I am a Red Bulls fan. I barely get to watch Montero but the times I have watched him.I have seen so much talent in him. Do ya guys want him gone this offseason? Thanks
Bit of an odd way to ask that question. Personally I love the guy. He's streaky for sure and had a little trouble with the cast this year but I'm for him. (you can't have him. )
Without Montero, Seattle finishes near the bottom of the Western Conference. That's how important he is. I'm not really a Seattle fan, but when I watch Seattle play, he is really the main weapon Seattle has. Him and Rosales. Everyone else is pretty average but look better in the presence of Montero and Rosales. Seattle really has no defense, so they need a DP up top to compensate. Only negative about Montero is that he seems a little lazy. He tends to stand around a lot, especially after losing the ball. If he was American, and was playing under Klinsmann, he'd get kicked out of the starting line-up pretty quick because of his low work rate. Yeah, he has skill, but work rate counts for a lot.
I want him around, but I'd rather have him as a CAM than a striker. While his goal scoring is very hit and miss, he is probably the best player on the ball at distributing the ball. Not only that, but he finds the guy in the most dangerous position and gets the ball to him more often than not.
And Fredy's not lazy. He just plays with flair and creativity and I doubt he knows any other way. He floats around the field picking his spots and creates something out of nothing. That's what he brings to the table. CAM, withdrawn forward...what's the difference.
I certainly want him around, no doubt about it. I think at times he can be a favorite whipping boy of fans because he can be streaky scoring-wise. But even when he isn't scoring goals, he is making assists and other plays. The guy is pure talent and can control the ball and do things with the ball others can't with the possible exception of Rosales. So in other words, you can't have him. You can, however, have Brad Evans. Evans is the new Jaqua. Unfortunately to the extent that we will probably protect him like we protected Jaqua last year. Ugh!
Well said. The lazy meme might have had merit in the first season, but ever since the Swede left and Montero was given the keys to the offense he has been one of the top players in the league.
That's an interesting thought... Move Montero into Evan's spot, have OBW/Fucito/Neagle/Ochoa in the fwd spots.... I don't hate that but I worry what happens when little Freddy runs into CDMs like Beckerman on a more regular basis.
Montero is already running into CBs like Marshall, Olave, Gonzalez, and whoever is Houston's CB. Guys that are bigger and more physical than any CDM in this league.
I wouldn't mind seeing Luke Rodgers and Montero together.. How about a Rodgers for Montero trade? =) we will include hard head Marquez lol
Depends on the money. If we get $6-8 mil to sprinkle on the academy and buy a couple young guns AND get $650k of allocation money, Seattle will be a dynasty.
this is my ideal team using existing sounders and MLS talent Tally Hall Riley Parke Hurtado Dunivant Alonso Rosales Derosario Zakuani Montero Hassli yup. we would be unbeatable. this formation has the right combo of skill, speed, size (large/small forward combo) creative CAM, bulldog DM, solid back 4 that overlap.
Love the guy, so happy to have him on the team. He's one of the best attacking players in the league. I also call bullshit on those who characterize him as lazy - dude gives 100%.
What's so messed up about that line-up, Fuzzy, is that Riley is the starting RB.. That's how weak the RB position is in this league. Can anyone think of a RB that they'd rather have? I can't, but I'm definitely not an expert on the other team's RBs. I do, however, remember seeing a tweet from either Grant Wahl or Steve Goff saying that he couldn't think of a RB that deserved to be in the Best XI...
Only person taht would fit our System better would be someone like Solli from New York. He's probably the best attacking full back in the league. Riley's defense is pretty average at best but he does offer something in the attack that a lot of MLS defenders don't do.
yea...had an issue with that position... and Solli is a good RB actually. By good fullbacks for me it means capable of crosses and overlapping.
i don't think Montero moves enough to play further away from goal for the Sounders. he's a useful post and scores a lot of goals inside the box as the highest player. sometimes when he picks the ball up deeper he is too patient in waiting for an opportunity to pass or shoot and allows the other team more time for recovery. Friberg, Alonso, Fernandez and Rosales interact with some smart movement. i think it would be a shame to interrupt that with a more static player whose nuance is mostly expressed with short runs. as a striker he's allowed plenty of freedom to drop into available spaces, in any case Neagle has done so well running at defenders with lots of space behind them and cutting in to shoot that it would seem unfair to retard the freedom of the wing we have a lot of good players and Montero is second most important among them. he has scored a lot of goals and won a lot of games for the Sounders since the Sounders moved to MLS.
It would be awesome of Montero somehow stayed with the Sounders till he retired. He seems to have become more consistent this season and seems to be upping his game more for the big moments. He is one of three players to have scored 10 or more goals in each of the past three seasons. 34 goals and 26 assists in three years is not bad.
OK. I'll add a few more words to just "frustrated." He's clearly a gifted player. Unfortunately, he knows it. In the first year with FL10 he didn't work hard for himself or the team. After FL10 left, he sometimes worked hard, and others not so much. That is one part of the frustration. That is a mental issue and a maturity issue and I know Sigi has worked on it with him. Another frustrating issue is a decision-making issue: he will often try to hold the ball up with his back to the goal (and sometimes facing the goal) with multiple touches, which invariably ends up in a turnover. For his size he does pretty well holding off defenders. One defender is fine, but holding the ball too much and dinking it around with little Cryuffs means two defenders will take the ball away from him. The more times he touches the ball, it's like drawing flies to s$*t. He needs to get rid of the ball much more quickly. Now some of this is not all his fault because he needs someone to drop it to and no one is there, but typically there is someone there. He just has his head pointed down. This is the 2nd frustrating thing. The 3rd frustrating thing is that he is not really a striker. He takes the most shots of a starting striker in the league and finishes the least amount of them. He has a very low scoring percentage. That is ridiculously frustrating for the amount of money we're paying him. I know people argue he's produced for us, but for my money, no where near enough for a starting striker of the 2nd best team in the league. I want a dude who is lethal and quick in front of the net, not someone who will dink around and lose the ball. I personally think Fredy should play midfield. He's a player that does amazing things when he can look up and assess the field. He seems very fit and I think he'd do well in the center of the pitch. That said, I don't think Sigi sees him as a midfielder, and I don't think Fredy thinks of himself as a midfielder. But he is. Anyone who has watched him play knows it. Now, do we need a central midfielder? I'd say yes, we do. Because I find Brad Evans very frustrating, too. I would drop him. The followup question is, can we afford to pay $625K for a central midfielder when we'd also need to find a top quality major league striker? That's a more difficult question. I think we should splash the cash like LA, personally. Look at Robbie Keane for god's sake (they've got Keano, Becks, and Landycakes all on the same side). This is all dreaming mind you because Sigi and Fredy will do none of this midfield idea.