I've read a lot of comments on this board where Burn fans have said that between Southlake and the team's performance, the season has been a total loss. So, at the risk of coming across as patronizing, here is an attempt at making you feel better. 1. The Frisco deal was announced. Only two other teams have their own SSS and while playing at Southlake is terrible, there are seven other MLS teams that would love to be able to trade places with you if it meant having their own digs in 05. 2. You have a boatload of draft picks for next year. This is a Catch-22 but if used properly, like Chicago and the MetroStars did this year, that can make a great difference. Three No. 1 picks could make the team much better or be traded for an impact player or two. 3. As an extension of No. 2, having the top pick overall enhances the chances that SMU freshmen Ramon Nunez will turn pro after one season so that he can stay home and start his pro career in Dallas. If the Burn didn't have the top pick, this may not have happened and Nunez is supposed to be the kind of player you can build a midfield around. 4. DJ Countess got invaluable experience. He's the youngest starting GK in MLS (maybe ever) and he has shown it at times. But, he's also gotten much better and next year he should be ready to compete for a place among the league's elites. The trial by fire has sucked, but he will be an asset to the Burn next year. 5. Brad Davis, Jordan Stone and Shavar Thomas have all gotten lots of playing time and enhanced their development to the point that they should be solid and cheap MLS players next year and players the team can build around. 6. Eddie Johnson is getting more minutes this year than he has in either of his first two seasons. And, he is making progress. It's slower than many hoped but he is progressing and should end the season with the most goals and points he's had. If he has finally learned that he has to work his ass off to succeed, just like everyone else, and blossoms next year, than all this will be worth it. 7. Chris Gbandi learned that MLS isn't as easy as it looks. The kid is a stud, pyhsically, and has great skills for a defender. But, he needs to improve reading the game and make better decisions. Hopefully his pace will also continue to improve as his knee gets stronger. He can still be a very good wing back but it's up to him, now, to learn from this season and meet the challenge. (I'd love to see him spend a good month or two this off-season training with a club in Europe.) 8. You learned that Oscar Pareja and Steve Morrow are basically done at this level and, realistically, need to be replaced. The team isn't getting bang for its buck from those two anymore and a losing season and a regime change makes it much easier to justify dumping two old warhorses who gave all the had left for the organization. The team won't get better if they keep these two around as players but the current management likely wouldn't have pulled the trigger. 9. You learned Jason Kreis is no longer an Alpha-male player in MLS. He can still be a good player, but he likely won't ever be as dangerous as he once was and for him to be dangerous, he needs to have an Alpha-male type player paired with him up front. Or, he needs to be moved a trade that likely would never have been made under former regimes. 10. You have the "luxury" to use the final few games to see what you have in Phil Salyer, Matt Behncke, Mandi Urbas, Gavin Glinton, maybe even Jason Thompson if his knee is better. Some of these guys could be players and if they are, any experience they get this year will only help next season. And if they're not players, thanks, here's a nice parting gift. 11. There are some really good coaching candidates out there you could bring in. There are some very good MLS assistant coaches, youth national team coaches and college and even A-League coaches that you could end up with. Most of the best coaches in MLS were former assistants - Bradley, Sarachan, Nichol, Yallop. The best ones out there right now include LA's Ralph Perez, San Jose's Dominic Kinnear, KC's Brian Bliss and Chicago's Denis Hamlet (though I'll understand if you don't want another former Fire assistant.) And, Colin Clarke deserves to be on that list, as well. I don't see a top college coach giving up his security for the unpredictability of MLS, but you never know, maybe Schellas Hyndmann will say it's time. Maybe, though I doubt it, Ray Reid will want to come coach his former UConn players on the Burn. Maybe with all the young players on the Burn, John Ellinger will want to come coach a lot of players he's already had. Maybe the Burn will be willing to roll the dice on Charleston's Chris Ramsey, Minnesota's Buzz Lagos or Rochester's Pat Ercoli. Regardless, there are a lot of very good coaching candidates out there and the Burn should come away with a good one. (Not that is should impact the hiring process, but giving the job to Hamlet or Ramsey would make the Burn the first team to hire a black coach.)
Pareja finished?? NO WAY IN HELL!! The whole team sucked this year.He started out the year with knee surgery. Then had to play with the mess of players they had this year. and playing for a coach who you all say is worthless.He is still the Captain and leader of this mess of a team. He still has game left and will prove it next season when they have a good coach in place and not a revolving door of players around him.. Bet the farm on that.. I would..
Oscar is now 35, playing on a field where his abilities to distribute and coordinate are minimized and his speed becomes more of a problem.. Oscar has played 18 games this year, 1464 minutes, and has 3 assists and 7 shots, 0 on goal. Last year, he played in 24 games, 2000 minutes, had one goal (on 31 shots), 6 assists. The previous year, he played in 24 games, 2113 minutes, had 2 goals (on 42 shots), 12 assists. The previous year, Oscar played 29 games, 2354 minutes, had 3 goals (on 37 shots) and 10 assists. The previous year, Oscar played 27 games, 1954 minutes, and scored 4 goals, 6 assists. Oscar, even if he still had the ability, doesn't have the stamina anymore to lead this team for 90 minutes every week. God love him, but heart is not enough to get by on. Oscar cannot be effective in Southlake, he's getting older every year anyway, and if he gets consistent minutes next year, the Burn will have yet another problem to deal with.
He's past his prime and the field is not right for his style. He slows the game down and on this field we need to speed the game up.
You know - those were 11 pretty good reasons. No way would I have thought someone could come up with 11. Very good stuff and there is cause for optomism. I don't know about Morrow, I woudl like to see him back on grass in Frisco, but I agree that Pareja is done. I love that guy but he cannot be the team leader any more. Before, we could not win a game without him. Now, we can't win a game with him. Fabulous player - probably a better human being. Sign him up tomorrow for asst coach - but he is not the player he once was. Put Vaca in the middle tomorrow and let him run the show. Lets see if he can do it for real. Deering and Stone can play defense for him.
I'm afraid I agree. If we were playing in Frisco next year then I'd give Oscar a chance but Southlake I think is too much for him. Now is the time to try Oscar. This is probably the one thing about Southlake that sticks in my gut the most. It has probably ruined the last chance that the greatness that is Oscar Pareja has to win a championship with the Burn- the one guy who cared the most (well since Leonel anyway).
This is 'it' in a nutshell. You can't expect Oscar to last till Frisco when a grass field and a 'larger feeling field, a la CB; is available. Oscar should seriously consider his options as far as staying in this country and being involved with coaching and the growth of American soccer (much like Morrow's considerations), or play another season on a bigger grass field in his home country where he might feel, at least, more comfortable at the end of his career. I sure would love to see him stick around here in a coaching role though. Talk about passion...
I like all the other reasons (and thanks for the healthy does of optimism) but I fail to see how this is a positive. I see this as a negative!
I agree completely about Davis, but I think Stone and Thomas are prime examples of Burn players who are just flat not good enough to be a part of a competitive team. If they are both starting for us next year, that is a very bad sign. I hope to see Dunseth and Bonseau in the middle of central defense, and some kind of SI acquisition in central midfield instead of Stone. Both players may yet develop into useful players, but right now are weak links.
Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss It's a bad thing that Kreis isn't as good as he used to be, but it's a good thing that we have finally been forced to realize that he's not going to be able to do it all alone. Considering that his production has tailed off every year at the end of the season (presumably because of over-work and accumulating injuries), we were never going to be as strong in the postseason as we were during the regular season relying on Kreis to score the lion's share of our goals. We know that we need to either develop or find a legitimate first option now, and let Kreis become an excellent complementary player (if that is in fact possible), and his injury has given us a great opportunity to try out three guys (Johnson, Curtis, Nhlecko), and eliminate one (Rhine).
Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss Maybe Thomas hasn't performed as well as we had hoped this year, but who has on this defense? I think we need to give the entire defense an opportunity to perform under a new coach before writing off any of them. As for Stone, I don't know how you can make a judgment like that about the kid. He's still only 19 years old, he had a total of 91 professional minutes before coming into this season, and, most importantly in my mind, he's a great complement to Vaca in the middle. If we ever give up on Pareja, and move Vaca to the middle where he belongs, I can see Stone acting as an excellent complement to Joselito, winning balls and letting Vaca operate without defensive responsibilities that he isn't able to handle.
Re: Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss Don't bet on Stone being a 'solid' addition to our starting 11 just yet. Against Columbus, he didn't show any of his usual tenacious ball chasing, and that's his exact M.O.. When he doesn't do 'that', he's useless. It's too bad that MJ didn't recognize this early in the game so we could've subbed him out. It really is odd; seeing how I've talked with Jeffries on a couple of occasions concerning Stone's development. It was obvious he was turning into one of the most aggressive ball-winners in the league, but this last performance was a major surprise. I'm hoping it was a single-game anomally. Deering needs to be replaced, and I believe Stone was a long-term goal for some time now.
You didn't even mention the South African dude (sorry, can't remember or even spell his name) who I happen to think is pretty good. He could easily turn out to be a piece of the puzzle in a successful season next year IMHO.
I don't think you can blame Stone for the Crew game. It appeared to me that all our midfielders were instructed not to close down on the ball. Nevertheless, I can't say I've been as impressed with him as others on this board. Thomas on the other hand has impressed me. His mistakes are often of the mental lapse variety, which are very annoying but can be corrected with the right coaching.
Same here. He rules in the air at such a young age. I'm hoping Clarke can get everyone off his back so he doesn't have the same possible frustration level of EJ. Just too much talent to waste.
You bring up many good points as usual Sandon but lumping in any mention of Stone and Thomas with the potential brilliance of Brad Davis is an insult to Brad and his abilities. In my mind there is nothing cheap about Brad especially his value as a player. By the way Davis was much more than "solid" all year long for Dallas and if he had a few reliable finishers around him he would be among the league leaders in assists as well as one of the top creative players in the league.
Give Davis a little of a break ej_dad, look at how everyone else has played defense under Jeffries. If he still is a weak link when we get a real coach, I'll have to concede your point, but until then I consider his offense well worth the defensive weakness you mentioned.
For Pete's sake ej-dad how many times are you going to post this drivel about Davis and the defensesive weakness that you perceive him to have. For criminy sakes this is about the 30th time you have posted this. Let me explain something to you, The Burn often employ a zonal defensive scheme. That means players indeed mark space and the opponents that come into that space. Davis may not be a defensive all-star but his effort and results are quite adequate.
I agree with ej dad about Davis's defense. He's been a great deal more than a cheap MLS player when the Burn have the ball, but gets beaten down the field on defense all the time. The kid may one day develop into the kind of attacking midfielder that only has to defend as much as he wants to, but, at his young age, he isn't anywhere near that yet. He also seems to dislike playing out on the left. Hopefully Colin will whip him into shape, because he can do the hard stuff, it's just down to gritting his teeth working on his fitness and defensive effort that will push him to the next level. If it sounds like I am being harsh, I really think I am just being honest. He has the skill that you can't teach, but if turns out to be just an average MLS player he has only his work rate to blame. On the bright, side, he's still got a lot to work for this season in terms of staying in the national team picture with the Olympics coming up and continuing to improve in the hopes of one day catching Bruce's eye.
Re: Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss OK. So this isn't the best quote to lead into what I realized today, but I'll use it anyway. I just noticed that Kreis is only three goals away from surpassing Lassiter's league total. Seems to me that, despite trainwreck this year has been, with five games left, he still has an outside shot at pulling that off. Oh, and as for the comments about trading him, I think it'd be a shame to see him setting that total with any other team. I understand team needs and all that. But I still think it'd be a shame.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss hey, forgive me if i'm wrong because i'm a DC fan, but isn't Kreis done for the year????
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss Could very well be. I've been a little out of touch. Even if he is, my 'shame to trade him' feeling still stands.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Silver linings - 11 reasons why this season isn't a total loss yeah, you ain't gonna see Kreis suit up again before next year. oh, and to be honest with you, he will probably have a difficult time getting back into the lineup.