... If there were no other trades or acquisitions, such as Kovalenko and/or Stoichkov: ..............Rimando ....Petke...Nelsen...Reyes .......Alegria...?(Draft Pick)? Olsen...Etcheverry.....Convey ........Quaranta...?(Allocation)? Discuss
I honestly don't see what everybody sees in Quaranta. The guy does not know how to pass a ball, and he does not have the killer instinct to go forward. We need forwards who have a taste for blood. Quaranta simply looks around and gets nervous. While he is not as awful as Albright, I see a lot of the same poor qualities. I surely hope that Hudson sees that we need a lot more grit on the front line, and not pin our hopes on what I saw last year from Q! I am willing to believe the front office when they say there is a LOT more trading to come. I have to believe that they are not satisfied with a front line who was feared by no one last year.
Alegria's slower than my 80 year-old-grandfather on the can. That kid couldn't beat Christopher Reeve in a footrace. He's listed at 5'8" and 155, which is more like 5'6" and 130 (although he has looked a little chubbier every year). He's got nice foot skills, but he hasn't got the speed to ever succeed and his speed gets less as his belly gets more. Is is this year that he counts against salary cap? Whenever that happens, his days begin to be numbered. As unfortunate as it sounds, I doubt he could beat out McKinley for that spot. He also looks like a little girl with his stupid hair cut and that string/scrunchie that he wears. (Although most 12 year old girls are larger and could probably beat him in a foot race.) I think you're looking at Reyes and Allocation as defensive midfielders and Prideaux in the back. I'm not sure that's the greatest solution, but it's what we've got now and it gets our best players on the field.
Rimando Reyes Petke Prudeaux Nelson Olsen Etch Convey Allocation Q2 Q1 We'll pick up a forward or an attacking midfielder - and a good one at that. And we'll probably pick up a forward target player and Q2 sits. Q1 will either start or be first off the bench. Don't forget what he did down in Dallas. Yes he's got some development remaining but he's not going to develop more by sitting on the bench. There is no substitute for match play.
This is a huge year for Q1. I've always thought he was a step too slow, but he really hasn't been healthy enough to show what he's got. Supposedly Arena loves him, so I guess he must have something. Working with a decent partner up top would help a lot also, but that is up to the front office. All in all, I think this is his last year in a DC uniform unless he shows more than he has to date. Chino on Opening Day = Last Place. If Chino is even on the roster I'd be worried.
Is Q2 slower than Chino? About Quaranta, I just think he needs to be braver and take more players on and he also needs to start positioning himself in the box more often. I realize he's not really the fox-in-the-box type striker but if he doesn't get in there more often, he'll never start to score. Also, anyone else gone to the multimedia part of dcunited.com? I was looking at it last night.
I posted this theoretical First Kick roster: --Quaranta-----OPEN --------Convey------- OPEN---Etch-----Olsen -------McKinley------- Reyes---Nelsen--- Prideaux ------Rimando------- Bench: 12. Petke 13. Quintanilla (exempt) 14. Curtis 15. Namoff 16. Mapp (exempt) 17. Alegria 18. Backup GK 19. OPEN 20. OPEN 21. OPEN 22. OPEN 23. OPEN
I think Sachin got the lineup just about right. The only thing I think is wrong is Petke on the bench, there is no way DC brought him here to put him on the bench so he will be forced somewhere on the field. Nelson/Reyes will be the d-mid, McKinley will be on the benvh, and Petke will take one of Nelson or Reyes spots in the back. I'm not saying this will be a good move but its probably whats going to happen. All in all its not a bad lineup, but its all going to depend on who we bring in.
Here, I'll take a wild stab at the opening day starting lineup from all the player talk that has been thrown around: Rimando Reyes Nelson Petke Olsen El Diablo Convey Kovalenko Osorio, Eskandarian
Q2 is a little "quicker" - first couple of steps - but is about the same speed as 'Chino.' I think Alegria makes up for it because he has more stamina in the long run. Expect the use of four defenders - Reyes, Nelsen, Petke, Prideaux - but Reyes will be going forward much more often on overlaps with Olsen. On the left, Convey will be the winger. Etcheverry will likely be the attacking mid. One allocation will be for a "Ben Hur" to tuck in behind Etcheverry for defensive and distribution out of the back purposes. With that said: ----------Rimando -----Nelsen---Petke----Prideaux Reyes Olsen----(Allocation)----Convey ----------Etcheverry -------Q1--------(Allocation) One thing to note, if I understand the MLS rules correctly, the league only allows for 20 "Transitional" players at any one time in the league. I'm assuming that means 2/team. At the moment Q2 and Alegria are DCUnited's players under that status. So, if I'm correct in that assumption, they cannot pick up any foriegn players that don't count as SI's - under the age of 25 years old. It's something that needs to be fleshed out in the next couple of weeks. Also, don't expect any draft picks to come in and start. Barring major injuries, most of the college players need a couple of months just to become mentally aware of the difference in speed between the levels.
John, why can't we just push Reyes up to right sided midfield, flop Benny over to the left and push Convey in the middle with Marco? The Convey/Marco tandem worked VERY well at the tail end of last season (and coincidentally it spurred Convey's late season offensive surge) and if we can get any type of foreign help at d-mid with an allocation, we could be ready to roll with that lineup.. Additionally, Nelsen is the center back, plain and simple.. He is the best organizer this team has ever had and Petke would do just as well on the right with Prideaux playing on the left.. John, why isn't your radio show on now of all times? This is the best time of the year for soccer talk and with this big deal going down, this would have been a perfect time to break out a one time Christmas show to talk about the possibilities of the coming year... This would be my lineup as it stands now: ------------------- Rimando --------------------- Petke ------------- Nelsen ------------ Prideaux ----------- (allocation) ---- Etcheverry ---------- Reyes -------------- Convey ------------ Olsen -------------- Quaranta ----- (allocation) --------
If we are going to start off with only 10 players at the beginning of the games, expect another very looooong season.
I don't believe there's any difference. If Reyes pushes up on the right, Olsen pushes into the middle or swings out to the left and switches with Convey. Convey, Etcheverry, and Olsen will constantly be moving around anyways. The problem with making Reyes a winger is that it would make his defensive duties too difficult. His "Destroyer" role - matching him against the opponent's most dangerous weapon, be it a midfielder or forward - can't be effectively accomplished from a midfield position. However, I think RH & Co. expect Reyes to overlap Olsen more this year, and be more threatening on goal. Just to add to the original post, I think Prideaux or McKinley on the left will be looked at to be involved in the attack more. If Reyes is caught back defending, or the opportunity arises, whoever is on the left will push forward allowing Convey to cruise to the middle. Olsen and Convey are good wingers. However, they are particularly dangerous when they can overload an opponent's defense in the middle. They often find cracks to slip in behind. I know it looks like Nelsen is on the outside in the graph in my original post. But no, I understand that Nelsen will be parked directly in front of Rimando as an area defender. Petke, Prideaux, and Reyes will man-mark a couple of attacking players as needed. Reyes starts out on the right, left, or center depending on who he is marking. We each had something to do. I had Redskins Radio at WJFK, along with other radio and non-radio projects. Martin was taking technical development courses for his Internet company. And Randy had his newborn. Quite simply we all needed time and the off-season was better than during the season. We will be back in March when the draft picks are made, and possibly the allocations are filled. There will be more than enough time to talk about everything and have guests on to put their spin on the equation.
Hudson's "A" Team I'd have to agree with Diceson's take on this one, except that I expect to see Petke right center and Nelsen at left center next to Prideaux. While I agree that this 442 will look mysteriously like a 352 with the way it plays, I do think this will be Ray's "A" team. The Dmid Diceson has marked as an allocation may very well come from within MLS though. I kinda doubt that both Allocations will be used before the start of the season. Also, I think that Diceson has hit the nail on the head as far as the Olsen/Reyes interaction on the right, and Olsen will become the defacto Hmid with license to roam. Also, with the U-20 Championships happening in the UAE early next season, we'll definitely be missing some players for opening day, so this will surely not be the opening day starting team. Convey is a lock to be captain of that team, so he's gone. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Mooch Myernick cut DC United some slack and leave one of the deserving DC United youth at home. Mapp would be the most logical, but with the plethora of forwards at his disposal, Santino isn't a lock at this point. Also, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see one or two of DC United's draft picks make that team, and we can be fairly certain that they would miss opening day, as well as much of training camp. I'm of the mind that training camp is absolutely essential for young players, as it's their only real chance to get playing time and become comfortable with the speed of play. -Tron
two thoughts on the starting lineup... 1> Rimando Reyes, Petke, Nelson, Prideaux Olson, -open-, Etchevery, Convey Quaranta, -open- this way you can get reyes overlapping on the right with olsen (unless he tucks into the middle), but i think the midfield won't be as strong defensively. 2> Rimando Reyes, Nelson, Petke -open-, -open- Olsen, Etcheverry, Convey Quaranta, -open- I think this is probably our best bet. We lose reyes coming down the right side, but he is the only one with speed on D. Two d-mids in front of the back line gives Etcheverry, Olsen and Convey the freedom to roam wherever they want to... any thoughts?
Welcome to BigSoccer elconejito... How about Reyes as a sweeper in front of the back three. Something like -------Q1---Open --------Convey open----Etch--Olsen ---------ITT --------Reyes Prideaux--Nelsen--Petke -------Rimando What do you think of that? Sachin
Welcome aboard elconejito! Nice post. Both are excellent contenders for Hudson's primary lineup when everyone returns, but if Hudson goes with a 3 man back line (my preferred system under Hudson) I doubt he uses Petke on the left. While Hudson isn't one to tie players to specific sides, Petke has shown that his limited ball skills expose his distribution too much on the left, so Convey would need to track back an awful lot, which reduces his effectiveness. I love your assessment of the three attacking midfielders ahead of twin Hmids though. That would be my personal preferred system. But, to play that system you need at least one of those Hmids to be a two way player, like a Simon Elliott, Daniel Hernandez, Brian Maisoneuve, etc. With the rumors of Ernie Stewart, Joe-Max Moore, Frankie Hejduk, and others possibly heading to MLS, we're in a great position to trade an allocation to get a true Hmid. With the first choice on the Waiver wire, we also might end up with someone who can fill a need. Again, nice post, and welcome aboard! -Tron
Not sure what the ITT is, but I think that has some potential... That keeps our 4 top defenders on the field. Could the open left sided player possibly be named Ginola? hmmm... Also, I've never seen Mapp play, is he a winger or does he play centrally? where does he fit into this equation?
Personally I want Reyes in the back line, whether it's 3 or 4. A back four of Reyes-Nelsen-Petke-Prideaux is extremely solid defensively. Sure, Prideaux could use a lot of work going forward, but we could see him stay home most of the time while Reyes is the man to bring the ball forward out of the back. I would also leave an open spot in defensive midfield, because there's no way we succeed with someone so slow, ponderous, and foul-happy as McKinley. We need quickness there, the style of play MLS has demands it.