Can we please bench Stewart now!

He is not even a foward. That tells you what kind of coaching staff you have.

 

Not quite sure what a "fowad" is but Stewart is the classic tweener..

In his early days of his pro career, he was an out and out forward.. As he got older and more experienced, he tracked back a lot further into the field and sort of morphed into a roaming midfielder..

Stewart has no defined position.. People like to classify him as an attacking midfielder but honestly he doesn't posses the tools to do the job (great touch, vision and passing ability) that one would expect from an attacking midfielder..

Right now, his best role for this team would be as either the left sided or right sided midfielder where his pace and defensive abilities can be used..

 

And give his playing time to Curtis????? No thanks. Maybe someday someone can explain this game called soccer to you but not today. What real forward? Tyson " I think I am Pele and should be paid as such" Nunez? Who? Next you are going to be telling us United should get back both Lassiter and Diaz Arce to play up front. Try and see if you can contribute next time.



Thanks and have a nice day.

 

WORD!

 

Exactly. He can add creative punch and track back to help there as well.

 

Yeah - Great defensive abilities...I think I will trip over my own two feet and fall down on a opposing player in the box and give up a PK. If I can't score myself let me help the other team score.

Pathetic - can't believe we gave up an allocation for this guy

 

.......and also so he can replace the ineffective Olsen or Kovalenko. Though Stewart hasn't been that effective either.

It's time for drastic measures. TIME TO HIT THE PANIC BUTTON!!!!!!!! Better do something NOW!!!

 

Guys,

He's only played in 10 games with the team and probably played in 10 different roles over that time. Give him time to adjust. We all know MLS is a far superior league to that crap he was playing in Holland

 

Diablot, you misspelled "Etcheverry."

You're welcome.

 

Might not part of the problem be the 3-5-2 system Ray is trying to play? The two outside midfielders are key to the system. They have to participate in the attack and track back on defense. To do so, they have to run the length of the field constantly. In contrast, the outside midfielders in a 4-4-2 always have a fullback behind them and, therefore, can play 'higher,' closer to the opposition's goal.

I doubt that any of DC's outside midfielders have the skills, pace, and stamina to play a 3-5-2 successfully. Bobby can, but I have my doubts about the rest. I feel certain that the 3-5-2 alignment explains part of Olsen's problems. It probably explains some of Stewart's as well.

Another part of Stewart's difficulties stems from his being a complementaty player, rather than a dominant player. On the national team, Stewart has been effective because the defense cannot concentrate on him; USA has too many other dangerous players. On DC, however, defenses can key on Stewart.

Also Stewart does not create his own chances; he depends on others to set him up. Who on DC can set up another player? It's no crime being a complementary player; very few soccer players can take over a game by themselves.

Stewart's situation is partly the result of fan expectations. He's on the national team; he must be able to turn the team around -- or so goes the logic. Problem is -- he's not that sort of player.

You might argue that acquiring Stewart was never going to help DC very much -- because DC needs so much improvement. Nevertheless, you can't really hold that against Stewart now that he's here.

 

I'd love to bench a lot of our players, but that wouldn't help us at all.

I think we need to make up our mind where Earnie play? He's not effective as a forward. He's not effective at A Mid. He seems to be a little more effective on the wing. And judging by his frustration, I'd rather not see him in a pivotal position such as A Mid or forward. He just doesn’t appear to have the composure or confidence right now to be that leading man. I’d say he should play on the wing. Either is fine with me. I just don’t think it is a question to bench him or not.

Our frustrating performance doesn’t really lie on the shoulders of any one person, specially not Earnie, although he could be held responsible for some things. Our problem stems from the lack of team play and aggression.

Lack of Team Play:

Some people are saying that Earnie has been making these great invisible runs. If that is the case then he’s either not showing himself in these runs, or Marco, Bobby, etc., are not seeing him and aren’t getting him the ball. But it doesn’t end there. There have been several cases where Earnie or Bobby have made runs with the ball into the opponents third of the field. But no one makes the run with them to give them a good option of continuing the attack, which results in back passes and eventually turnovers.

Lack of Aggression:

Not until Bobby’s first goal of season have I felt that DC could be threatening. Sure we can get into the box, but we don’t shoot, we cross the ball into the center, but we’ve got no real body in the box that can get and shoot the ball. Sure, we might get one or two, but it’s not threatening. All of these back passes should be a clear example of our passive soccer style. I don’t think that we really feel the urgency.

I think that United should take a page out of Dallas’ book. They had three guys attacking together all the time. Every time they got the ball down in our territory, I felt like they could score at will. They just felt threatening to me. But this is a coaching problem that needs fixed. They’ve got to instill that threatening attitude. Can these coaches do it? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I figure that they’d be good coaches if the players already possess that attack => attack => attack attitude. I'd bet that this team needs entire new mental transformation to get out of this slump.

But, should some of the guys be benched? Yes. Which ones need to be bench? I don't know. We don’t have a lot of options right now. Would benching Earnie get the message across to him? My thought is no. It would cause him to become more frustrated. If he’s not getting it done, then maybe you sub him out to give him a break. As for starters that could use time on the bench… I think Ben could use a day on the bench. He’s just lost it in my opinion. He’s lost the love, the aggression, and the competitive fire. It’s like he’s playing in the twilight of his career, and that shouldn’t be the case.

But either way, something needs to be done.

 

IMHO that is the biggest problem with DC United.

DC United needs to use a 4-4-2.

 

I think one reason Ray favors the 3-5-2 is because, as he once put it, it puts more "legs" around Etch in the middle of the field. As I would prefer Etch to sit, we could go with a 4-4-2, with Nellie and Ivanoff in central defense. Stewart could play either alongside Convey in the middle or on a wing (where he looked good against Wales for the USMNT).

 

we should have taken Hejduk....


nuff said....


#1 Stunna