Carrieri and Spenny are hurt..Carrieri, I hear got a 1st or 2nd degree shoulder separation from the Las Vegas game against Santos and is resting a few games...Spenny, I believe hurt his leg/knee again...
good to see beckerman getting consistent play -- hopefully he'll get into a normal rotation, or even better become a consistant starter.
Interesting to see that Bryan Jackson, a starting midfielder for the U-17 team that Donovan, Beasley, and Beckerman played on, is still on trial with the Rapids. Anyone know how he has looked in preseason? Is Blake going to make the roster even though he has skipped preseason to finish school?
Why is Hankinson not playing a consistent central midfield? In the latest game, it is Becks and Borchers. In the past, it has been Becks and Mastroeni and various other younger players, or in Las Vegas, Becks and Grimandi. We have seen the various hopefuls for the back line unit play together a lot, although without Rizo in these practice games, and have seen the forward parings of the healthy guys, which admittedly has been limited. Chung and Henderson have also been manning the outside mid spots in about every practice game. But we have not seen Grimandi or Mastroeni together or either of them with any consistency. Grimandi has had some minor injury and fitness issues, but he was THE PICKUP of the off-season. He was supposed so make a solid wall in the middle with Pablo. I believe that for no other reason than to develop chemistry, if Hankinson wants to pair Gilles and Pablo successfully, he needs to get them together out there. I like the idea of Becks in the midfield but I always assumed that Grimandi would then move to center back. We have not seen this either. Is there some unknown issue with Grimandi? Is it possible Hankinson sees Becks as the answer to pairing with Pablo? Or is Hankinson just not getting the two together assuming that he has the time to test other players and the Mastroeni/Grimandi pairing will take care of itself. I bet the last alternative is accurate but could bite us in the early season.
Is anyone else concerned that Spencer may never be healthy again for more than a game or two at a time? The guy ALWAYS seems hurt; must be tearing him up inside.
Maybe, because 1. When Gilles was healthy early preseason Pablo was with the Nats 2. When Pablo came back Gilles was hurt 3. Now Gilles is healthy again and Pablo had a minor injury issue and he will be going to the Nat camp in a couple a days. SO, there just hasn't been a chance to get those guys on the park together. As why the others are being rotated Kyle, Nat etc on the midfield - The prospects i.e Nat has to get some playing to see if he can make it or not (earlier during the preseason. And Kyle et al. who have played so much this preseason has to take some time to recover at some point before they get hurt due to over training/playing. I guess I'm not quite sure why this is such a concern at this point. Our squad is one of the most consistant ones during the preseason which I think is a plus and if somebody has some injury issues then I much rather have them at this time of the year than during the season. On another note - yes it concerns me too that Spenny seems to be having continuing problems with his injuries.
i think there is a possibility that you guys could see pablo as central defender and with becks paired with gilles in the midfield. once becks gets more playing time i think his game will explode, then you will see the your # 10. becks could've went to boca or hertha after the wc 99'. remember reading that they wanted him. hertha wanted him for their reserve team that way he could develope.