Goff's Midseason Report

I'm no doctor, and I've never had a discussion. But I think Nowak and Esky should write off this season.

 

This reminds me of a time I got clobbered so hard in a college hockey game I tried to climb into to opponents bench(rather embarrassing in front of a few thousand onlookers), so said my teamates.

If he's feeling that he can't attack a cross in practice the day befor a game, no damn way he should be near the field game day. If he ends up in a mano v. mano for a header he's buggered.

 

Amen. Esky needs to take the time to be fully healed. Otherwise, he's just asking to end his career. For the team, his well-being - he should sit until he is able to play without concern for a reoccurrence/setback.

 

A grim outlook from Mr. Goff. Hopefully we can turn things around and quick. And as always his views pretty much mirror what we've been saying here so no big surprises.

 

I thought the analysis was spot on too. I especially liked the diplomatically couched, "Reserve David Stokes remains a mystery."

 

Esky just needs one of those Ryan Suarez headbands (in black, of course!)

K

 

Neither Esky nor Jaime should play.

I hate saying that.

 

Ditto. For the sake of trying to win one game, either or both could be injured more severely, Esky perhaps permanently!!?? How horrible would that be? Nobody questions either of these guys' hearts. Guys, don't play today or however long it takes to totally heal.

 

Goff is spot on here.

It is somewhat of a gloomy outlook Goff paints. We can always hope though. But when you look at what we had going into this stretch last year, and who was producing, turning it on, etc.. VS what we have and what is going on this season, it just does not come close to adding up to the second half run we had in 04.

Id love to go on and compare position/ player from 04 to 05, but im sure you all can do that in your heads and I just dont have the time to sit here and type out that long of a post while at work. Suffice it to say, with players leaving for various reasons, others being injured, and others just not stepping up as much as last season, its doesnt bode well for a replay of last seasons unexpected succeses.

While im am concerened a bit, I honestly cant say im disappointed. I mean, after the wild and very unexpected ride they gave us last year culminating in the ultimate prize of a 4th championship, sure this is a let down, but lets keep things in perspective here. Its a different club now top to bottom on the pitch, and we really should not be that disappointed given that we all knew the changes that were taking place going into this season. It also just shows the real lack of depth United has. This needs to be addressed for future concerns most definately. While I want them to contend and win, I honestly didnt expect a repeat of last year.

When you look at everything this club as accomplished in 10 seasons, especially last season, I dont think we should feel too terribly bad about finshing in a position just to barely make the playoffs this year, OR if we go out in rounds 1 or 2 if we do make it. Yeah its not the most pleasent realisation to have, but I guess Im alittle ahead in the game because I kind of started preparing for this after last season ended.

BOttom line for me is I feel I have ALOT more to be thankful for with this club, than Id ever have to be disappointed about. My biggest hope / expectation this season is making it to the playoffs. The "second season" is a new beginning for everyone, and you never know just what might happen. We are living proff of that very fact, as we all remember the UNEXPECTED glory that was the 2004 MLS season.

Vamos United!

 

I think you are half right. Esky's brain is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. There isn't any test to show whether a concussion is ready to be tested. His caution is spot on, but there's only one way to test it is to play. Wait until he's totally without symptoms, then give it at least another week. And make it clear to him that he needs to be honest with the med staff over how he feels.

On the other hand, what's the worst thing that can happen with Jaime? If the swelling is gone, he could tweak it again but he isn't at risk of doing that much more damage than is already there. The only thing that might go wrong is that he could suck because it hurts and he couldn't cut well.

 

I really do have to disagree here. Ive messed my ankle up good (both of them, one twice, the other once) and it really does pay to WAIT until its FULLY healed, without pain and with full range of motion. IM not sure exactly what his injury was, but a mild sprain thats not fully healed can be made much much worse. You can tear all the ligaments in your ankle which takes MUCH LONGER to heal ( i know, ive done this twice) or worse yet, you could do that on TOP of breaking the ankle itself. As much as Id like to see Moreno play tonight, if hes still feeling any pain no matter how little it is, espeically if its when he moves his ankle / foot, then id rather have him sit. Theres really no sense in rushing him back NOW. YEs this game is important, but honestly, if it takes a game or two more and he comes back and could possibly tear up the league, even IF thats ONLY a possibility id rather go that route than take an unecessary risk tonight. Just MHO, partially from personal experience with multiple ankle ( and other) injuries from playing ice hockey.

 

So, DC United's draft sure did them a lot of good.

While Chicago was picking up gems like Seagares and Rolfe who have been large parts of their success this season and New England picked up a couple of starters as well, DC United's picks have a total of what, 20 league minutes all season?

That's absolutely pathetic. Go ahead and blame injuries if you want but Merritt hadn't been looking good in reserve matches and Van Sicklen didn't exactly tear it up versus Harbor View. Even if you throw those two guys out, the other three still aren't stepping up. Terris got rocked so badly in a reserve match he was cut and Nickell and Kuykendall haven't done a thing as of yet.

DC United has a lot of problems this season, and some easy ones to blame are Eskandarian's drop in production, Josh Gros' recent dissapearance, Kovalenko and Namoff's injuries, etc. The thing is, most of these problems would be so much less visible if DC United's draft picks had done a damn thing all season long.

There's a reason why New England and Chicago are well ahead of United, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they were able to identify key starters that came straight from college and immediately integrate them into their system.

 

That's not 100% accurate, IMHO. Boswell was an excellent pickup, but was not drafted. That took some research, or at the very least, an open mind as far as recomendations from outside sources.

The other problem with DC's draft, IIRC, was that we only had a couple of draft picks, later in the draft, due to wheeling & dealing in prior years, while RSL & Chivas USA were loading up. A couple of the established MLS teams also had a bunch of picks, due to cashing in on prior deals.

We may be in the same boat again, with a lack of Super Draft picks for the future, but I can't remember without going back to the thread about all of DC's allocations, draft picks, etc. Or maybe we'll have our full complement of picks next year.

Some picks work out and others don't. Ask the Wizards NBA team. Or almost any NFL team.

 

Here's proof why Eski should not play, end of concussion!





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"...and displayed game-long intensity in front of a rabid home crowd." SG

 

I agree as well. Depending upon the ankle problem, you can...
1. be more likely to turn it.
2. by favoring the ankle, agravate pre-existing back issues (and we know Jaime has had those).
3. be less mobile, less agile and therefore more vulnerable to tackles (and potential injury).

As for Eskandarian, this is extremely troubling. It doesn't sound like he was hurt and then aggravated it. It sounds like his recovery is very, very slow. He'll be running hard or head the ball and the migraines come back. Not good in the least. Especially a month after the injury. He's had 3 with DCU--I wonder if he's had any prior to going pro (with U.Va, youth ball or U20, etc.)?

Thamlin, I've got to disagree with you almost completely about your draft analysis.
1. Chicago had more picks (and higher picks) than anyone else last season. And they got zippo from those picks--what had to go down as probably the worst overall draft in MLS history. Not just one blown pick but almost no-one from their draft last year has turned into a productive player for them. Didn't they have 6 picks in the first 2 rounds?
2. The NE fans like to trumpet about how good Nicol is with drafting and developing youth--that's nonsense. I don't think he's bad--don't get me wrong. But Twellman--he was a pro. Hudson ed after him and NE got him b/c they were second in the superdraft order. As for Dempsey, no-one (and that includes NE and Nicol) saw that coming. If Nicol had really seen Dempsey for what he was, than why was he drafted to be a RESEVERE D-mid?
3. Let's assume that Van Sicklen was starting and a candidate to be ROTY. Let's assume that Merritt was getting a lot of minutes. Unless we're going to assume that Van Sicklen had scored 5-6-7 goals (a sick amount for an outside mid) than our record would be almost identical to what it is today.

Our team's problems aren't b/c our youth didn't produce or we drafted poorly or we don't play rookies. Our team problems are a function of:
1. All of our plans to get a central defensive organizer fell through. So we relied on Boswell who has been outstanding and should be equal to Parkhurst in the ROTY consideration. But Boswell loses it at times and he's a big culprit in the two 4-3 games against Chicago (one of which we lost) with sloppy marking and organization, didn't play well in our 4-3 loss to NE and didn't play well in our dismemberment by FC Meatlovers. So while he's going to be a great one and is usually pretty good, he sometimes has bad games and they're usually reflected by us giving up 3-4 goals in a game.
2. We lack a finisher. The guy who we drafted in 2003, had 10 goals in 2004 and was the MLS Cup MVP--not a bad assumption that he'll give you 8-15 goals in 2005. Instead we're speculating that his season may be done and he has 0 goals. Quaranta (another draft pick) has shown signs (after 4 years of injuries) but hasn't had enough of an opportunity with the GC callup. Adu (hmm...another draftee) shows promise but it's kind of hard to expect a 16 year-old to be a consistent goal scorer.

 

I agree that the draft results have been disappointing. We didn't have the greatest draft picks to work with but Van Sicklen hasn't panned out so far. I think everyone else was too low of a pick to have had serious expectations about their contributions. My 20/20 hindsight says we should have picked local boy Abe Thompson who went from being one of the most highly touted college forwards to being a draft board pariah. But, like most everyone else at the time, I thought we should focus on strengthening our defense.

Although I agree with your disappointment about the draft, you've focused too narrowly on the "empty side" of the glass. Any discussion of the past year's personnel moves that does not mention the acquisition of Boswell, Simms and Wilson is only looking at a part of the overall picture.

 

You don't think it had something to do with the fact that we didn't have a single draft pick until late in the second round, by which time Chicago (for instance) had already had three, including two in the first round?

 

We effectively drafted Jamie w/ our top pick, at least from what I could make out of the overall #10 pick that went from Metros to Dallas. Not too bad, I'd say.

 

Spot on. Although it would have been nice for a couple of them to work.

I have a bigger problem with Guppy and guys we're paying a boatload to. Those guys need to contribute.

 

Done it myself. Personal experience is helpful on either side of the arguement. Glad neither one of us are the team docs who have to make the decision.

 

I'd say that's even worse then. The fact that he is considered a ROTY candidate and he wasn't even drafted. Of course, United had the good fortune that noone else though so, and that they were training nearby and were able to pick him up, but if those are the things the team is relying on, it's not going to bode well in the long run.

Obviously it's easy to say it would be nice to have drafted more impact players like Rolfe and Parkhurst, etc., and that's not easy to do with the limitations the team had because of prior moves. What I'm saying is that it's pretty pathetic that as of tonights game versus San Jose, all of two of five guys drafted have played in an MLS match, DESPITE the fact that this team has been incredibly shorthanded at times this season.

1 out of 5 picks turning into a solid role player even could have done wonders for this team considering they weren't good enough to get off of the bench when it was practically only them on it.

I'm also not saying that some of these guys won't pan out in the future, but the team is halfway through the season, and getting a combined 25ish minutes or so to five rookies is an indication of some pretty weak choices if you ask me.

 

AGREED!

 

I found Steve Goff's mid-season review fair/balanced overall. Spot-On with Boswell. A little harsh on Bennie & Gros, not nearly harsh enough on Carroll & Prideaux. But blistering criticism is probably not possible for a beat reporter. Although he should be able to call a "howler" a "howler". If it's good enough for the BBC, it's good enough for the WPost. As for the 2nd half, we can only hope Santino wears his scoring boots.

 

I think you're arguing a double standard here. OTOH, you're saying basically "Boswell isn't a great example b/c we nearly missed him--he wasn't our top choice." But then you're evaluating the performance of ALL of our rookies (including those who we drafted at the bottom of the draft or signed as free agents).

Look, if the issue here is how did we do with top-rated talent, the answer is that we get a pass. Bc we didn't have a first round pick (which is basically your argument with Boswell--he's not a shining example of our talent spotting b/c he wasn't a high draft pick but came almost as an afterthought).

I think it's a mistake to view the draft in terms of talent spotting. That's b/c this is the world's game, there is a lot of talent out there that isn't eligible for the draft (or isn't dispersed by the draft).

If you look at the newcomers that DCU identified and tried to acquire this year, you've got:
--Vanney (who given his XI pick, the performance of Dallas, seems to be doing quite well);
--Yi (that's a pass--hasn't played enough to fairly evaluate if this player was wisely pursued).
--Van Sicklen, Merritt, Kuykendall, Nickels, etc., our draft picks.
--Jamil Walker, Weber, Boswell, and our other developmental pickups.
--Our veteran signings from overseas (Guppy, the AAAA).

And in evaluating those players, you really need to make two arguments:
1. There was someone better we should have seen and should have gotten.
2. That player would have made a big difference for our side.

The argument can be made with Rolfe of Chicago (any team in MLS would also plead quilty) in terms of draftees. If Kuykendall or Van Sicklen or Merrit had played well enough to earn a starting job, I think our record would be identical to where we are now. The problems this team has had wouldn't have been solved by a rookie draftee (unless we're talking the rookie Damani Ralph).