Re-thinking MAE

I thought he had an exceptional game yesterday and it was only Rimando's incompetence that prevented the win and possible playoff run.

 

About the pay cut: It does United no good as he makes well above the max salary that's counted for the cap. Thus there is little incentive for United to try to cut his salary, other than making it clear that they don't want him.

That said, I think we bring him back next year. As you said, uniteo, he works well with Convey. Still if that's the basic plan for next year then we need two things badly:

1) An upgrade at d-mid. Someone who has speed, size and tenacity. On the team, only Reyes fits that bill. If not him, then we need to look abroad.

2) Another decent winger. My guess is that Villegas is gone since he heald out with the metros last spring saying his MLS minimum wage wasn't good enough. I believe his contract is up and so I think he'll look to Latin America somewheres. That leaves only Mappy on the left wing. (Alegria? Alevanja? No thanks.) I think Mappy deserves more playing time next year, lots more. But I'd hesitate to go into next season as our #1.

(Obviuously the team needs more than just a d-mid and left winger but those other needs aren't so directly affected by combining Convey with Etch in the middle.)

 

Etch is very good, but no longer great. I want him in a United kit next season, but we simply cannot afford him at the max anymore. We need to use the big money slots for forwards that consistently score.

Kevin Payne, Thomas Rongen, Stephen Zack, and recently Dave Kasper and Ray Hudson have assembled a lot of good young talent. We have the elements now except for two, finishing forwards and a stellar 2-way Dmid.

We need to use the big money slots for those finishers. Yes we have Santino, but he hasn't had a full healthy season so far, and we have no reason to believe he'll become an ironman next season. And, there's always the potential that he'll bolt for Europe. We need the finishers. We need the Simon Elliott type Dmid, and we need depth on the left wing, and everywhere on the forward and back lines.

Eliseo, Chino and others can fill Etch's current role assisting Convey, but none are as good as Etch yet. If he'd accept a salary reduction to around 150K, then hopefully he'll return. Unfortunately, I doubt that it is going to happen.

-Tron

 

Reading what you wrote, DT, and thinking of the salary cap, we might have to not resign Etch if we can't trade/cut Moreno. We need a serious scoring threat at forward more than we need Etch. But we can't just add a forward; we need to reduce salary. Obviously Moreno is a prime candidate to go but cutting him's not an option; he has to be traded. Who's gonna take him and that salary? Possibly we could pay most of his salary, but that still leaves us in a bad cap position and no reliable forward. (Tino has not proven himself yet. The college prospects are way more unproven.)

So we may have to gamble on Moreno one more year. If so than Etch is in the cap cross-hairs. To improve our cap space, cutting Etch is the simpliest solution. It's possible then that we wind up keeping Moreno another year, simply because we can't get rid of him. Then to Moreno we add a new forward and do some shifting of Moreno, Q2, and Tino back to pair up with Convey. I could well imagine something like:

----Quaranta/Moreno-------new forward
------------------Moreno/Tino
new left wing------Convey--------Olsen
----------------------Reyes
Prideaux------------Nelsen--------Pope

obvious subs:

- Q2 at forward or withdrawn forward
-Chino at d-mid or Convey's position
-ITT at d-mid
-Mappy at left wing (I don't think he'll claim the left wing spot at the beginning of next season.)
-Curtis as #5 forward

That's 17 spaces (counting Rimando and McGinity) some of whom are developmental spaces.

Etch might just become a salary cap victim.

Basically a 3-4-3

 

I desagree with a pay cut for Ech. He cannot keep up with the speed of the games in MLS right now.Last night was a good chance to see how far he can go.IMHO, the man has no gas in the tank left. He cannot run anymore. For a playmaker position in the midfield runnig is 50% of the job.No matter how good his ball controlling skills are he is not gonna be in the right position to use those skills because he cannot run anymore. No rational coach will count on him when the game is played most of the time by running back and forth.
He is done, the lack of physical skill automatically sends him off.Remember, none of Convey's latelly goals were from Ech.Even,Maradona is useless if he cannot run.Sorry, to say this but he needs to retire.
This team cannot aford a "sitting duck" in the midfield anymore.

 

I am also surprised to see the positive take on Etch after last night's game. I thought he was poor, certainly much less than he has been. When you consider his disciplinary issues and frequent whining, I think the team might be best off to see him leave

 

My husband's comment after another exceptionally poor play from Etch: "I'm glad he held the ball so long in front of the box so he could look around and see which defender to pass the ball to."

 

I'm afraid that Etch has to go. He has been DC's best player ever but the time has come. This isn't just a need for a breathe of fresh air in the middle for DC, but for MLS. It would be embarrassing to have people from around the world watch MLS and see that some players are allowed to stand and jog around slowly. Right now Etcheverry's only good attribute is passing. He has ball control but he never dribbles by anyone. DC needs more.

 

Etch shows flashes of his old self, like the recent key assists to Curtis in our last two. It's sad to say, but other than those occasional tantalizing moments, he's a liability out there. Let's face facts; we finished dead last. I'm guessing we won't finish any lower without him. Time for some new blood.

 

Ah yes, Carlos Valderamma is always running all over the park. Or do you think he is also all washed up? Running may be 50% of the job, but it's more about being smart with your runs and having the vision to make the right passes. Marco has been hot and cold in that department this season. But it also hasn't helped him that we haven't had much up front for him to play to and also we seemed to have a lot of games in the middle of the season where no one was running. If guys aren't going to get themsleves into decent open positions there isn't a player in the world who can pass to them.

After he's had a chance to think about things I expect he'll be back whatever it takes. Everything I have read seems to indicate that his family really likes it here. Would he give all that up to play in China? And I don't think any sane person would want to be going to the Middle East these days.

 

I guess I don't understand the MLS personnel rules, but I thought MLS contracts are not guaranteed. Therefore, why can't Moreno be cut?