i proposed a list of american players this winter including some who have been on the move eg hoppe to hibernian. every year i do this including last year when i proposed moore who played for nashville on the way to qatar. i included konrad whom marseille apparently wants to reloan. there are tangible things they could do if they gave a sh*t. it's kind of laughable how low standards are and how we can't seem to identify anyone to help despite me basically handing them a list. and i know i handed them nothing but sh*t, any GM worth his job should be able to identify the disgruntled yanks abroad list with their eyes blindfolded. no, i guess konrad should change his name to konradinho and play for gremio in the brazilian reserve league and then we'd be interested in a $2m loan. that is how myopic the talent search is here. a list of USMNT capped players or domestic YNT U20s and we're out searching for second division frenchmen and reserve league brazilian YNT. i genuinely wonder why. money? remember "resources" then. cap? you're the ones who want to carry steres and HH and coco and whatnot. these guys wouldn't cost slots. diversity? konrad has some fairly diverse history. to be clear, since people on here love to shoot my ideas down then have us sign stuff that should be shut down EVEN FASTER (eg HH, coco, thiago), "konrad" is both a specific instance and a metaphor for the long list i proposed. every year people shoot down the list out of hand as inherently too expensive or conversely not proven enough (kind of like antisemites view their targets as both controlling the world and yet under-mensch). the overall effect is this odd mix of passive rejection of obvious ideas then this odd acceptance and eagerness for, what, french second division, paraguay, some guy who just tore his ACL. my ideas are gold plated or dumb? how gold plated is HH for doing sh*t. what should concern you folks if you read the media is pieces where olsen speaks (re HH) of him being part of a project, where the piece itself reframes events as HH wasn't given enough time as opposed to wasted our dollars and minutes. people think i am a jerk for invoking kinnear-esque put up or shut up philosophy but doubling and tripling down on malfunctioning DPs is naive, particularly when things could be solved by sending HH home to mexico with the buddies he's hugging in phptos. or "to europe" which he apparently "project" and all doesn't rule out return to. at which point i'm like reminding you folks what i said about long term projects and player retention when you lose. that poor teams buying paycheck players are only renting their services. that there needs to be some "there, there" to have true loyalty. anyhow, i am still here because they have a month to fix it. this is still technically silly season and players like konrad are in shop windows. it is a matter of will and resources. my version of optimism is to give them this time out of patience and loyalty, not to delude myself about the current quality of the "project." i see plenty of you eager to rush me out the door for perceived negativism. in recent years the game is to hate on my critiques but then find the haters even more negative than i am by the fall. HH for example. this is the time period when season trajectories can actually change. figuring it out in august is way too late. but then the difference is i still believe in the kinnear ethos where a player gets 2-3 months and then a plane ticket home if they disappoint, no matter what the "term" in the contract says. you can stay here and sit or we can tear this up. or sell you home. grow a pair, people.
see you're being a d*ck to me but that last bit is precisely it. if i was over "this" i wouldn't care one sh*t. i am on here precisely because i do give a sh*t still. less and less, because i feel taken advantage of, but some. regarding the rest, in the article there is reference to a "project." but i don't see any consistency to a project which signs older veterans but then some youth. i still half wonder if HH is here to sell tickets while they very slowly run out contracts and try to make it younger. as i explained, you cannot both do a playoff veteran run and a youth movement or you end up ineffectively in the middle, not enough quality, not enough future. the effective approach is either clear house and go young for a while, or commit to jigsawing together a veteran playoff team. which is not that hard no matter what the sycophants say. RSL manages it every year from a group that doesn't impress me much on paper. and i am glad you note the wish to go back to europe. as i explained to you lot, high achiever DPs aren't going to come here and do "optimism" forever. they like to win. they take it seriously when you say the plan is to win. but if you don't win any time soon they feel lied to, perhaps even more so than some FA who signs here for a paycheck. y'all gave me sh*t but you do not have forever to slowly tweak things while players and fans get sick of it all. i actually think all involved are remarkably patient and closed lipped.
"your assistance?" you watch games. you never played at any meaningful level. you cherry pick stats to say the opposite of what me and my soccer player friends see. you vigorously defend every new coach out of the chute only to end up roughly where i do on the personnel quality and your eventual critique of the team -- just months later when everyone thinks it. fine, whatever, "protect" away. i don't see any actual argument. i don't see you explaining how i am wrong. i see ad hominems. that's what happens when non-soccer people want to say soccer people are wrong about soccer. i want this to get better but after a few iterations of these "hirings" and "projects" i am no longer a fool about it. if they went and signed top shelf people or even low key guys with very productive histories, i would hop on. a la 2017. when i said it was a playoff team AND THE HATERS DIDN'T. i don't buy it. only guy i think might be as good as people hope is bassi and given his hit and miss production, limited athletic explosiveness, and lower division resume, i am not sure. i think he's technical but not sure if a guy gets the needed separation if all he is is average height and kinda slow. i think he can laser shots in corners but he has to get open in this league to do it. and these are actually hopeful comments. i think the rest is junk and if you have been a fan of this team for years you should be able to see it coming. surplus MLS, players with limited production from small americas leagues. you cannot beat the other teams when you play their bench and discards. we are not that clever. i think the HH signing was unfortunate because we do need players from those type teams, with high level skills, perhaps even MX stars, but at younger ages and from productive positions where they can do a thing about winning vs losing. he is in the "giovinco" or "driussi" slot soaking up a massive chunk of the payroll but is fool's gold, either because he broke down or because he was only ever going to be a "connecting" type when we need either balls in nets or opposing attacks destroyed. he is an expensive luxury when we need basic goods. i think the brass are either deluded or cynical. i do not understand the arrogance from the staff before we have done anything. this is a 13th place team and will remain so until that "table feedback" is taken seriously and we spend well and smarter. i almost think the fan response on here is worse as you should all know better. the repeated pattern on the coaches and GMs is seeming surprised that continuity doesn't get it done. the fans who have seen the pattern over and over should be ahead of their curve.
people are acting like they are "correcting" things. well, i laid out last year there are only 3 teams that have barely made the playoffs 0-1 times in 5 years. CHI, SJ, and us. very short list. you're implying it's harder than it is to win even occasionally. this is not just mediocre. it's very very very bad. i keep hearing these excuses for new regimes over and over. not tab's fault. not naga's fault. what your ilk neglects is i don't think a team serious about winning would be hiring the people we do to make it happen. you are neglecting the quality of the noobs given excuses which then become the excuse for the next guy. well, we hired a green GM, a green HC, a coach whose DC team fell apart at the end. where is bradley? bruce? marsch? a big foreign name? as in, we were serious about resources, enough is enough, we are hiring a proven, consistent winner who has built multiple teams up and we will be his latest. it will cost money. but that was promised to us. this argument is also amusing when HOU used to be in the playoffs every year for most of a decade. save 2010. while not spending a ton or having a real DP. i don't believe in your "culture" nonsense. you go get a good, competent team builder coach. you go sign a new team. bluntly IMO it is loser teams that tend to emphasize hustle. everyone hustles. most teams are focused on more telling details than how hard they play, which is basic professionalism. as in, precision of passes, finishing chances, being where they are supposed to, ending opposing runs. technical, soccer IQ stuff. i will believe they are trying when they start signing people like they mean it, hire a good coach, and drop the culture talk. IMO the way to ensure players play a certain way, is getting rid of anyone not up to snuff and replacing them with people known to play how you want already. you don't try to make coco something he's not. you cut coco and go sign the next adams. someone actually good at the characteristics you want. to me the constant analytics talk conveys they can't do the eye test right. we have signed so much junk since pat came in. same thing i said about jordan, an idiot can trip over 1-2 decent players a year, that's not enough to compete, the batting average has to go up.
Dynamo have turned over their roster in terms of returning players share of minutes played in 2022 more than all but 1 MLS team After missing the playoffs last season, Portland and SKC lead the league in returning players from 2022, along with MLS Cup Finalist Philly.NYCFC have dismantled their 2021 MLS Cup squad this offseason after jettisoning almost 50% of their minutes played last year. https://t.co/q5rNt1Kkyg pic.twitter.com/20u0lVRos6— Eliot McKinley (@etmckinley) February 2, 2023
now wait, Juve is the one who prepared a list of players the Dynamo should acquire, that’s probably more than Onstad did all winter
i guess this requires the long version then anyway ---HH consumes only 628' but they will start which misleads about "minutes" vs "players" ---we may start as many as 7/11 starters (RF 9 AM AM CB CB GK) from 2022 which makes 59% minutes kind of bs --memo was dropped but not replaced, so we benefit in a mins analysis but don't have an actual offsetting player --adam demanded a trade, second most minutes, we signed a LB who can't yet play (maybe watch the 6-1 america highlights and see where the goals come from) --artur is a fairly mediocre DM replacing vera --DQ and fafa were a ton of F/10 mins but you have a lot riding on bassi and franco and how they compare --i buy escobar is a guaranteed upgrade on our RB minutes, that's about it the upshot is if you will start mostly the same guys then quoting minutes feels silly, and in a lot of cases it appears we punched holes we either didn't fill at all or in a limited few cases you will have to desperately hope that the no names are in fact upgrades. you also are misleading us by acting like HH coming back with few mins is a good thing.
After missing the playoffs last season, Portland and SKC lead the league in returning players from 2022, along with MLS Cup Finalist Philly.NYCFC have dismantled their 2021 MLS Cup squad this offseason after jettisoning almost 50% of their minutes played last year. https://t.co/q5rNt1Kkyg pic.twitter.com/20u0lVRos6— Eliot McKinley (@etmckinley) February 2, 2023
i mean did you chuckleheads watch this before posting? we got pimp slapped. spare me the lectures. and i guess everyone has me on some sort of alert which is funny. like the houston dynamo PR fast reaction squad or something.
brian, maybe look the line below that, you blew the thing up, pointed an arrow one line, look below it. i'm not saying it's not a 23 graph for sure, i am saying it comes off sloppy right away.
No it means they were using February 2, 2022 as the cutoff for counting the players in 2022 for returning minutes. I’ll give you credit it’s a good catch because it doesn’t account for mid year signings.
to underline how "minutes" is crap GK -- all 3 GK are back CB -- traded away parker, kept hadebe steres bartlow, micael promoted which is all holdovers if you pay close enough attention, but shows up as plentiful minutes dumped RB-- escobar added, dropped zeca valentin hoffmann, kept dorsey, position is half holdover LB -- dropped adam junqua, added only smith who can't yet play (we a few short?), minutes dumped but no effective replacement MF -- kept coco HH raines rios castilla dropped vera memo ceren palomino added artur auguste (we a few short?), starting AMs retained, HH played few minutes ergo misleading F --kept sebas baird avila quinones dropped fafa bajamich added achara franco bassi.....kinda depends who gets used where, ie if baird starts do you not see how much continuity there is? or in a few of the instances we punched holes we never filled then started talking U22s a tad prematurely? they kind of fooled me a little, they punched holes in that defense then barely filled sh*t. F was more body for body but a lot will be riding on how they compare, the "DP" discussion i have mentioned ie we need some DP production and people seem happy if they ever had a goal or assist before.
no. see graph 1 is 20 players signed as of 2/21, used for 21. that makes sense. as of 2/21 look backward to who was a 20 guy. graph 2 is described as signed as of 2/22 which it tries to say is being used for 23. surely you see where this raises questions. there is a year missing or a typo or a graph mislabeled. something is off. is it a 22 graph looking back to 21? or a 23 graph looking back to 22 with a typo. but you get what i mean here. more i look at it, you can get to 3 or 4 graphs depending where you follow the tweets. there may be two "as of 2/22" graphs but anyway. and then my big thing is the analysis anyway. like people selling 40% change when it looks to me like we will probably have 75% starter continuity and almost the same spine. and the holes that got blown up then pat didn't fill.
Little did you know, I actually perch on Pat Onstad's shoulder during the day like a parrot and tell him everything to do....
no i am just saying it's odd when several people are all on here posting right after i do an evening post. like within seconds. BS tells me that i have replies but not in any active way. i sign on i find out. i may not sign on every day or most evenings. no, y'all were on here in like half a second. know at least one of you said you had friends on the team and used to either have a job with them or like consult from outside or something. and you all seem a little eager to make a purse out of a sow ear on this. objectively my analysis suggests people should be concerned. 6-1 today doesn't change that one bit. it's either that or you folks are chatting DM/text/offline. one is coincidence. several is a crowd.
You need to do lots of yoga and pilates. It's not that easy being that I'm 6'5" 230. Balance is the key.