I haven't seen him play but from everything that I've read, his play as well as Franklin's will bring a great balance to DC. This squad, counter to what others say, has me hopeful of decent play this season. When was the last time that DC had two forwards of this potential scoring ability, two outside backs that were good on both defense and offense, two strong, positionally sound CB's and a deep pool of talented keepers? Similar to what a lot of others are saying, the midfield is a big question mark. I have hope that it'll get pulled together. If it does, this team could be real solid.
Pontius, Arnaud, Silva, DeLeon, Jeffrey, Kitchen, Neal, Porter, Munoz, Martin, Francois. Not bad, in isolation. There will be talented guys sitting the bench this year.
I haven't given up hope on Chris Pontius. Call me naive, but I expect we won't be able to rely on him for an entire season, but I hope he can be managed well.
According to Goff, Olsen considers Munoz "technical" and "clean on the ball", but believes his defense is suspect. Sounds like he won't make the final cut.
That would be an indictment on his ability to get his head out of his ass. He's a good player, worth developing, and I didn't see anything wrong with his willingness to defend or even his acumen. United doesn't have many players that can hold the ball under pressure and pick out a pass, then actually deliver it accurately.
What disturbed me most about Goff's characterization of Olsen's comments on Munoz is that DCU made a trade to get the draft pick to get him. Given that effort, I would assume they had some sense of what his "game" was. But as they say, when you assume something ........
Heaven forbid we have offensive players with offensive tendencies. This guy is probably better now than Porter will ever be. Guys that come up through La Liga youth systems can trap/hold/pass the ball. I didn't see that from anyone in our midfield last season. I can count on one hand the amount of times a midfielder or forward on DC United actually trapped the ball cleanly last season. Seriously - screw Ashton. James