hahahahahahahaha. dude, you are killing me!!!! I had to laugh when i read the quote as well. who the hell is he kidding with THAT line!
I may not be getting all the facts completely correct, but I had read that his ex-wife's father recently passed away in Florida. And Ray has remained closed to that family.
Some of you need to think a little more before you post. This IS an overly-ambitious attacking squad. Think about it. Ali Curtis taking on three defenders every time the ball touched his foot. That's nothing if not ambitious, but it rarely resulted in a shot. Bobby takes people on all the time, but when he does shoot, he's usually shanking the ball. Cerritos turns and goes, and gets dispossessed. Stewart takes a nice ball down, lays it off, and then never gets a return ball. Dema plows through everybody, dishes off to Eskandarian, he loses the ball on a bad touch ... We DO have a lot of very ambitious offensive players. The system DOES allow for some very free-flowing attacking soccer. The problem is that the execution on this team--the thing that leads to shots and goals--has been execrable at best this year. It's not that they don't mean to attack, or don't try to attack. It's simply that they're no damn good at it. One more example of taking the wrong conclusion from a statistic.
Daniel le Rouge - I understand your point and on a player by player basis you're probably right. But the fact still remains that this team shoots with alarming infrequency. ... addition ... If I recall my statistics classes correctly there's something called a Simpson's Paradox. That's when large data sets lead to one conclusion but when that data is broken down to smaller levels the opposite conclusion is reached. That's basically what's going on with DC United. On an individual level you've got players that can (sometimes) be too aggressive in the attack. Convey trying to dribble through half the opposing team is a common example. But when looked at as a team DC United appears rather ineffective in its attacks. Indeed, it can look downright timid.
Great point. I would submit that the reason we often see these 1 on 3 attacks in which our guys are disposessed is BECAUSE since we are playing so defensively, when one of our guys gets the ball, there is no help for a unified attack. Thus, our guys end up feeling they need to 1 on 3 to make something happen. Its annoying to get posession of the ball, and have no options in front of you time and time again.
The book on defending United around the League has been known for years--pack the box, let us knock the ball around the perimeter as much as we want. The decisive ball is simply no longer there. And it doesn't matter whether Etcheverry is the one failing to deliver the ball or not--NO ONE on this team is putting that ball where it needs to go. The speed and incisiveness necessary to score in this league are only rarely on display. So instead we rely on that one perfect cross each game, or on somebody stealing a penalty. BUT, people should not mistake that for a defensive mentality. I don't agree that this team has an overly defensive mentality. What this team has is a totally schizoid offensive mentality. Some players are on one page, everybody else is on another. So you get guys like Etcheverry and Quintanilla who are generally (or always) looking to slow the attack and maintain possession as opposed to guys like Olsen and Convey, who look to attack more directly. Kovalenko would be in the direct crew except he's been asked to do more defensive duty because of the lengthy injury list. Stewart and Cerritos work well together, but there too, you're talking about guys who are looking for a more direct attack, as opposed to what Etcheverry provides. Ditto for Martins and Eskandarian. So half your midfield is struggling to do one thing while the other half is struggling to do the other, and your forwards are struggling to adjust on the fly. Then tack in injuries and callups and suspensions. It's not a case of lack of ambition--really, it isn't. It's a total lack of organization and effectiveness. And it starts with not having enough of the same kind of players in the midfield. You need to go one direction or the other. This team doesn't have the personnel in place at this time to achieve one direction. And so it struggles. And just to be clear, this isn't another "dump Etcheverry" rant. I think it's very possible that this team could have an effective attack with him as the pinwheel if they had the proper set of complementary players. They don't, and/or they haven't been healthy when they did for the last four years.
Daniel, That is about as close as one can come to summing this team up concisely.. Spot on on all fronts, especially concerning the distinctive styles of the Latin players and the American players in midfield.. While we have the requisite players to move forward, they just haven't learned to move forward with any substance whatsoever.. I'm reminded of our first game at the Meadowlands this season when Tab Ramos remarked "this team (United) simply doesn't know how to move forward as a group" and that rings true for most of the season.. There have been times when the midfield has played well in concert and created scoring opportunities, but they have been less and less frequent since Ben Olsen's injury.. Who knows what the solution is..
1. They didn't ask my question (which was a two-parter): (a) how ready is Freddy Adu to play in MLS--can he start and contribute right now? and (b) is it true that you may choose to go to Florida after this season and not return. I'd have loved to have seen his response on those two questions. 2. The Hudson response on being "overly ambitious" could be taken several ways: (a) it's just chatter and means nothing; (b) he's actually very defensive and feels his team takes too many risks (ie: Hector Cuper would probably say his preivious teams were overly ambitious offensively) or (c) the team made stupid decisions on the attack. I think you can conclude that a team seeks to attack, plans to attack, attempts to attack....and ends up defending most of the time (especially if they give up the ball quickly, never get a lead, etc.).