Do the Rapids have the Talent?

The Rapids have the talent to be at least decent, albeit not very deep. With guys like Spenny, Pablo, Chung, Stewart, Carrieri, if he gets his form back Hendo, there's a nucleus for at least a competitive team. It all goes back to the coaching/management though. Rizo in my eyes shows generally solid positonal sense and certainly accpetable ball skills once he got off the Golden field. Where was he yesterday? I don't think he even travelled. Carrieri could be a energy boost sub or a solid starter up front, but he seems to be at a different position every week.

Add depth players such as Hart (decent other than Chicago), and Kotschau, and there should be a mid-table team if you ask me. Still don't know what to think of Beckerman but the potential to contribute frequently is there. Garlick's still a decent keeper; no star but the Rapids can and have done a lot worse in goal (Fashion will speak on Kramer I'm sure ). A lot of things are missing though. Yes, grimandi's conduct was unfortunate, but there's no excuse for looking as listless as the Rapids have for too long in 2003. That's my biggest concern, half the time it looks like the focus and passion is missing.

 

Beckerman reminds me of Valderrama. He runs (jog/skip) like him and is about half way to having his hair.

 

First off, judging the number of players on a team that makes their respective nat team isn't necessarily the best judgement of talent. I could have a club full of nat players and still suck. And it wouldn't even have to be players who played for Fiji, Andorra or St. Lucia. Just look at one of the teams heading up the list, DC United. They've been one of the worst clubs this year.

I think Colorado has the talent to be one of the better teams and the league. And the lack of talent defensively to balance that out for some mid table form.

Then again, what team in the league doesn't?

 

The problem isn't talent alone.

I think the Rapids have the talent to do just fine in the league. Look at the players on the field the last few games -- it's largely the group that went to the semi-finals last year.

I also don't see that the number of players with MNT caps equates to anything in the context of the MLS season. You could even argue the opposite -- that the teams with more current MNT players have to work harder because of the gaps left when Arena pulls them for duty.

The larger problem for the Rapids seems to be a lack of inspired play or even motivation -- especially once they're in the hole by a point or so. To me, that points to a problem in the clubhouse and a problem with the way they're being managed.

If there really was a conscious decision made at half-time yesterday to fall back and play safe, "bunker ball" soccer, as Wynalda indicated during the broadcast, then it's clear -- Hankinson's tactics are all wrong and the impact of that decision was painfully evident in their second half play. They should have come out as a team with nothing to lose, looking to disrupt the Galaxy's HDC inauguration.

 

MLS Semi-finals... yeah, they suck with same team... There's no debating the talent... I've lost all faith in Hankinson...

 

You've pointed out the flaw in your own theory. DC should be one of the best teams in the league, but they are one of the worst. Why? Ray Hudson is a bad coach. Good individual players do not add up to a good team without a quality coach to lead them.

Again, based on your theory, NE should suck but they don't. They're second in the East. Many people feel they are full of "A-League" caliber talent. Why are they doing well? Their coach knows how to get the best out of their players (including role players).

Once again, your own stats defeat your theory. KC should suck. But instead they are 1st in the West and tied overall for 1st in the league. Why? Coaching.

The Rapids have talent. Fraser/Chung/Henderson have over 100 Caps combined. But they will be too old for 2006 and are not part of the "Arena's boys club" so Bruce is not bothering with callups for them and this would be true even if they were playing well individually.

Younger guys like Carrieri or Stewart might be getting callups if they had a chance to develop under a quality coach like Bob Bradley. Under Hankinson this won't happen.

But I do see one pattern that leads to the Rapids problems:

Worst Coach in MLS right now - Tim Hankinson
Worst Team in MLS now - Rapids

 

I think the Rapids have average talent for the league.
The problem is, Hanki has no clue how to use it. Example-
Why do we have Rizzo if he's going to play Nat?
Pablo has always been a Defensive minded midfielder or on the back line itself, now he's supposed to carry/hold the ball in the mid?
Don't get me started on set pieces.
My point is, the Rapids aren't utalizing the talent they have. I'm sure D. Powell will solve everthing...
yea, right....

 

We do have talent.

Chris Henderson has over 70 appearances for the national team and was a member of the 1990 US World Cup squad at 19.

Zizi Roberts has 35 appearances and 7 goals for Liberia.

Mark Chung has over 30 appearances.

Robin Fraser has over 30 appearances.

Pablo Mastroeni has 20 appearances.

John Spencer has 15 appearances for Scotland.

Darryl Powell has 11 appearances for Jamaica.

Thats a fair amount of international appearance.

Chung and Henderson have been considered the two best wingers in the MLS. Both scored in the double digits last year. As well, they've made numerous All-Star appearances.

Robin Fraser was the 1999 MLS Defender of the Year, plus his All-Star appearances and championships with the Foxes years ago.

John Spencer scored 14 goals with 7 assists in 2001, as well as having played in the Premier League with Chelsea.

Pablo Mastroeni has become a fixture on the US national team. 'Nuff said.

Chris Carrieri was the 1st overall SuperDraft pick in 2000, and notched his 11 goals last year.

Zizi Roberts has experience in Italy, as well as with Olympiakos in Greece. He's been compared to George Weah in Liberia.

Kyle Beckerman is a fixture on the US U23 squad and has been for the youth national teams for years, as well as being considered a top prospect from Project-40.

Seth Trembly signed with the Rapids his Junior year of high school at Arapahoe. Has experience with the US youth teams and Project-40.

Alberto Rizo has experience in the Mexican league and also the Mexican youth squads.

Darryl Powell has Premier League experience.

We have talent.

 

Nice summary.

It'd be great if it were as black-and-white as "the team doesn't have the talent," because it's easier to identify and address - but past results indicate otherwise.

But when you have a group that has largely played together in the past and had some success, you have to wonder why there's a complete downturn in results months later. You then start to wonder less when you hear all the player/staff comments we've heard this spring about the tactics, level of drive, and overall mood of the club. This is the harder part to fix because it's so intangible. What is clear is where the responsibility for those tactics, the drive, and the team's confidence resides.

And the whole "do you want players that Arena doesn't give a damn about" is a red herring. It's apples and oranges to compare the jobs of fielding a competitive team on the world stage and fielding a competitive team in MLS. There are plenty of examples of teams in the league doing well with minimal help from MNT players. So if it's not a measure of success, what's the point?

 

But it's not just judging raw talent that Arena is interested in. More on this later.

So what exactly was the point of this thread? You posted "Do the Rapids have the players to compete in the top half of the MLS. If you're a national team coach, you would apparently vote no...Based on their play this year and this information, I don't think so." You then made a table listing teams and the players that have been called up. If you don't think there is a correlation between the number of players called up and team performance, then what was the point of this table?

According to your post, a "national team coach" would think that KC and NE would not have the players to compete in the top half of MLS. But they would be wrong.

Exactly. Your saying there is NO correlation between the number of players called up to the national team and quality of play.

Therefore, Colorado's poor performance has nothing to do with how many players they have or haven't had called up to the national team.

Arena picks players who:

1) He likes and are young enough to help in WC 2006.
2) Maybe too old, but are "his guys" and can help him train/work with younger players to get him to WC 2006. Guys like Agoos, Williams, Llamosa, and Stewart. Players Arena has worked with for years and he knows what they bring to the game/practice field.

The older quality players on Colorado are not "his guys". Chung/Henderson/Fraser have never been part of this group and are now too old for 2006. They'll all be in their mid to late 30's.

They are directly related. Missed shots, poor passing, lack of cohesion, lack of concentration are EXACTLY the kinds of things that happen when the coach destroys the teams confidence. All of the off the field and on the field in-fighting, players screaming at each other, happens because the coach has lost the respect of his players.

This mistakes on the field are the symptoms and Hankinson is the underlying disease. Don't treat the symptoms, treat the disease.

 

Re: Re: Do the Rapids have the Talent?

 

Gamblors Quote

Gamblors quote was :

Worst coach right now in MLS: Tim Hankison

Worst team now in MLS : Colorado Rapids

His quote,not mine...I haven't given up yet,at least not on the team.

 

Do the Rapids have the talent? I think the Rapids have talent. If you were to dispand the Rapids I think these potential starters: Spencer, Carrieri, Chung, Henderson, Beckerman, Mastroeni, Hart, Fraser, and Kotschau, would all find a job. They may not start for another team, but they would push somebody off. Then we have some nice young players on the bench in Crawford, Schmidt, and after Saturday I'd throw in Borchers.

To my mind it's a matter of maybe not having the right group of guys on one hand, and a coach who can't manage to make them work as any kind of cohesive group on the other.

I am starting to question the chemistry of our midfield options. The team seems to have a real bottle neck right in the middle of the field. Henderson and Chung both seem to come inside to show for the ball, while both forwards tend to stay in the middle. Most of the wing work has been done by our outside backs. The problem with this is, that the other teams defense is also drawn into the middle of the field cutting off forward passing lanes pretty easily. By the time the backs push forward things are already clogged up. The running off the ball just seems to be non-existent.

I don't know what the answer is either. Chung has always been an east-west type player. It would help if Beckerman could slip outside when Chung comes in, but I haven't seen that type of interaction. In the past Hendo could run out wide all day, but he's been so quiet that I'm never really sure where he's at recently. In any case while I think we've got some talent, I'm starting to wonder if it's very compatible. Nobody seems to be on the same page in any case.

 

I think that statement hits the nail on the head. I think we have some talent, but I don't think we have enough to win the cup. We do have the talent to be, at the very least, competitive. As far as being on the same page and compatible, I view that as our coach and GM. Tim and Dan are responsible for putting this team together and have noone to blame but themselves (on the combatibilty issue). The issue of the players being on the same page, that is Hanki's fault. As a manager, it is your responsibility to make sure your team is prepared and moving in the same direction, not only for the season, but for every game. He clearly has not and/or can not do this. They both need to go.

 

Re: Gamblors Quote

I'm not giving up on them either. I just think we need the coaching change. Get a quality coach in here, let him assess the situation and move forward. Look at how this turned around NE last year once they got rid of Clavijo. Look at how much better the Metrostars are under Bradley than Zambrano. Look at SJ before Yallop and after. There are many other examples.

If it truly is the talent then I think the problems would be a lot worse. If we needed to change 5, 10, or 15 players then it could take years to turn things around. I don't think that's the case.