I violently disagree that Smith is an upgrade. By the end of last season, Paredes was a joy to watch. Smith is a decent mls player. I’m not turning on the tv to see him play. I was planning to to watch Paredes this year. Right now this is a pretty depressing (albeit lucky) team to watch.
Skundrich and Nyeman in the middle of the park sets up any team to struggle, because they’re a partnership, in the most important part of the field, and they’re both horrible so far this year. Canouse fills one of those holes. We need to get to work filling the other hole.
Positives Hamid looks like the best version of himself Najar looked more like he did last year Nyeman's defense was a bit better Smith more involved in offense Negatives No connection between front line and back line. Nyeman and Skundrich are giving us nothing on offense Flores got some opportunities to earn his paycheck and did little with them Press created very few turnovers Both games we have looked vulnerable on corner kicks Estrada not very active up top Gressel injured? I guess if Losada has adjusted his strategy early on due to our thin roster then I'm not totally unhappy. Certainly one critique of last year was that the team wore down at the end and got injured too much. If we are banking points without playing all out then that gives me some hope. The worst case scenario is that Losada-ball only works with full commitment and players like Arriola and Paredes and Moreno and this is now all we are capable of. A roster and manager that don't fit together.
Getting Canouse back will help a great deal. I also think we will see Djeffal supplant Skundrich (and maybe Nyeman) sooner rather than later. Nyeman is playing like he doesn't want to make a mistake, which invariably leads to a mistake being made (see, Pines, Donovan). Djeffal doesn't play that way for whatever reason. Last night, even though down a man, he saw a seam and went forward to support Kamara's run. That led to the foul, free kick and PK. I'm not sure Nyeman would have done that. Sort of like a short-handed goal in hockey.
I hear you. However, I believed that the team was growing last year. Near the end of the season we were seeing the players express the style that the coach was going for. In addition, we started to see developing partnerships within the team and we had a good mix of veteran and youth players. I hoped that we would pick up where we left off with a core of players that understand the coach's plans, and gradually bring in new additions to strengthen the team. We were already going to have a built in refresh with a healthy Arriola, Flores, and Hines-Ike working together in a full preseason. In addition, we were forced to deal with the loss of Paredes (since the player wanted to leave). Instead, it feels like the team was gutted in the off season and now we are starting from square one again. On top of that, we are so depleted that we are forced to rely on players that are probably not ready for starting roles. The only line that seems to have retained any chemistry is the back line. The rest of the team looks like a bunch of individuals running around doing their own thing. The press is poorly organized. We can barely string two passes together. We have lost our identity. All chemistry has been lost. Sure, I can make an argument for why we lost or dismissed each player that left. I get that certain underperforming players were earning high salaries like Reyna and Abila. I also get that it is not always easy to recruit quality players to MLS if you are not LA, NY, or Miami. Maybe new signing (present or arriving) will be great, but new players often need time to integrate. Right now, we do not look like a team and it seems that some of this could have been avoided.
Either could easily look better in front of Canouse. But with Canouse out... ooof. It's like we have no midfield at all. We do still need Skundrich and Nyeman to be backups if we want the team to be an actual playoff contender.
I think there are players available within MLS that would be tremendous upgrades…or were recently. We’ve got a ton of funny money. That’s what I would be looking at. Look at some of the deep teams and see if they’d be willing to sell someone. I doubt he’s available, but you know the player that this team needs? Darlington Nagbe. To my eyes, Seattle has at least one starter-level midfielder too many. Go for one of those. We’d have to wait, but I’ve gotta believe we could pry Luca de la Torre away from Heracles with the right offer. And I’m no expert on world football…I’m sure there are literally dozens of players of that caliber readily available and affordable in Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, etc. My point is, there’s no reason that we have to stand pat and pair Canouse with one of these guys. We can make the playoffs with a central mid with adequate technique. With some luck and a really good #8, we can be a dark horse to win the Cup.
Canouse's return would help, no doubt, but I think we would be much more threatening with a true #10, and that's not Canouse's metier. I would like to see Losada try Flores in that spot, instead of putting him on the front line.
Unfortunately, Flores offers nothing to this side. Which is puzzling, since he’s clearly a quality player. We are a long way from being competitive. With some luck and a good #8, we’re a dark horse to steal the last playoff spot. Barely. The 3-4-3 is set up for Losada ball — a high press and playing out of the back. We’re at least two true forwards short of being able to sustain that for 90 minutes. You could go with a 3-4-1-2 with Flores in the #10 role, but you still need a second forward to pull that off. All of which says nothing about starting at best MLS-depth role players as your dual pivots - which means you can’t play out of the back successfully on a sustained basis. Canouse + Nagbe (or somebody like that), + unknown quantity European DP + another forward gets you to this team’s current ceiling: #8 in the conference and a first-round exit. It’s not that Losada’s system won’t work — for long stretches of last season, it clearly did. Rather, it’s that with this paper-thin roster, it’s unsustainable over the course of a season. I’m thrilled we’re stealing points from the dregs of the league, but that’s where this team is — stealing points from the dregs of this league.
I’ve only seen highlights from the two games so far, so I can’t intelligently say what quality of play they’re exhibiting this year. But, guys, the team is off to a 2-0 start, both of which were clean sheets. The doom and gloom on this thread seem a little weird.
My observation on Yow is he is good and could be great getting forward and putting crosses into the box -- it's just that when he's not doing that, I'm not sure he knows what he is doing.
It's the other 85 minutes that's worrisome. I'm usually pretty optimistic about this stuff. Still am, but we look vulnerable and incapable of imposing our will on the game.
^^^ What GumbyG said! Yes, we are 2-0 but could easily be 0-2 if the ball had bounced a little differently. Neither of those games were convincing wins. And those are two of the weakest teams in MLS. If Losada can't get this team firing on all cylinders, and fast, we're going to see few Ws and a lot of Ls after we hit the tougher part of the schedule.
The teams we played are broken clubs, completely lacking talent and functionally should not exist in the league other than to fill MLS's coffers as part of the typical ponzi. We need to LOOK and PLAY better against teams that are on 17 game losing streaks and won a single game at home last year or an expansion side featuring the likes of Yordy Reyna and a bunch of nobodies.
We play a 3-4-3. There’s no #10 in that tactic. Not to get too pedantic, but that role is a #8. I don’t think Flores has the defensive chops for that role, when you add in how often Najar ends up in the final 25 yards.
Flores is not a #10. He's also not a lot of other things as well. Maybe Djeffal becomes a central part of the double pivot with Canouse, but right now DCU is down one MLS quality DM. I hate to dump on Nyeman, but the kid is out of his depth. Watch the replay highlights, when the ref comes back after video review he shows the yellow and washes it out, Nyeman gestures and says OK and looks relieved. He should know the rules well enough that what gets reviewed is whether or not a yellow should have been a red. A yellow is never reviewed. The kid just isn't ready for prime time. He's thinking too much and not playing.
I don't know if the other central mid the team needs has to be a DM, but a DP level box to box midfielder may be what the team needs most.