Forwards Josh Wolff Chris Brown Dario Fabbro <SI> Stephen Armstrong <SI> (Winger) Attacking Mid Igor Simutenkov <SI> Preki Davy Arnaud (Developmental) Right/Left Mid Chris Klein Eric Quill Defensive/Holding Mid Kerry Zavagnin Diego Gutierrez Francisco Gomez Defense Nick Garcia Carey Talley Jose Burciaga (P40) Chris Brunt Goalkeepers Tony Meola Bo Oshonyi Taly Goode (Developmental) Assuming Burns/Vermes/McKeon are gone above is our current roster. My thoughts on the draft and what we need. We should drop Bo though I have no idea how well Taly can play. We do not need three goalkeepers on our roster. We are tapped with SI players so we need to discover or trade for some players to fill out the roster. We have the flexibility to draft regular or developmental players though what I think we need is defensive help. Other than that I think we should get the best player available at the time we draft. The only other consideration we might have is that we could lose Garcia/Wolff/Klein or some combination for the US National team games. Any thoughts?
Two things. I still think Simutenkov is more of a striker than an attacking mid. He can play both, but I see him as a striker. Armstrong is either an attacking mid or a winger... he can play up top, but he's stronger on the wing or in an a-mid role.
there is no reason to lose Bo. Goode doesn't count against the salary cap. The nice part about Armstrong is that he can fill any spot on the feild so that adds to our depth a bit. Deigo can also play on defense as needed. Gomez is a solid sub. Burciagra was the highest rated Pro-40 player after their trip to Europe. All that being said, we still need another defender. As Gansler said we need the bookends. We got one have of it with Wolff, now we just need the other end.
Yes, I agree with drafting for defense. IMO it is easier to draft defense in the draft than it is to pick a forward who will come in and play right away.
At one point was "Goal-Mez" Preki's replacement? Thatd make him more of an attacking mid...though I havnt seen him play in a while to know.
It seems to be the consensus that defense is what we need from the draft. Anybody know who might be a good choice, especially with pick #13 (I think that's right)? Surely there is an A League player who could give us some support there. Prideaux was a good A League drafrt choice. Andrew Gregor was another contributor. [I wonder ... is it possible that the plan was to let Vermes, McKeon and/or Burns be waived for salery cap reasons and then bring them back at lower salery?] Of course we could always draft John Wilson again.
Taly looks good for a young 'keeper. I got a chance to see him play while he was on loan to Hampton Roads Mariners last year. While he got ejected in the 24th minute, he had a pretty solid game against Charleston. Mind you, it was very funny to see him get ejected for a handball outside the box after making a sliding save on a breakaway at the top of the eighteen. He slid completely out of the penalty arc, stood up with the ball in his hands, and realized "Oh shit" as the whistle blew... Totally unintentional, but still a deserved straight red. I can't say that he's ready to be a full-time backup to Tony, but it's an interesting choice. I can't wait for the open practice on the 30th.
I feel that we definitely need to draft defenders in the draft (but I'm not the GM and I don't know what types of trades may be in the works). I'll repost Voodoo Daddy's roster for reference (with some revisions): Forwards Josh Wolff Chris Brown Dario Fabbro <SI> Igor Simutenkov <SI> Attacking Mid Stephen Armstrong <SI> (Winger) Preki Davy Arnaud (Developmental) Right/Left Mid Chris Klein Eric Quill Defensive/Holding Mid Kerry Zavagnin Diego Gutierrez Francisco Gomez Defense Nick Garcia Carey Talley Jose Burciaga (P40) Chris Brunt Goalkeepers Tony Meola Bo Oshonyi Taly Goode (Developmental) Based on this predraft roster I don't think we'll be seeing those 4 defenders on a 4 man back line. If we run a 4-4-2, then I think you'll see Diego moved back to the back line. This would be unfortunate as I believe Diego is at his best when paired with Kerry Zavagnin as a defensive mid. So right now I see a 3-5-2 as our best option. When Wolff is healthy it might look something like this: ____Fabbro_____Wolff______ __________Preki___________ Quill_________________Klein __Gutierrez______Zavagnin__ Talley____Garcia____Burciaga __________Meola__________ Potential subs: Simutenkov for Wolff, Brown for either Forward Armstrong for Quill or Preki Brunt for Burciaga Pros: Hopefully Fabbro and Wolff (or Simutenkov) will benefit from the tall and small forward arrangement, with good service from healthy Quill, Klein, and Preki. Cons: Untested back line. Talley is good in the air, and Burciaga should be with his height. Hopefully we won't give up as many corner kick goals this year. The key to this defense will actually be Gutierrez and Zavagnin disrupting the opponents attack and countering quickly. Sounds great in theory, hopefully it will be in practice as well. If we do run a 4-4-2, I see it looking like this: ____Fabbro_____Wolff______ _________Preki____________ Quill__________________Klein _______Zavagnin__________ Gutierrez_Talley_Garcia_Burciaga With the same possible subs as the 3-5-2 formation. I am excited about the coming season. A healthy Quill, Fabbro, Simutenkov, and Klein at the start of the season are reasons to be happy. I do wonder how Meola's and Wolff's recoveries are progressing. And I hope for a great defensive find in the draft.
I wouldn't be too surprised if KC tried to get a 1st round pick by trading a second round pick and another player. Of course, I say this without really knowing what defenders are available in the draft. I would expect a 4-4-2 diamond midfield that could turn into a 3-5-2. I would expect to see more of the 4-4-2 since Klein can play right back if need be. We have two guys who we know can play central defender and another that could be a very good one as well. If we play 3-5-2 and one of them gets hurt, that means we would have to go with Brunt or switch to the 4-4-2. Because of the question marks with Burciaga, I wouldn't be surprised if Klein started a couple games at right back. Of course, if we find a diamond in the rough at the draft, this could all change.
stoked. What about this kid? He has just signed to Pro-40. Looks good on paper, anyone know how he plays on the field? We need a big tall center back, and this guy looks the mold. David Stokes Position: Defender College: North Carolina Ht: 6-3 Wt: 185 Hometown: Dumfries, VA Born: May 28, 1982 – Fort Belvoir, VA - One of 15 finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy as a junior in 2002 - Named the Defensive MVP of the 2001 NCAA College Cup, leading his squad to the National Championship - Traveled to Portugal and Italy with the U.S. Under-23 National Team in February 2002 - Started all 71 games of his career at North Carolina if he can start, then we have some more depth at the back, and a possible center back for the 3-5-2. Nicky hasn't been as good there as he was out on the Right.
Which is the second best reason I can think of for bagging Bo. The best reason I can think of is Bo himself.
Gansler is coaching one of the teams at the combine and I would think he will draft one of those players on his team since he will get a lot of interaction with them. I am betting we take Dunivant a defender from Stanford.
Agreed, I like this lineup. I think it is the best 11 to date. Weaker on defense than some, but still the best 11. I'm excited to see what the guys can create with an actual threat of speed up front. Last year we managed 37G without it. If not for dc's collossal ineptitude, that's a league low. Wingers are great. Meola will be sound if healthy. Bench is OK. Minor Gripes: *KC would be young at the back, and depth will still be an issue, even with a good draft pick. *Age (excessive inexperience too) and lack of speed in spots. Garcia, Klein, and Quill are the only ones with bocu speed and proven talent. Wolff has to prove the knee is sound. That's 4 total of 10. In MLS you don't need all 10 to be fast. Still, you think of SJ or LA and it's speed at most positions, including bench. *Who takes McKeon's "enforcer" posistion? If Talley or Burciaga can do it OK, but who does it on the other side of the field? Fabbro? Not so far. Klein is big enough, but that isn't his game. Think about it, everyone else on our team is smallish. This is symptomatic of a bigger problem: *Lack of size in the air. KC gives up chances due to lack of speed and gets scored on often due to lack of size. I see this as the solid way to beat KC. *Meola can't stop everything and has ripped an ab two seasons on the trot. You can't ask for 16 SO's like 2000, but 29-30 starts would be a step. Bo's better when needed. *Wolff should finish and Brown must continue or exceed his late 2002 roll as an ace off the bench. Fabbro can step up with Wolff drawing the best defender. Let's further hope that last year's team-wide selfish and wastful attitude towards finishing chances was an anomale (worst %age in MLS). *Fabbro as a target must work. Can he pass? We learned last year that Simu and Brown are not ideally suited for the roll. Let's hope Dario found a work rate and some weights in the off-season. *If he didn't, then KC is a "wing and sling" team with a dash of Preki and a helping of Wolff's speed when someone can hit him. For me that's just two dimensions (title teams need 3 minimum) because the wing play is solid for KC. Preki's shooting should go down as his minutes decline and anyone hitting a flying Wolff would seem to be more effective than Preki's 1 in 11 clip (including frees and pk's). If you got to the bottom of this you should be rewarded, here it is: I think KC is ideally suited for a Cup run. *For starters they should qualify due to a good early schedule *Enough depth to get by early minnows *KC has a mix of veteran and rooks that many times finds its' way to becoming Chemistry. *Who else would you want cussing in net in a one-off? *The schedule will not require 3 tournaments, trips to southern countries, "fun" journeys to the A league, or 3 games every 8 days for 2 months. *Semi-finalist last year *Lost to Champs CLB, on the road. Completely folded to do that *KC seems to now have an equal ability to score 5 or give up 5 on a given day. I know it soulds silly, but those types of teams have a way of solidifying things in a one-off setting. Look at KC's stretch run and playoffs the last 3 seasons. Their game got considerably better as pressure increased. *If CLB stumbles, the doors open. KC isn't overawed by anyone else. BTW, CLB will smote people this season...{read like a Python-skit)...Bring forth the holy McBride header!!! and verily the invading yellow hoard did trample their competition into the ground with vicious speed, magnetic dribbling, precise aerial attacking, and great impunity, amen...anyway, that's the way I see it. April, huh? {explitive}, {sigh}.
Lets try this line up ------Meola----- ------Talley------ Klein--Garcia--Gutierez ------Zavagnin----- --Preki--Igor--Quill-- ---Fabbri--Wolff--- Incase you can tell it is a 4-4-2 with a sweeper. Klein and Gutierez are wingbacks. This would be our best 11 on the feild at once.
Here's a Mock SuperDraft I did for TopDrawerSoccer.com http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NextStep/1042342349/view -Tron
As much as I would like to see this lineup, I seriously doubt that Danger Bob would even consider it. I have a feeling that our success will be decided by who partners Wolff up top. Bob is and always has been a defensive coach so he will work that out. I would start the season with Igor and see what type of production we get. Fabbro just hasn't shown that he can hold and distribute in/near the box, and that appears to be what he is built for. Igor, with the better touch and vision is going to free Wolffie up a lot more often. My 2 pesos.
I am interested in Wizards' fans' opinion of Simutenkov. I only saw him play twice last year (the 4-2 win in Foxboro and the OT thriller in Rochester in the USOC) and he was magnificent both times. Probably, his 2 best games in the KC shirt, so my view of him may be distorted. It looked like, to me, that for a 29-y.o. with banged up legs and a layer of rust from sitting on Tenerife's bench for 3 years, he still has plenty of skill and competitive fire left to be a very productive player in this league. Obviously, he is no longer the speed demon he was in his heyday as the 1994 Russian Premier League MVP, but the shot is still there. He also appears to have masterred the art of passing, not so evident in his younger years, and seems better suited for an attacking mid/withrawn striker position. And the unbelievable header he scored over the 6'5" Rochester keeper to send the match into OT just opened another side of Igor I was never aware of. Some nastiness in his play too. Willing to stick up for himself and teammates, sometimes resorting to dirty play. Not so much a second effort guy, though. Will often give up on the ball when beaten by a defender. But if his first move works, he is off and running. A streaky scorer, however. This (and age) may hurt his chances of solidifying a place in the starting 11. Please, feel free to point out flaws in my judgement and to offer your own opinion. Of course, I have revealed myself as a big Simutenkov fan, so I don't rule out a certain degree of bias in my opinions either. Thanks in advance.
I am interested to see what Simutenkov does this year. What I saw last season was someone who seemed to have a lot of talent that never really melded with the rest of the team. This is, of course, just my opinion of what I saw. There were also a number of little things, such as inability to finish 1 v. keeper breakaways that I found frustrating. I think that maybe with training camp time and such, he will be much more comfortable with the team... and I hope that this will lead to much better fulfillment on the pitch of the talent that he seems to have. On the other hand, though, my girlfriend (who has become more than just a casual fan) had singled Igor out as one of her favorites on the team. She feels (and it is probably true) that he has a much higher activity rate than some of his teammates. She says "at least he's making an effort even though sometimes it doesn't work out well." So to wrap up, I guess I would have to say that overall I was somewhat disappointed in what I saw of him last year, but was encouraged by what I see as potential. Here's hoping for a season of potential realised! Isn't Simutenkov the fellow that Tony Meola said "could easily become the best player in MLS?"
Might it also be possible that the addition of Josh Wolff will benefit Igor. This assumes the oppositions best defender would be engaged stopping Josh therefore freeing up Igor a bit.
What is the KC draft status? Tron didn't include the Wiz in his first two rounds. Are there additional rounds? THANKS.
KC draft status as of 1/9: Picks #13, #33, #43, #53. They traded their first and third round picks. There are 6 rounds of the draft. Next question (which I don't know where to find) is: Are only combine players eligible?
i'm not impresed with igor at all at forward. forwards must be able to shoot consistently on frame, along with be relatively successful on breakaways (the breakaways in particular if you are a small forward). he has neither of these, and thus the rest of his game is invalid because of this fact - he's a forward not a midfielder or ball winner. throw in the fact that's he's taking up an SI spot, and we can find better. now if he gets time at o-mid then maybe he can prove himself there. what's going against him is the statemnet above - he can't shoot from outside. since preki can, preki gets the nod at that position. can they play alongside each other? maybe. will gansler play them alongside each other? highly unlikely.
Frankie Hejduk is in talks with the league. This could be an option for the other bookend that Gansler wanted. He would most likely be an allocation, so what would we give up to get one. It would most likely be a top level player, or a mediocore player and a draft pick. Expendable people are- Bo, Brown, Brunt, Buciagra and Gomez. The picks available are #13, 33, 43, 53-- or future picks/ considerations. Teams that have allocations and the order they are to be used are DC (you suck)- most likely used on Stewart DC (metros- you suck) Metros (Diallo replacement) Colorado (Valderama replacement)
and allocation and an SI, right? so we'd have to drop an SI, plus offer trade bait. do you feel any team would honestly want any combination of Bo, Brown, Brunt, Buciagra and Gomez for hejduk? that seems far fetched to me.