I paused on him when making my off season recap post because I knew we hadn't re-signed him but didn't find anything on him signing with the Monarchs or anywhere else. He takes roster spot #30 so I guess that means we're passing on Rossi.
I paused on him when making my off season recap post because I knew we hadn't re-signed him but didn't find anything on him signing with the Monarchs or anywhere else. He takes roster spot #30 so I guess that means we're passing on Rossi.
We've had some real head scratchers this off season: this, Portillo and Chang. I don't see any of them making the squad better
I would have preferred taking a flyer on the other guy that hasn't played in a couple years instead of Luke but, what can you do?
What are your thoughts about competition among the pool of players who play forward? On the surface, it looks like a lot of quality competition left and wasn’t replaced to the same level.
Are you including wingers as forwards? Damir? I'm going to believe the team when they say Johnson wasn't healthy lots of last year. He scored at a pretty good rate when he started. I'm not concerned about losing Plata, pretty sure several players could replicate his production. Lennon is probably best as a wingback, so does she count? Bofo, I'm mixed on. I think his production is easily replaced by a few different players. He was predictable, but he drew fouls and usually made an impact. Sava, I don't know if we can replace his production with just one player, maybe Meram. I don't know if we should expect much from Ramirez, at least not early on. We didn't see Martinez much with the first team last year, so who knows. Iloski could be Baird all over again. The younger homegrowns might not be ready this year. I was hoping to see Rossi on the team, even if he's only 75% of his best days, it's more competition. My point was I think there's several new players that are good enough that the returning players can't take it easy in practice/training. Everyone will be pushing each other to be better as nobody should be content not making the 18. Who did I forget about?
THE SPECIAL INGREDIENT!!! LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE! Play the man. He makes good things happen and they say his biggest knock is that he doesnt link the field... well, we bypass the midfield all game anyways. Besides, he hustles like crazy. Our record is really good with him on the field. Spice up that RSL taco with a bit of Mullholland sauce baby!
Yes, I consider wingers and Damir as playing forward in the attack. Also Lennon. I don’t think he has a good future at wing, but that’s where he ended up again after Herrera moved to RB. Johnson isn’t an addition to the roster, so I am not considering him in the analysis of the roster changes. I agree with you that the new guys will compete and push the starters. But so did the guys who are gone, and until it’s proven to me otherwise I think those guys pushed the starters more than the new guys will in 2020. So, I’m not considering our roster moves in this group to be upgrades or to make the roster deeper than it was compared to last season. If anything, I consider them to probably lower the floor, and with the exit of Savarino the ceiling is almost certainly lowered. That said, these guys might surprise. Meram certainly is a solid addition, and quite possibly will be a starter. I don’t see him bringing the goal finishing talent that the roster desperately needs. We’ll see. I’ll begin the season with a healthy skepticism though. As far as the defense is concerned, I do agree with you that the roster moves should make the training sessions more competitive and deepen the roster. The big unknowns in all of this are the specific formation and tactical changes Freddy is implementing...if any. It could be that some of the guys we let go simply did not fit in his plans and the new guys do. If this proves to be the case then the roster moves look better to me.
Preseason schedule: 2/15 4 pm Sporting KC 2/19 4 pm Houston Dynamo 2/22 7 pm Phoenix Rising FC All three games will be broadcast on the KSL streaming app.
I don't know that it's a big deal, but we're 1) the last MLS team to play a preseason game, by a large margin in some places, and 2) we have the fewest preseason games.
https://www.rsl.com/post/2020/02/08/real-salt-lake-closes-out-third-week-scrimmage In the scrimmage info posted on the team website, it sure looks like they'll still be playing a 4-2-3-1. I was hoping for something different, but formation doesn't always indicate tactics. Maybe we'll see some attacking soccer reminiscent of the second half of the 2017 season. I'd be ecstatic to see 3+ guys with 10+ goals this season. I'll be surprised if the team doesn't get more than 11 goals and 10 assists (from the new players) that Sava, Bofo, Plata and Lennon provided. There's Chang, Iloski, Meram, Ramirez, Ruiz and Martinez (only 64 minutes last year). Anything from Arriaga, Garcia, Schmitt and Vazquez is gravy.
Yes. He’s one of the wings that we lost during the off-season. My post was mostly about comparing training contributions from the guys we lost to the new additions to the roster.
Honestly I think adding Luke, Portillo, and Chang is an indictment of how much faith our FO has in the academy. I'd be surprised if they combine for 8 appearances this season. We really couldn't find any young players in our academy to put at the end of the bench? Like, we really didn't consider Tanner Dieterich worth a look? The captain of the best teams in the NCAA who was near the top of the country in assists, who is 21, and has YNT experience? He's less worth a minimum salary contract than Portillo? I don't think Dieterich is a star but at least he has some upside.
I see your point, but at the same time, more than a third of the roster is eligible to play in the Olympics, and we have players aged 17, 18 (two), 19 (two), 20, 21, and 22 (four). I don't think getting that percentage to 50% does too much for us unless they are superior talents.
For all of you saying that we had the best offseason ever... I think the game today put that analysis in the waste bin. We looked like a backward passing, hopeful ball chucking, italian soccer with 2 walls, desparate, inept, unconnected pile of mucous piss. And that was before Toia nearly assisted Russell. Please tell me that isnt what I have season tickets to this year. We lost our best player, our legend goalkeeper, a number of budding youth, and some creative attacking skills. We didnt replace our roster with anything but very unproven youth and vets who were not wanted elsewhere. If you think our GM is a magician... welp, he wasnt able to deliver on top tier talent, and we continue to play a style of soccer that baffles the mind. I expected a lot more out of freddy. Disappointing... as we have come to expect for half a decade under deloy. Here's to hoping this was just one terrible preseason game and that SKC is the class of the league and we managed a tie against them. It didnt look good to say the least.
I said the off-season movements exceeded my expectations. I also watched the pre-season game and yes it looked pretty bad. Still think we need to reserve judgement. We had mixed lineups in both halves with "first choice" and Monarch players. We had players playing different positions with Glad at outside back and Herrera at winger (I think). Didn't see Ramirez and with no Sam we had zero speed up top. I'm not about to forecast our entire season off of one experimental pre-season opener.
So, the game sucked and RSL sucked. It's only a preseason game and of course, RSL sucked. The team hasn't been playing anything approaching high-level soccer for over three months. If this was the 5th game of the season, then I would be worried, but the preseason, fugetaboutit.
Yeah I'm wondering what's going on with Sam. He hasn't played in any of the scrimmages this preseason; the only player on the roster, I think, to not get any playing time. Yet, we're playing non-rostered Rossi in almost all of them? Very interesting.