DCU Contract News This article by Steven Goff in the Washington Post tells us the value the team places on various players.
Re: DCU Contract News Could someone explain to me what the point of signing Filomeno was if we're not going to resign him? Did we use an allocation for him? I guess Nicky's back for another year. I like Nick, but I'd prefer a keeper who doesn't make me nervous on every corner.
Re: DCU Contract News What kind of options can Dema find at that salary? He had a very up and down season last year and finding any team to pony up that kind of cash won't be easy. I guess it all hinges on what they find in Argentina.
Re: DCU Contract News I'm surprised you can hit the keys on your keyboard while jumping for joy so much.
Re: DCU Contract News At this point, I don't think i'd recognize Gros without his cast... I'm giddy with anticipation already. Is this earlier than last year? against Real Madrid again?
Re: DCU Contract News Dema is certainly a fan favorite and will be missed by many... I loved his work ethic and bulldog mentality, but seriously, I'm really glad we don't have to watch in agony next season seeing him run up and down the left flank with no purpose and no threat to defenses....
Re: DCU Contract News So if Kovalenko leaves does that mean Josh Gros and Nick Van Sicklen are United's top two outside midfielders? Holy crap it's going to be a long season if that's who DC is throwing out there.
Re: DCU Contract News More likely they are trying to lowball Dema. Let's face it, he's not much bang for the buck. Granted, as MLS's favorite goon he has some star appeal, but I doubt if he puts many butts in seats.
Re: DCU Contract News You don't think Santino starts at forward, especially if there's no Filameno? Look I'm rooting for the Esky comeback too but so far he's had headaches nonstop for half a year and the other half of 2005 he couldn't put the ball in the net to save his life. Quaranta was anything but good as an outside midfielder at the end of the year for DC United, and because of his struggles having to play defense as a winger in a 3-5-2 combined with the fact that Moreno isn't going to go at it alone up top, I'm guessing that you can pencil Santino into the send forward role as of now.
Re: DCU Contract News Maybe they are moving Freddy over into Dema's spot which would make him expendable and our highest paid player on the field more. Who knows?
Re: DCU Contract News Well if we stay in a 352 then Fred to left wingback is not a very good option. If we went to a 442 then we could talk.... Damn this team could field a very interesting 442. What this team needs is a striker, remember? With Filomeno being recognized as a flyer (as in no risk, maybe he works out but if he doesn't c'est la vie, he didn't cost us an allocation) and not an answer to the striker problem even if he returns I sure hope we can find one this offseason. I doubt he returns at the money we'll offer. But given the 352 set-up and the personnel the team has at the moment (not counting Dema) you would have to go with Tino at right wingback, Gros on the left and Freddy opposite Jaime at forward. Obviously things will evolve, probably around the draft in January. I do wonder how much money the team has under the cap with Fred's salary being counted somewhat but with less or no Dema salary and (presumably) less Olsen salary.
Re: DCU Contract News We took a flier on Filomeno. What we found is: he's not ready to be a star in MLS--certainly not enough to be the kind of guy we'd base our attack around or is automatic to beat out Eskandarian or Quaranta or Adu. But...he's also good enough for MLS, has skill and an upside and fits into the team. The team did the same thing with Gomez--invited him in "on loan" and after we did a "rent to buy" trial, we bought. I don't espect every player acquisition by DCU to turn out to be another Gomez. As for Dema, I think the team is handling this well--we will take him back if he can't find another option overseas (or perhaps with another MLS team that has no midfield--like RSL). With January coming up, he'll have a window to try out with some teams overseas. I also wonder if he'll try to hook up with a Ukrainian side. I know it's a big reach (and he'd have to make a huge jump in his form but....Ukraine is in the WC....stranger things have happened). I think it's interesting that DCU is looking in Argentina again (granted, part of that is to negotiate with Filomeno's reps). That tells me that the team thinks that have some real inroads there and are uniquely attractive to Gaucho talent. Either that or Piotr and Tom have found a really good steak house outside of BA. As for Rimando, the language coming out of the team doesn't say that Nicky had a great season and we're happy to have him back and we think he's an all-star. It sounds more like "this is a reward for loyalty, hard work and he's a solid keeper." Translation: we haven't ruled out finding another GK but that's not our priority. We'll look to find a winger or defender first and if the opportunity presents itself and the cap room is available, we'll add a GK. As for the wing spots, I have no problem with Quaranta as a winger. He's not a perfect fit for outside midfield in Nowak's scheme and he'll need to play up more if he's going to be paired with Moreno on the front line. I'm wondering if part of the off-season conversation with Adu was about him playing some outside midfield. We certainly need talent and depth there. He'd need to show better endurance, a higher work-rate, better defense and a stronger commitment to defense. But I can certainly see Payne, et. al. telling the Adu contingent "look--you're in the mix at forward, our backup at A-mid. If you'll do the work, we'll also work you in at outside mid. After 2 years in MLS, you're no longer picking up stupid cards, your conditioning and physical presence is much improved. You'd have a lot of work to do--but you saw how outside mid play got Demarcus Beasley onto the USMNT didn't you?" And given Adu's motivation and work habits (no-one has ever accused him of not working, not putting in time in the weight room or not practicing his game), and a preseason to get it down, he may just show up as a competent outside midfielder. It's also a position where he doesn't have to either be a target player OR beat out the two best players on the squad (Gomez and Moreno) to get PT. Why does this scenario seem plausible to me? I keep going back to the second Catolica game where Nowak played everyone he could conceivably play at outside mid (Quaranta, Gros, Kovalenko, Wilson, Adu) and we just couldn't handle UC on the flanks--they owned us (and that was the match and the primary reason we couldn't sustain our hold on the game). So Gros and NVS not only need to step up their game (well, actually Van Sicklen needs to show some game before he can step it up I guess), we need more talent at outside midfield. But I bet that is probably the priority for Nowak and Soehm and Kasper. And that also just goes to show that those who said we're really miss Stewart a year ago were prescient. So giving Adu an off-season and preseason to prove he can stick at outside mid (even though that has been a bad fit for him in the past) makes sense to me in season #3 for the Adu-watch.
Re: DCU Contract News Joe- what you wrote makes a lot of sense to me, but once again, even thinking of Adu at, say, left wing, and Tino on the right practically screams "442". The main problem there is 1) what to do with Olsen and 2) the striker spot (which isn't addressed by any formation). To deal with Olsen, I'd get him to learn right fullback. I thought that Benny lost too much on the offensive end to stay in the center of the park. --------------Rimando Olsen----Boswell--Erpen---Namoff ---------------Carroll Quaranta--------------------Adu ----------------Gomez ------Moreno---------????? main subs: Simms, Prideaux, probably Wilson, Gros, Walker IMO more and more if Nowak doesn't play a 442 at least some of the time with this personnel, then there's something overly rigid with him.
Re: DCU Contract News I still say this Rimando Namoff Boswell Erpen ???? Olsen Carroll Gomez Adu Moreno Tino
Re: DCU Contract News And I will add that the non renewals sound like good ideas to me. Dema can come back but not at that salary and the mullet top forward didn't play enough to show me anything but he must not have impressed much in practice.
Re: DCU Contract News Goodbye Dema, time for Adu to step up. While I loved Dema's hustle have the time his runs ended in poor passes or poor finishes.
Re: DCU Contract News Skip- I agree that the players present seem to fit a 442 much more than a 352. Though, unfortunately, I don't think that Nowak would switch. Personally, I would switch, in your formation above, Olsen to RM, Namoff to RB, Q to forward and Wilson to LB. Olsen on the right in a 352 doesn't work, but I think that he still has enough in the tank as a RM in a 442. Maybe not for 90 over a long season but that's what subs are for. IMO, that would give us a much more balanced lineup.
Re: DCU Contract News While I agree that olsen is the big ? if we move to a 442, i don't think RB is a good position for him. Namoff is a better RB than olsen could ever (IMO) be, and wilson is a *perfect* fit for a LB. To move Namoff to the left (not his usualy side, altho i'm sure he can handle), and keep wilson on the bench just to get benny on the field doesn't make us stronger. I agree with the 6ft Leprechaun in that benny could still play some RM for us especially since with a RB behind him he wouldn't have as much ground to cover. I would argue that Benny is probably our best crosser from that position. (As a side note, I wonder what that would do to his WC chances if he was playing RM again?) JoeW, I think instead of playing Freddy at LM while Tino takes RM, why not put Freddy up front? I realize it doesn't solve our striker issue, but it puts the quartet of Freddy, Tino, Jaime, and Gomez on the field together. It lets Gros (arguably our best winger still on the roster) stay on the field. If we do find a solid winger, then I would think Tino gets the nod up front and freddy is still scrapping for minutes. *IF* Payne/Nowak settled the FreddyGate with a promise of increased playing time, I would have to think it would be at one of his preferred positions to make him happy. Which are AM and FW, which makes me think LM is not an option....
Re: DCU Contract News I guess I'm still the lone guy in the world who still thinks we haven't got the outside backs to play a four-back set. So either I'm the lone voice of reason, or I'm barking mad. All right, I'll try it again. If you are planning on running a box-four (and I think our midfield is better suited to a box-four than a diamond-four), then you have to have outside backs who can cover 18-to-18 and cross the ball well. Ummmmm ... Namoff is an uncomplaining workhorse, solid defender and a pretty decent crosser of the ball, but he hasn't got the speed or stamina to really cover 18-to-18 all day long. Remember that hybrid 4-3-3 we trotted out on a lark way back when? Gros has the stamina and speed but not the crossing ability. Namoff was noticeably slower on the right, and our attack looked awfully lopsided. Wilson proved over time that as a spot pickup on the left, he actually did reasonably well. He's not a starter in MLS--he's just not. Prideaux is depth. I like Bozz and Erpen in the middle; I think they can be an effective pairing. I just don't think we have the outside backs to make that work. HERE's a thought for you. Namoff ... Erpen ... Boswell ... AAAA .......................Carroll ........Gros ......................Adu .......................Gomez ...............Tino...........Jaime The problems are that this lineup does two things: 1) it takes Olsen off the pitch, which I'm not ecstatic about; and 2) it leaves Carroll out on an island. I think he's better in a two d-mid set, whether it's a box mid, or a 5-man midfield. He's a ball-winner and lane-stopper, not an out-and-out destroyer. You need a destroyer in a diamond four, or your center backs fall under too much pressure. The problem with our current personnel is that they clog up the middle without providing adequate flank play. Going to a 4-4-2 exacerbates the flank problem at the price of gutting our advantage in the middle. Hardly a recipe for success, guys.
Re: DCU Contract News I'm not sure I like this [Talking about contract stuff, not the formations aformentioned]. I think Dema contributes a lot to DC United. More than just his skill (no jokes here please) on the field. He could motivate the team to hustle that much more, and was like a rock when moral took a hit. Granted, this past year he moderated his behavior a lot more, which lestened his positive impact on the team (I think), but. He will be missed. --kravi P.S. I think it is stupid to release Filameno. I only saw him play once, but I loved the runs that kid made. I felt that the team hadn't yet figured out to adapt to his style, but that he would have made a strong contribution given time to fit in. P.P.S. I'm glad Ben is staying, because he also is a very steadying influence on our midfield. P.P.P.S. I've always been a Rimando fan, so I'm happy he's back. And I wouldn't read too much into the comments the staff makes. They are just words, and I don't think they are supposed to be that overanalyzed. EDIT: Tried to clear up my post...