last night Kreis might be gun-shy of further moves, but all 4 I mentioned could be excellent additions to RSL. At least to our depth. I do believe we still have 2 open SI spots.
Thiago could be good. Even though he has a lack of size, he does possess pretty well and distributes well. I wouldn't mind seeing him be depth behind morales or even pair up with him when we need another goal. Harris for Thiago? I think we are solid in depth with d-mids/c-mids, so I don't see Carroll or Saragosa being too much influence. However, Boswell could help with our depth in our back 4. But, as for who we would trade for Boswell, I don't know who DC would want from us that we would want to give up. So, I think Thiago would be the best possibility from those options. Edit: Forgot to mention, I heard Armas was retiring at the end of the year. So, thats why I was thinking Atiba. Not sure if Armas was a rumor or actually said by him though.
Yes, Armas said he was retiring after this season. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=422652&root=mls& But the rumors are strong that the Fire, like Dallas, have too many players so Thiago and Saragosa see the pink slip.
I'd have to agree especially since the 3 Argentinians looked a hell of a lot better in their first game together than I was expecting. We may be able to squeeze 2 or 3 wins out of our last 10 games with the group I saw against KC last night. The next 2 months need to be about 2 things. 1. Avoid the damned futility recored 2. Evaluate who we want to keep out our motley crue. I figure we have 15 MLS quality guys on our team currently (including both legit starters and back ups)
IK, please give us your list of those 15 or so guys we should keep around. Then we can target the positions we should focus on. Me? GK - Seitz, Rimando DF - Kipre, Mantilla, Wingert, Kotschau MD - Morales, Beckermann FD - Findley, Espindola These make 10 for sure. Some might argue the defensive players besides Mantilla. Which reserves do we keep? What's your list? Who can we use as trade fodder?
HEY! We're not done until the fat lady sings or we're mathematically eliminated - whichever comes first. However, I haven't been to any recent games, so perhaps the fat lady did, indeed, sing and I just wasn't there to witness it.
I'd add Atiba to that mix - but that's just me. What about Sturgis? I still like Williams as well. Eskandarian deserves another season - in my book. That brings me up 14.
You may want to take back that "boring Klein" after what he did last night in LA. Absolutely amazing! He put some great crosses into the box as well.
Pretty much the same list you have excpet Kotschau, although I think he has played decently recently. GK- Rimando* Seitz* D- Kipre* Mantilla* Besagno (Solid back up at the least) Wingert (Between starter/back up quality) M- Lancos (Decent back up) Morales* Beckerman* Talley (Decent back up) Williams (Strictly back up) Sturgis* F- Espindola* Eskandarian (Between starter/back up quality) Findley (Between starter/back up quality) The starred players are the ones I think are solid/competetive MLS quality starters. So, for me that boils down to an outside back, a central defender, an outside midfielder and a big target forward. Then with others listed coming off the bench, I think we look really solid. If we go DP next year, I wouldn't mind seeing it at central defense to replace Pope or a great big target at forward. A poor man's version of Luca Toni from FC Bayern would be ideal.