Nice feature on Ronnie O from MLS' 90 Minutes newsletter: http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/90min0417obrien.html
I think we've found our new center mid! This is very exciting. ROB enjoying himself and relishing the new possession. When Pareja comes back, we may have the best midfield in the league with O'brien, Pareja, Chivas, Vaca, Deering, Stone and Davis. The combinations and possibilities for subbing are endless. We should be able to field customized matchups against any team in the league. We should be able to wear down anyone. Jeffries even mentioned it in post-game comments. He said ROB tried to split defenders and get in through balls more often than Pareja. Pareja will be perfect to come in and sub sometimes for O'brien, sometimes for Deering. I think Johnson might mesh well with O'brien. I see nothing but good things coming from this.
Pareja to come in as a sub? Not this year. O'Brian has one good game and you are ready to bench the heart and soul of this team for the last three years??
I was afraid my comments would be taken the wrong way. Pareja was probably going to retire after this year right? We've been wondering how we're going to fill his shoes for a while now, right? What better way to transition to the post Pareja world than while Pareja is still on the team? Think of it this way - with someone else to help Oscar carry the load, maybe we can get an extra year or two out of Pareja as a major contributor. I can't think of a better outcome.
Well O'brien already tied Parejas total goals for last year. He is six assists short of becoming our 2003 MVP.
I'd be surprised big time if Oscar came back and played major minutes. He's too valuable to fill his final years with injury. Most know we have a loaded midfield. Although I never expected to see ROB in the middle, it implies change when you don't replace Oscar with a similar style. And ROB installed into a critical position against the defending world champs really throws the opposing game plan off. Cool move on MJ's part. Now I'd like to see Davis start in the offensive mid role. Hell, let's throw everything at everybody!
I keep hearing what a surprise that O'Brien was Oscar's replacement. Were you all asleep last year? O'Brien replaced Oscar in the middle sevearl times last year especially Open Cup games. The suprise is that he was effective in the role this time. Last year neither Vaca or O'Brien did a very good job in that spot. If the Burn keep playing the central mids deeper than the outside mids then O'Brien is the better choice. If they go with a diamond midfield then Vava is the choice. Of course for the diamond to work Stone has to develope enough to take Deerings spot.
If you read the article then you may be able to glean ROB's 'probable meaning' when he mentions his communication with Deering. There's no way a 'free attacking mid' with ROB's flair can be effective if the defensive mid is pushing up to try and fill a role ROB should've been given proper chance for. While I don't blame Chad for minimizing ROB's role/chance in attacking mid, I do believe that a coach has the right to keep that scenario from happening over-and-over. And when a player like ROB proves to be so dangerous from the wing, you would never expect him to be taken away from that role and be deposited back into a roll that proved unsuccessful previously. This is the main reason why I don't want to see Vaca in the middle of the field. He has proven dangerous on the wing as a good servicer, and he has proven to be a liability defensively. I'd rather have a weakness on the wing defensively than in the middle. Now lets give Davis a shot in the middle and put ROB back on the wing. Since Vaca and Chivas were freely interchanging wings for the LA match, Vaca can sub in for Chivas in the second half... or vice versa.
I think you are seeing the early effects of what is called a squad system. The Burn now have depth to be able to mix and match players based on health, opponent, stadium, and number of games in a small time frame.
Goburn, why do you judge an MVP's worth on numbers? This is soccer, where stats sometimes don't matter as much. So what if Pareja only had one goal and six assists. He is still the heart and soul of the team. How about this for a stat - the Burn hasn't won in several years without el Generalito in the starting lineup. How's that for a stat?
If I may interject some reality. The Galaxy midfield is embarrassing. Play a real team or two first before getting too jazzed about O'Brien in the center. Still, I wish we'd have signed him last season.
Bingo!!! This is why I was so dissapointed with last week's result against LA. They have nothing going on in midfield.
I wasn't that disappointed. LA has a very good defense. Cobi and Vagenas have played well. Albright is worthless, but that was expected. Big question is what's wrong with Simon Elliot.
I was trying to be funny, guess not. Well Pareja has missed only hard games which the team would have lost anyways. 1 goal is not enough in this league, specially our attacking mid who has the ball most of the time.
ok, but Pareja does not play attacking mid for the Burn. He's more of a holding midfielder in the system they use, in my opinion.
If Pareja was 24 and O'brien 34, we would not be having this discussion. We're not talking about pushing Oscar out the door, we're talking about how to best plan for the future and avoid the Chicago/DC syndrome. Fact: Oscar cannot carry this team on his back all alone. We lost to Colorado in the playoffs because we didn't have anyone to take over from Oscar when he ran out of gas. Fact: We have a player in ROB who appears willing and able to move into the position sometime in the future if not now. A+B = a responsibility to see if we already have the solution to a problem that we know we will have next year. As someone said, we don't know if ROB will be able to fill Oscar's shoes over the course of a whole season. But we would be fools not to try and find out.
I'm in the camp that says, "If O'Brien continues to play well in the center, keep him there and don't rush Pareja back from his surgery." For a couple of years now, we've been fretting about how much more we can expect out of Oscar and who'll take his place when he does retire. Now we've got a player who looks as if he might be able to do the job, so we should take the opportunity to see if that's the case while Oscar is on the injury list. If O'Brien is up to the task, then I'd be inclined to let Pareja come back a bit more slowly, let O'Brien develop into the role, and let Oscar get back to 100%.
Deering is just to good to keep off the field. he's probably been the most constant guy for the last few seasons. I even think he should be named the new team captain. Is he even the second captain behind Morrow now that Pareja is out?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jordan Stone will be the starting d-mid by the end of the season. Although I have been drinking a few Shiner's tonight, legally I am still sober enough to make this assertion. As for O'brien, he has short arms, but damn is he alot of fun. Do you think he would mind having a few beers with me?
Well, he is Irish! I think I'll join you myself, although it might take a few before I can see Stone starting this season. I did think he played alright last game.
It would be great if Jeffries takes advantage of the Burn's depth to come up with several effective formations at midfield. Last year, the Burn's use of 2 defensive midfielders worked out great initially, but over time lost some of its punch. The opposition knew they didn't have to worry much about attacks up the center, and could concentrate on negating the Burn's attacks up the flanks. I'd like to see Dallas try out different looks at midfield during the first half of the regular season to see if we can come up effective alternatives to last year's tactics. Between O'Brien, Davis, and Vaca, hopefully we'll find at least one who can play a-mid effectively. And if so, we'll have the ability to attack our opponent's defense through either the center or the flanks, making us a more difficult team to matchup against.