He was Center Mid at Union Berlin. RSL brought him in to boost the attack. He isn’t a bad defender, but DM is not his best spot on the field. https://www.sltrib.com/sports/rsl/2018/02/07/rsl-signs-center-midfielder-damir-kreilach/
he was very specifically brought in, per the words of then general manager Craig Waibel, to be the box to box midfielder in our 4-2-3-1. That the club hasn't been grilled about this shows the lack of legitimate hard questioning journalism in this area/league.
There aren’t many journalists assigned by newspaper, radio and tv outlets to RSL. They are more interested in maintaining good relationships so that they have access. For the most part this also applies to the independent journalists who cover the team.
Didn’t know where to post this, so I stuck it in this thread. Sometime in the foreseeable the clubs are going to be playing practically the entire year. Dan Hunt, MLS Competition Comittee Chairman, on MLS changing up the schedule to shorten the off-season:“I think you’re likely to see some schedule realignment over the next two or three years to afford a broader competition with the Mexican teams.” https://t.co/tx2F1UbTj3— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) March 5, 2020
Living in Utah, and I'm sure most Northern States can agree, I would not like to be going to games in Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb.
Yeah, this is moronic. Who cares what the Mexican league does. In Europe the Scandinavian leagues don't force their teams to play through the worst month(s), why would we? Can you imagine playing in New York in January? Or Utah? Or Toronto? That sounds awful for everyone involved.
Why do WE have to change? SInce we keep hearing that MLS and the US soccer market is the future of the sport, make the stupid Mexican league change it's schedule to match the MLS, not the other way around.
If they do it, they're either going to risk game cancellations, or have to structure it in a way that makes teams play a lot of road or home games at a time. Seems like it would be an advantage to be a team getting a lot of home games towards the end of the season.
A 20-minute interview with Ted Eck via the link below. It’s the first 20 minutes of the 3/5/20 show. He provides some insight into DLHs vision and how the team integrates Academy players into the ‘system’. Nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed it. http://979espnradio.hipcast.com/rss/the_soccer_guys.xml
I'm going to continue the argument that Kreilach is the natural replacement for Beckerman. We should drop him into the DM with Everton and allow them to roam up from time to time. Both players are dangerous moving forward, which helps makes our attack unpredictable.
I want to see them play together from minute 1 against a decent opposition. This weekend is an ideal time to try it. I don't know how Freddy can do post match evaluation from the NYRB match and not say those two should start there. My fear is he'll say Kreilach still has to start at the 9 because Martinez is gone with Honduras. I'd rather we give a start to Iloski at the 9 or even Rusnak than put Kreilach up there/Besler in the middle
Does anyone have an insiders knowledge on the KB and Rossi injuries? The former is for the better of the squad, but still infuriating from a cap perspective. The Rossi injury is way before all the bets and, in a twisted way, hilarious
On the broadcast Dunny said it was a hamstring strain and insisted it wasn't "serious". Juarez commented on it after the game and said they pushed him too hard in training for better fitness but didn't comment beyond that. For Rossi that is.
Juarez should give it a try, but Kreilach will go forward when he’s supposed to stay back. He can’t help himself.
Wonder if we could make a 4-1-4-1 work. Or, having watched United play on the break so well over the weekend, maybe this 3-2-4-1 is an answer. Thought that just screams that we defend with 5 and attack with 5
Hmmm...that's interesting. On Sat he was playing forward and spent way too much time standing along the backline. The team started out a bit disconnected and you could tell they wanted to play through the middle, but him consistently dropping back very team really hurt the team's ability to build into the attack.
It’s an anomaly. When he came to RSL as a mid the knock was he drifts forward. I still see that in him when he plays mid. When we have him playing forward, he drifts back toward the mid.
He definitely seems most comfortable as a CM/AM who drifts forward. When he should be the CF he constantly drops back, and any other position he seems to drift forward.
He's an attacking mid. Everything about how you and the other describe him is what you would want from your attacking mid. Ball is in a deep position? He drifts back to want it. Ball is advancing? He pushes higher to be the guy to get the ball. Is he a perfect AM? Far from. But I think he would (and has) perform the role better than Rusnak, currently. This creates an issue for Juarez and Fall, though. Suddenly you have a hole at the opposite midfielder position of Luiz. Do we believe KB is fit enough to be there all season? I don't. That is where the club should splash money in the summer, I think. It also makes the winger position a bit of a conundrum. If Rusnak slides to the left, who is first up on the right? Currently it has to be Baird, but what do you make of Meram and Ramirez? The latter, especially, isn't going to be the type of player who enjoys the sub role.
This Roster is just built so weird and it's all because of Rusnak. Well, honestly it's really probably because either the person scouting Rusnak didn't watch enough of his games and see where he drifts or Waibel sucks at his job and signed him to fill the wrong position. We've been looking really good the past two games when Kreilach comes back to CM with either Portillo or Luiz playing DM. Rusnak in my opinion is what's wrong with this team. He's a very weak AM. The problem moving him to the wing though is you then need to bench either Ramirez or Baird and we need them to develop to sell on.
You're saying Waibel couldn't sign players to perform at their expected level and/or position? Man, this is crazy talk...
It's still early but I do think this offseason was completely botched. I'm kind of amazed that we didn't think we needed another midfielder. And we have no free roster spots or international spots so I don't know how we're supposed to add anyone. Also good thing we used an international slot on Ashtone Morgan, so he can play with the Monarchs and we can use Noah Powder as an inverted RW for some reason. And who needs Bryce Duke when you can play Luke Mulholland 90 minutes in USL. I told myself I'd give Elliot Fall a chance but man.
Alvin Jones is using an international slot as well. Super awesome that we're using those slots on backups that will probably see very limited minutes. Also the Duke thing is ridiculous. This club has way too much loyalty to previous vets. I'm honestly a little surprised that Plata isn't still on the payroll because "reasons".