From An Impossible Angle :: Why Dema needs to learn the fine art of fouling

* "Zero fan points to the mute Foxborough crowd on Saturday night, who gave out barely a whisper of encouragement to their already lackluster team. There was a gaggle of home supporters behind one goal in ‘The Fort’, but the noise they made must have been locked in behind the metaphorical drawbridge. There’s more atmosphere in Montgomery Mall at eight o'clock on a Monday morning."



tears are streaming down my face and my gut hurts i am laughing so hard (it has taken me minutes to write this). that is some of the funniest ******** i have ever read. i guess chico (see my sig) called the fort for what it is...

 

Ouch. Imp makes some interesting points re: Dema. We'll have to see if they are validated by PN.

I agree 100% re: Perkins, Petke, and the lack of calls going Freddy's way.

 

Nice. Very good piece. Wonder if Dema will see this?

 

Well I think this doesn't take into account an import part of the "American" character of the game here. Americans abouslutely hate team sports that don't have a kovalenko-type cat in the side. You have to have the guy who plays somewhere above their supposed-physical abilities and especially if they are cocky/hardass kinda of dudes. Kovalenko is the quintessential kind of guy americans love in sports. he's small, slow and lacks in every sorta stat--but he's a ********in mean version of the "Rudy" dude from the movie. and he's successful, largely because he has huge attitude. the dude hates to lose, always challenges guys to little competitions and generally has huge heart.

americans are sucker for this guy and it really makes the side complete to have this type of dude. i think most united fans love the fact that for other sides dema is sorta the "heel" in terms of fake wrestling--a sorta bad boy type. it is always fun to be a fan of the guy everyone else loves to hate.

great article Ian, I really enjoyed it.

 

I really enjoyed it too, but he didn't examine one aspect of Dema that I wish Peter would try - put him at forward.

We need a badass up there, someone willing to run through a brick wall to score. Why not Dema?

 

Kovalenko as the new Rudy is an entertaining stretch ... but a simpler truth is, every Ukranian player I ever saw would break your leg in a heartbeat and not think twice about it. Their's is not a gentle culture.

 

The one positive to the quietude of Gilette on Saturday night was that all the kids with Adu shirts were clever enought not to scream like Mia-brats every time the ball came near him.

Tim

 

Dema is our version of Bill Laimbeer and Bill Romanowski. They'll do anything to win and every team needs a player like them. Notice the NBA championships and the Super Bowls those guys have won? Love him or hate him, you can't deny that Dema will give his all on the field.

By the way, he's an ultra nice lad off the field.

 

that is for sure.

 

I don't mind the Laimbeer reference but comparig Dema to a roid monster like Romanowski is off the mark.

Dema is naturally intense. Romanowski is angry because of all the performance enhancing drugs he's been taking most of his career.

 

Yeah, he just needs to replace that "New York" sweatshirt he always wears to the SE Annual Meeting with something a little more DC-friendly...

 

I don't think it's a distinctly "American" trait. Graeme Souness was much loved at Liverpool for their ability to create from a deep midfield position and make hard tackles. Robbie Savage is hated by all, except Birmingham fans (and Leicester before them). You can also throw Julian Dicks, Tommy "The Anfield Iron" Smith, and Vinnie Jones in there, even though they played central defense.

 

that could well be lanky, it wouldn't suprise me if such a sentiment resonated in a lot of places, i simply don't know as much about other cultures as i do about american archtypes.

 

I wasn't refering to Dema as a roid addict. My comparison was that both Bills would do anything on the field to win the game. They're all type of players you just love on your team but hate them as opponents. As a Denver Broncos fan I absolutely loved Romanowski but I know how much opposing fans hated him. How many of us hated Dema when he was with Chicago?

 

There are always those guys out there that just aren't "quite good enough" but bring more than their skills to each and every game. In addition to those mentioned above, I would add Ray Parlour or Giles Grimandi. Sure people look at them and wonder "why are they a starter" but they bring something intangible to the team.

I understand why Dema has a whole lot of drawbacks as a player. However, for my money, I'd rather have him on the pitch than off it. Good article Ian but I disagree with your conclusions about Dema - I think he does bring something special to the team beyond just a goal here or there and a hard foul...

 

I think this is a classic United fan, post-win optimism run-a-muck ramble. We win one game by the skin of our teeth (and frankly sheer luck) and one of our best players (Dema) is suddenly replaceable...

Frankly I don't buy it. We need Dema and will need him even more the moment a player the caliber of an Olsen or Convey goes down. Who does Ian suggest we fill our midfield with when injuries and national team callups kick in? We are not deep enough to trade Dema and its stupid to think we are. Our defense wasnt that solid. Our mid wasnt THAT tight. We frankly got lucky. NE couldnt finish their chances.

I also don't necessarily agree that he is the only blue collar, hard headed guy on this team... We hardly have a team full of Steve Ralstons out there like this BS suggests. Ben Olsen, Gros, Namoff, and Nelsen ALL come to mind. While Dema is more colorful and more importantly ACCOMPLISHED (minus Olsen), he isn't really that different then any of them either.

If we want to blast players for not showing up every game the list runs a hell of a lot deeper then Dema. --The sheer fact that Dema has also raised his level of play in several key games this year makes him better then half our current roster.

 

Well countered, I agree. Dema may find himself on the bench at Chicago, but that's just the timing of the season. He will be in the game at some point, and will be all season and shouldn't be traded. He's a great guy to have on our team for the motivation and nerve.

 

Well I agree with Ian 100%. Compared to the mids we had vs NE, the Demanator is too slow and too poor in his passing: he constantly disrupts the fluidity of the other mids. Just compare him to every other mid and he comes up short:

Olsen's a better passer and organizer. He's Dema's equal in scoring from the midfield. he's also a bit faster.

Earnie's is miles better than Dema as a passer and has scads more tactical awareness than Dema. Earnie's much faster too and routinely shuts down his opposite flank opponent.

Carroll already does the d-mid stuff better than Dema.

Gros is much faster and just as mean and is as good a scorer.

Convey- Christ how can you compare the two in either left wing or a-mid?


Dema's strength is as a situational scorer. He's a subpar a-mid, d-mid, winger, and from his Chicago days, forward. (Folks here may want to see Dema as a forward but Nowak has played a bunch of games with Dema there and he knows that Dema is not an answer to our forward problems.)

That said he's a great sub, though for the cap hit he takes I'd look to trade him, epsecially when we have Ara, Q2, and eventually Q1 to play the midfield in various roles. We have yet to see Ara really, but Q2 is a better winger and a-mid and with his moxie can probably learn the holding mid job as well as Dema. Q1 will mainly be a forward but he can be a better winger also.

 

Wow! That was a great piece.

McOwen - That isn't "post-win optimism run-a-muck ramble." Ian has held this view of Kovalenko for a long time. I remember reading a piece last season where he argued that he was very overrated by many DC United supporters.

And I do agree with pretty much everything Ian said there, though I would add that Dema is also tremendously overpaid.

 

Boy do I wish you hadn't made this comparison. Not because it's wrong, but because it's so completely true. And, lets face it, both those guys were cheap-shot pricks who deserved to have their eyes put out. And "Romo" is also a lying, cheating dope-fiend.

 

Maybe he did. Check the quote in Goff's Wednesday article.

"'Peter said I should've stayed [in Spain] a few more days,' Kovalenko said with a smile."

Can anyone tell when Peter is joking or not-joking?

 

Wednesday's article? He left on Thursday...