Yeah, we'll see. I really liked what I saw from him in Seattle, he was definitely making a lot of deep runs and he has pace. He's a lot more likely to be played through to the endline than Gressel. I think he'll play it as if he were an attacking fullback in a back four, and I think that works, balance wise. Sweet left foot with the big curl, harkening back to Taylor Kemp. I think he'll be an excellent fit.
Smith deal is official for $750,000 Garber Bucks and a 10% sell on fee to Seattle if Smith is sold outside of MLS.
I am honestly on the happier side of things right now. I am not at all sad Arriola and Paredes are gone, and frankly I hope we move Kamara and Skundrich and Perez too. We need a midfielder with energy who can control the midfield, plus Smith, plus 2 of the forward options we have been linked with and I think we might actually have a chance to break the redline this year. Losada has to remove himself from what he was given to the greatest extent possible, the team wasn't capable of the playoffs and not a single player on the team was irreplaceable. Hell, if someone wants to take Hamid for a million garber bucks let's ********ing goooooo.
Well it is nice they have made one of the two of us happy. Frankly I have no issue with the Arriola or Parades deals. Both make sense. But as I said in the other thread I have zero faith that good replacements, that fit Losada's system, will be brought in. We will get the typical garbage we usually get. Some guy who scored 23 goals in Panama but will not be able to translate to MLS.
Right now I am not concerned with goals so much. No one wins MLS Cup or performs at the top level by scoring a lot of goals alone. As much as people claim Losada is a weirdo who doesn't care about defense, that's not true at all. He knows it matters. He's smart. We need a team that can at the very least keep the ball active and purposeful around midfield and in our opponents half more than we used to. I'd rather be sitting on 45-38 goals for/against with a 7 goal differential like Atlanta than the 56-54 shitshow, where 7 of those goals was one outlier game anyway.
🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚DC United are in talks to sign Yan Dhanda, though they face competition from multiple League One sides.[Sky Sports] pic.twitter.com/vbX2PKK6C8— Only Swans (@onlyswanss) January 27, 2022
I've been very intrigued to see what Losada's preferred line-up was. Last year we almost unanimously played with three central defenders, two wing backs, and two central/defensive/holding midfielders. Most of the time we then had two wingers and a striker up top. But occasionally (particularly whenever Skundrich was in), the top three was more like a central midfielder with two forwards in front of him. If that is Losada's preferred line up and they spend the money on the right guy - an attacking midfielder who can cover a lot of ground, control the game up top, deliver the killer pass, and pop in some goals as well, it could get interesting...
I'll never forget Branko Boskovic's no look pass to set Lewis Neal for the goal against the Columbus Crew that got us into the playoffs. As Dave Johnson put it (to the best of my memory), "Are we going to the playoffs? Lewis Neal says yes!"
Salihi settled, passed it back to Korb(? not sure about that) who played it into space for Branko. The rest is beautiful history.
After he got done screaming "Lewis Neal!" about 27 times. It was definitely DCU's "Aguero-oooooooo" moment. Here's to many more of those in the future . . .
Wolfsburg's a shit show right now. John Brooks is probably out sooner than later. I hate it when USMNT players go to bad situations with expectations that can't be met when surrounded by poor team culture and/or performance.