A thought or two. -so if we know that earnie stewart would like to go to LA and LA would like to have him, they are still missing an allocation. since dc is holding 2, why not offer one to LA for someone like victorine? they might bite. that might fit hudson's idea of a def. midfielder(aggressive, good feet) and add an addt'l ball winner to a midfield with no height. -that would leave 1 allocation, which it might be better to hold on, see what holes appear over time and fill them. i know there has been talk of "tyson" but why not wait and see if he is really needed once the squad is assembled. if so, act, if not you may even find a cheaper alternative has become available to you.(hint: dante washington is not the answer) -use the picks on talented youngsters(esky/clark) and give them time to develop. these kids all seem to need time to adjust and catch up to the game, give it to them. there are experienced players in the team, let the kids learn a trick or two and work their way into the team. best of luck.
-How do we know Earnie wants to go to LA? -Why on God's green earth would Sigi give up Victorine, even if it is for Earnie? -I think it's clear, at least to me, thatthis team needs to win before it can develop young players. Hence Justin Mapp getting the door. Just my thoughts.
-well first, according to these pages, take them for what you will, earnie holds some apparent preference for dallas or la. -victorine? well, he is a reach but worth a shot if the allocation is packaged with a pick outside the #1 and #5. all i'm saying is see whats available. -mapp? well where was he gonna play? at least he'll get some time with chicago.
Victorine? He isn't worth a ham sandwich if you ask me.. He doesn't or wouldn't fit any type of need that we have (first team striker, defensive midfielder or back line depth) at the moment.. Besides, he doesn't really even have a formal position with LA.. I think the more likely scenario is to either bargain for Elliott or Vagenas before discussing Victorine...
What have we been doing these past few years then? We have plenty of young players to develop, and I'm glad we moved Mapp (who didn't look promising) for someone ready to produce now.
It should be a cold day in hell when Eliott and/or Vagenas are/is worth a major allocation. Eliott's play really slipped last year. What has Vagenas done (sincere question)? What is this love affair with the 2001 version of Simon Elliott? I dunna unnerstan'. Must put the Bushmills down .... well, maybe one more. GM
Well Tom, I gotta disagree with you here buddy.. Elliott was the engine to the team that incidentally won MLS Cup last season and has been their best midfielder for two years running.. Vagenas isn't as high profile as one would like but would fit in well at United with his very good defensive midfield play and his ability to get forward.. Plus, if we do happen to get any PK's during the season, he steps in and automatically becomes our PK taker (remember his 4 out of 4 PK shooting at the Olympics?).. Besides, allocations of late in MLS haven't turned up much in effective players.. It's all about the draft picks nowadays... I'd rather get an established MLS vet right now than some foreign player who will undoubtedly take some time to fit in, especially on a team like United which will have a good deal of turnover by the time the opener comes around.. That's not to say I wouldn't take on Nunez or Kucharsky, but it's all talk at this point and Ray's track record of talking up international talent has yielded United a grand total of one player - Eliseo Quintanilla...
That is a heck of a last paragraph, but noway should we spend an SI slot on Elliott. lalagals had one standout player -- Ruiz, well, maybe two because Jones had a good year. Props to the Hut for assembling a Champ from ordinary raw material. All of the parts worked marvelously -- of course, if the injury bug avoids you, you have a good chance of looking good. I would argue that Jones was lalagals' 2002 engine in the stretch. I have great respect for Elliott and his work rate. But his shot disappeared in 2002 to such an extent that defenses left him unmarked at the 30. His free kicks were ineffectual (and DC fans are now experts at this). He would make a wonderful dmid, but I don't think he is worth an allocation (I guess time will show us how this years' allocations produce). Vagenas' pk accuracy would be water to the parched dc fans after Moreno's jokes in 2002. Vagenas seems to be a solid pro, but he hasn't really done anything. I think either player would be a fish out of water outside of the Hut's aquarium. .. That's a cheap shot at Hudson. Ray had squat salary to work with, and he landed Quintanilla, who has some good skill, albeit he is rumored to be a glacier incarnate. .. I disagree that it is all about the draft picks. I would argue that it is about $75 to 100k players in 10 positions with a blue chip finisher (a la Ruiz or Twellman). If that finisher gets hurt, however, you're toast. NER has a Serna, but lalagals don't have another producing forward. lalgal forwards (other than Ruiz) seem to be nothing but runners to help wear down the defense for late overlapping runs by Jones, Hendrickson or Victorine (note that Elliott is not a factor offensively, other than the occasional long diagonal ball into space for a runner). .. Watching lalagals or NER is about as exciting as watching cars rust, until time becomes a anxiety factor. Always a pleasure to chew the fat with ya, Chris. GM
Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray Oh they'd bite it sormun, they'd bite it. Sigi would take that deal faster than you could get back on here and take another pot shot at Convey. He'd probably throw in another player because he felt bad about ripping us off in the deal.
Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray Ahh sormun, you don't really make a good impression saying that someone would turn down a twenty dollar bill for a one dollar bill. The only person who wouldn't want Convey over Victorine is Sasha's mother. No offense to Victorine, but he is a very mediocre player. Arena has called up all kinds of players for various reasons, it doesn't mean people like Carey Talley, Brian Dunseth and Chad McCarty are All-Star caliber players. Do you still think that the A-League Kickers have a better midfield? Even the Kickers disagree with you, as they were/are ecstatic about getting Namoff, who is clearly not one of our 5 best midfielders. Even after all of the changes, some good some not so good, I'm very happy that you're not our coach, because some of your ideas are just ludicrous. Victorine better than Convey ... where do you come up with this stuff?!?!? Always entertaining though. -Tron
Re: Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray OK. Only one question ! Why ,in your opinion, did Arena select Victorine and not Convey ?? Forget about Victorine scored that game the winning goal for the US. IMHO, Victorine is a decent midfielder, playing for the champs, very good game effort all year around,good technique and some finishing touch. Convey, on the other hand, played crap soccer all year around (except last 3,4 games), lost a lot of good scoring opurtunities, poor physical training, shot down by a school boy Ziedie. Wake up, so far, Convey is a very mediocre player. If you believe my opinions are "ludicrous", how about Arena's opinion ?? You do not get it, do you ?? Just because he is playing for us, he is a youngster, some people said some pleasant things about him etc...doesn't make him a star player !!! Only his performance on the field can make him a star player. So far,IMHO, he played CRAP soccer and we are the last team in the league !!! Do you get it now ???
Hmmm.... I've had some good ham sandwiches and some bad ham sandwiches. I remember that the satellite motel Coffee shoppe in Ocean city made a nice grilled ham and cheese when I was a youth, No question- that sandwich was better than Sasha. But my mom's ham sandwiches sucked and Sasha was definitively better than those dogs. Bottom line is that I agree with Chris here in that Sigi's towel boy, Victorine doesn't really have a place with United at this time. Now Mr. Vaengas- we can talk about him. And sormun- you should know that Convey was leading the U-20's in their qualification tournament while the senior squad and Victorine was playing a less important El Salvador game.
Ye, right, what a great performance he had in that tournament !!!.. I remember TR & company did qualified because a dummy shot in his own goal, in other words, by pure hazard. The U-20 squad's performance is a shame but, taking into account who the coach is nobody really cares !! The fact that he plays for the crapy US-20 is not changing his mediocre performance. He played crap for DCU and crap for the US-20 team ! So what ???
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray First of all, Convey was away at U-20 WC qualifying.. Secondly, Victorine did NOT score the winning goal that day, Ben Olsen did.. Thirdly, if I recall correctly, didn't United win 3 out of the 4 matchups with the Metrostars and their world renowned right back Ziadie this past season? While I am willing to concede that in the first matchup of the season between United and the Metrostars, Ziadie did shut down Convey quite nicely, the other three matches were in Convey's favor, including a goal in the late season 2-1 victory at RFK... Let's face it sormun, don't you think it's a little peculiar that you are the only poster on this board who comes on here on a regular basis and rips Convey? Don't you think that is a bit odd? Why is that? Could it be that you are the only person who is right? I doubt it.... Sormun, on a serious note, I could understand your obvious hatred for Convey if he constantly missed open sitters on net or didn't even hustle back on defense or fails to make himself available for teamates to pass to, but unfortunately for you, he doesn't do any of those things.. If anything, he does all of those things quite well.. I honestly just don't know what you are watching out there.. I really don't....
I think there's something that sormun isn't telling us... Come clean sormun, what did Bobby Convey do to you? It must have been unspeakable.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray Well,well, well where do I have to start ?? #1. Last year Convey played mediocre soccer. It was just before the last 4 games when I asked for him to be cut off at the end of the season. As I recall, my request was for good reason : his very poor record, at that time. OK. I assume, he realised he will be cut off if he doesn't perform and he did,some, in the last 4 games. So what ?? Does it means he was not a mediocre player in the worse DCU midfield ever ?? No, he was playing crap soccer for 22 games. How can you forget and erase those games from your memory ?? #2. I had the chance to speak with Ray, at the computer giggs meating and he convinced me that "may be Convey deserves another chance this year. Another chance, means "another chance", in other words, he blew this one let's give him another. #3. I have a lot of soccer in my past !! If, I have my ideeas about a player or a team, usually, they come from experience. I was out of line with the general opinion !! So what ?? Last year, after 7 or 8 games, I wrote, we will be the last team in the league. I even, had a bet with Mr. Causo about that . A lot of you did booo....me on this board !! So what? I was right ! Was I ?? Even, yourself, at some point ,were seeing that my predictions ( as DCU will lose) is like saying " the sun will rise tomorow". So what ?? I was right despite the general opinion ?? #3. Convey recruitment was totally due to an inept coach,TR. He was brought to DCU without any trial, any proven performance, that can be analised. It was a shame and a total disrespect towards other remarcable, american youngstrers !! My experiece tells me: this kind of promotion is just plain stupid and 99.9% of the players in this situation never met expectations. So far , I stick with my "percentage". Let's face it, he is not the one TR. and others believed to be !!! #4. He will prove me wrong next season !! I do not think so !! How about if he is gonna prove you and some others, Bobby's lovers, to be wrong ?? I think my percentage would not let me down ?? What is your base to believe the oposite ?? I am really curious ?? #5. There were a lot of situations when one person was right and everybody else was wrong !! How about : " The emperer is nude " !! I will change my opinion when he will play real soccer !! Until than, my conviction based on what I have seen, on the field, cannot be changed by "talking soup" !! Sorry, about that !!
Sormun, For the love of all that is holy... WHAT SPECIFICALLY DOES HE DO THAT YOU DON'T LIKE? All you do is spout the same non-specific ************************. "His very poor record." "Does it means he was not a mediocre player in the worse DCU midfield ever ??" Well, give us SPECIFICS. Come on, use some of that "soccer in my past" to lay out what he does that you don't like. Because otherwise, you really come off as not having the slightest clue about the game of soccer. As for Hudson's comments - if you're online personna is anything like how you are in real life, Hudson probably would have said anything to get the ************ away from you. RS
Yes, I agree, but this case is different.... Sormum is clearly not seeing what most of us are seeing and it is blocking his objectivity.. Here is the major difference.. Most of know full well that Convey had a bad start to the season and was rightfully benched by Hudson at one point.. But after that point, Bobby became our most dependable and dangerous midfield player.. His defensive effort was fantastic and he made himself available game in and game out.. Whether or not Moreno and Etcheverry chose to use him is another question altogether but Convey was our best midfielder by seasons end.. Sormun is not willing at all to capitulate that Convey did indeed improve as the season wore on.. Yes, he says "the last 4 or 5 games" a lot of the times but you know it kills him to admit it.. Let's face it, Sormun has a fundemental problem with Convey that he simply can not get past to make rational objective decisions on.. None of us have any problems criticizing Convey's play at certain points of the season, but in the same vain (the opposite vain if you will) Sormun is equally effusive in his derision for Convey.. Freestyle put it out there to him and he has failed to answer the question put before him.. What exactly do you not like about his game specifically? We all are dying to know sormun... To give this discussion it's proper perspective, I'll give sormun a likewise example of my own perspective.. I can't stand Richie Williams as a midfielder anymore.. He's slow, he's a hack and his transition from defense to offense is laughable, BUT his ability to pester and be a general nuisance is and was an invaluable part to the second best defense in MLS last season.. I'm not sorry to see him go in the least but he will be missed in some small way next season.. There, it's pretty easy to be both critical and effusive at the same time.. I think all we ask of sormun is do a little of both, we all know he's great at being critical...
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: last minute suggestion for ray #1 - Yes, Bobby did play lousy at the beginning of the season.. Ray benched him and he responded positively from it.. By seasons end he was our best midfielder.. I can forget about his early season troubles because he busted his ass to make me forget about his early season play.. Bobby took it upon himself to improve and he did.. #2 - With all due respect to you Sormun, I seriously doubt that Ray is giving full faith player evaluations to a bunch of fans at a team gathering.. #3 - I'm 35 and have been playing or watching soccer since the age of 4.. I'm just as experienced as you are, but it doesn't mean a damn thing.. Again, the way United was playing at times last season, it was rather easy to predict losses or bad play.. I wonder how you would have predicted games during the 97-99 seasons? United didn't have the glaring problems then that they had last season.. Moreno, Etcheverry and the rest were injury free and in-form.. Is it any coincidence that when we had our best XI available we won most of the time? #4 - Nobody will know the answer to that until the games are played.. That is the beauty of sports.. Nobody gave Ohio State a chance to win, nobody game the Altanta Falcons a chance to win either yet they did.. I'm basing my assumptions on Convey's improved (and the teams) play at the end of the season.. #5 - I beg to differ with you here.. Not too many situations where one dissenter (you) are overwhelmingly right.. This is not to say that what you feel won't happen, it's just that there are too many other differing opinions to suggest otherwise.. Besides, you have yet to give any specific reasons as to why Bobby is such a poor player...