Re: 2009-2010 Offseason For the opposition and the bookies, yeah. For the Kopites, well we enjoyed his handstands after lifting another trophy and his wobbly legs in Rome in 84.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason As for Hirsig, I understand Andy's point about his calming influence. But for his size he shouldn't get knocked off the ball so easily. I am never sure if he is diving or if he is that weak in the tackle. A bit more toughness in the tackle would improve his game and allow him to control more of the midfield. He is a little too one dimensional for my taste.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Whatever happened to the flat midfield that we toyed with last season? If we didn't play a 4-1-3-2 (or whatever you would call what we have been using), what would you have us play? 3-4-3? 1-1-8?
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason It feels good to at least ruin DC's season. Lots of excuses from Kevin Payne in this Goff article. There are definitely games in MLS that are unwatchable, but I thought the comment below came closest to expressing my opinion on the matter. What would take MLS up a notch is not everyone playing with 5 forwards, but a higher level of accuracy in passing and better decision-making all the way around. If that means your team can do that by playing direct and physical, great. If you need to be more patient in the buildup, great. Even if you have to put 9 behind the ball, just lower the amount of unforced turnovers and the league will be more entertaining. This offseason, I'd love to see the Wizards concentrate on becoming more organized. Every player should know in detail the specific expectations the coach has for him (and his teammates), and that these expectations are based on the strengths of the personnel we have - not a "style".
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason 3-1-3-3 or 3-1-4-2 The d is a diamond with 3 backs and a midfielder. The midfielder's job is to force the ball towards the LB or RB. Once there you either force a back pass, or a poorly angled cross toward the center back who acts as a sweeper. It is a very offensive defensive system. Like the full court press in college basketball where you go for the jugular and don't even let your opponent attempt any offense. You don't react to what the other team does, you force them to do what you want.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason I guess what I meant is that I would not have a problem if he was left unprotected in the expansion draft. If another team wants to make an offer, prior to that draft, of course, that would be something to consider. Given his salary and his slump, I don't see why he should be considered safe and w/o worry this offseason. (of course his slump will probably nullify interest from other teams)
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason You want to fill out a Wizards starting 11 with that formation? I'm interested to see how you think the backline would line up, where we'd need more help, and who would become surplus goods.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Bingo. Yeah, I think I finally reached this conclusion after several times watching MLS after seeing EPL earlier in the day. Not just better decision making but decisiveness seems to be the difference. Smart options executed without needing to deliberate over it while the defender is closing. Anticipation. And then of course there's the weighting and accuracy which is just done at a different level, that's the only way to describe it. Absolutely, style of play should always be dictated by personnel available. Don Shula won more than 2 out of every 3 games for 32 years based largely on that concept.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason I think Harrington can handle the LB spot. The only requirements are speed and positional discipline. You don't have to tackle, you don't have to win the ball. You only have to keep yourself positioned so that the offensive player either has to take themselves wider or backwards. Winning the ball is the job of the midfield once you force a negative pass, or the center back when you force a bad cross. The other 3 spots I'm not sure we have on the team. We would obviously put Conrad in the center back spot. Would it work? Who knows. So we need the RB and the d mid. As for the line up for the forward bit of the system I think we have serviceable parts in place now. for 4-2 ---------------Kamara----Zoltan --Lopez------Hirsig------Jewsbury-----Arnaud/Meyers with Zusi, Souter and Espinoza backing up. for 3-3 ------Lopez--------Kamara-------Zoltan/Arnaud --Espinoza---------Hirsig---------Jewsbury Zusi, Souter and Meyers backing up. A healthy Cristman can back up Kamara in both. It isn't the awesome complete makeover some would like, but getting a RB and a d mid is a reasonable ask for the offseason. I can see the offense progressing positively with just a full preseason under Vermes as coach.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason If the comparison is to Premier League teams then you also have to look at other factors. They don't exactly go out and buy talent and then pick the way they play based on those players. They have a system, an idea of the style they employ and they bring players in that will compliment this system. If you look at the Arsene Wenger under Arsenal you see all the beautiful football and the quick passing and all that you describe - from almost all players on the field but this took years and years to achieve. When he was still running Dixon, Adams, Bould, and Winterburn across the back Arsenal played a very rigid offside game. Just a handful of years earlier under George Graham Arsenal played a very direct, very physical game and we had battlers in every position. "Boring Boring" Arsenal was the mantra of away fans, and "1-0 to the Arsenal" the chorus of the Highbury faithful. It took generations of players to turn this on its head. Wenger had a plan and a system and only in the last 4-5 years have we really seen the super stylish deft football we see now. Its a product of more than a decade of work, with a coach that doesn't just pick tactics but develops even youth level talent to fit his image. The point is not to kiss Wengers ass, Alex Ferguson is the same way. The point is quality of coaches and TIME. If MLS teams are to start playing spectacular football, we need the quality of coaches to make it happen and we need to time to let them work. Without researves, and the small roster sizes it is hard to see how this truely can happen. Time.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason What's Maykel Galindo's contract status? Preki not starting him against the Galaxy puzzles me, but I'm guessing there was a reason. Give him an incentive-laden contract on appearances and goals, and even if it maxed out at DP money, I think it'd be worth it if he could stay healthy.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Jeff Larentowicz is out of contract in New England. That would be a solid addition at D-Mid.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Thing is, NE holds his MLS rights, the Wizards would have to trade for those rights, there is currently no free agency in MLS although that is apparently one thing the Players Union wants in the new CBA.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason As far as who we let go, shouldn't we be asking, "Who would not terribly upset me to see score against us?"
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason http://usasoccer.blogspot.com/2009/03/mls-team-ages.html Interesting note, we had the 2nd oldest team in the league this year and were very close to being one of the oldest teams in league history. Time to get younger...
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Of course the article then went on to discuss that average team age seems to have no correlation at all to performance. But yeah, Conrad, Wolff, Hirsig and Lopez definitely aren't young.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Neither are Jewsbury, Arnaud, Gomez, Zoltan etc. Davy turns 30 next year. It's not a European 30 with his 4 years in college, but time's a ticking. The problem is, the young guys haven't inspired a whole lot of confidence that they can match our older guys. Bruce Arena went worst to first this year with a ton of old guys, but it was also Omar Gonzalez and Sean Franklin panning out that was just as important.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason What does Lopez' fb post " Me gustaria volver a Racing" mean? EDIT: just translated "I want to go back to Racing"
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason Interesting 1) didn't even realize Lopez had facebook. 2) he is out of contract and wanted to play 1 more year.... I'd be inclined to say let him go if he wants, start letting Espinoza develop on the left wing (or another player)...
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason THIS If Lopez wants out, let him go. Espinoza can get more time there, but I'd also like the team to actually start looking for other left side players as well.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason http://kc.wizards.mlsnet.com/news/t..._id=7712164&vkey=news_kcw&fext=.jsp&team=t105 5 big questions, but the interesting point was in the 4th question. Interesting choice of words about our midfield. So anyone want to guess on what midfielders are on the bubble of leaving KC? I'd say along with Gomez, that Hirsig is on the bubble.
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason If you figure that Hirsig is out then you could also question Souter, as, even though we protected him, we had to protect him (right?).
Re: 2009-2010 Offseason http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20091124&content_id=7712156&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp Season in review article from MLSnet.com. Some interesting comments about all aspects, especially the following from Robb: I am getting real curious to see what happens in the coming weeks......