I have had a few days to recover now and I guess it is time to try and figure out why the team always falls apart in the playoffs and how correct it for next year. 1. Speed up top. Keeps defenses honest and opens up space beneath for the midfielders to work. Can lead to defensive breakdowns, easy goals on penalties and freekicks. 2. Midfield destroyer. Mastroeni / Armas type defensive mid does the work of two and sets the tone for what to expect if you get near dangerous areas. Josh Keller was selected by Jeffries for this role but he didn't want to leave Tampa and instead retired. Allows other center mid to concentrate on creating and not having to worry so much about helping out defensively. Is Stone this guy or maybe Behnke or even Gbandi? Most likely way too soon for any of those players. Maybe a trade or discovery option. 3. Tall / Strong forward(s) / midfielder(s). Dallas has too many short players in the offensive positions. They are all good but with them all in at the same time make the aerial game lacking and lets defenders concentrate on other things. If Johnson can step up he addresses both #1 and #2. 4. Vocal leader. Oscar gives everything he has but is not the punishing physical type like Leonel used to be. These types are usually defensive players. Deering should be this guy but seems to rub teammates the wrong way. Morrow has the pedigree but not the temperament. Suarez might assume this roll in the future but would be better able as a central defender and probably is still too young. 5. Player rotation. Every year by playoff time Jason and Oscar are working through injuries. They need to be rested more so that by playoff time they are healthy and contributing.
I think we already have most, if not all, the pieces for an MLS Cup caliber-team here in Dallas. A speedy forward? EJ's our man, in my opinion, but we'll never know for sure unless Jeffries has the guts to give Johnson plenty of playing time next season to see if that's the case. Midfield destroyer? It's hard to find many better in the league than Chad Deering. Yes, it would be nice to have Mastroeni, here, but does Jeffries need to have the best player in every position in order for the Burn to make to the MLS Cup? I think what the Burn really need is a better head coach. For one, that would help address Pegasus' concern with player rotation. In my opinion, Jeffries overused his regular starters over the course of the season, and it showed in the uninspired, lethargic way the Burn played during much of their series against Colorado. And, of course, the other benefit we'd gain from better player rotation is that we'd have a much better idea if some of our young players even have the game for MLS. Bussey, Morrison, Behncke, even Johnson -- who knows exactly how well these young guys can play? Also, I think the Burn's poor counterattacking success is at least in part due to poor coaching. Whereas other good MLS teams excel or at least are competent on the counter, not so the Burn. Too often Burn players make their counterattacking runs solely north-south making themselves near-impossible targets for a successful pass.
I agree with everything said so far. Oustanding analysis. As stated, EJ would solve both the size and speed aspect up top. The least recognized point you made is maybe even more important, rotating and resting older players. Kreis was and is a good forward and good leader, but he wears down. Rotate Kreis, Johnson, Rhine and Cerritos. Give them all starts every month, and hold people back when they have injuries. Most importantly, rest Kreis late in the season so that he's ready for the playoffs. Bob Bradley does this with Hristo Stoichkov resting him a lot during the season and getting him good playing time during the last month to get him ready for the playoffs. The bottom line is that neither player is really ready for 30+ games anymore, so knowing how to rest them and blend in the other players is crucial. Pareja has more durability, but with Vaca and O'Brien sharing the right mid and Martinez, Broome and Gbandi sharing the left mid and left back spots next season, there's ample cover for Pareja to get some rest. Jefferies has the horses (pun intended) to field a talented and hungry team in every game next season, he just needs to keep all of his horses fresh. Deering did fine this season. With Deering and Zarco, both may be too many veteran Dmids to run an attacking 442. Stone has a lot of potential, but likely needs a couple more years of garbage time and intensive training. Dmid requires a lot of tactical awareness and that takes experience. I would expect the Burn to draft Arturo Alvarez with the #12 SuperDraft pick, so that will add another winger/forward pushing for playing time. I'd guess the #4 pick would be a defensive player. -Tron
Tron, you seem to have a lot of knowledge of the younger players sometimes even seemingly inside information or implied inside info. Where is your knowledge from?
I looked up Diego Walsh, 6 feet tall. So is Toti Suarez, a defender, also a senior. I don't want to turn this into a college player thread, cause who knows how good those guys are. One game report doesn't mean much. Jeffries will get to spend 3 months looking for discovery forwards and a two new midfielders. I will say this though...no team is better suited to improve than Dallas. DJ Countess will be pushing to start next year. EJ will turn 19 just before the season starts, and Stone will turn 19 a few days later. Vaca just turned 20 in August. I know a number of you think Vaca is unable to take the place of Oscar, when Oscar hangs it up. If that's the case, then the priority has to be signing a player to replace Oscar this off-season, to split time and integrate. Finding and paying a center mid in MLS is difficult. On the other hand, if a combination of O'Brien, Chivas, Bussey, Behnke, Vaca, Deering, Stone, and possibly Suarez, Broome, or Gbandi can be molded into a four person midfield, then signing a replacement for Oscar is not a priority this offseason. Reason is simple. No Oscar, no MLS cup, period. Unless Vaca can do it, a replacement must be found this year.
I seem to remember reading on these very boards a few months ago about how NO ONE expected much from the Burn at the beginning of the 2002 season. (Jeff Bradley included) It was only after the team's great start to the year that they really started to turn some heads and build some expectations. Isn't it a bit harsh to damn Jefries for finishing poorly without praising him for such a strong start? How many of you really thought the Burn was Championship material THIS YEAR before the start of the season? I also have a hard time criticizing Jeffries' roster moves. I think the Burn have done very well with their additions (and subtractions) to their roster. Also, he has proven to be, IMHO, certainly among the best (if not the best) drafter in MLS. I challenge you to name any other MLS team so well prepared for the future.
You're right that many of us, myself included, picked the Burn to have another mediocre season at the beginning of this year. But once it became clear that personnel-wise, the Burn had amassed arguably the best starting 11 of any MLS team, I think it's fair to say that some of the blame for the team's poor finish this season lies with the head coach. Obviously, Jeffries has done many good things as head coach of the Burn. I think his player acquisition decisions have been excellent for the most part, and his decision to go to the 4-4-2 and stick with it worked well. But the team has underperformed in clutch situations -- failing to beat San Jose on a couple occasions when 1st place in the West was on the line, the disastrous 3 losses in 5 days stretch in early September, the quick exit from the playoffs -- and I think Jeffries needs to take some of the blame for not having his team prepared to succeed when it counts most. To me, Jeffries is probably an average-caliber MLS coach at best. And while it wouldn't be impossible for Dallas to earn a championship with Jeffries at the helm (after all, United won in 1999 with Rongen in charge), I'd like to see the Burn get a new head coach should the right candidate become available.
You can look up my modest prediction from the beginning of the season on 3rd Degree. On the other side, I think people agree on a few things; He could have gambled more by putting players in different positions, just to try something new to get out of a slump. He never put Chivas at forward, Broome at forward or left mid, or O'brien at forward. When things got tough and Jason, Cerritos, and Rhine all were not scoring, taking a risk for 45 minutes might have been worth the payoff. I don't think we saw enough of Jordan Stone either. No one understood Percy Olivares. We still don't, even though he improved. By the end of the season, these guys were tired. Dir used to play young guys through the midseason, even though it cost him games and he knew it. Jeffries was in a tough spot because Burn were getting draws with their first 11, not wins. So his back was on the wall. I cannot figure out how 4 times they faced huge games and lost every single one. One or two times, you can say it was the players. When you lose twice when you could have gone to first place, once to get to the finals of USOC and then lose at home to a team you owned during the year and in game 1, you start to wonder if it's more than the players.
Even after we knew the talent we had, a few weeks into the season, the Burn was getting picked to finish last. Remember Jambon's race for last place thread? I think we were two or three from the bottom. In many respects, the team proved us wrong and looking back, had you asked me if I would have been happy with the third best points in the league, overall, I probably would have taken that. But the next step is most definitely, to go all the way to Cup. I think next year, that will be the expectation from the start. This year, the team had relatively little pressure. Next year, the heat will be on. Hopefully, they respond better than how they did for this season's "games for first."
Jeffries I just think Jeffries has earned at least one more year at the helm before the Burn start looking to replace him. Certainly the team could have done better. And maitaining quality of play down the stretch as well as winning the big games should be THE priorities for 2003. In fact, barring 2002 Fire-ish string of injuries, the Burnshould be a semi-finals team AT LEAST.
Soccer America picked the Burn to finish dead last in the league. Shows what they know about the game. As far as Jeffries goes, he'd make a hell of a GM with the way he drafts and puts a team together. 2003 will tell us if he has what it takes to make an equally good coach.
A really poor prediction from Soccer America is usually a harbinger of a pretty good season. Conversely, a good prediction from Soccer America almost always foreshadows a relatively poor season. Given that our 2002 was pretty good, I'm guessing that Soccer America is going to predict great things. Prepare for a suck-ass 2003.
[PatSelfOnBack] My picks for the western conference were: 1. San jose 2. Los Angeles 3. Dallas 4. Colorado 5. Kansas City Up until the final couple of weeks of the season I felt pretty good about being correct, heh. And, by the way, don't ask me my eastern conference predictions. I also said that both Dallas and DC would improve toward the end of the season and no one would want to play them in the playoffs. Well, I guess I got that one right ... except for DC not making the playoffs, heh. [/PatSelfOnBack] Dallas will be a fierce squad next season. Depth everywhere. Depending upon how the other teams improve, Dallas may be one of the preseason favorites. As for Diego Walsh, he's very highly regarded. MLS wanted to sign him last season, and I think they were looking at him the season before as well, but I'm not sure about that one. I suspect he'll be a first round draft pick. -Tron
Anybody else think Cerrittos is superfluous? All he'll do next year is take away playing time from EJ, who showed enough to me to believe that next year could be a breakout year. Trade Cerrittos for cover in central midfield (heir apparent to Pareja perhaps) and use the #4 pick to add depth up front. Or switch those around if the opportunity arises. I might move Jordan too and give DJ a chance in goal, but that might be too risky in a year when we should be near favorites.
No no, Cerritos has had more experience up front. I think right before his injury, he was really integrated into the Burn system. Him and Kreis should take turns on a forward spot alongside EJ, if he's so damn good he'd better show it or he'll be back on the bench. I think if we had to trade someone up front it should be Rhine, I really would like to keep all our forwards because I think they all are great, and I hate to pick on Rhine because the guy scores, but if we can get someone who is a sure thing, then it's worth it. Midfield is fine. Defense is great, and as for Jordan....Sometimes the guy looks like Gordon Banks taught him a thing or two and other (most other) times he just looks like "ughh I was sleeping the whole game while the defense cleaned up the back and just woke up for the time one got by". So of course start Matt and pending on how he does in the beggining of the season, maybe move Countess in for a try.
Should Pareja go down next year with a major injury, which isn't too inconceivable for a 34-year old to have happen to him, who on the roster now fills the role? I'm not comfortable with any of the existing options.
This is my first time posting since we lost to the Rapids. Still can't believe it, but life goes on. As far as who could take Oscar's place, Vaca play's closer to Pareja's style than any other player in the league. He has another year of experience under his belt and is tougher than most people think. He's also one of the best passer's on the team. As far as the season goes, I think I was the only one who posted we would win it all and 3/4 through the season I was looking pretty good. But I , like VW, have always had concerns about the coach. He would be a good GM as far as judging talent. His drafting this year will pay off even more next year with Ghandi on the backline. His weak point, as mentioned before, is he's no motivator. Saurez said as much on Inside Soccer radio program. That's why we gave up so many early goals. How many times did we get scored on in the first 10 to 15 minutes of a game. Who says pro players are self motivator's. There are a very few that are. IMHO, motivation is the key strong point to any good coach. That's why the players such as Ocar, Jason and Steve Morrow are so important for this team because they are leaders on the field. Without them the team would have zero motivation. If Dave Dir was head coach this year, with the players they have now, we would be in the MLS CUP...
Vaca would replace Pareja. He deserves more minutes centrally IMHO. Unfortunately, when Oscar was out, often so was Joselito. O'Brien could also play that position in a pinch. Zarco, if paired with Deering, could do a passable job as well, but really it would be a different system in that case. The one I'm not sure about is Chivas. He had some brilliant moments, but am not sure he's consistent enough to be what you want in central midfield. I do think that Dallas has all of its pieces to fill Oscar's shoes when he decides to hang them up. IMHO, Dallas is the deepest team in MLS. -Tron
Question for possible roster moves. How many international, Discovery, the U-21 picks does Dallas have left. I figure they are nearly maxed out with the internationals, but I'm sure Dallas can find a place to out that hiden gem they are needing.