If there's anyone who could emerge from the pack and grab headlines from relative obscurity, it has to be Westie. His knee injury kept him to limited hours in the season stretch and playoffs, but he made an impact whenever he came into the game. He ran down some breakaways from behind and turned the corner to create some terrific assists last year. After some minor time with the Nats, he played 4-5 games before tweaking a knee (?) and becoming a situational late sub. He needs better touch (IMO) and can play the 3rd or fourth forward role, but needs to be a better finisher (OK, big group in this league). He has to be one of the fastest 5 players in the league and the Crew have to be the fastest team in the league. MLS confidential had a rumor of him being shopped around the league, but I don't buy it. He can't be a cap problem and the Beasley/West matchups were a terrific subplot in Fire games (last year the Fire moved DMB because Westie had him shutdown). He probably fits a 3-5-2 better than 4-4-2, but how do you let a guy like that go? How do you fit him into a 4-4-2 to match his style. What does he have to do to be a Nats contention type player? If we get Heydude, can we go back to a 3-5-2 and put him into a regular role?
He was wonderful in the middle of the season last year. He was using his speed in addition to some confidence that he picked up somewhere and was actually putting moves on people and beating them. Then he got hurt. Either way, the guy has speed and, well..., speed. His touch is worse than Dante's and he lacks skill on the ball. I think we should cut him loose, but maybe speed alone can still be an asset in this league. After all he was our leading assist man last year, no?
West is a mystery, IMO. He show's flashes, but not consistently. With all the criticisms of West last year, people forget he was the Crew's assist leader last year. However, he should be a better player. I thought last year he was very hesident to pull the trigger. There were many times last year when he beat the defense to the ball and had a chance to score but decided to make a difficult pass that ended up being a turnover. IMO, it has to do with the criticisms of him. He's a forward who was moved to midfield. He wants to become a better midfielder and everyone tells him in order to do that you have to be a better passer and crosser. So instead of looking to score he's looking to make that perfect pass or cross; neither are his strong suits. He needs to go out there and play "his game," I think he'd get better results. When he did that in 2001, he was one of the top midfielders in MLS and no one talked about how West shouldn't be a starter or a member of the Crew. I remember that 5 game streach in 2001, the one with the July 4 LA game in the middle, where he showed his true talent and potential. I've seen glimses since then, but that's all. West definatley needs to acheive his full potential this year or he won't be in a Crew kit next year.
He added some significant upperbody strength to be stronger on the ball and in the box. That should serve him well this year. I agree wholeheartedly that he needs to crack it home more. He passed up some good looks with other players running on to follow last year. Early in the year though, I seem to remember that being a team dribble into the goal effort. Kiwi started pounding some from the 18+ and the rest of the team seemed to join in later in the season, but we still seem to prefer technical cuteness over brute power. It might be nice if we put some additional bombs on goal, too.
Rob Smith was a very fast guy running up and down the right side also. And had a remarkably similar touch. I like West, but he has to start delivering; at some point all that potential has to deliver. And as it stands now, we will again enter the season with a surfeit of strikers. Not a bad thing IMO but it means somebody is going to sit down a lot. And Edson Buddle looked VERY good on that flank last season. He's a kid who demands more field time, and it's got to come from somewhere.
Yep, Buddle needs to be on the field for his goals and the 50/50 balls he won to create chances for his team. Don't you think Buddle is more true forward though? Westie led in assists last year -- even though he didn't play much in the last 3rd of the year, but he needs to score on some of the diagonal runs he made and get credit for his D. As I look at the roster it becomes more apparent that the odd man out of a talented attack group may be Dante. He can't move to the wing and has been frequently out with injuries. We utilize him in defensive and some offensive sub situations for his situational awareness and box power, but some of the younger guys are now experienced enough to need Harkes and Dante less than in the previous years. Westie and Buddle can both play up top and on the Wing and add more flexibility. Dante has tremendous PR value and is a great team rep, but if it came to Dante or Westie???
With the addition of Lucci and the emrgence of Buddle on that flank last year I would think Westie is on a very short leash this year. If he wins the starting job and does not produce in the first few games I hope Greg isn't hesitant to make a change. If he has a breakout year that would be terrific, but I'm not sure how much longer the staff should wait around for that. He has been in the league 5 or 6 years.
I like Dante for his strength in the box, particularly when matched with Bake. He can muscle up with any defender in the league. And frankly, as I've said before, I like starting Dante, having him beat up on the defenders awhile, and then at, like 60-65 minutes, bringing in Cunningham at hyper-speed to go to work on tired markers. In fact, Cunny performed very well this way, scoring almost immediately a couple of times. Unfortunately, when he did, everybody started screaming about how, since Jeff was scoring pretty well in limited minutes, he ought to start. But when Greg started him, he was a lot less effective, IMO. As for Buddle, I agree that he's probably a more natural middle-of-the-field forward, and that's undoubtedly where he will eventually end up. But BMB can't play out there, Cunny can't play out there, Dante sure can't play out there, but Buddle CAN play out there. In fact, I thought he was terrific working on Damarcus last season - just completely shut him out of the game. So it's still a case of "Who do you sit?" IMO you put Buddle out wide for now, and move him up front when injuries start to hit. It may not be ideal, but the alternative is having him sit and watch.
The problem is that he plays wing and if you play there you game should include passes and crossing. The whole game is about passing. Sure he should shoot sometimes, but that complaint just masks the lack of skill he has on the ball. As I said before all he can do is run fast. Buddle on the wing is 3x better. West's new upper body strength won't help him if he still has those toothpick-like leg. That gives him a high center of gravity and his new weight gain will only increase him being top heavy.
My sentiments exactly. Like I said in the other thread, people should listen to you more often. I see West disappearing from the roster after this year (maybe sooner) due to the emergence of Buddle and the additions of Lucci and Hejduk coupled with his continued inconsistencies while on the field. With a roster spot in the air after all the signings are completed, if the choices are West, Dunseth or Dante, I'd say West is the weakest link.
In all that time that Buddle was on the Wing how many crosses did he send in? Not many. He played the wing like a 3rd forward. That's why we remember Buddle out there. That's how Andrulis wanted West to play out there at the start of the season with the 4-3-3. However, West really seemed hesident at taking a crack at goal because, IMO, he was looking to pass or cross. He wanted to show everyone he can do it and wound up making a wrong decision on a pass, when he should have shot. However, I remember several times last year when it was clear there was no shot and only pass that West put some really good passes out there. I honestly believe that coaches and fans have twisted his brain. "Don't shoot, Pass or Cross. That's what you should be doing." If West played the way he knows how, the way he's played the game since he was young, I think the team, coaches, fans, and most importantly himself would like the results.
New Reality Show! Crew Survivor: Who is the weakest link? Who will be booted from the team? Hell yeah! I would watch it for sure. It would be interesting to see some of this stuff played out on TV. Have the guys answering questions and preforming tests/tasks and such. In this case, I still think of the choice West, Dunseth, or Dante.... I'd say West, you are the weakest link. Dunseth is important to strengthen our defense, esp. since he's getting some Nat attention. Dante is good and cleaning up goal mouth trash. Additionally, if we sell BMB, we're gonna need a big body to take the punishment. Buddle/Cunny would get bruised too much.
Myshap, I believe Buddle could cross if you ask him to play a strict wing position. His passing is better than West's. He has more confidence in his abilities than West. Hell, he has more ability than West. You are correct that I don't remember Buddle crossing the ball much and he did play like a 3rd forward, but that is because he is a forward. West isn't a midfielder, he isn't a forward, and he isn't any good at anything save running. So ultimately I agree with you if Andrulis wanted him to play more like a forward. Even a defender knows when to shoot most of the time. He's 24 for God's sake. He should hit his prime next year. If the progression continues as is he's not going to be much. But then again, maybe running fast is still a dangerous weapon. I don't know. I wonder how many of West's assists were primary.
The league leaders for primary assists stops at six on MLSnet. So, I think we can assume that at most five of West's eight assists were primary. I might be making this up, but I read somewhere that MLS is looking at doing away with the secondary assist. Did anybody else hear anything?
West's weaknesses: 1) does not posses 1v1 skills to beat most MLS defenders 2) when compared to Garcia on the left side, is lacking in the ball crossing department and does not appear to be a comparable threat West's strengths: 1) speed 2) can put a ball on frame if given the opportunity This probably goes against traditional soccer thinking but if you apply hockey thought, matching lines against your opponents lines, maybe it would be a game time decision as to West's role. If going against a large team that packs the box and organizes well, West's speed won't be effective and lack of size won't help, maybe then start some of the more bulky players up front to wear down and get the team ahead then sub in West free to run against a depleted defense? or If there is a speed match up required, to effectively negate an opponent's attacking option, start West to negate that player and let the rest of the team work on scoring. ?
You, Bill, Dennis & I agree for the most part. Dante starting & briinging in JC seemed to terrorize the D and a partially healthy Westie broke open one of the late season games by beating his man to the end line and banging the ball back to the center. If Buddle can play the power forward role with McB, it seems logical that Dante is the odd man out as Buddle has better foot skills and is less injury prone. It's always been interesting to me that Westie has been getting a few Nats looks (Russia in '00? and twice in '01) but gets no respect from Crew fans and MLS. Is he only a role player for BA and should that be his role here? Perhaps he needs a new PR person. Westie had virtually no chance to play with Garcia in the line up -- due to injury. Can the potentially best line up be with Garcia and West on the wings for McBride and Buddle/JC as forwards. Martino/ Mais/ Duncan in midfield and McCardme/Clark/Dunseth/Heydude your back four. That leaves room for some pretty strong (but young) situational subs to either keep the heat on or blanket the last 15min. A fresh West and JC coming on at the 60 min mark would have to scare the crap out of a tired D if that was the strategy.