RW and his staff: I am probably taking a contra approach but I think he deserves a pass. There were questionable fomations and sub patterns through out the year but he did not lose the locker room this year and finally got things right with his fomation and personnel on the field. Unlucky injuries to Reneteria, Hesmer and O'Rourke probably lost them the Cup. He has to continue to grow and jell but he seems to be doing that. GBS: He should have his option renewed. Also I believe GBS should be brought into the organization as an assitant/recruiter of some type. He likes Columbus so better not to lose him. That would be foolish. Finishing: As I said last year, the team needs to hire a finishing coach to work with the players in the offseaon. Finishing is as much mental as fundamentals so obviously this is a key and a special trainer to work with some of the key guys in the offseaon will reap huge dividends. Keeper: I like Hesmer but he is not a Rickets or a Keller. Crew would be samrt to spend money in this area. CM and wings: Is Ekpo the answer or maybe Gaven or maybe Rogers? These three need to work interchangebly throughout the middle. I feel this is the best group in the MLS. They had their ups and downs but when they are firing in the right formation they are unstoppable. Sigi knew this. I think RW finally has figured it out. However, I believe Ekpo and Rogers have one year left on their contracts so the Crew is vulnerable there. Backs-very vulnerable there. Gino's legs are giving out. Frankie is still wonderful but will have his share of injuries. Francis is very very green and hard to play with. Danny O can play there but I wonder about his health. Team needs a back. Also, Rogers should get some experience there in a few games. It would be another place to have versatility and allow your key guys on the field at the same time.
This will probably the most interesting offseason in the club history due to the expansion of the rosters in addition to a reserve team again. The key IMHO is how will the leadership instill a overall philosophy of success. Most achievement starts in the mind. Will there be a culture, from draft days till the first match, that invokes a communication from the top down that has all parties on the same page to a legit playing style that garners positive soccer?
I agree with most of this but i would definitly not go out and waste money on a keeper when Hesmer is more than capable of doing the job. All in all i think we are a very capable team now but in need of a true goal scorer because it is where we are the most inconsistant.
We certainly missed Moreno this year. He may not have been a prolific goal scorer for us but he got a lot of foul calls that set up set pieces for us. We used to score alot of set piece goals but it seemed like that was missing this year. Also, why do we get so many balls being played in from the fullbacks, especially Frankie. He has his moments, but I thought he was way to involved with the offense only to be caught out of position on the counter.
Renteria is a bigger, faster, more-likely-to-be-fouled, more-likely-to-score Moreno. In other words, we didn't miss Moreno.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=839906&sec=england&cc=5901 Hahnemann is from Seattle and would most likely want to play in Vancouver or Portland, but if we swoop in for him we'd be able to leave Hesmer unprotected in the expansion draft. Plus, theres plenty of good College goalkeepers who'll be coming out in the next couple of years right in line for when Hahnemann retires- Matt Lampson (junior) is the starting goalkeeper at Ohio State and is from Columbus.
Sorry, I'm not convinced. Renteria: 19 games, 5 goals, 22 fouls suffered, 1 assist Moreno: 26 games, 2 goals, 53 fouls suffered, 7 assists
Renteria was played on the wing way too much. As a starting striker playing in a 4-4-2 with at least 1 offensively-competent CM, he was incredibly effective.
Here are some more interesting stats: 2006: 30 goals, 24 assists, 468 fouls suffered 2007: 39 golas, 46 assists, 482 fs 2008: 50 goals, 45 assists, 401 fs 2009: 41 goals, 33 assists, 375 fs 2010: 40 goals, 26 assists, 364 fs We are actually worse than when we barely missed the playoffs in 2007!
Does anyone know if Jay DeMerit is still without a contract? One other interesting possibility is Jeremie Aliadiere. He is still only 27, has Premier League experience (Arsenal, Middlesboro), and is currently without a club.
But what was the goal output then, compared to now? You can lose 3-2 then, and win 1-0 two times, and you'd still have scored the same number of goals. All you're doing above is taking the number of goals and assists. 2007: 9 wins, 11 losses, 10 ties. 39 GF, 44 GA, -5 GD. 2010: 14 wins, 8 losses, 8 ties. 40 GF, 34 GA, +6 GD In the same number of games, we: Won 5 more games Lost 3 fewer games Tied 2 fewer games Scored 1 more times Gave up 10 fewer goals
True. As I said, you can shift your team to a more defensive mindset (which we've done) and still win games. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year when we don't have to travel thousands of miles midweek for games. Given the schedule presented to us, I thought we came out fairly respectably with the USOC final appearance in one hell of a tough environment, advancing to the next round of CCL, and putting in one hell of a fight for the Shield. I'm not blaming Brunner, but if he made that PK... Hesmer's injury also sucked the big one. Like I said elsewhere, it would have been better had we focused more attention on league play, since that's when 90% of the fans show up. Too bad fewer than 1,000 people will see us in February, but it is still a "win" for the club to advance to that round.
Brian McBride as a finishing coach. (since most of our forwards couldn't score at Miss Clara's house for oversexed nymphomaniacs)
Offseason for forwards will be interesting. If GBS does return we will have 5 forwards on the roster. GBS, Lenhart, Emilio, Mendoza, and Garey. Does Stern make it back from injury and return? If so and GBS is back do we drop one of the others? Unlikely any of the above are selected in the expansion draft with the goal scoring we have had. If GBS retires, a straight swap for Stern could be seen, but leaves a big creative distribution hole in the middle.
Demerit is probably going to sign with Vancouver. And Warzycha doesn't like the French. Aliadiere wouldn't be a terrible look- Pros- Hes played at a VERY high level, he could talk to Henry about MLS (teammates for France and Arsenal) Cons- Coming off of a knee injury, meaning we'd want to trial him first. Thing is- do you really expect a guy who has been playing at Arsenal to come to Columbus, OH for a trial? Plus he'd probably want a significant paycheck, which will be a problem since we're already going to have Renteria and Mendoza next year (and probably Guillermo).
Could we sign Cunningham? Doesnt he still own a house or aparment in Columbus? If we cant get him then hit up Stern John and before people flip out there's no way in hell an old Stern John is worse than Jason Garey. The first thing we need to do is get rid of Garey decide what we want to do with Lenhart and then call every striker in the world and offer them a trial.
Cunningham does play for the Hunts other team. And TFC almost dispise Cunningham as much as they despise us. lol
So between me, an applebees waitress, a current crew player and his sister at a certain German Village burger joint. RW did lose the locker room. as described about some of the coaching critiques..."it was the way someone jokes about a sensitive subject where they can say "I'm kidding" but still get the point across. Passive aggressive bastards