The discussion of captain make me think that the Metros basically are leaderless. When you take a look at the best teams in MLS, you should see a tough spine down the middle. That is the toughness a team needs as its foundation. How do the Metros stack up against the other non-expansion teams? NE - Reis, Parkhurst, Joseph, Dempsey, Noonan, Twellman. DC - Rimando, Boswell, Carroll, Gomez, Quaranta, Moreno. KC - Oshonyi, Conrad, Zavagnin, Gutierrez, Wolf, Arnaud. CHI - Thorton, Curtin, Armas, Thiago, Rolfe, Jacqua. METRO - Meola, Parke, Bradley, Guevara, Djourkaeff, Razov. CLB - Walker, Fraser, Szetela, Martino, Glen, Buddle. SJ - Onstad, Robinson, Clark, DeRosario, Cerritos, Moreno. LA - Hartmann, Ihemulu, Nagamura, Vagenas, Donovan, Gomez. FCD - Garlick, Jolley, Valakari, Alvarez, Ruiz, Johnson. COL - Cannon, Borchers, Mastroeni, Beckerman, Peguerro, Cunningham.
Excellent point. We look weak defensibly and decent in the attack. No Balance, too bad that we all can see it but our coach . I am sure none of the other teams envy our keeper, central back and Mid- D
The defense was top 3 in the league when it was healthy for the first third of the season. So maybe we are underrating our defense, especially since 9/10 of our salary is on offensive players.
Are you saying that 90% of the team is offensive? I agree that the backline has been shuffled around alot, but even so, there is not a single defensive player that the Metros have that is a "strong" central defender. Parke was supposed to be the guy, but he's had a terrible season. We don't have anyone close to Curtin, Borchers, Conrad, Boswell, Parkhurst, Ihemulu or Fraser . Since our d-mid also ranks behind Joseph, Mastroeni, Zavagnin, Armas, Valakari, Nagamura, etc. the last 40 yards in front of the goal in the center of the field is manned by players that are inferior to their opponents. I'm not like the other guys that just want to blame MB or JP for all the team's troubles. I'm just saying that it would be one thing for your winger to be of lesser quality. It's quite another for both your CB & DM to be of a lesser quality. The goals scored by Chivas USA were a great example of how the Metros lack defensive cohesion. The Metros had plenty of players back, but noone marked anyone. That has to do with a lack of communication and general bad play.
\ Seems to me we are the worst team at markng on set pieces in our defensive third of any team in the MLS right now. The oppostion always seems to get to the ball before us in the majority of cases.