Bring back Tommy? After reading this thread, I'm wondering who'll be the first to call for Rongen's reinstatement as head coach. Nah, never mind. D.C. has enough problems. But I guess it wasn't all Tommy-boy's fault. BTW, Moreno looks cooked. If it had been the Moreno from a couple of years ago playing last night, D.C. might very well have scored first and it could have been a very different game. He's one of too many D.C. players that were once very good and are now past it. Oh, and what's happened to Convey? Looks like he hasn't made any progress in a couple of years.
Re: Bring back Tommy? I guess increased goal production and a 200% increase in his defensive play could hardly be construed as making any progress.. All this at the tender age of 19... With all due respect (and this is being said on the heels of yet another failed season, so my dander is up at the moment), do you know anything about soccer? Sorry for the rant...
Considering the fact that both Chino and Ali have added little to nothing to this team this season, the decision to leave them off the travel roster is not that suprising to me.. Both Villegas and Zambrano contributed to our effort in last weeks victory over San Jose and the recent signing of Zambrano doomed Curtis to the bench.. Both of those players are subs at the best of times in an MLS match.. If it weren't for United's pathetic string of injuries and bad play, they wouldn't even be an any other team in MLS.. Sometimes you need to call a spade a spade, and those two, while admittedly very nice guys and team guys all the way, just aren't good enough and will do little to help this team right now..
Its amazing how people get on Convey and say he hasn't improved over the past 2 years. He has been one of the more consistant players on the field all year for DC in what has been a disappointment of a year. THere are a few other bright spots ie.. benny's return, but we are done for this season. If there are no big changes in the off season, then expect another bad year next year. I also never thought I would see the day when a 17 year old was such a huge part of a team and makes such a noticable difference when out. Die hard fan weeping in the corner.
Not sure what you have been watching, but this is exactly what I was bitching about throughout Rongen's reign. Apparently neither coach has any idea about having the front line players moving around. I have said that Ray should have the offseason and the first half of next year to fix the team, now I am not sure that he and the technical staff ( i.e. Kasper) can be trusted to make the right decisions in remaking the team after the long knives come out.
OK. Morning after and I have a couple of comments. detter7 asks why we can beat the best team in the league and not the Revs. Good question. Here's my guess: Ray Hudson doesn't understand tactics. See, the revs and the metros, especially the metros, are counter attacking teams. They look for mistakes and break out fast. Then they pack it in. In our last two games vs these guys the game has been at 0-0 well into the second half. Then in our quest for victory we start throwing Pope, McKinley, and Nelsen (if he's available) into the box. Of course the problem then is we are vulnerable to counters unless we compensate somehow by rotating other players back. This the team fails to do adequately and it's both the fault of the players free-lancing but more Hudson's fault for not coaching the team on how to do it or using the right personnel to do it. For instance, Ray subbed out Prideaux, our main defensive player with Pope and Reyes forward, for Zambrano. Zambrano gives the ball away and the Revs score because we didn't have a defender back. Remember at mid-season Hudson saying how the team couldn't do his free-form offense? he was right, he took steps to change that, but obviously when the team gets down, Pope (to take one player) goes forward and the team doesn't compensate. This team has no structure.. The other side to the counter strategy is that the Revs and metros pack their defense in so that the opposing team needs quick teamwork to break them down. The opposing team needs to have a threat at forward who further draws in their defense to allow the midfielders room to create. United doesn't do that, doesn't have that quality. We tend to wind up with Richie Williams making that final pass (when it should be Olsen or Etch or Moreno or Convey) which he invariably messes up as that's not his game. Now why were we successful vs the e-Quakes? Because they are a poor counter team. For some reason lately Donovan and Graziani don't link up well. Also their wingers are sub par and Eklund is too slow to add to the break. The Quakes don't pack their defense in either, allowing United, when we threw Pope and the defenders forward to beat them with numbers and height. They also need Agoos' organizational abilities as they have no one who replaces him really. Basically we clubbed the e-Quakes with our defenders. Probably if we played them again, they would figure out what to do against us. the metros and Revs did: Remember how we came from behind against both the mtroos and revs in the first games we played them this year by the same clubbing strategy we beat the Quakes with? Well the metros and Revs figured out how to beat us and Hudson didn't compensate, at least vs the Revs in the final two games.
I have told you soo !! Sorry, I have not seen the game.It was just one of those situation when one cannot split in two. I still have a big problem with those who are defending Convey, despite the reality on the field. Ray is thinking to keep him as a left wing next year. It will be a big mistake and Ray will pay for it or he will pull him out. I have said this long time ago ,the whole midfield needs to go. I would give Olsen a chance,because I believe he will be playing well with a strong aggresive midfield with comparable talented players. Sorry guys, without Nelsen we are gonna be easy pray. There will be no morale with the players and our fans will suffer even more in the next games. This was the history of our 3rd year in hell !!!
I watched the first half, switched to college football during halftime, saw the final score on the bottom of the screen, then went to bed. The only thing left to look forward to is bobbleheads. Sad.
i asked chino why he wasn't up there, he said he sprained an ankle at training. he said the auxiallary field sucks and some amateur league also uses it and it is in poor condition, and guys are getting hurt. i sure wish we had played with some more urgency. there was a lot more urgency at Summers than appeared on the pitch. great to see chico, grillmaster, thamlin, dave brother, rich, etchverito (sp). i guess the highpoint for me was winning the raffle, a signed ball. by coincindence i had just gotten another and was able to find a new home for that one.
What a friggin waste. 7 hours in a car for nothing, save for a few nice photos during warmups. And what's worse, those undeserving rev fans rub it in after. "Go number 20!!!" "He's so cute!". Some stupid kid in a Massachusetts F.C. Porto S.C. shirt says "We'll miss you". And some groupies tell me "You suck". It's a shame more United fans were there, we could have serenated them with a few "You're going home in a F***ing ambulance chants. I hate New England.
I was at Summers too. A lot of DCU fans. The game not being on regular TV had something to do with it. Had to wait for the Oregon football game to be over to get seats. Too bad no one had anything to cheer about other than a nice Rimando save. The thing is the team sucks on the road. At home we are alright. We need two coaches Ray at home and another coach for the road DCU has one last chance to get a win on the road this Thursday for the season. If no win, this record of no road wins in a season will probably live forever. What a infamous record to have. I was for Hudson to be coach for one more season. Not any more. Its ridiculous to call this a professional soccer team with such a absolute pathetic road record that any MLS team could have. Past, present and future.
That was you? I was in the next booth over, facing you. I was the guy in a black T-shirt instead of a United Jersey, heh. -Tron
Yup, you did. My take is that our defense--when allowed to defend rather than abandoning defense for attack--dominates. But, until we get finishers they'll always need to gamble by going forward, and we'll then be vulnerable. As sormun and others have said, without Nelsen our defense is just another good defense. He is our organizer and glue. I'm not feeling very good about the two Metros games. I disagree with you sormun about Convey, but even I admit he hasn't had very good games since Burns was allowed to beat on him all game leading to his separated shoulder. Kudos to him for playing through that injury though. I got one a little before Convey did, and I can tell ya, even jogging makes it extremely sore. Mine still isn't better, and I'm sure Convey's in constant pain. Big salaries need to produce. If Etch, Moreno, Williams, Olsen and Pope want to return, they need to be motivated and healthy. Williams is doing a sound job, but not a stellar job. IMHO, he should return with a pay cut and become a back-up. Olsen has made a comeback finally, and looks to be fine for next season. Pope has played through his annual injuries and also seems fine. His play both defensively and offensively of late has been stellar. Etch needs to take a drastic pay cut to return. Moreno needs to dedicate the offseason to returning fully healthy and fully fit. If not, he may have ended his days at United. We have 3 remaining auditions. If guys show heart from now on, they're a chance, but none of these guys will reassure their spots for next season based solely on these three games. -Tron
Well, as long as we're all looking to hang Ray and others who are responsible for the mess this team is in, I figure I deserve some blame too. As a long time, die hard fan, I've come to identify DC United with Marco, Jaime, Ben, Eddie, & Bobby. And when Ray came in, I was pissed about him starting Ivan, and dubious of Nicky and others in his entourage. Despite some lousy draft decisions, some bad trades, and some questionable coaching, I must say, as a fan, I never gave Ray much room to make real changes to the team. But I think I'm over it. Marco and Jaime should go and give cap room to rebuild the scoring side of the team. Bobby will continue to mature, and I hope Ben pays back the team that has stood by him for another season. And Eddie? Well, I don't know. I'd like to see us keep the back field that we've got, but I could even concede Eddie if we could really build a new team. I agree with Tron's earlier post on the make-up of the team for next year. Let's bite the bullet, cut our expensive players, and replace them with some younger, attacking talent. After 3 seasons, it's time.
Actually, the W.Star indicated that Twellman was the man that United wanted in the draft. Of course, NE drafted before us and they chose Twellman. We can sort all this out in 2 years when the rookies have had a chance to mature and play with teams. Yes, there have been a few guys with great impressions (like Brad Davis, Kyle Martino). But if you look at strikers (what we really needed) or defensive mids--I don't think there was much in the draft when we picked you could have realistically expected to get much from on the attack. As I remember (excluding Twellman), the top forwards coming into the draft were generally considered to be: Gonzales (who has contributed little), Fahim (who we drafted--and then cut) and Nusum (didn't he get cut). Even Dallas--there great season has had almost nothing to do with their draft (b/c Countess--who they traded for, Bussey, Morrison, Gbandi, Stone--those guys have played little or haven't been in key roles)--it has to do with Deering and Kreis having great years, Morrow being a real find, Bonseu being a gift from the cap-stretched Crue. Yeah, looks like we get the #1 superdraft pick. I see that has having minimal value to us. Weren't the top 2 picks in the drat the year before: Chris Carrieri and Ali Curtis? Both nice guys who I wouldn't mind having as a reserve forward. The superdraft pick is a real help to us next year if (a) someone like Cory Gibbs or Conor Casey becomes available--not a good chance on either) or (b) we trade it to a cap strapped team. And yes, ugh--what a terrible season it's been. You know, I"m not sure if the San Jose folks can argue that their first 3 years were as terrible as the past 3 years we've had. At least we supported our team better.
Very true, as he has like 11 or 12 goals this season. And, Faria was in that draft as well, and he has about the same number of goals. In addition Santino was in that draft, and if he hadn't been injured I'd like to think he'd have scored more than 4 goals as well. So, there is talent in the draft. If you want a Connor Casey type player, look at Nate Jaqua. The guy with the most upside is Knox Cameron, but he's still raw so it may take a while for his skills to catch up to the league, but if they do, he could be special. As far as Dmids go, Ricardo Clark is the deal. If he decides to come to MLS next season--a very big "if"--then he'll be an instant impact IMHO. I think he's the most ready Dmid of any to enter from the Draft since the SuperDraft began. In fact, he's way more advanced than Chris Armas or Pablo Mastroeni were when they entered MLS. -Tron
Look for Zane O'Brian from JMU. Attacking mid with a boatload of skills. Don't know what his plans are but while I was talking with some of his teammates they claim he'll be taking the field for Trinidad & Tobago for the next time World Cup Qualifying comes around. JMU isn't too far from DC, and they are playing a series of games at George Mason next weekend. Something for Hudson, Kasper and Trask to consider I'd say.