ever since we moved into sporting park, it's always something with the turf. this year, i've seen more players slip than i can remember. it's inexcusable.
Andy Gruenenbaum said in the post game after the Red Bulls game that the turf in Sporting Park is always slippery. After a winter and a few days of being watered it's even worse.
DC. Opare has stepped in for the injured Birnbaum and he's doing OK. They have a lot of depth. Miazga has done a good job for RNY as well.
I'm not convinced that Opare is a that good, I think it's showing the player Boswell still is. Miazga is good but I'd not be overly confident with him as my third CB either.
Well, that really really sucks. Hopefully Ike hangs in there. I wish we had another amazing CB, but let's look at what we do have now. EPB, Anibaba, Ellis. Anibaba into CB, Dia back on the right?
Sorry to hear about Opare's injury being so serious. He was having a first-team all-league dominant year. Never like to see that.
Well, I'd move Anibaba to CB and get farmer Brown and Dia in the fold, praying they can compete. Though, I'm willing to bet Seth can play right and do so just fine. That solves the Seth/DeJong problem.
Even RSL has a pretty good set up this season with Olave, Schuler and Vasquez who played against KC and fared pretty well considering it was his first ever MLS game. Then again, it could also suggest that we're sacrificing offense for it which was also evident in this game...
Robb and Peter's Shopping/To do list 1. Another starting center back 2. New turf/fix turf 3. Designated Player
Hope not. At least we can hope for one of three. We're not going deep in the playoffs with Anibaba or Ellis at CB. Anibaba will be good at RB until Chance is ready though.
Either EPB at CB and Anibaba at RB - or - Anibaba at CB and Dia at RB. Probably the latter since Myers is close to coming back now. I wouldn't mind seeing EPB in there, I think he's a lot better than people give him credit for. So awful for Ike. I feel like the season just got a whole hell of a lot longer.
Can we turn 6'4" Saad Abdul-Salaam into a center back? Is he getting regular playing time in San Antonio?
I'm pretty nervous about Myers actually. PV said yesterday it will probably be at least June before he's game ready so they'll need "emergency" cover in the back until then. But the uncertainty of what Chance will actually be is pretty unsettling. What if he's not really close to the Chance of old? I'm just not comfortable (yet) with the assumption that things will be better when he's back.
Getting one of these isn't that far fetched. Just for a thought experiment, has the DP position need changed at all? Where would you like a DP?
I would like a holding midfielder, winger, center back in that order. Center Back would be controversial. The club would have some tough decisions to make. But having a really solid back four might be the most cost effective method of keeping the team in the hunt long term. I also saw on the KC Star video last week that Espinoza is a DP, but that if and when we make a DP acquisition this summer one of our DP's would be bought down with allocation money.
Nervous too, but I am more worried about the center back situation than right back. Anibaba has been good there and the back four has been getting more and more connected, even drawing RSL offsides a few times last Saturday. Where we had problems this year and last year is when we had weak link like Dia or Igor and then other three were scrambling to cover down. Everything has seemed more organized as of late. Opara has gone forward and you see Carrasco or Espinoza tracking back to fill in. I like Ellis better at CB than RB. So I would prefer Anibaba to stay put and I like his height and athleticism moving forward.
Yup, I asked Gooch on twitter if this was true and he said yes. Given the willingness to sign RVDV it's probably just a cap shell game thing so I didn't really sweat it.
That's interesting considering he's not listed on the league site in the latest DP update. http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/designated-players