Most on here knew our CBs weren’t up for it before the season started. Birnbaum has lost multiple steps, Williams is a depth piece, Pines is highly inconsistent, BHI is damaged goods, and Palsson is more of a 6. I mean, we trotted out a 16 year old the first week. Who does that? I’d much rather have a quality CB than O’Brien.
100%. Rooneys friendship with Birnbaum made for a poor business decision. There were journeyman CBs we could have made plays for in the offseason to have a servicable back line.
There is speculation in other threads that Rooney will leave at the end of the season and Carl Robinson has arrived as his probable successor. I can't imagine a long tenure here for Rooney, what with his family being back in the UK. But apparently Robinson's dream is to someday manage Wales. It's a bit hard to imagine DC United being a stepping stone to a national team manager, but hey...
Attaching himself to Rooney provides one hell of a positive endorsement in UK circles... Especially if the team is adequate this season before launching to glory under Robinson!!!
Just another way of saying it's hard to imagine DC winning, because if they did that it's easy to imagine Robinson being offered Wales. I feel confident Robinson will be an MLS manager next season, either here or in Toronto where he played. If Toronto doesn't have a good season, Bradley will be gone, they've spent too much money to suck.
If we update that for today... ¡Esta noche tenemos que pérdida! But we have a nice new stadium - mind the falling railings...
Klich has been as good as advertised: No central midfielder in MLS this season has created more chances than @Cli5hy - 12 🎯| @dcunited | pic.twitter.com/znbv64yWxs— PFF FC (@PFF_FC) March 23, 2023
Very complimentary pice on O'Brien from an English writer at The Athletic (Paul Taylor, the Nottingham Forest beat writer): The Lewis O’Brien story: High praise, bad luck and a happy ending at DC United https://theathletic.com/4336576/2023/03/23/dc-united-lewis-obrien/ For those who don't subscribe here are a few chunks of it: "...though the circumstances that led to O’Brien playing MLS are certainly unusual, what is not in question is that the league has inherited a young player with all the attributes to be one of the best players in the league." "When asked, long-serving Forest midfielder Ryan Yates encouraged his head coach to sign O’Brien, having gone toe to toe with him in the Championship. Forest wanted midfield players who could run with the ball and swiftly transition defence into attack. In O’Brien and Orel Mangala, who was signed from Stuggart for £12million, the club’s recruitment team felt they got exactly that. "'Lewis is a great ball carrier, he has a good engine and is great technically. He is tactically good as well,” said Cooper after O’Brien’s arrival. “Lewis is driven to do well.'" "His stats, when compared with other players in Europe’s top five leagues over the past year, demonstrate O’Brien’s qualities as a high-energy, versatile midfielder. His average of 3.24 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes puts him in the 80th percentile among his peers, his 2.00 progressive carries has him in the 79th percentile and his 1.08 successful take-ons puts him in the 75th percentile. His 2.0 blocks per game put him in the 97th percentile and show that he is useful out of possession as well." But it sound like there's little chance we'll be able to keep him: "DC United have an option to make the move permanent — but that is a requirement when MLS clubs take players on loan and it is regarded as an unlikely prospect at Forest."
Taxi is getting better, but I wouldn't put him in on a cold field too soon. I'm looking forward to when O'Brien and Taxi and Klich can be on the field together. Probably by mid April
Was Taxi injured or was this a PR holiday? Anyway I think a more fruitful way to talk about DC is to compare this year with teams above the playoff line (even slightly) last year. All this talk about last year is rather pointless. Are we a playoff making team? Is anyone really satisfied with being better than last year and missing the playoffs?
We’re a team that wants to play out of the back but kind of don’t have the players to do it. Birnbaum can only pass to the keeper or his partner or it’s a turnover. Canouse is similar. They don’t make mistakes in general is about the best I can say for them with our build up. NE easily forced the long ball, and I was pleasantly surprised when DC did just that. Don’t force what’s not working and use the big fella up top. To me, they don’t have the midfield or CB’s to play out from the back consistently. I like that they become pragmatic and look for other ways, like long switches from Williams to Ruan when Jones is upfield. That’s good, but if they want to play it on the ground from the back they need different players.