Was curious on where we all stand on the future of our backline ? I'd like to see us go and grab Corey Gibbs..should be a rather cheap pick up and it doesn't count againt our SI's. It does stink to see Jolley leave as he was a fan favorite and more importantly a rock for our defense since day one but what's done is done and hopefully we can grab another anchor man for the middle. I'd prefer to see a tall lanky centre back, something in the range of Tony Adams and Dan Calichman. Not too sure on who else is out there that is a realistic grab..personally I think we should stay away from the Fire's CJ Brown, his years are past him...reminds me of getting the style of player Balboa was right before he came to us...screams of buyer beware.
All CJ Brown does is hack. Thats why he hasnt seen much 1st team action this year with the fire. No team wants that kind of player. However, Bocanegra would be a good pickup. We need someone thats comepletes a 3-man backline with Pope and Bonseu.
CJ Brown did not play a lot this year because he was hurt, not because he is a hack. He is a quality defender and much better than Jolley. I am sure he is cheaper too. I'll take a backline of Pope, Bonseu, Brown.
before CJ's injury, the times i saw him play i thought he got a lot slower...i think bradley prefers more athletic defenders...as for CJ being a hack, if he has that reputation, its certainly not the status that dema/franchino have..it was sad to see jolley go, and for us fans, it was great to see him bleed metro while he was here, but its part of sports and i think our defense is going to be much better next year...
Ryan Suarez anyone? I know he hasn't been much at LA but who has with the exception of Ruiz. I think Suarez would do well in a 3 man backline with Pope and Bonseu. I'm sure LA wouldn't mind parting with him in some kind of trade as they look to make some wholsale changes this off season. But then again i haven't a clue what im talking about.
Suarez is a bit too slow to command a three man back line. Maybe if Ryan had a central defensive midfielder in front of him..say like this ... Suarez Pope Bonseau R. Clark Edgar Williams Amado Digi Ryan would be nice pick up but overall I'd see him more as a bit player comming off the bench to stop the bleeding late in the second half or being implemented into the defensive system when injuries are present. He'd be a relatively cheap pick up and his history with the league would be beneficial.
We do have a central D-mid.... Clark. But i do agree with u on Ryan's speed. Lets say we pick up Armas which i think is a move BOB is about to make. Suarez Pope Bonseu Armas Clark Gaven Geuvara ? ? i seriously think this could work nicely for us... and if Williams makes our starting line-up i will fall over and have a heart attack.
Guys, no way are we prying Armas out of Chicago. Him and Razov are the Fire. Brown is more hopeful. Suarez is an interesting player. He is def. good, but the question is, is he a Bob type player, and what will it take to get him out of LA. They seem to be stuck in a 3 back system, and Suarez didn't crack it. Could Ziade for Suarez work?
Normally i would agree with u on Armas staying in chicago but i seriously think the Fire are looking to offload him do to cap reasons. Call it a wild guess but i think Armas will be a Metro come season '04.
The funny thing is, the defense was the one area of the team that performed better than average last year. And it's the first place Bradley has chosen to retool.
I think this is a HUGE year for Armas...he has Bob who wants him to come over to the Metros and then there are the Fire who know what a rock he is at the D-Mid role. If Armas leaves it's going to be of only two ways. Going to the Metros or overseas. The interest in Chris was there before he went down with his injury and thankfully he's jumped right back into the swing of things and is showing he's still the player of old. Chris is at the age where if he stays on with MLS then this will be his final resting place, however if he wants to jump across the ocean then here is his chance, which I think he will take since there is still interest from a few Div.1 clubs in England and also Scotland.
I thought that was somewhat odd myself. Even in the matches where we looked like total crap and we walked away with nothing, I still found myself always praising the defense. Sure we looked bad at times but even during our times when Jolley and Pope were absent our defense still looked fairly solid and fluid. Only thing I wouldn't of touched on our squad was the defense..funny how it turned out to be the first thing that was tinkered with.
Yeah, get the feeling people would think it is OK to trade Walker if it gets us 50 K less in salary on the deal to use on players we can't find easily.
If you're suggesting we could trade Jonny Walker for a better goalkeeper and get 50k more to spend, well, geez who wouldn't do that? Hello? Bonseu is better than (at least as good as) Jolley, and he's cheaper. The only argument against this trade is that Bonseu is a SI. You cannot sneer at 50k more in MLS. It can be difference between having a crap player (making 30k) and a very good player (making 80k). It's like upgrading from Jeff Moore to Jesse Marsch.
But Jeff Moore hustled. . . .He was a little Rhett Harty. . . . Jolley was a nice player to have, and at 75k, I doubt he would have been moved. But Bonseu is an upgrade and can play wide or center for us. Bob knows him, likes him, wanted him. I say its a good move to bring in more players with that mentality, we now have Pope and Bonseu who have worked under Bob. One more addition and our backline could be incredibly solid, knock on wood. When considering that Gueverra is a more then solid two way player and Clark is a maturing and more then capable defensive midfielder, we have a nice core to build around.
Just curious how many times the great Bonseau has made the MLS all star team compared to Steve Jolley's. This would be a good indicator as to who is the better fullback as some seem to think Bonzeau is better than Steve and also somehow makes less money.
When the allstar team comes down to a fan vote like it has in the past it is not surprising Jolley made it so many times. I'm not saying Jolley didn't deserve it, but the Metros fanbase does show up when it comes to votes.
Give me a break. 2 or 3 years ago Olsen made it without playing one game. That should be the last denominator in comparing two players. Akwari? Did he honestly do anything to deserve staying in his minutes last year? Has he been playing in Columbus' horrendous backline? No. So who cares. We got Leitch out of it, who was surprisingly good in the second half of the year.
We actually did not get Leitch for Akwari. We got Leitch (and Matteo) for Ross Paule. Akwari and our 2004 2nd round pick were traded to the Crew in a draft day deal to acquire a 2003 2nd round pick. That pick was used on Tim Regan. So essentially, the trade was: Akwari and a 2nd round Superdraft pick for Tim Regan.
I could be wrong but, wasn't Jolley picked for the all star team both times and NOT voted in? I thought the fans only voted for the starters?
from the 2001 allstar voting ballots.... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/mls/2001/allstar/news/2001/07/16/voting_results/ looks like back than Bonseu got more votes than Jolley. Defenders (3) 1. Eddie Pope (D.C. United) 26,886 2. Carlos Llamosa (Miami) 22,191 3. Mike Petke (MetroStars) 14,262 4. Mike Clark (Columbus) 12,680 5. Pablo Mastroeni (Miami) 12,544 6. Tenywa Bonseu (Columbus) 11,634 7. Craig Ziadie (D.C. United) 11,484 8. Carey Talley (D.C. United) 10,741 9. Ansil Elcock (Columbus) 10,606 10. Steve Jolley (MetroStars) 10,533
http://www.mlsnet.com/special/allstar/2003/as0709roster.html This is 2003's selection process. The 16 players were elected through voting by (a) fans, (b) media, (c) players and (d) coaches and general managers with each representing 25 percent of the final tally.