Nuge! No Damani Ralph in this one. Speculate away. Before anyone decides to declare our season over because we didn't score in another preseason match, no Razov, no Faria, no Mapp, no Beasley. Later, COZ
Mike Scratch Fever Lives! Fire Lineup 1st Half Fire Lineup 2nd Half A couple things: - If this lineup from the Fire is to be believed, CJ played 90 minutes in midfield. - I think it's telling Futagaki played 90 minutes. And absolutely amazing. i made a comment at the draft that that could turn out to be a real steal so low in the draft, after I had seen him play for UCLA a few times. Hope he makes the final cut. - After some thought, the #1 reason we're probably not scoring goals is forward chemistry. Woly and Jacqua had never even heard of each other much less played together a few weeks ago. At least Razov and Faria will have seen each other play and be familiar with each other's style, or in Woly and Razov's case, played together. - Have a feeling a couple players (Boca, DaM, Mapp) are either with the nats or got the day off. I dunno. We'll see.
I said the same thing back in the Draft thread. I still wasn't sure he was going to make the cut, but 90 minutes this late in preseason is very telling. We haven't seen Jacqua play yet so we can't really judge. If you want to speculate though, I think he may be off to a slow start. I think Ralph has had more looks up front up until now. We haven't heard a lot of positive comments coming out (i.e. Logan Pause). But it's just preseason. Everything is speculation now. Andy Williams played a full 90 too. I think he is going to stick, like it or not.
Also, it's looking like maybe Leighton O'Brien didn't pan out, seeing as how he hasn't played in the last three preseason games. I didn't see anything official about him leaving camp. Later, COZ
Agreed. It definately looks like he and AW were fighting for the same spot and the decision has been made. note: looks can be deceiving (but in this case I doubt it)
Or Armas. BTW... am I the only non Woly fan around? I mean, we've seen him on and off for a few years now, and I am consistently underwhelmed. He's ok, and seems to be a nice enough guy... but umm... I liked our next #22 a lot better.
Well, he's certainly no starter, but he's a hard worker, and a dependable substitute. And he knows this team and has more or less been around or nearby through all the changes and injuries and such the past year or two. That's more than you can say for a lot of players.
Of course, there's that whole hardly-ever-scores-any-goals thing. By your reasoning, I don't see any reason that I couldn't play for the Fire. I'm a hard worker. I'd be dependable. I know this team and have more or less been around for the entire five years of this team's existence. I bet my spring training goal production could have been on par with Woly's. If I took off a couple pounds, I'd be the more likely to get a fashion photo spread too (like Chicago magazine... not the New York Times mag... just had to clear that up). At this new juncture in the Fire's existence... with all the new faces... he's just one old one that I'm really not all that interested in seeing again. I'm one of those people who is very excited about all the changes. I was getting so bored with Bradley and his predictability. I don't feel that this team needs old, reliable standbys anymore. I had hoped that left with Bradley. Of course, we don't need unreliable standbys either. I just think we need to let Woly go and quit toying with him. Let him be an A-League star someday instead of a guy we call up on occasion. Same goes for "Chicken Chest" Magee.
With regard to Woly, are we really going to carry six forwards? By my count, we've got Razov, Faria, Selolwane, Jacqua and Ralph before we even get to Wolyniec. And both Nugent and Swenda are hanging around, although one of them probably won't make the team. If he can prove he's good enough to be our #3 or #4 forward, then definitely, sign him. If not, we may be better off with one of the young guys. Later, COZ
I've only seen Woly and Jacqua play in one game, but they looked interchangeable - but perhaps Jacqua is just slow to develop, although wasn't he a whizz for the U-23's?
Shutout 4 games in a row. I'm not panicking yet but I'm not happy with Jaqua or Williams or the offense at all. Faria and Razov better produce once they get in there.
Kinda like that bum Wolff, huh? But seriously, I'd like to know why we're not getting goals. Is it 100% the forwards' fault? If so, they're all bums then and we should get rid of the lot of them now and start over. Is it the midfield's fault for not getting the ball to the forwards? Ronaldo would have a tough time scoring if he never saw the ball. For anyone who has seen these games, what's our damage here?
"From the technical end we just have to be more of a dangerous team in the final third of the field and at creating chances at goal." OK, it's the forwards' fault. So cut everyone but Razov and Faria and start over. "I think defensively during this preseason we've been fairly solid and we've broken down in the attacking part." Translation: "We're 1973 Arsenal". Beautiful.
Are you suggesting that we cut Dipsy because he hasn't produced on a broken leg and a dislocated ankle? And we are to cut Damiani Ralph, a promising rookie and our leading scorer in preason? And we should cut Nate Jacqua, our first pick, without even giving him a chance to succeed? I can see there is a lot of data to argue for or against Woly, but everybody else is either injured (where have we heard that before!) or a rookie. Swenda is a later round pick so if he isn't doing anything maybe he should go too and I don't know if Nugent has ever done anything. But I would think you have to have at least a go with Razov, Faria, Selolwane, Ralph and Jacqua. I don't want to be boring, boring Arsenal either but I don't think it's time to scrap our rebuilding plans and start over. We aren't the Bulls.
No, I was gently and subtly making fun of Iceblink's reasoning that we should get rid of Woly "because he never scores goals". Little do people remember that in his last stint with us, Woly was on par with a healthy Wolff before Long John got traded. In fact, he saved our asses against Columbus when Wolff couldn't score in a whorehouse with a fistful of $50s. And this was despite the fact that Bob Bradley was trying to force Woly to play Razov's game when that's just not his style. All that said, yeah, Woly ain't Ruiz let alone Michael Owen but still, give the guy a chance before crapping on him. We need a solid backup plan at forward. I think Woly can fit that bill.
I agree. I have been saying all along that our depth is not good. These are the guys that may have to play for extended lengths of time (you know how our injuries have been lately) but aren't showing much YET. I know its early, but being shut out 4 games in a row and only scoring 5 in 8 games (and three of thise were against teenagers) doesn't bode well. We wil just have to wait and see. I'm a fan, but realistic. Comments on some of the other posts in this thread: 1. I also am glad that Bradley is gone. 2. I think the problem is not (chemistry) but like I said, lack of (talented) depth, especially midfield. Even without chemistry, you should be able to produce even ONCE in a while.
Gotcha. Must have been too subtle for my pea brain. But essentially I don't think we can condemn our Forwards yet because we haven't really seen them play yet. We definately have some weakness and depth problems in the midfield. Sounds like Logan Pause is giving us a little more depth though. My understanding is that Pause is a d-mid type like Armas or Marsch. So if you made a depth chart we are probably pretty well stacked at that one mid position (1. Armas, 2. maybe Pause 3. Marsch). Depending on what formation we end up in (and I think it will be 4-4-2) we probably are still lacking a decent option/backup on the right and attacking. On paper we are stacked on the left (1. Beasley 2. Mapp). Will Mapp be ready sometime this year to move into a starting role? Will Beasley be able to run the a-mid position? Who knows, but we may find out. Still a gaping whole on the right though. Gaping. Who will be there??? Whitfield might be the best option now. Don't know.
Um... not really. I'd rather have Woly. If Wolff tried half as hard as Woly, he'd be three times the forward he is. I'm still pissed off at Wolff for playing half-assed every time a nats or olympic match was coming up in the somewhat-near future. He has the potential to be great... and I hope he is for the nats, but I got tired of him quickly after his stellar supersub season in 1998.
Fair enough. Although Wolff's plan did get him to Korea, after all. I agree with you that Woly is not be a starting forward as long as Razov and Faria can play but we need depth and Long John is a good MLS journeyman level player, he's healthy and he's affordable. I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't make the squad. If that happens, some A-League team will snap him up.
You're a dork. It's not like Wolyniec is some strange player we've never seen before. He's played plenty of games for the Fire. We know him. We've seen him lope around the field like a big giraffe. He's scored a couple goals for us... but not enough to be one of our veteran forwards. That's what he'd be, really, if we signed him completely. If we do sign him, I hope he proves me wrong... but I've been unimpressed with him in general over the past few years... And I'm starting to think that our coach gets all starry-eyed every time he sees a tall guy. I'm sure someone said, "You've got to get rid of Billy Walsh," and Sarachan said, "But... but... he's so tall!"
I guess... wasn't worth it to me though. Anyway, I'm not upset that Wolff is gone. You probably get that sense. I wish him luck (except against us)... and hope he scores 11,003 goals for the national team... but I lost a lot of respect for him. Other players worked hard for their club teams in addition to the national team. I think it's his best chance for real success. Right now, our rookies from just a couple years ago are our veterans. But at least they were pretty damned good rookies. I know we didn't have Woly as a rookie... but we've seen him for a few years... I won't scream and yell and be upset if we end up signing him... but not over a new guy who has the potential to develop into something great... not just continue to be something that'll do in a pinch. I'd rather make Berwyn's dreams come true and re-sign Jamar Beasley. He had some issues, but I think he's twice the forward Woly is.