Players to look at for Next Season

Hrmmmm, lots of good ideas

With the exception of Chino, who Revelation vehemently claims will be a TI not an SI next season, I basically agree with JoeW's assessment.

Richie is underappreciated, but Ray understands the importance of a viscious and tactically sound Dmid. It takes TONS of pressure off of the defense by blunting counter-attacks and deflecting attacks toward the wings so the back line has time to get in position and stay compact. McKinley may be able to do an adequate job there, but I just do not see him as our starting Dmid. He collects too many cards and is occasionally injured. Richie never misses games (OK the occasional card ... and he's not getting any more USMNT callups ).

Our current roster only has one player besides Williams and McKinley with the defensive skills necessary to be a Dmid, Reyes. Frankly, I'd love to see Reyes as our starting Dmid. I could live with McKinley being our Hmid next to him. While McKinley is slow, Reyes has the speed to cover for both he and Nelsen centrally, so it'd work out. Neither Chino nor Lazo can handle that position alone, and each is slow. Namoff has shown flashes and has potential, particularly man-marking, but he is still too green tactically to snuff out the counters, and would leave Nelsen exposed too often. He still needs seasoning. I can see him becoming a Rooney clone on the field.

Villegas, Lassiter and now Zambrano ... why ... why ... why? AND, I'm VERY PISSED that we traded away potentially a FIRST ROUND draft pick to get Zambrano for 7 games. Chances are that this pick would have been a Edson Buddle type player, which is just what this club needs.

Guys I'd be interested in include Buddle/Washington, Vagenas (to replace Williams or McKinley), and Eddie Johnson (worthy of the top pick in the SuperDraft IMHO). Elliott if he were available would be a fantastic acquisition.

We need to shy away from Zarco. Now that we've brought the ES fans back into the fold it wouldn't be wise to immediately alieanate them by sitting/dumping Zarco. He was and is a class individual and skilled player, but he's not going to start on our back line, and if he plays midfield he will likely not start their either. He'll force United into a bad situation regarding playing time and salary cap issues, so it's best not to go looking for that situation. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Wolff wouldn't be worth it for us. He has a history of health issues, and that's why we're last in the league in the first place, no need to acquire another. If he ever does stay healthy for a sustained period of time, he'll likely move to Europe, so it's not a great situation, despite him being an excellent person and player.

We need to look for the young striker with ball skills, holding skills, exceptional aerial skills and excellent speed who is a clinical finisher. I know that's a lot to ask for, but I know who that guy is ... it's Eddie Johnson who is sitting on the bench at the Dallas Burn. He would allow us to keep Moreno, Olsen and Etch without causing the team to plummet the table because of health concerns.

With Convey, Olsen, Eliseo and Mapp we should be able to keep consistently good wing play regardless of injuries ... no need for Villegas or another winger. What we need is a big fast forward or two and defensive depth. Versatile guys like Knox Cameron and Ricardo Clark would be great additions. I also like guys such as Gray Griffin and Hunter Freeman. With the top overall pick and two 2nd rounders, we should be able to add 3 or 4 quality young players next season. Mapp + 2 or 3 of those guys will fill out our developmental squad while adding depth and injury cover while they adjust to MLS speed.

-Tron

 

I thought Ammann was making closer to 150k each year. If that's true, that extra 50,000 would definitely be very useful.

 

Pope is worth all of the players you mentioned combined. I'd like to get Buddle from that list, and maybe Oughton (emphasis on that maybe). If we have Andy Williams, Etcheverry is gone. Maisonneuve, I just don't like.

We're not going to find any top notch strikers ready to play MLS level soccer out of college.

Definitely.

Agreed on all three. McKinley, even with his slightly improved showings in midfield, has to be done. Lassiter sucks, while Curtis is a good MLS minimum 4th striker.

Prideaux is a good defender, and I don't know of any good candidates to replace him as our left back (as long as we have Nelsen, that's where he's going to play). Zambrano can't possibly stay longer than the end of the season, though I wouldn't have thought we would sign him anyway.

Agreed. I see Vaca as a right-sided Convey...he was supposed to be a great playmaker, but he's really best as a wide player to complement a playmaker.

This is the biggest key to the offseason. Either someone figures out how to get Moreno his confidence and motivation back, or we need a striker.

Zarco would be a good fit. He's also made a good impression in a DC kit before (remember the bomb he scored in the Unity Games?).

I'd like to see that. Plenty of people knock him, but he scores, he's strong as hell, and he won't cost us too much.

We did try to get him before...Vagenas for Albright. Would have been the funniest trade ever.

By performance, those 2 and Nelsen are the only ones deserving a raise.

Agreed on all counts except Berhalter...he's a center back only. Villegas really needs to be gone.

***

I think the key is getting a striker who will stay healthy and score, followed closely by getting all our big names fit. We have a defense good enough to win the league with, believe it or not. Our midfield play, as much as we've complained about it, is probably lower-mid table. It's been our attacking (obviously) that's made us so bad. Quaranta and Quintanilla have to be kept. Moreno needs to stay fit and somehow get motivated again, or else I would consider moving him. We need a good, physical, non-snake-bitten forward like the beach needs the ocean.

 

Who was that guy who played left back for the United States against Germany and Mexico in the World Cup?

Methinks it was Berhalter.. If he can handle the pressure of a World Cup, he could probably handle left back in MLS, though I do agree that he would be better suited to play centrally, which is his natural position..


By the way, when exactly was the last time that dcunited.com actually got a starting 11 correct?

I think United will play a 3-5-2 with Reyes and McKinley playing centrally behind Marco and in front of Pope with Milton tracking Landon all over the field.. I don't think Landon has seen a guy in MLS yet with Reyes's speed and Milton just might be able to really frustrate Landon..

 

Edson Buddle ... 8 points in a day ... not bad!

It's probably bad form to quote yourself, but what the heck. Buddle has earned playing time in a very talented Crew attack. Tonight he registered 2 goals and 2 assists. That's big time.

This is the type of player we could have gotten with the draft pick we let go to acquire Zambrano. That was a stupid move.

Eddie Johnson, IMHO, will be even better than Buddle. If anyone is in the 2003 SuperDraft with this kind of potential, we need to acquire them. If a guy like Knox Cameron or Nate Jaqua catch fire in the collegiate season or with the US Youth teams and has a good showing at the pre-draft camp, we need one of these fast and skilled target forwards IMHO.

 

Re: Edson Buddle ... 8 points in a day ... not bad!

Is that the Jaqua who played for Boulder in the A-League? If so, he looked pretty good against Cape Cod in the championship game on Fox the other night.

In the 70s, the Redskins had a defensive back named John Jaqua. I was wondering if they were any relation, along the lines of Kyle Rote and KR Jr. -- from grid ball to real football in a single generation.

 

I haven't heard any claims that we can realistically get a player out of college with the 1st or 2nd pick who will be an impact player--not only a starter but a guy who plays a pivotal role. That's unrealistic to expect that. Dallas hasn't even gotten that with Gbandi. Not of the recent #1 picks have provided that in their 1st or 2nd year. Unless a pro returns from Europe and is in the Superdraft.

As for some of the MLS talent that has been mentioned, I think the larger questions are this: we need a solid finisher and we need to have 3-5 players on our roster who will start day in and day out and who can be guys you can build a team around. Moreno and Etcheverry were once those guys. You could slot in a Rammel or RDA or Lassiter next to Moreno and got some productivity. You'd shuffle all sorts of guys into the lineup and Etcheverry kept things humming. I don't mean to make it sound like they made United--not the case at all. But as Arena said the first here, the American talent was basically all even so it came down to which teams got the best production from their foreign allocations. For the entire year, it was LA. By the end of the year, (looking at the last 1/3rd of the season), it was United.

Right now, we're trying to compete with a lineup that is mostly a $600K cap. Etcheverry has his moments. Moreno has incredible skill but obviously doesn't have his finishing touch right now. I'll leave it to another thread for the argument about whether either will regain their levels of play or their best is long gone. The key point is this: we have a team basically built around: Pope, Williams, Etcheverry, Convey, Olsen, Etcheverry, Moreno and Quaranta. Those guys make the big salaries (though Quaranta and Convey are comparatively cheap). Those guys play KEY roles--they are counted on to make plays, be the "go to" guys in the clutch, score goals or make big stops. Out of them, only Williams does a good job staying on the field recently. Out of them only Pope can be said to have been in form this year (though Convey has rebounded nicely and Quaranta has improved and was battling hard until his injury).

In MLS you just can't afford to have 3-4 guys making $260K who aren't making a big impact in the game and/or aren't starting consistently. I'd argue the reason Chicago has only 1 trophy (despite a great coach, good job bringing in new talent, well organized team) is that their core guys have been or now are: Nowak, Wolff, Kovalenko, Thornton, maybe Razov and possibly Stoichkov. Thornton and Kovalenko have shown up alsmot every night. Nowak, Wolff and Stoichkov can't stay healthy.

If we're looking at players to add for next season, I do like EJ but is he going to get 15 goals for us next year? Heck, I don't think Quaranta is going to get 15 goals for us next year (and I rate him above EJ). Ditto with Buddle. We need to add 2-3 players who are every-day players. We're not likely to find any such strikers in MLS. Faria and D. Washington are probably the best of the bunch. Anyone else is either "down the road" or someone to augment what we've got, not a guy to build a team around. And that needs to be the criteria we're looking at. Otherwise we've got the same problem next as this year--trying to be competitive with a $600K roster.

BTW, I didn't think Amman was making $150K. My understanding was he was around $75K with the Scum, briefly held out and was upped to $100K or just a little above. I'm positive I recall Hudson (when talking about adding Bishop, waivers and so on) indicating that McKinley signed for a 50% cut and he (Hudson) promised he'd make that up the next year. That's $50K right there. Whether you like McKinley or not, the reality is that teams with reputations as ditching players aren't ones people like to play for. United used to have a rep as a class joint. People would consider taking pay cuts to come here. If McKinley, Rimando, Prideaux, Quaranta were all promised pay raises, then they should get them. It isn't just this year but having worked hard and performed (especially in Prideaux's case) and being told "next year".

 

In a back 3, I count everyone as a center back.

The question was using Berhalter as a defensive midfielder, which would not work.

 

Needed: Target Forward

You are correct, no one is making that claim.

I'm saying that we need a young target forward. Not a starting 15 goal scorer from the SuperDraft, but simply a good young forward that is strong in the air--something I haven't seen Santino do.

When we fall behind and teams bunker, we really have two options, shoot from distance or score via headers. Our set pieces used to be atrocious, now they just suck ... it's improvement, but it's still unacceptable. With Etch finally finding his form, he needs targets, and no offense, but Convey, Olsen, Eliseo, Zambrano and Williams are NOT it. And that was going from tallest to smallest!

Our current options consist of two back liners who seldom move forward at the same time (Pope and Nelsen), an extremely old veteran backliner/midfielder (McKinley) and an overweight unfit injury-plagued 5'10 superstar forward--Moreno. I've yet to see Santino put a noggin on the ball, so I'm not even considering him an option at this point. Also, I don't recall him having a very good vertical jump.

We have no aerial game among our attacking players, and that's the main reason we're so ineffective on set pieces--golden opportunities to score.

Get one in the SuperDraft, groom him, and use his aerial ability late in games when the other team bunkers.

I'm not saying this guy is a starter ... in fact I'm advocating him being the 4th forward behind Moreno, Santino and a veteran acquisition such as Washington/Serna/etc. This would allow us to use Eliseo in both the midfield and forward lines for craftiness and creativity.

Believe it or not, Conteh wasn't a bad target forward. With he and Albright in there we created a lot of shots on goal from set pieces ... but I'm suggesting drafting someone who can actually finish those chances as well.

I also am in line with JAnderson14's thought that in a 352 the back three are essentially all center backs because they stay compact and are purely defending, not overlapping. IMHO, both Pope and Prideaux are ideally suited for that role, but neither is a good enough organizer to pair them in a 442, so Nelsen is needed to organize the back 3.

-Tron

 

Re: Re: Edson Buddle ... 8 points in a day ... not bad!

Nate Jaqua plays in my town at the U of Portland. I believe he'll be a junior this year.

 

Ramos and Balboa retirements = over $400k in cap room. The Metros will be able to sign a maximum salary player with no worries, even if Jolley and Howard get decent raises.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

We need Maxi Lopez, a new young forward for River Platte in Argentina.

He is awesome, fits in well and doesn't appear to be on European radar as of yet.

 

Picking up Petke would be a step back from all the defensive improvements that have been made this year. He's not a particularly good passes and he's prone to losing his concentration and temper.

I want him exactly where he is now - as Bobby's plaything...

Dave

 

Is that the same thing a Bobby's &itch?

 

No more METRO players! Especially not Petke. He's not fit to shine Nelsen's boots.

 

Yes. I just decided to use a different word for a change.

Dave

 

NY Cosmos

He has talent, and I sure wouldn't mind adding him, but it's not going to happen because he wouldn't start and makes too much money to be a backup. He's having a terrible year, but he's a 6'3 exceptional man-marker ideal for a 352 and has pretty decent speed. He's a vocal leader but not an organizer. And, he really really loves New York, so I don't think he'd ever be content here.

I have thought several times that maybe MLS will expand into NYC and bring back the NASL flagship Cosmos and put Ray in as coach ... brilliant move if MLS did that. Then he could build his squad from the ground up with international veterans and garner tremendous amounts of media attention for the league. The league would hand him anything he wanted on a silver platter, so he'd be very successful. He could then take all of the talented problem-children that wanted to be in NYC (Petke, Hernandez, etc.) and never have to worry about the salary cap or someone else's players.

So, Ray may one day end up with Petke, but not likely in a United kit.

-Tron

 

No way we'd be able to get Berger. He's only 28 and still has enough top-class ability in him to get onto a club that plays in European competitions.

Great hair, though...

Dave

 

My opinion is that Etch will need to be replaced this year. If we get more of a "two-way" player to replace him, that should allow us to play a 4-4-2 and really take advantage of Reyes' strengths. It would also put more pressure on Richie to get more involved in the attack. I'd like to groom Bobby to play Richie's spot. This season he's gotten a lot better defending his positions.

I agree w/ most of the banter here that we are not 100% safe relying on Moreno and Quaranta up top. I can't believe they'll be healthy. If Dalglish was all he was cooked up to be, I'd like to see him.

I feel comfortable the Olsen will be ready on the right-wing. I'd like to see Eliseo play on the left wing before I anoited him to that position. Convey hasn't given us what we need from that spot, I also believe he'd do better in a defenisive mid spot. Draft a fast left winger. Young wingers seem to do well in MLS -- certainly better than strikers.

Here's my final radical proposal...and I'm not saying that we SHOULD do it,but I wonder...What if? Can you see Eddie Pope playing a d-mid? He has good ball skills, he's quick as a cat, smart, and very good in the air. Patrick Viera? Marc Foe? Anyone?

 

Maybe you were thinking of Frankie Hejduk who did play left back.

At any rate, this point is moot (THE POINT IS MOOT!) as Spaz has signed for St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Sachin

 

I think that D.C. definately needs a reliable backup defender for next year, preferably two. I think that David Stokes of UNC would be an excellent draft choice. He is a youth national team member, very large and strong, extremely composed, and can close down on players quickly. DC could also look around the league for a fringe player with a lot of potential. These two players probably shouldn't be veterans. I think that Reyes and Prideaux could make great wing backs for next year with Nelsen and Pope in the middle. Or DC could shift to a 3-5-2 and put Reyes and Convey in the def. midfield. They'd be a terrific duo.

I midfield, we need a new winger in my opinion. We should waive Lazo, Villegas, and hopefully Etcheverry will be gone as much as i love him, I just don't think he can help forward this club any longer. I think Mapp can emerge as a playmaker in the future, but doubtfully by next year. I also think we need to bring in a def. midfielder from college or somewhere who can really learn to play the position well. Bring in someone with the athletic ability and technical skills and teach them the tactical aspects. And I'm also afraid that Ritchie needs to go. Leo Cullen in New England might be a good player to get in that def. midfield if possible.

At forward, Faria would be great and so would Dante Washington. I also think one of our main priorities should be someone who is big, strong, and is tremendous in the air. They don't have to as fast as Santino but they can't be as slow as someone like Quinn from Ireland. I think we should keep Ali and continue to teach him every tactical thing possible. And I'm sorry but Jaime MUST go because like Marco, I don't think he can help forward this club anymore. Lassiter used to be good but now I can't emphasize how much he SUCKS!!!!!!!! He is the worst player I have seen this year in MLS.