This feels like an exaggeration. You would really only keep Pines and Gressel and maybe Mora? Not Flores? Not 16-year old Nyeman? Not Brillant, who's been pretty important to having any sort of defensive stability? Not Asad? Not Seitz, who's shown to be a clearly competent MLS backup and spot starter? Not to even mention Paredes and Yow and Kamara on the bench?
You should know by now to just ignore/scroll past any type of "... I'd only keep X..." posts Unless they come from someone actually employed as some sort of GM or something ......
Yeah, I know. I just keep getting sucked in by how much people here (and, to be honest, on any forums I read of teams I like) perpetually dislike players in such an exaggerated fashion.
I've made more than a few of those kinds of posts in my BigSoccer career. You can tell mine from everyone else's because I'm always right and I never lie!
£20M but who’s counting? Miggy can’t get a start for NUFC these days. If PSG truly offered $8M for Lucho we should have taken it. I suspect it was less offered at the time and even less when the final number was given. Knowing what we know now, DCU should have taken it. As a fan, however, I thought last season was our best grab at a trophy in some time. Who knew Lucho would set the rot that’s become our new normal? Thx, Jay!
@nick “. Also, the only 2 people I would keep for 2021 would be Pines and Gressel” You’d keep Gressel? Thx, Jay!
The reality is that United is at the bottom of the league and have almost no one who would start for perhaps any other team in MLS outside of teams that are also not making the playoffs this year. I do think Paredes and Yow have potential. But the rest are at best squad players and certainly not enough to be competitive for a true title run.
I agree. He was offered multiple lucrative contracts by MLS standards and he turned them down. He clearly was not interested in staying at the pay United was willing to pay.
So keep in mind, when Miggy got to Newcastle, he dropped into the 18 quickly and was showing flashes as he got more minutes and became a starter. Now form comes and goes with any layoff and I am pretty sure they've had a manager change which can be deadly to any player's tenure at a club if the system changes enough. Just go ask PK who went to Hearts, made an instant impact, and became their captain before a new manager came in, changed the system, benched him, named a new captain, and shuffled him out the door the next transfer window. Miggy still has plenty of EPL tread left on his tires. He's played in 4 of the last 5 games while starting 2 of them for Newcastle. Not being a lock on the teamsheet does not make him a flop, just a little bit of a victim of his form or someone elses or perhaps the manager being pragmatic with the lineup per opponent. On the $8M, I was of the belief that was the number with $10M being the optimistic number, but that could be fluffy too. And even if Levien asked for another million at the last minute as Pablo Mauer has insinuated, especially if that was to cover the extra fees that were probably arising, I think it was amateur, but necessary to ensure the deal was a good one for us. Also, keep in mind, this would have been the first time anyone in MLS had been in high stakes, last minute winter window negotiations with a mega club in Europe. Either way, I was ok with them not selling at the time, to make a run at some hardware. He was offered DP level contracts, but DCU was dragging their feet and probably never actually came up with the $2.5M-3.5M offer that wasn't unreasonable for a 10g 20a man that he'd demonstrated he could be. Keep in mind, he was 10g/19a in Rooney's first half season when the team was a dumpster fire for the first half. Imagine we'd signed him in a timely fashion before the pre-season got close, before all the European chatter started, and he'd come in happy & motivated? You could have had double digit goals with 25+ assists and Rooney on 20+ goals with at least 2 other 10+ goal scorers around him. Arriola had gotten to 10 and Asad was on 9. Bill Hamid was back in the fold and had found his form. This team was absolutely an MLS Cup favorite. When was the last time we started a season with that kind of optimism? Not getting that deal done falls squarely in Jason Levien's lap. All the shit Rooney was bitching about at the end of the season would have been trivial shit, if this team was romping into the playoffs as #1 or #2 seed.
I don't believe this is correct. Many outlets reported DC offered $8m+/4 years. The Athletic reported it was closer to $9m. But all have reported that it was Lucho who was dragging feet - that he decided to reject the offer and hold out to see what he could get.
So here's my take on that. He clearly had a number in mind. Perhaps 2.25M was under it. I don't know. His social media was clearly in the vein of him feeling he was being under valued. I know this is a more current list, but $2.25 would IMO put him under the value of his production and value for his 2018 numbers, not to mention, he and his agent knew we had a short window to win with Wayne. So my take remains that we were coming in low. Not egregiously low, but low and we knew who we were dealing with, in him and his agent. If you were of a mindset that you were going to hold out against PSG's number, you should have also been of a mind that you were going to pay him to be one of the best creative midfielders in the league and try to win an MLS Cup, that salary should have IMO been a bit more than $2.25M. We seem to have only had half the right mindset in the owner's box. Read the names on that list between $2.5 and $3.5M and tell me 2018 Lucho didn't belong and my gawd, Josef Martinez is/was a screaming deal. And how many more titles does Toronto need to win to make it work paying Bradley and Altidore $6M+ each?
Wow. You must have watched a different player. He was excellent and very effective for his time on the field. While at DC he played for Serbia against England in a Euro competition and was named man of the match and best player on the field. He comes back to DC and can't get on the field. Give me a break. Also since I understand Serbian I can tell you his remarks in Serbian were not very flattering of Olsen's approach to the game. His biggest complaint was that DC did not let the ball do the running; they were making lots of pointless runs. He said a great team knowns when and where to make incisive runs on and off the ball. Sometimes the play is fast and sometimes its slow. DC was just one speed of pointless running.
Couldn't have said it better myself! When Bosko stepped on the pitch the change in the quality of DCU's play was instantaneous and obvious. After his departure I spoke to Ben about him and he allowed that not playing him more had been a terrible mistake.
I do like Paredes the more I have seen him. Yow and Nyeman have a way to go but I can see the argument for further development. My main point is that DC is a bad team. The players for the most part are mediocre with more below average than above. The results speak for themselves and 2021 is likely to be the same. People thorughout the league pick DC to finish in the bottom three of the ENTIRE league yet in our forums they are all regarded as above average or excellent. Their performance doesnt track to what we would hope. Perhaps I have that opinion because I watch so many out of market games with ESPN+ and MLS Direct Kick. The difference in the style and level of play is stark. I am worried about the lack of reinforcements to a poor team. And with a new coach new to the league its even more of a hill to climb. One example is to look at our Center backs. SB is out with an injury, Brilliant is not the fastest to begin with and is getting up there in age. I am optomistic that Pines will develop into a fine player but that could be this year or it could be in another year or two. If Canouse does not play the number 6 to protect the center backs we are going to have some real problems on defense. Without Arriola, who we miss a ton, our midfield struggles. I don't understand why Gressel is stuggling so much out wide but under United's system he did and his role seemed to fluctuate. Our DP was so ineffective in the center of the field we had to move him to the outside to try and have more time on the ball. Up front we were one of the least effective teams in the league and there were long stretches where we did not look even close to scoring. Without significant changes here I don't know why people expect improvement. I want DC to get back to being a good even great team. I just don't see it with this crop of players.
With all due respect to the Front Office, I would have moved Lucho for much less than the publicly announced transfer fee of $5M rather than risk losing Acosta as a free agent with no compensation. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.
Where is this hidden forum I'm not seeing? Is there some fee you have to pay to the mods to see these DCU fanboi forums?
I've always maintained that DC are full of mid-table players and relegation zone coaching. Coaching to avoid losing is not how to get the most from your personnel. I'm excited for this season. High-mid table seems do-able. Maybe get a home playoff match.
I defy you to find even one post in this forum that mentions any United player, other Hamid and Arriola, in the same paragraph as 'above average' or 'excellent'. This site has a very good grasp of the player pool. Having said that, this group can play, they showed that immediately when Ashton took over. They were toe to toe in possession with anyone all of a sudden. Same players, different coach. They won't win any trophies this year because they lack difference makers but they have the players to build with and look good in the process. The younger players like Pines need the confidence that comes with time, and when that happens they will be integral. Still need more of the top, top quality types, if they are going to win trophies, imo. But I believe they will compete and be a team I'll be proud to root for again.
So for such a group of players, our expectations are playoff and perhaps a home playoff game. This is the disconnect I'm talking about. I hope the new coach has such a profound effect on this crop of players but I'm skeptical of the impact for a young, inexperienced coach moving to a new country and new league.