If everyone is healthy who is on your first team and who is on your second team? Even though I said everyone I'm leaving out those that won't be back this season Will/Tommy; I'm also leaving Rich off until he plays again. First: Gruenebaum Miranda Williams* Marshall** Vukovic O'Rourke*** Gaven Duka Mirosevic Arrieta**** Meram *Mendes and James are great but Williams has played so well I can’t take him out. **I am conserned with Marshall’s long term viability at this point but if healthy he has to be there. ***Hardest for me to pick O'Rourke/Birchall/George I’m going with Danny because he’s the heart of the team. ****Admittedly this is on hope but I’m going with it. Second: Lampson Perry* Mendes James Anor** Birchall Finlay Speas*** George Vargas Renteria *Between Perry and Veeder I’ll go with Perry. **I still like Anor over Francis; I don’t like Francis as a defender. ***Maybe a little hope but I like the way Speas plays.
Oh love exercises like this. 1st: Gruenebaum Miranda - Marshall - James - Vukovic Gaven - Birchall - Mirosevic - Duka Renteria - Meram 2nd Lampson Perry - Mendes - Williams - Francis Speas - George - D'Or - Finlay Vargas - Arrieta I like Birchall because he will shoot. It causes the opposition central mid to keep track of him and opens the up the field. That is my only knock on D'Or. Williams has shown great things but I like James because he was excellent for a full year. Same thing with Arrieta, I need to see more. Renteria and Meram are hot now so I am going with them. If Duka is out I would move Meram back and put Vargas or Arrieta in. For the 2nd team I have only seen Speas once but was very impressed. I think Francis has potential. He was scrappy as a defender in 2010. I want to see George shoot to see if he has the ability but he sprays passes like a sniper. That leaves Anor, Gehrig, Grossman, Horton, Schoenfeld, Tchani, Urso and Veeder.
Well, right now (if everyone is healthy and eligible) I'd go like this: Team 1: ----------Gruenebaum------------- Miranda--Marshall--James--Vukovic --------------O'Rourke--------------- Gaven---Mirosevic---Duka----Arrieta --------------Renteria---------------- Team 2: -------------Hesmer----------- Balchan--Williams--Mendes--Francis -----------Tchani---Birchall---------- Meram-------------------------Anor ---------Schoenfeld---Finlay--------- Useful but not listed: Vargas, George, Speas, Gehrig, Heinemann Could be useful: Lampson, Grossman, Perry, Urso Don't know/haven't seen: Horton, Veeder
I love doing this, especially to see who other people really rate and hate. Also, I'm not counting Hesmer or Heinemann in mine, as in my mind I don't really consider them on the roster right now: XI: -------------Gruenebaum------------ Miranda-Marshall-Williams-Vukovic ---------------O'Rourke-------------- Gaven---------Birchall-----------Duka ---------Mirosevic--Arrieta------------ Subs: Lampson, Mendes, Balchan, Speas, Meram, Vargas, Renteria Second Unit: ------------Lampson-------------- James-Mendes-Gehrig-Balchan -------------Grossman------------ Finlay--------Speas----------Meram ---------Renteria-Vargas------------ Not in the First XXII: Francis, Veeder, Perry, George, Urso, Anor, Tchani, Horton, Schoenfeld
Post cuts pre DP (hope) All* from before are still in effect. First: Gruenebaum Miranda Williams Marshall Vukovic O'Rourke Gaven Duka Mirosevic Arrieta Meram Second: Lampson Urso Mendes James Anor Birchall Finlay Speas George Vargas Renteria So with Wiliams, Mendes and James all in use at CB I'm going to try Urso at RB for some reason. Maybe Gehrig and I'm still leaving Balchan out until he sees the field again.
Wouldn't it be nice to see that in action for a couple of games in a row? I also love the idea that with that lineup we would have the likes of Birchall (who clearly loves to just shoot like crazy, and one is bound to go in at some point) and Finlay (who apparently just runs...really fast... all the time) to come off of the bench if we need a change.
In three years with LA, only 15 of Birchall's 65 shots were on goal, and only 1 went in. So yes, I guess you could say one is bound to go in at some point.
Wow. He hasn't exactly been a world-beater thus far, but his shooting seemed to be the most impressive thing about him... Maybe with the 9,000 other DMs we have, he'll be played in a more advanced role.
Post cuts, pre DP edition, assuming health for everyone but Heinemann and Hesmer. Team 1: ------------Gruenebaum------------- Miranda---Marshall--Williams--Vukovic ---------------O'Rourke--------------- Gaven----Mirosevic---Duka-----Arrieta ----------------Renteria--------------- Team 2: --------------Lampson------------ Balchan---James--Mendes---Anor ---------------George--------------- -----------Tchani---Birchall-------- Meram----Vargas/Schoenfeld---Finlay I really don't think Schoenfeld nor Vargas add much in any significant way. Or at least I haven't seen it yet. But since we don't really have another target man, one of them has to be in there. I want to put Speas in there, but I haven't seen him play yet (though that didn't stop me on Arrieta). But based on Speas was rated, he's easily 2nd team, pushing Finaly, Meram, or one of the CM's to the bench (George). Only other guys left are Urso and Horton.
http://www.thecrew.com/news/2012/07/crew-tops-new-york-3-1-mls-reserve-league Great result. Marshall returns. Bernardo plays left back. Duka returns. Arrieta and Vargas both score.
Yep. I like it. Another couple of things I liked: 1) Duka appeared to play in the middle. (Grossman as holding, Finlay & Meram wide). 2) Speas saw action, got an assist, and it looks like he did it from a spot (LM) we need help from.
------------------Greenenbomb-------------------- -------------James------------Williams------------ ------Seb-------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------Vukovic----- -----------------O'Rourke-------------------------- --------------------------Birchall------------------- ----------Gaven------------------------------------ --------------------------------------Meram------- ----------------------Mirosevic--------------------- --------------Renteria------------------------------ That would be my eleven as of today. A very attacking 4-3-3 with no pivot for hold-up play. Compact on the right, numbers in the middle, adventurous down the left. Most of the attacks would be generated on that side, starting with Vukovic and his excellent service (which really deserves someone to aim for, maybe late runs from Gaven creeping onto that back post). The back three slide over to cover for him (Williams' speed and awareness are key), and Vuk can either serve early balls or especially look to combine with Meram. Play the ball to Meram's feet and watch him go. What width there is on the right is occasionally provided by Seb picking his spots and Renteria dragging his defender off to work that right channel. This way he doesn't have to receive and turn (where he's poor), just dump it into space for him to chase and let him run at (and scare the s*** out of) people. Big opportunity for Mirosevic to get him as close to the goal as possible (thanks to the signing of Birchall behind him). He would have a very free role in this set-up, with license to roam wherever he wants to try to build moves. Moving him further forward also allows us to close down higher up the field given that we've all seen his tackling abilities, a very welcome surprise. Gaven provides the lungs and what attacking threat there is from the central three. The man that Dunc dubbed a "tank" this weekend, Birchall, moves inside to get him off the wing (bulkiest looking winger I've ever seen, needs to shed a bit of timber) and he can also get forward for a pop if the chance presents itself. Not going to do a second eleven because it would be completely different from this set-up, also because frankly IMO there are areas in which we have too many options and others where we have too few.
Fixed to swap Tchani in for Birchall, and slide O'Rourke over to the left to help Williams to cover for Vukovic.