Bradley Article (Info On Ben)

I think what's really interesting about Bradley's report is that Olsen is playing directly behind the forwards, in an attacking center midfield position, with Mastroeni backing him up. I've also heard that yesterday's lineupl, bar injuries, will be the same on Saturday. I like the idea of Olsen creating chaos in the attacking part of the field, pressuring on defense and drawing defenders, to the benefit of Donovan and Mathis with his relentless off-the-ball work.

Any chance this could work for DC? Petke at right back, Reyes at right mid, Convey at left mid, Olsen and Etch in the middle with a defensive mid, and Stewart complementing a striker.

 

DC United were about 75% better last year when Olsen started rounding into form late in the season.

Looking forward to seeing him this Saturday and better yet for DC during the season. Love to watch that guy play.

I'm also saying a special prayer for his ankles.

 

In the latest Olsen interview, Ben talks about playing behind the frontline. While he never really has had that role with DCU (he did briefly when Moreno and Etcheverry were getting national team callups and Antonio Otero was flaming out), I can see it working with a Mathis/Donovan tandem. That pair (Donovan, Mathis) both have excellent close control, are unselfish, hold the ball well. When you have a hyperactive A-mid behind them with quickness and aggression, it takes the pressure off the A-mid to be a schemer and allows you to take advantage of the passing/vision of your 2 strikers. In short, you can get numbers up on the attack very quickly b/c Olsen will hustle and get up quickly (yet still get back and defend), Donovan will bring it, and that forward tandem can hold it (and then spot overlaps) well enough against pressure to allow you to gain a numbers advantage if the opposition doesn't hustle on back to help out.

 

Hmmm...

-----------Rimando
------Ivanov Nelsen Petke
Reyes Kovalenko Etcheverry Convey
------------Olsen
-------Stewart Esk/Q1

Kovalenko doing the dirty work for Etcheverry. Olsen running free. Reyes and Convey picking their spots to get forward, but covering wide. Left feet on the left. This actually looks decent.

Santino, Hristo, Prideaux off the bench.

 

You're starting Esk with Q1 on the bench?

 

I like the look of that one.

 

I like it too...seems to play toward the strengths of more players...particularly Reyes. Although having Dema as the only stopper in the center could cause a little trouble, Ben's work rate may be able to help overcome that.

 

I actually have both listed there (Esk/Q1), but I bet it becomes apparent in camp that Eskandarian can't be kept out of the lineup and that Santino ends up being a sub.

Agree that Olsen and Stewart will both have to track back and play D, but also think that Convey and Reyes would need to be careful about picking their spots. I'd rather have a killer D-mid than Kovalenko, but don't think we've got one.

 

I'd work it this way:

------------Rimando
--Petke-----Ivanov------Prideaux
--------------Nelsen
Reyes-----Etcheverry--Convey
--------------Olsen
------Stewart-------Quaranta

Main def sub: Stokes
Midfield- Dema
Forwards- Hristo & Eski

Notes:

- Etcheverry is listed in central mid because as Cweedchop has noted that's where he plays in a 352.

- We need a d-mid; we can't have all three of Etch, Olsen, and Dema in the center as none of them defend enough.

- Then the fun part: Olsen in the middle really makes it obvious that he, Stewart, Convey, and Q1 too all will interchange freely, especially Benny and Earnie. I would love to see Ben tucked in behind the forwards.

 

I like that lineup a lot, no matter who the second striker is (well, ok, probably not so much if it's Ali Curtis, but otherwise. . . . ). And if you let Bobby, Benny and Earnie all mix and match themselves with creativity -- and the discipline to maintain spacing and ensure that someone's always ready to get back -- I like it even more.

We are shaping up to be a powerhouse soccer team this year. Unfortunately, so are the Scum. A worst-to-first tandem in the East?

 

Quaranta over Eskandarian both for DCU and the Olympics. Pesky is good but Quaranta has world class potential.

 

This is probably deserving of it's own thread (predicted finishes in MLS, prognosis on team) but I think the book is still out on a bunch of teams (Chicago, Columbus, SoS, SJ, possibly Dallas) who may make some major personnel moves between now and openning day.

In the case of the SoS also improving a lot, I beg to differ. I think Mathis may really turn it around (for a variety of reasons, the biggest being that Oz ain't there anymore). I would not be shocked if Moreno has an MVP season. Howard is an incredible GK. Bradley is a great coach. They've got some talent on that team.

And...they have NO depth. They're looking at probably having to fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salary players. And if there is something we know from last year it's injuries happen. Especially when you start talking about players like Moreno and Mathis who have histories of injury over the past 3 years. I rate Chicago and SoS as having the least depth in MLS. The difference is that Chicago dumped most of the players they had who had chronic injury problems(Nowak, Wolff, Stoichkov) while SoS acquired 2 guys (Pope and Moreno) who do have chronic injury issues while trading away a player (Faria) who didn't get hurt often.

And...this team (SoS) still doesn't have an A-mid. They may get Rosas, they may trade for Vaca. But the cap is a huge issue for them in this regard. As we and Chicago know all to well, when you have 3-5 players all making $200K or better on your team, you can't afford many players making above the minimum. So this complicates their plans to acquire an A-mid. And without a strong A-mid (and especially having 2 D-mids--Moore and ABMOD--without strong holding and posession skills), central midfield could become an issue for this team.

And...outside mid was an issue for them in 2002 and by dealing Brad Davis (and cutting Ross Paule) it's still an issue for them. SoS are likely to play Ricardo Clark outside (primarily b/c they don't have outside mids). Lisi will probably play a lot of o-mid for them. Ziadie may see time at O-mid. And we know that (even if you're a big fan of both of those guys), outside mid is not a strong position for either of those players. Cheap o-mids are available in MLS (Villegas anyone?) but I'm not sure they have the o-mid roles settled.

And...Richie Williams is likely to start for them. Richie hustles and plays the destroyer role very well. But we all know he's a limited player. The league has gotten better. He hasn't. And if they don't have a strong A-mid with a high work rate, then Richie's limitations become glaring.

Doesn't mean they can't be a good team. But they still aren't assembled yet (and don't have the cap room to do a lot). Also, FWIW, I rated the SoS as having made the smartest off-season moves last season (by acquiring Serna--who I thought was a better choice than Diallo, drafting Brad Davis, adding Balboa). So maybe that goes to show just how much I know--or maybe how much injuries (and lack of depth) can kill a team.

 

I guess I'm just not sold on Nelsen at D-mid, but maybe you're right re: him being the best of a bad set of choices. I think Dema is a better player than Prideaux though and was trying to find a way to get our best XI out there.

As far as Eskandarian goes, I've just got a feeling. I think he'll score goals immediately.

 

Well you guess is as good as mine also. There are several positions where Hudson could go several ways as you note, and several players who don't even play the same position are in fact competiting against each other- like the Prideaux/Kovalenko quandry of yours. Just take the subject of this thread- Olsen at a-mid- and that triggers: Reyes to right wing is just the first move. Then what? Move Petke to right back, his more natural position supposedly? Then who would play left back? Ivanov? Prideaux? We are now fortunate to have a move trigger all sorts of options.

About Eski- he, Q1 and Stoichkov (providing he's healthy) all will be demanding playing time. I can easliy imagine Eski starting a bunch of games and claiming a forward spot for himself. It's great that we have such a battle on our hands.

 

The mere fact that Quaranta will miss probably upwards of a month of training time will do more for Eskandarian than anything else..

This is a golden opportunity for Alecko to grab hold of this and run with it.. On the negative side though, it could disillusion young Santino when he returns from the youth WC.. Confidence is everything in this game and while all us fans simply want someone, anyone, to put the ball in the net, a potential situation like this could scuttle Tino's outlook for the entire season.. Let's just hope and pray that he is mature enough to handle the "demotion" if Alecko flies out of the gate.. All indications at this time would suggest Tino is not up for the task..

 

Joe, you have taken this somewhat off-topic, but I have to say that as regards the Metros' salary cap situation, you don't really know what you're talking about. Assuming Richie Williams makes what he made last year-- and he is sure to make somewhat less-- but figuring in the $75k or so in salary cap relief that the allocation would bring, the Metros have about $250k to play with. You have got to get it through your head that Mario Rosas is not a terribly expensive player. The Metros could then bring in three players with an average salary between $40k and $50k to fill out their roster-- which could very well be one very nice international player and two low-salaried journeymen. Obviously the lower Richie goes, the better those journeymen players would be.

As for depth: you may not have heard of some of these players, but I'm not sure you're very knowledgable about up-and-comers. I've heard a lot of conventional wisdom out of you, and very little first-hand anecdote.

 

Haig--not trying to be off-topic. I responded to a post that seconded Bradley's comment (of Olsen's health will help DCU immensely) but that they thought your team had improved the most.

You may be right that my analysis is way off-base and inaccurate. For instance, last off-season, I posted a number of places that it was my humble opinion that your team had made more improvement/had done a better job in the offseason than anyone else. So what do I know--the season record certainly seems to contradict my analysis (though in fairness, I'd argue that injuries and Oz undid the value of the offseason moves--getting Serna, drafting Davis, adding Balboa and others).

I'm not convinced that Rosas will be incredibly expensive. Maybe he won't be. Maybe he'll be a free transfer (in which case, the allocation should count to your cap--and help out). But we can agree that as of Feb. 5th, he isn't signed and would be 3 weeks away from getting on the field if he signed today. My point about the A-mid thing is that your team still needs to add one. But until you get that A-mid position filled (and we know more about who's signed by seeing them perform), I think it's premature to predict how well your team has done this off-season and will do in the season.

 

Absolutely correct, though the quality of any team that has been overhauled significantly is as unproven as any other team. I'm looking forward to the season starting just so I can actually see all these players everyone has acquired and hyped up actually play.

In the meantime, we have Big Soccer on which to project our groundless optimism.