Well, I'd say I'm pleasantly suprised at Perez going, especially so early. gonna miss andy, but overall that was pretty painless.
It's painless as long as we can replace Andy Williams at attacking midfield. With last year's roster sizes, I would be happy with Capano at that position. But with the expanded roster I would want a #1 A-mid with Capano as a backup and student of the position. 2+ years of a Thiago (or whoever we have lined up as the next A-mid) will give Capano some years to grow. I'm in favor of protecting Evan. He's a great utility player even if he doesn't excel at defense or midfield. He can step in and play both, even if not for an entire season.
I'm glad we got rid of perez and we can definately up grade attacking midfield with the allocations we have coming.Will we sign Ring he is out of contract and trade thornton or ring?
Are the 9 players that CD Chivas USA is receiving from Chivas developemental players? Only 4 SI spots, how big is the player pool in Chivas?
My question exactly! Well, my first question...anyway. My second question was why Whitless? - but I know the coaching staff has always been high on him. Williams gone - CRAP !!!
What do you guys think about playing Herron and Ralph up top, and Razov as a withdrawn forward/a-mid in a 3-4-3/3-5-2? If he bounces back from injury I think it might be worth playing with. Before he went out this year, he was doing a lot of tracking back and did manage to send some creative/dangerous balls forward. Just crazy enough to work???
Interesting suggestion - I think my preference is to see if Mr. Capano is ready to step up to this challenge.
Williams... I was greatly suprised that he was put in the draft pool to begin with, on-again-off again performances notwithstanding. I think that he improved a lot with us this year and his periods of ineffectiveness were due to being misutilized by the coach, e.g. slid into the middle instead of outside. Perhaps he funks when this happens, here is to lots of funkitude when we play FC Mormons. But I think Williams will be the sort that will really pay back his old club when he plays him. Mark my words: Williams nets at least twice against the Fire next year. All I can say is I think this one will come back to haunt us unless Dave and Peter have something pretty good in mind for allocations. Williams in good form is a top-notch attacking mid with tons of speed. MLS is becoming a speed league and I don't see where we fill that void. Perez: Thanks for the memories pal. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Best of luck to D.J. I kinda feel bad for Henry, must be like Deja Vu all over again for him. "Thornton?! Thought I'd seen the last of him!"
You guys should chill out with the Whitfield hate. He's no where near as bad as you make him out to be. You're pissed that he was protected because you wanted him to be taken after Williams?!? Please tell me which one of these players you would rather have on our roster next year instead of him. Orlando Perez - The most loved man on bigsoccer DJ Countess - 100k of fourth string goalkeeper.
Well. Back from Columbus. Not a single suprise as far as our players are concerned. It was obvious as soon as Williams was unprotected that he would be selected. We've known Perez was going to Chivas (and been happy about it forever) and we also had a good idea that Countess would be gone. I have had and still have an inkling that Ring was left unprotected with almost full knowledge that he wouldn't be taken, in other words he was safe. I don't think we've heard the last of the Ring or Thornton controversy (unless I've missed something, I really just got back from the US game). I'm dissapointed to be giving up Williams but hopefully whoever replaces (Capano, SI, TI etc) will be better and more consistent.
I don't hate Whitfield. I hate the fact that he plays for us. I hate it when he gives out cheap shot fouls and picks up hothead cards. I hate the way he gives up free kicks right outside the 18 that wind up being game losing goals. And I REALLY hate the fact that he's currently our best option at right side back! Oh, and yes I'm glad to be rid of DJ's salary and Captain Headband in toto.
Look at the talent put out by other teams, the Fire has a lot of talented players, other teams have just about 12, that's all. Plus, we never played like a team. Also: No Perez? No Countess? What bounty!
Williams i believe is a good player to have when things are going well but, he got very lazy when things were going bad. My guess is the reason why he was unprotected was because we'll probbly get a strong SI MF.
With luck they'll get into an argument in the paper and we'll have more quotes like "Joe Bazooka" and "Scotty Pepper"