Roster are now frozen for 2015. Time to start thinking about next year... 2013: Suazo 2014: Jones 2015: Drogba 2016: ??????
Screw you and your annoying raccoon. () That is Ruiz-level nonsense. Admittedly, he would fit a major need, but f*ck that racist asswipe.
I'd rather have Collins John play at CB than have John Terry play there. I'd also pay a monkey a thousand dollars to kick him in the balls.
Let's see, 2016 will bring more of same head scratching players no one has heard of who will be talked up and underwhelm yet again. Oh yeah, and Yallop will try at least a dozen more defensive line groupings and still settle on a successful one.
I doubt Chelsea would give up Terry at the January window because they need him this season. Bringing him in July would be somewhat useless because chances are we are out of the playoff race again.
Maybe a controversial opinion, but I don't think our line up is really bad enough to be in last place with a coach who isn't a potato. So I'm going to base this whole post on the wish that Yallop is gone next year and we have a competent coach. With forwards we have two younger guys in Kennedy and Gilberto who have actually looked rather good together from what I've seen (though that may have been the game I convinced a bunch of friends to try Malort so my perception could have been skewed), an injury ravaged Magee, a Johnson, and Accam and Nyarko out wide. So depending on if the new coach wants to go a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 (those are the only 2 formations in soccer, right?) we can have KI and Gilberto up top, or KI/Gilberto flanked by Nyarko and Accam. Given the injury records of Nyarko and Accam though I would like to get a solid wide player who can play either flank as cover - basically how Douglas Costa covers for Robben/Ribery. I'd also like Magee to take either a substantial paycut or have some injury clauses thrown in his contract to free up some cap space - 400k (brought down with funny money) is too much to pay for not even half a season. Midfield I think we're actually pretty good with Shipp, Stephens, Cocis, and Polster. If 4-3-3, middle three of Polster-Shipp-Cocis/Stephens, if 4-4-2 middle two of Shipp-Polster with Accam and Nyarko out wide. Or get real fancy with 4-2-3-1 and have Polster and Cocis/Stephens in the pivot, Shipp in the whole, and KI/Gilberto/Magee up front. So many fun options. And then we can tell Ritter to sod off (or send him to St. Louis) and get some cover for DM (or if we fix our defense problems then just move Big Red back there). Matt Watson can also go to a farm somewhere. I haven't seen much of Collin Fernandez but I've heard he's pretty good; good enough to do back up for Shipp? And then we get to defense; haven't seen much from Harden or Cyrus, no idea how good they are so let's see a few games before we start chopping heads, but really everyone on the back line bar Jones should be depth and nothing more. If we're going to use our Maloney-shaped DP slot anywhere, I'd say give it to an all-star, class A defender. And then use our likely #1 draft pick on a CB/RB. With that, I think we'd at least be set for playoffs - with a good team chemistry, could maybe push further. If nothing else, that's a pretty young team so we'd at least have some consistency for the next few years (or at least until every player on our squad that's worth a damn goes to Europe). It'd also be relatively cheap (within Andy's budget constraints). tl;dr version: None of this will happen because we're probably stuck with Potato for another year and will finish in last no matter who gets brought in.
Far from being a controversial opinion, I think you have described things fairly accurately overall. Well said.
Could we improve the forward line? Yes, absolutely. Should we? No, I don't think so. I've argued this before and people got mad at me, but I'm tired of the whole squad changing every offseason. The attack is good enough to get us in the playoffs. Fix the defense, make the playoffs, then improve the attack in 2017 to challenge for the title. Don't try to go first to last, it almost certainly won't work; the constant squad turnover is one of the problems of the club. Another massive turnover isn't going to fix it. Accam-Gilberto-Igboanike ------------Shipp------------ -------Cocis--Polster------- Jones--???----???------??? ------------???-------------- Ship Larentowicz, Nyarko and Magee away. Between the three of them they might have one or two good seasons left but they are all going to be over 30, and two of the three have ongoing injury problems. In return figure out the back line. It may be Gehrig, it may be Harden, it may be Cyrus, but I tend to doubt it will be all three of them... We need a solid veteran CB and probably a RB. I would get a big money DP CB. I have often said in the past it would be a waste of money, but on this team, it may well be necessary. With Sean Johnson likely trying to go to Europe, we may be in need of a goalkeeper as well. Also, with that front line, we're in need of a fitness and training staff who actually know what they are doing. I don't doubt that Accam's injury problems are at least 50% him not getting proper rehab and being forced to play before he's ready so that Frank can get his paycheck for another week. Backups are sort of whatever in this league, but if we cut the three I listed, we'll need forwards at least. It'd be nice if one of our young midfielders could step up, but I tend to doubt it (Fernandez, Bryce, Ritter) ???---Johnson---??? ---------???----------- ----Stephens-???---- Doody-Gehrig-Adailton-Palmer
The attack is potentially decent, but not up there with the top teams. I like Gilberto but he is no Martins or Keane. That is fine, and I agree with Sal that I would leave it be and let them play together -- with the giant assumption that one or more of them don't want out at the end of the year (See, JumpaHoo). We all agree the defense is bad. With the exception of Jones (assuming he will stay), I'd be up for any changes/upgrades possible. Where I think the original analysis by the Brocialist goes a bit off the rails is midfield. Shipp, Stephens, Cocis, and Polster is very pedestrian at best. Shipp has slid back this year, Polster shows promise but is not exactly pushing the MLS Best XI yet and Stephens and Cocis are okay. At this stage in all of their careers, I would look at all four as depth players first and maybe one or two of them starting. Perhaps Polster next to an upgrade Dmid and maybe you give Shipp the chance to start and win a more central attacking position, but I'm less confident on that one than I was a year ago.
I was curious so I looked at the 2104 roster and compared it to today's. The Number of players from the beginning of the season in 2014 to today is 10 (2 of them are goalkeepers). We have become worse with turnover. Will Yallop do it again?