And you could even try to play Montero as the 10 or out wide with Johnson and Martins up front. They'll be a very dangerous attacking team with their creative mid actually having a bit of pace. Rosales is showing his age these days unfortunately bc he's a fine player. But in the end, not being a fan of the Sounders or any team in particular, I really hope that Fredy get's a shot to make a move to Europe bc that's probably the only way he get's a shot at Columbia's National Team and that's been a dream of his. Even as a reserve I think he'd be happy. He seems a nice, humble guy and deserves a bit of the dream.
Well if you haven't already seen this yet, as the deal to Sporting inches closer Hanauer says likely no allocation dollars. Just pocket cash. Kind of disappointing. http://blogs.seattletimes.com/sound...ery-close-seattle-unlikely-to-get-allocation/
If i could guess a reason why no allocation money cause seattle didn't get enough out of a transfer fee for montero. 30% of that fee goes to Montero's previous club before he came to Seattle cause they still own 30% of him. Seattle paid 2m dollars overate on montero.
I'm sure the DP rules also apply. With DPs the clubs get back the amount they spent on them before they do the league and allocation money split.
I read about this. That has to be a bitter pill to swallow. Every Sounders fan for four years has expected to be compensated when they eventually lost Montero and it turns out to be for naught. You kinda wish MLS would be upfront about their rules for this reason. On the plus side, all of the highlight compilations that Sounders fans have put together (I'm not talking about the above video) over the years are all reaching into the tens of thousands with losts of attention. Good advert for the club to move a young player to a good club. More may follow.
And we're also winning a lot.. I think it is crazy that if we had won yesterday we would have had the highest number of points at the halfway point in team history. But yes, with Rosales being very hit and miss this season, we really, really miss Montero's creativity.
Sounders are on pace to score their lowest goals per game of any season. They've dropped off significantly from the past two seasons.
The lesson is that other teams have moved on and impoved; we've more or less stood still. Mauro is a year older, we still don't have a good midfield partner for Alonso, and our central defense is still bad. How on Earth Hurtado earned a raise, I'll never know.
I dunno. Oba is a pretty good improvement on Montero as far goal scoring goes. Nothing to disagree with here, but I do think that Traore is an improvement over Parke. It's just that Ianni has fallen out of favor and Hurtado really has fallen off this year even compared to previous seasons drop off. I don't believe Hurtado signed a new contract this off-season did he? Chances are the $30k increase was built into his previous contract and his length of service and age made his contract guaranteed and you're only allowed one buyout of a guaranteed contract per offseason. The Sounders chose to use the buyout to send Tiffert packing.
"I dunno. Oba is a pretty good improvement on Montero as far goal scoring goes." I would expect Martins to finish right in the 10-15 goal range, same as Montero. I like Martins, but trading one prolific scorer for another is sort of a wash. The test will come in the playoffs, where Montero was never able to deliver and where Martins may well prove his worth. Not that playoff qualification is looking assured, at this point.
It's more the consistency of Martins scoring that is the improvement. Montero was extremely streaky and had a tendency to punch out of games if he didn't get the ball and it was obvious when he was slumping/distracted and teams could loosen up defending on him and focus on the other players. So far the Vancouver game has been the only "bad game" Martins has had and even then he didn't punch out of the game and was always a threat. In theory, this should mean that Martins being on the field should make the other job for the other players on the field easier. In theory.. Unfortunately the steaming pile of crap standing next to Ozzie and Mauro falling off a cliff has made it so we have absolutely no creativity in the midfield. One can only hope that we'll start putting out a consistent line-up at some point and that will help out with the results.. But right now? Yeah.. Playoffs are looking less than likely.
Rough season all around. Other teams have indeed improved, both Portland and Vancouver are looking really good this year, and Dallas was hot of the gate. However Dallas also seems to be sliding now. Not sure that having Fredy would make one difference this season.
"One can only hope that we'll start putting out a consistent line-up at some point and that will help out with the results.. But right now? Yeah.. Playoffs are looking less than likely." Not sure consistency will be enough. Even our first-choice XI will be lacking pace on the wings and quality in defense and central midfield. Ad Edward says, other teams in our division like Portland, RSL, and even Colorado noticed things were getting stale and did what Hanauer promised to do two years ago, blowing up the team. We're suffering the consequences of failing to keep up.
Maybe half a difference? I don't think the Sounders' problems are the defense or the forwards, its the complete lack of creativity in the midfield. One of the things Montero was good about was dropping back and acting as that connection point between the defense and the forwards if the midfield wasn't doing it. Neither Oba or EJ seem to be effective at this from what I've seen.
AJH, BS does have a quote button you can use. It's a lot cleaner than the technique you are using and actually links back to the comment you are quoting. If/when you venture out of the Sounder boards, it'll serve you a lot better. Well, we have undergone quite a few changes in the last few seasons. The problem is that the updates we have made aren't necessarily the ones we've needed to make. I'm still not sure why we got rid of Tiffert and acquired Joseph.. Sure we got a crapload of payment from Chivas for taking Joseph off their hands, but that change alone seems to have really screwed us over in the central midfield. That coupled with Zakuani getting injured, Martinez not wanting to be here, and Rosales coming up severely lacking this season and we have a real turd sandwich in midfield. As far as pace... I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be Zakuani and I thought he was showing improvement in the few games he did play for us prior to his injury. I'm starting to think that Zakuani won't ever get back to where he was pre-leg break, but he could still be a very serviceable MLS winger.
They strike me as pretty similar players. Johnson seems immensely frustrated. Last year he was feasting on through balls from Montero and pinpoint crosses from Rosales. Now he's having to try to take down long punt after long punt after long punt.
Oba and EJ are similar, or Montero and EJ or Oba? But yes.. EJ is completely out of sorts without the good service he was getting last year.
Martins and Johnson. Quick players who want the ball in space in front of them. They aren't as similar as, say, Dallas with their three 6'4" target forwards, but the chemistry doesn't seem to be there like it was with Fredy and EJ.
EJ and Fredy did play together quite a bit. Thanks to injury, National team duty, and resting them, I believe EJ and Martins have only played together 4 or 5 times. EJ and Fredy were completely out of synch when they first started playing together and it wasn't until a good amount of the season had been played that they really started to work well together. There difference is that while EJ and Fredy were figuring each other out, Mauro was bouncing balls off EJs head.
It's probably a loan with an option clause. Who knows but maybe one party or the other balked on the price. My money's on the Sounders and it's likely because of the whole allocation monkey wrench that MLS threw into the situation. Which would make sense. If it works out maybe it gets Sporting to pay a bit more for him. Who knows. http://www.sounderatheart.com/2013/7/22/4546602/fredy-montero-sporting-lisbon-loan
I don't think Fredy wants to play in Seattle, and we can't fit him under the cap anyway. So a loan is a stupid idea. Somebody crunches his leg in training, we're left with nothing.