Tuesday, March 2, 2004 By IVES GALARCEP HERALD NEWS http://www.northjersey.com/page.php...lRUV5eTY0OTQ5NjgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2 "All these positives have helped hide the fact that the Metros are a seriously incomplete squad only a month before their season opener. The team has yet to sign its high-profile forward, is still shopping for wingers and has yet to see the player for whom they traded Steve Jolley" ..... "It's not as if the offense isn't also going to be going through a period of unfamiliarity. Bradley is expected to sign at least one, and as many as four, attacking players before the FIFA-imposed transfer window closes at the end of the month. With so many new players getting used to each other, one can only imagine what the Metros will look like early in the season. No one should be surprised if it isn't pretty"
For the first time ever (since '96) I find myself hard-pressed to get excited for the season opener. No offense to the guy, but driving 2 hours to see players like Wolyniec just isn't getting my blood boiling waiting for opening day.
OK but Guevara, Pope, Clark, Gaven, Walker.....and we don't know if there will be a new striker. FIFA should stand for F### Imbiciles F###up Again.. MLS is beig screwed by the new transfer windows. Hopefully they can put something together in time
i like the added structure the windows provide, and it also makes it easier for us as fans to know when to expect signings, as well as force Bob and the FO to make the signings...but it was retarded of FIFA to pop this on MLS so soon...a little advanced warning would've been nice..
You guys suck. I wish I was as close to the stadium is you guys are. Even two hours would be nice. Get excited, Its another season!
This is a bit like saying "If the playoffs started today" six weeks into the season. Yes, there will be some rushing to get everyone into the team and playing together at the start of the season. However, we had an 8-4-4 start and a 3-6-5 finish. Let's have a good start this year, and a better finish and take some momentum into the playoffs. I'm not worrying about how we start right about now, but rather about how we finish, and that the pieces are in place. They aren't in place yet, but I expect they will be.
I think the most annoying thing so far is Bonseu's absence. If Faria was doing this, he would be killed on these boards. Is the suspicion that Bonseu's visa problems are legit, or is he just engaging in a stalling tactic to avoid the preseason? I hope it is not the latter because if we traded Jolley for a guy whose going to take up an SI slot and act that way, that is pretty upsetting. I don't think Bonseu is that much of an upgrade.
This Wolyniec bashing is tiresome, ands has become the excuse de jeur for not supporting Metro. He scored several key goals for us last season, including one that deserved to be the strike of the year. He's done well in La Manga; the whole team has done well, and I'm glad I bought a season ticket. If we open with the players who have been wearing the shirt in Spain, that's okay with me.
It's okay with me too ... BUT, I'd feel a lot more OK if I knew the plan for our cap room/allocation/SI slot assets. We were paying Howard, Mathis, Moreno, and Pope the max at the beginning of last year, and brought in Guevara just below max level. Well, three of those players are gone. We found a great and cheaper replacement for Howard. Although I wouldn't have objected too strenuously against Moreno getting another shot at a comeback, now that he's gone, we should have even more flexibility. Edgar is gone, opening up another SI slot. We let Jolley go, and his replacement hasn't shown up yet. We clearly have some quality players in the core that no one will quibble with. But we have the opportunity and flexibility to add two or three players at pretty high pay levels, and we're taking our sweet time. I guess the most important thing to remember is that Guevara came in after opening day last year. I'd rather have Guevara a little after the opener than someone not up to that standard a month earlier.
based on some of our previous seasons, i'm excited about almost anything... can't wait for the home opener. as for the transfer window. i think its great. forces the teams to have their players signed before opening day. gives us and players more of an idea of what to expect. let's hope we suck in the beginning of the season...we end up doing better in the long run.
It's been a loooooooong off-season. I think that we all want to get excited about the season, but we're looking for a name(s) to put that excitement upon. In years past, we could just drop the name Mathis and hope that Cleatus would deliver us. It didn't happen, but the hope was always there. We need that type of player. We want as Reggie Jackson said, "The straw that stirs the drink." When you look around the league and see; Donovan & Mullan & Ching, Beasley & Razov & Ralph, Carlos Ruiz & Jones & Kirovski, Twellman & Noonan, Preki & Woolf & Klein, Spencer & Chung & Carrieri, Buddle & Cunningham & Martino, Adu & Convey & Alecko, Kreiss & Rhine & O'Brien. Metro - Guevara & Woly & Gaven? I think only Dallas can match us for a lack of star power. If we didn't include DC & Dallas and were "forced" to pick any 2 guys from this list, we'd be way more pumped.
MLS really needs to start spending more money on players. They need to create more offseason excitement with player signings. All the other sports do it. When you look at the Metros roster this year it brings out a collective yawn. Nothing that creates a buzz.
"All these positives have helped hide the fact that the Metros are a seriously incomplete squad only a month before their season opener." Name me an MLS team that has ever been "complete" one month prior to their season opener? Hell, teams aren't "complete" by any stretch and may not be until well into the season; that's the nature of the league. Yes, there are questions, but someone needs to tell Henny Penny the sky isn't falling. The Metrostars are doing what every team does during pre-season: getting players back into the routine of training, running the rule over prospects, and working to put themselves in the best position they can come the season opener. Even then, there will still be a period where the team needs to shake things out on a week-by-week basis. The season sure as ********** isn't going to be over in one month, it'll only be starting. Hell, for purposes of comparison, the New England Revolution just arrived in the Azores for the start of their annual overseas training trip yesterday and haven't played one match or scrimmage yet. Metro will get things in order. The Magpie
Question in the 7 previous season excluding the first has there ever been a preseason where our roster was set and even resembled the previous years squad. MLS rosters are very volatile especially ours. Obviously last season’s team wasn’t good enough and Bob is trying to find the right mix of players that he likes and that he thinks will win. MLS doesn’t allow for large squads and there are no reserves to draw from so every preseason is like starting from scratch with teams having to find replacement in a short amount of time.