Fortunately we've played them once already, so there's only one game, rather than two, for him to torch us in. It feels like he's already good for a goal when we play him.
He's a more natural replacement for Benteke than is Badji. But he's also 40 years old, the same as Troy Lesesne.
I was wondering why Kei Kamara seemed to bounce around so much considering how many goals he scores. But then I found a 2017 442 interview on the web archive (https://web.archive.org/web/2018031...one-nightmares-dreams-and-perils-being-honest) where Kamara basically knows that he needs to play on a team with a certain set of tactics or he hurts the team. Pretty interesting.
At this point it’s obvious that Lesesne isn’t the guy. The soccer is horrible, the tactics are worse, and the results by and large are nonexistent. There are legitimate rumors about him losing the locker room. The team doesn’t dictate play against anyone consistently. The only constant of this team is the confounding lineup decisions virtually every game. Yes, it’s true that we’re less talented than many other teams, but we hamstring ourselves with insane tactical responsibilities (i.e. asking attacking midfielders to play underneath the striker while attacking and play the defensive role of a winger…while shifting side to side to support centrally) as well as leaving (relatively) more talented players on the bench or off the game day roster altogether. At the end of the day, well coached teams overachieve what their talent level is while poorly coached teams underachieve. Ask yourself which side of the coin we fall on. Unfortunately the truth is that while we desperately need a new manager, I have zero faith that the GM can hire a good one, given that he hired Lesesne. I also have zero faith that our owners can find a GM because of who they are. Such is life as a DCU fan.
Last year, I'd say we overachieved. This year, we're right around where our level of talent is. That said, I'm fine with a coaching change. Neither Ally or Troy will be here next year if we don't make the playoffs, and we're clearly not on a path to the playoffs. If they can bring in a guy like Curtin or even a Rob Valentine (got Atlanta into the playoffs twice), they should do it and see what happens. But there's no point seeing out the season with an interim coach.
From the Athletic: The name “Glazer” seems akin to a curse word in Manchester, where United supporters loathe the family that purchased the club back in 2005. The family’s patriarch, Malcolm, who died in 2014, never set foot in Old Trafford. His children, who inherited the club, need security to move around the city. Now THAT is a supporters culture...
I have said this before, I don't think anyone can win with this ownership group. I've held that belief since before we left RFK, and I've seen very little to change that perception. Rooney was a great step in the right direction, even after TT cut Levien off at the neck on national TV, but we did nothing to build on what Rooney brought. They let Lucho's contract get to the point where sharks circled and undermined the 2019 season. I firmly believe that had they simply paid Lucho a fair market salary in 2018, whoever it was that came trying to broker the deal with PSG wouldn't have even looked at him. Lucho is a pretty good MLS player, but they only came looking because of his contract situation, hoping to get low risk backfill for Neymar. Let's not forget, they went on to sign Dembélé from Barca. And was Lucho really a credible player for that role at whatever cut price they were trying to get? And I was always good with not selling him for less than the original $10M number, if that was even real. It was that failure that really cinched it for me, and the cherry on the sundae was not chartering back from Vancouver with a midweek game vs NJ coming up. Losada might have been a really intelligent move, had they just not completely blown off any kind of oversight of the program, getting to the place where they sold our best player and fired the reason why he wanted out a few weeks later. Rooney as the coach, was a more abject failure than I ever thought it would be, which I am still not sure how it was possible. I believe Rooney came here with good intentions, but he was brought here with the worst of intentions, pure marketing spend. At this point, because no one with any sort of pedigree will come here, the coach with the best chance of succeeding here, under the circumstances management dictates, is, don't laugh, Chad Ashton.
Fire up the grill, Chad's coming back! Maybe he could hire Randy from Trailer Park Boys as his assistant, at least there would be comedy relief.
There should be an "expansion" filing for MLS teams that works kind of like bankruptcy for individuals and companies. Once a decade, a team should be able to just re-set and basically become like an expansion team within four weeks of the end of a season. All contracts are voided and the team gets to start fresh. Even with our crappy owners, I bet we'd be better by 2027 than if we continue on the path with this slow trickle of bargain-basement acquisitions covering for our large-scale panic buys that turn out to be duds. And if you were a player or coach stupid enough to sign a contract with United, you're as shit out of luck as the bank that loaned me money for my new car just before I got fired for telling off my boss.
What exactly do you think they'd do differently with a clean slate? Its not like they took expensive and wild swings that missed. Pirani is the closest to that and isn't that horrible when you look at players we're committed to after this year. 2022 acquisitions Klich Benteke 26 club option Fletcher 26 club option Hopkins 26 & 27 club option 2023 acquisitions Herrera 26 club option Pirani 26 & 27 club option 2024 acquisitions Antley 26 club option Badji 27 club option Bartlett 28 club option Enow 28 club option Peltola 28 club option Schnegg 27 club option Stroud 27 club option 2025 acquisitions Barraza Dodson 26 club option Kim 28 club option Leal 26 club option McNaughton Peglow 28 club option Rowles 27 club option Servania Barajas 27 club option Farr 26 club option Karamoko 28 club option Kajima 26 & 27 club option Murrell 27 & 28 club option Turner 28 club option Zouhir 26 & 27 club option
FWIW, the Spirit game on June 8 will prevent the Defenders from hosting a UFL playoff game. United plays the day before.
White paint is light again. Soccer lines are barely covered again. The standard spot where the goalkeeper stands is getting a little worn. The soccer substitute warm up area has been showing more dirt the past week. I hadn't noticed the spot for kickoffs on the south side of the field is a little worn too. I'm staying away from most nests. It's still weird to consistently see more security at these games than soccer. It was definitely the opposite for the XFL seasons. There is even event staff for most sections of the east side 100/200s that aren't open.
It has bothered me since the stadium opened that the stock footage for the national anthem isn't just DC locations. This is the ********ing nation's capital. I don't need to see New York. ******** them.
It bother's me we even have a national anthem for games that don't involve foreign international teams. Why? Are we so insecure we need performative jingoism?
Fully agree - a sporting event is entertainment -- do they play the national anthem before plays, movies or concerts? No, because it would be silly. If our resident FO wants to "honor America" or whatever the nonsense phrase of the week is, may try "This Land is Your Land" instead of an unsingable anthem written by a slave owner watching a bombardment of Baltimore in one of the more stupid wars engaged in by this country. Let's see, the War of 1812 almost led to the secession of New England from the US, resulted in the burning of the US capitol and White House and the largest battle of the war - New Orleans - was fought after the peace treaty was signed.
yeah - good of the British Navy to imprison American sailors as slaves on their ships - peeing in Lake Huron to ruin the Great Lakes - making sure every Irish immigrant came with a banjo
Of the remaining 8 original MLS Clubs, while all have changed, DC United's badge is the closet to the original.
The article says that AV is a defense contractor. I'm disappointed. I had visions of Audio-Visual nerds walking around with pocket protectors & lots of overhead projectors displaying FotMob charts. I wouldn't have paid, but I would have tried to sneak in to something like that!