left-footed players who have a good shot often are used on the right side of mf- that way, they can cut in and shoot with their best foot-- playing robson on the left side of mf means that when he cuts in, he's on his right foot for shooting and thus, less dangerous obviously, rennie agrees with me and in an interview stated that he might play robson on the right side of mf so he can cut in and shoot with his left foot-- makes good sense to me
something has got to give: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/W...ck+action+fuels+trade+talk/6879416/story.html
I was just about to mention that. The Hassli trade talk has exploded all over the local soccer media.
As of July 1st, 2012 1 GK Joe Cannon 18 GK Brad Knighton 24 GK Brian Sylvestre (Home Grown Player) 19 DF Carlyle Mitchell 32 DF Greg Klazura 3 DF Jordon Harvey 4 DF Alain Rochat 6 DF Jay Demerit(Captain) 12 DF Young-Pyo Lee 15 DF Martin Bonjour 11 MF John Thorrington 20 MF Davide Chiumiento 27 MF Jun Marquez Davidson 31 MF Russell Tiebert (Home Grown Player) 28 MF Gershon Koffie 36 MF Bryce Alderson (Home Grown Player) 16 MF Matt Watson 14 MF Barry Robson (DP) 13 MF Micheal Nanchoff (Generation Adidas) 8 FW Etienne Barbara 17 FW Omar Salgado (Generation Adidas) 22 FW Darren Mattocks (Generation Adidas) 29 FW Eric Hassli (DP) 37 FW Camilo Sanvezzo 34 FW Caleb Clarke (Home Grown Player) 9 FW Atiba Harris 7 FW Sebastian LeToux
Chiumiento moves on .. http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2012/07/chiumiento-fc-zurich gona miss to see dede play for us. Hope he has a better future in Europe, some CL football and hopefully and maybe he will be back at the Old Ladies later on. Still proud to wear his jersey to the caps game!
Im curious to see how much Vancouver is getting out of this. Pretty important player to see leave midway through the season. Really enjoyable player to watch. Unfortunate.
This is/was the last year on his deal, I guess he wanted an extension with improved cash and the Caps were unable/unwilling thus a transfer now prevents losing the asset for nothing in a Bosman. I certainly hope they have their eyes on a good player to replace him as with Camillo's current form I don't see a creative engine from Midfield to replace the service he was delivering.
Today the Whitecaps traded LeToux for Dane Richards. http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/red-bulls-acquire-le-toux-send-richards-to-whitecaps/ Everyone has been talking about our need for more MF support so Hassli can shine (and just better MF play in general), so acquiring Richards seems to be a step in the right direction. Robson will improve over the next few games too, which should help even out play and help possession, which in turn should relieve pressure on our defense. I'm sad Chiumiento is gone, having always been a big fan of the player, but it seems like this is a good move. He wants to be closer to his family, and he gets more money; we clear $300k off the cap and hopefully find a more consistent system-fit MF. Basically if I told you Chiumiento and Le Toux for Robson and Richards, would you do it? I like LeToux as a person, but he's not getting the job done in our system. He rarely looks dangerous to me offensively. I would take Robson and Richards and pray that Salgado gets healthy quick and that Harris stops auditioning for the villain role in Unbreakable 2.
So a lineup that looks like this: ST: Mattocks AM: Camilo - Robson - Richards DM: Rochat - Koffie DF: Harvey - DeMerit - Bonjour - Lee GK: Cannon
This is too much cap space gone to not have a very big signing on his way.. Cant imagine not using the 3rd slot now. Perhaps a Paul Scharner or Owen Heargraves to puh Rochat back to LB?
Richards does well to get himself behind the defense where he can put in a cross from the endline, generally one of the most efficient places to set up goals from. Problem is that his technique isn't fantastic, so his crosses and shots are both inaccurate... Maddox will have to be quick on his feet because the ball won't land at them too often.
Yeah I've done some reading about this player earlier, technically not the best from a winger, more of a "knock the ball as far as I can and hope to beat others to it" style of run. However I do think his speed will makes us dangerous in counter attacks. Imagine Richards, Mattocks, Omar (all decent runners) can break away from defenders on to the end of Robson's long pass....
hassli has not been on his game, i'll give you that, but when hes in the lineup the caps have more posession and confidence rather than kick the the ball and hope mattocks gets it. the fact long tan is back on loan to usl proves what i have already said about him. i think le toux was actually hurting hassli. le toux had no chemistry with anybody, couldn't dribble or pass and caused way too many turnovers. hopefully hassli and camilo will see more time together and richards can feed some decent balls.
you are exactly right. I'm also sad to see Chiumiento go as he has been very good this season and is one of the few creative players on the caps but getting him and le toux off the books hopefully leaves room for something big. they can't keep kicking balls up to Mattocks hoping he'll get on the end of them. with the current injury situation I think camilo and hassli is the best option up top with mattocks coming off the bench for one of them.
Hassli is not the answer, I agree, but we have him for half a season, so we may as well get some value for our money. I wouldn't bet money on this, but my gut feeling is that Richards, Mattocks, Camilo might be able to stretch the defenses of opponents in such a way as to make Hassli's static but powerful play an asset again. But dollar for dollar, yeah, Hassli is a bust. If he re-signs for $250k, I say keep him, but he'll want at least $1m. And some club will give it to him based on his highlight reel goals. Maybe Saudi? =) (Welcome back, Sheik?)
The Sheik will behave this time around. I am golden now. He is a tough one to let go of because of his potential. But, without an upgrade we might as well keep him around.
Right now Rennie's formation and tactics arent working. Despite the "4-3-3" offensive formation, we basically bunker down and hope Mattocks gets at the end of it. With Dede and Le Toux gone, our offense does look really out of ideas. I'd say keep Hassli around, give him more minutes. Might as well get the most out of him while he still has the contract.
And how do we feel about Kenny Miller being the player that the Caps are after? Personally, If its true he's about to sign this 4 year deal, I think its a joke. I would expect a massive move if anything after ridding Le Toux & Chiumiento, not a move for someone marginally better than them both if at all...
Hearing from Cardiff fans about Miller, apparantly he runs his socks off **Cough cough** LeTouxx**... I don't see a point in trading Le Toux away because he is a fan favorite and seem to be happy in Vancouver. And Chiumiento's move back to Zurich also added the impact of decreasing the morale dramatically. Last night's performance shows it. Seems to me Rennie is beginning to get rid of 2011 caps players and build a team of his vision. Though I like the arrival of Richards, i still think if Le Toux was playing for us last night, we could of had a better game. Another positive is that atleast last night we didn't concede 3 + goals... there are signs of improvements in the defense, but we need to find our offensive threat quick!!! Ain't pushin the panic button just yet.
Cross my fingers I hope that the Caps FO scouts a playmaker from South America the way we scouted Bonjour. So far aside from some of his monthly bloopers, hes been solid for us.
I understand moving LeToux, and I even understand the logic on trading Chiumiento, but Robson, Richards, and big money Miller don't strike me as a great improvement. For the first time, I'm starting to have some doubts about Rennie's roster decisions.