What is interesting, at least at this point, is there are options for all of the forward positions. If Silva is off his form, Deleon could slide inside and Pontius take his place with Neal in reserve. Alternatively, Munoz could fill the Silva role. Arnaud can be replaced by Deleon or Porter. The wild card will be Seaton/Doyle and how they can replace EJ during World Cup.
Olsens most recent use was a terrible experience. We never could win, or keep the ball. The midfield wad always over run, and there was no Balance. If Arnaud and De Leon are narrow defensively, I like it better. I also think De Leon will not be able to impose himself from there. He will be sound too much running on defense. I also am skeptical about Silva.
I haven't watched the team play, but this doesn't look very diamond to me at all. it looks like a 4-1-3-2 with a triangle that has Kitchen at the point. Thats very different from a diamond. But we'll see. I do think the offense is going to need some tweaking to really work, unless someone goes lights out on scoring, it will be goals by committee. If it's goals at all.
Given how long its taking him to rehab, I wonder how long it'll take him to win a starting spot this year... or if he's able to do it all. Porter is no starter, but if Arnaud can start effectively with Franklin overlapping and Pontius and Porter can be our guys off the bench (along with Doyle/Seaton as different options at forward), I think the team has the ability to score some goals. Similar to Porter, Korb is no starter, but he's a legitimate MLS backup. I'm a little worried about backup CBs actually if Birnbaum is slow to progress, I'm not sure I like the idea of Attakora or Shanosky playing. But, I also haven't seen a lot of them so perhaps they're adequate backups. Definitely like our goalie situation. Willis may be one of the best backups in the league. One place we might not have real depth is behind Kitchen. Can Arnaud play there if necessary? Or this new trialist? Neal? Who am I forgetting...?
While I haven't seen much of the games or how the players have been deployed, on paper, the diamond (which implies a narrow midfield imo) seems to fit. DC has a few box-to-box guys (Jeffrey/DeLeon/Arnaud/Neal) that can play in the LCM/RCM positions. If the starters are Arnaud and DeLeon, I think that suits them best. Neither one prefers to hug the touchline. They can both see a pass and execute as well as add some bite on the defensive end. This last part will help shield Kitchen who is still growing into his DM boots. A position that I think he can excel at in this league. To me the only point of weakness is that tip of the diamond where a Silva or Munoz would fit. I'm skeptical of either of them being able to consistently and effectively play there. However, I see the supply to the forwards essentially shared between the outside fullbacks and the 2 b2b players and whoever is in the ACM position.
I agree completely with the above points. Its Silva that bothers me. I'm also tired if people trying to find or force the next good DC United no. 10 on us. Its more a preference, but I'm tired of looking for an attacking mid. Lets move onto to more team oriented football instead of relying on one striker to score all our goals, amd one attacking mid to dictate and manipulate all the pieces around him. I think its easy to plan against, and contain unless you have Riquelme or El Diablo v2.0 ( this the name I've given the mystical no. 10 that people have been craving ). What I do like about the diamond is that we have two mobile forwards who will be hard to keep track of. If the service is right, I'd have no problem. If Silva doesn't work out, what then?
Silva played more CM than AM against Houston, and it took a little time but it started to work. He was willing to put in the work on the defensive side of the ball which was great to see. I like the potential because he can be the piece that links defense to offense that's been missing, imo. Espindola gets a lot of space to roam, and from what I've seen that's what he's going to do anyway so that's good. If Silva can't do the job, I would guess Lewis Neal would be the next man up, and DeLeon is an option also.
The problem I have with the lineup remains the Parke-Boswell problem, which can be phrased quite simply this way: with EJ having to receive the ball at the midfield stripe all the time, how is he going to score all those goals we're counting on?
The quick counter. I don't know if you saw the Houston match, but that's what they were having success with in the second half before the subs came on. Christian in particular was playing Corey Ashe-style in Houston's half and Silva was a big part of turning defense to offense. When United sags so much, their fullbacks get way forward, and MLS being what it is, they eventually lose the ball and if United can do what I've been begging them to do and get the ball into that vacated space left by the fullbacks, they can counter all day. Preseason, I know, but it's a valid strategy and above all, it's a strategy, period.
Whether I like that strategy or agree with its possible effectiveness, the above is a very important point. I don't know who it was that mentioned around here that for the last several years, it's been well nigh impossible to figure out what, exactly, we were trying to do on offense. Were we a counter team? A possession team? Did we plan to score on second balls? You don't want to be pigeonholed into only attacking one way, because you're easier to defend against that way; but we never seemed to have a plan or a strategy on offense, ever.
Yeah, my feelings exactly. I think quite a few people have expressed that frustration. Now I'd like to see any real/imagined progress continue and become a pattern, instead of some one off they lucked into for a bit of one game, which is entirely possible. I just want to see some idea of strategy and then an attempt to execute it.
I'm just going to take a minute to sing the praises of Christian. This is the guy. He's going to balance the field and make United twice as dangerous in attack. In a world where left backs are so hard to come by, it's hard to understand how could he end up being third string on a team in the low end of La Liga, so there's something there that isn't so hot, but I haven't seen it yet. Defensively, he's quick and in position. He had a nasty tackle and he has to be careful with that, but as long as he toes that line I think it's great to be a little nasty. But offensively, I think we're really going to enjoy watching him. His runs are to the right spot at the right time, it's such a difference. He's going to make Silva, DeLeon, whoever, so much better. His crosses were inconsistent, but he got in more in 20 minutes than United would in 5 games last year. This is a big deal.
I'd echo the same sentiment on the right side. This is the best fullback situation we've had in years ...
Yes, very true, but I'm not sure Franklin is as sophisticated a player as Christian, but he looks terrific all the same.
That doesn't explain why he was the third stringer, though. Or does it? Wouldn't they play him until they could let him go if he was the best player available? Something's not clear to me.
Had fun at the CCC. Was shithammered so my input may be less than valuable but... I like Franklin. Our recent teams have had the most success when a fullback can overlap and outnumber opposing defenders (NAJAR). Arnaud was pretty wide but he was acting as the fulcrum on the right to enable Franklin and Espindola. Deleon was getting forward more and so Christian sat behind him. It makes sense tactically. That being said, I don't think DC had a shot on goal until Houston took their first team out. Same old Olsenball to some degree.
Reading through Almeria fan comments, it seems many of them thought he was the best left back on the team. I'd say about half the comments were in that vein. The other half had criticisms based on some specific early season performances that may have directly cost the team. But even those commenters who had that view didn't say that he was a bad player in general or a bad personality. Just maybe he didn't adapt quickly enough to the sharp rise in quality after promotion ... but then again La Liga has infinitely better competition than what he's likely to face in MLS.