As usual, I've done my weekly MLS Rankings for 3rd Degree. Link below, comments welcome. http://www.3rddegree.net/ Also, don't forget to get your Sam's Army tickets for USA-Mexico! http://www.sams-army.com/index.php?Mlist=event&Mid=56
Lots of hot sports opinions in that Power Rankings column. Definitely a good read, but I have to disagree on some of the rankings. I thought Colorado was rated way too high and Metro way too low. And I flat out can't see Chicago ranked #2 at this point in the season. My rankings would be: 1. LA 2. NE 3. SJ 4. NY 5. Chi 6. DC 7. Colo 8. Dal 9. Clb 10. KC
First off, thanks for the comments. I will give you my thoughts, but don't take that as a dismissal of your opinion. I will admit, there is a lot of fudge room on this right now - lots of stuff based on one game. Ugh. But. Metro won on the road against a team that apparently has not gelled yet. Winning on the road is good, but let's see them do it again. They could very well prove me wrong, but I think they are going to struggle until they settle on some regular forwards. Woly and McGee . . . ? Not exactly Razov and Ralph. Chicago - until I see them lose (which might happen this week), I am going to give what is essentially the best team from MLS last year (goodness, that hurt to say) the benefit of the doubt. (Maybe I just want US to be the ones to knock 'em off their perch...) Certainly an arguable postition. I could have gone that way. But in my heart right now, I can't think that Metro could beat Chicago on a neutral site. But again, thanks for the comments.
Got a question - in your table you have a lot letters as column titles - could you please explain each of them - I think I have figured out most of them, but L P still has me stumped.
thank you for asking that - i don't get those either, but i didn't want to be the village idiot. so how 'bout it, Drum'r?
Oops! We'll see about getting that corrected. There should be a Legend that explains that L = overall place in the league (which I screwed up and didn't put in correctly), and P = playoff placement. The "Pace" is your basic "win at home, tie on the road" idea - and you will see as the season goes along that the better teams have better Paces, and sometimes, you will have a team that has played a lot of road games (or home games) that either deflate (or inflate, as the situation dictates) the point situation. A team with three points after three road games is a better team than a team with three points after three home games, wouldn't you agree? Also, PPG is Points Per Game, and is also designed to weed out statistical anomalies based on the schedule. A team with more games played, etc. Again, I apologize about the L and P columns. Aside from that, do you like them? Ideas, suggesitons, comments, other questions?
If I had to pick one team that's out of whack I would pick San Jose. Right now they are having trouble in back, Corrales got bopped with a beer bottle, Donovan has been sick, DeRo didn't look good, and Onstadt had some trouble. They have an unproven coach and GM. They're old as well. How long can Agoos last? Everybody seems to underrate KC. Dallas is better than most people think. They got hosed this last weekend, and maybe Johnson will start finishing.
KC is easily underrated. Not much else to do when 70% of last year's offense is either on the shelf or other rosters. Combine that with a complete change of system and I think there is fair reason. DAL could be better. A roat trip will be a better judge. My only real problems are at the top. It's hard to have to replacements of a calendar between road wins and call a team #1. Chicago has 2 shots all night against a question mark KC team they always beat and they get a 2 slot? How dies that work exactly? I think Metros have the defacto #1 as they were the only road winner. Discount CLB if you want to, they should be better overall than what they showed last week. Busch did save a penalty. Cold wet nasty home openers sans Buddle after being in Spain might not be the best barometer.
There are a lot of words in your commentary...difficult for those of us with the attention span of a gnat to have to scroll down two or three times. ;-) But I can't argue with the content.
It's a good list given how little there is to base a rating of teams upon. My personal observations would be to push NY up the rankings due to the impressive way they won on the road. Chicago down due to a lackluster performance against a team most people think will struggle without Preki & Co. San Jose is in a decent place because while I think they have the potential to struggle, especially on the road, the holders should get some benefit of the doubt. The bottom half of the table seems fair enough.
appreciate the lovin, but i have to say LA still looked stronger (despite being at home) against a NE team that also looked strong, whereas we played arguably the worst team in the league...i expect LA to show that DC is not as good as people are starting to believe they are, and Chicago to improve against an SJ team that will need longer than a week to get its act together on Defense...in addition, if donovan isnt moved closer to midfield, i don't see how they're going to control much of the possession at all...i predict 3-1 outcomes in both games..
First off - thanks for all the discussion! And Buzz, thanks for grabbing the legend so quick. I will try to get the corrected Ls to you asap. And Yo' Mama, sorry about all the words. Unfortunately, it is only going to get worse. ;-) I will admit City did better than I expected, and I'm not real sure what to make of that. Is Chicago that down, or is City that strong? They sure had enough time in the off-season to prepare for life without Preki, and the change to a 4-4-2 could very well be a brilliant move by Gansler. As a Dallas fan, I will admit that I tend to make sure my bias doesn't show, and that may hinder them a bit - especially now when there is so much 'judgment' to it. But yes - if EJ finishes even one of his great chances, Dallas wins. If Eric finishes one of his great chances, Dallas wins. If they figure out how to work Ronnie into the offense in a balanced way instead of playing the ball to the left side then switching it to him (the MLS version of the clear-out from basketball a few years back?) they could be a dominant team. But it has to happen first. Chicago - at the end of the day, they have Razov coming back (who wasn't available for the opening day game to start), still have Beas, Armas, Curtin, Ralph, etc. The losses of Marsch (injury), Boca and Zach will hurt them, but until I see another crack in the armor (hopefully this weekend when San Jose gets out of their funk and SMOKES the Fire), I will have a hard time dropping a team that did what it was supposed to do - tie on the road. San Jose - how much of that was opening day jitters and adrenaline on the part of DC? We'll know more today. As you can see, I think that had a lot to do with it. I am hoping for a San Jose Home Opener Spanking (although traditionally, home teams struggle in the first third of the season as they try to figure out how they are going to play as opposed to how to break down the other team). Metro can very well prove me wrong. But I was worried about two teams going into Opening Day - Dallas and Columbus - because they had SO many new faces. Do you know who all started in the same position for the Crew in last year's and this year's openers? Three - Martino, Paule and Busch. They moved Hejduk out of the defense and played him on the LEFT (BIG mistake, imo), lost Brian, didn't have Buddle available, and had a whole new defensive unti - from the back four to the defensive midfielder. Did Columbus get mugged in one game? Possibly. But I think it is more likely that they have more problems than just one flat game. But my problems with Metro are that Bob once again brought in a whole slew of internationals, and if they 'work out' like his did last season, they're going to be in the crapper again. Has Bob lost his touch? I don't know. But until I see more, I am not comfortable putting them higher. Now, to give Metro fans some hope - I've probably got a quicker trigger on them than any other team as far as moving them up. We here in Dallas know that Vaca has talent. We know that in the right situation, T-Bone is rock solid. Clarke showed he can play in this league (although it remains to be seen whether he will have a sophomore slump), and Guevara is probably one of the best playmakers left (although that isn't saying a whole lot.) And Walker is definitely a top end keeper for MLS. If LA weren't already at No. 1, they would be next as I fear that Jovan could very well blossom in this league. At home, in the US, he could very well explode after all those years abroad with no success. If he is at ALL competitive, that had to eat at him. Well, he could make up for it all against the other MLS teams. Which would be great for the Gals and the Nats, but not so good for the rest of the league. I would put Dallas third in that ranking. The more I look at the first set of games, the more I have a lot of respect for the job that Colin did in putting so many new faces together - even without some of the ones he wanted - and the results we got. Then again, we have a pretty tough early schedule. Dallas may not break out until later in the season. I agree with "In Bob We Trust." LA is probably going to expose DC as a team that is better, but not great, and that some of their result last week was due to opening day and the sell out, etc.
good stuff Drum'r...i have to agree with you both on Dallas and Chicago, something about the Fire just didn't seem right, but they were missing Razov and it was just Game 1 so i'm not even close to writing them off just yet...as for Dallas, there's no way they miss the playoffs again and i can't really argue with your analysis where they're concerned... that said, i wouldn't want to have to predict the team that will miss the playoffs out of the West, but if i absolutely had to right now, well i couldn't, and it's not for the reasons i've seen most MLS fans express...i refuse to write off KC (please stop calling them City =) just because of Preki and Igor, so i'll wait until Wolff gets hurt, haha...but simply put, i don't respect SJ and Colorado nearly as much as most people seem to this year...the Rapids are very streaky as everyone knows, but they still have 2 defensive midfielders in the middle of the field, Henderson is a year older, and they are STILL coached by Tim Hankinson...not to mention they didn't really do anything to bolster the lineup, and i wouldn't want to have to bet on them...**one last note, please check out the bench players they brought with them to Dallas...don't tell me you didn't cringe** ...San Jose similarly did not really do much to improve the lineup, but why mess with success, right?...WRONG...in a 10 team league that screams parity, if other teams are making moves to significantly enhance themselves, your biggest offseason move should not be replacing Yallop with Kinnear...especially when your Defense is consistently exposed, and that continued right into their game against DC...further, the DC defense was able to make the league's best player invisible, so if you have no Defense, and can't get your best player the ball, it has the makings of a very long season...i sense a Championship hangover, but luckily for one of these 2 teams, they'll have a chance to make noise in the playoffs.. ok, i'm rambling, but i'll close with my beloved Metro...granted i'm a guy that thinks the only thing Bob's done wrong as our coach thusfar has been sticking with Richie Williams too long, but i still have to object to the comment about the foreigners he brought in last year...basically, Bob did not have many options at all so it's not as if he sought the foreigners out and brought them in (and the same goes for DiGi)...Galvan and Forchetti only came over because of the agreement we had with Boca so it was more of a formality...we were desperate for a left sided player, and without any options, we brought in DiGi and Edgar (who would actually be a poor man's Beasley if he could play a lick of defense), just because they were left-sided players...Jusko, well, even Bob knew he sucked, but if i offered you a free lottery ticket, you'd probably take it too, wouldnt you?...there were zero options at a position (forward) we were DESPERATE for help at, and that's that...however, i was much more excited for this offseason with a full year under his belt, and a full offseason...with that, he brought in what could end being the best group of foreigners ever brought in, in the same offseason in MLS history...and no i didnt forget Amado, but i'll take a year of Jusko and Edgar if it means we get the top playmaker in the league for keeps (he or Cancela, take your pick)...anyways, my Power Rankings: LA - Chicago - Metro - NE - Dallas - DC - KC - SJ - Colorado - Columbus
Wow, "Bob." Taylor could be good for you guys. It will be interesting to see. I think the key for Vaca and Amado is a solid d-mid. Without that, you're going to have trouble holding the ball...
glad you brought it up...his name is Ricardo Clark, who is close to full health...Vaca is being played closer to the wing in a lob-sided diamond type of a midfield right now, but Lisi is showing more than capable to play any type of role in the midfield that he's asked to fill...to be honest, if we have a flaw this year, it'll be our Defense staying healthy and not breaking down in front of Jonny...in addition, it's still a very young team and the locker room politics could get pretty interesting given the different types of guys we have on the roster, so chemistry could become an issue at any point in time, however, it'll take quite the injury spell to bring down our Midfield and/or Attack..
Do you really think Clarke is ready to hold down a d-mid spot? Pretty young for that position - most d-mids are the wily, crafy veterans who haven't run out of steam.... It will be interesting to see. Best of luck (except against our boys, that is - although the trade off is we REALLY root for you over the Fire). ;-)
it's an interesting point you bring up...in fact, Clark was putting up a hell of a fight for Rookie of the Year until he hit the rookie "wall," so it's definitely valid...we'll see, he never really stops playing since he's always with the youth Nats, so maybe his injury was a blessing in disguise in that sense...on the other hand, Lisi is effective there, and i'd even be curious to see what our latest Brazilian or even Bonseu could do if played there (if absolutely necessary)...gonna be a hell of a season for both our squads if you ask me, and if we both manage to sweep the Chicago Frail, i'll happily buy you all beers next time you're in NJ, haha
I'll take you up on the beer, and you're welcome to come on down for any game you like - although USA-Mexico would be the one I'd make the trip for, if I were you. As for T-Bone, I doubt he can play d-mid. He is a great defender, inside or outside (better inside), but not a midfielder.