As I've pointed out, keeping this piece of crap around for a couple months and then giving a two year contract to Robert means that not firing him condemns the Crew to the status quo until 2007. But I just realized something else: We have five draft picks in the first three rounds this year. We got the Metro's second rounder in the Akwari deal and we got Colorado's third in that draft-day swap last year. So Jim Smith, our lame duck GM and Greg "The Village Idiot" as a farewell present to us all, will get to choose the players we'll be stuck with long after they're gone. Have a nice day.
In fairness, JS and Andrulis haven't done that bad in their drafts IMO. 2001 was a great draft for us, we pick up 3 starters from that draft(Martino, Busch, and Leitch). 2002 was a little less steller, but I still think Walsh will pan out if he is put in the right environment in the center of the midfield and even though Akwari wasn't a draftee so to speak, it was a good pick up. If Andrulis knows anything, it's college soccer. No their problem comes from not being able to judge professional talent. Which is even worse since they run a PROFESSIONAL SOCCER CLUB. The Crew could possablely have 2 allocations if the league decideds to give us one for Cunningham leaving. They have no clue how to use those because they can't judge professional talent.
My deepest condolences to the Crew fans. As a Revs supporter I know the pain it causes to keep a coach after a horrible season. In the grand scheme of things I think this doesn't say much for us as league. Name one other league in the world where leading a teams to a losing record when you are expected to contend for a title is acceptable? Hopefully the Galaxy shake some things up on their end as they seem like the other underachieving team of the season.
With all due respect, while I appreciate your "glass is half full" approach, IMO both of those drafts were disasters. Martino has undeniable skills. He's also small, easily knocked off the ball and seemed frankly to disappear the second half of the season. Everybody knew he had tons of ability, but the questions about whether he can contribute to a professional team over the long haul are still unresolved. Yes, he was MLS Rookie of the Year. So was Mike Duhaney. Jon Busch was a 25 year old A League All Star whom they brought in as a backup. Not exactly brilliant. And Chris Leitch?? Where exactly is he? Sitting the bench in New Jersey after a dismal season. He'll be out of the league in a year. But last year was the topper: we got Walsh, a TI and an OLD TI at that. So next year we have to use an SI spot on a guy who has played about 20 minutes. That way he can sit the bench next to the guy we should have learned better from: Duncan Oughton. Remember him? He's the guy who we had to dump Bonseu to keep around because, um, well, he graduated to SI status. Like, um, well, Walsh. This team refuses to learn. As for Akwari, he's really doing a bang up job holding down that bench. I haven't seen it move an inch since he showed up. But the POINT of a draft is to GET SOME HELP ON THE FIELD. Greggie boy, are you paying attention? So the grand haul from our 2003 draft is two guys holding down seats, one of whom we'll have to use an SI slot on next season, and you think the draft was a success? Tell that to Damani Ralph. Or Pat Noonan. Or some of the other guys who are actually PLAYING.
I almost forgot. In addition to five draft picks in the first three rounds, we also have a "you suck" allocation coming our way, maybe another allocation for Cunningham, and presumably an open SI spot. This is a critical, pivotal year for this franchise. And Hunt Sports wants Greg to handle it all because...well...because the players think he's keen.
Bill, buddy, you got to look at something positively soon or your going to go nuts, if your not there already. If not what's the point in supporting this club at all? No doubt Martino needs to pick his game up, especially in the physical side of his game. He needs to put some mussle up and he needs to learn to find the game, instead of the game finding him. However, he has what it takes to be a very good CAM, if not one of the best in US Soccer. Do you think the Crew should get rid of him? I didn't see anyone else take a chance with Busch. There were plenty of chances, but no one bit except the Crew. You can say a lot about Busch, but at least he's been solid Try starting with the Metros and has recieved several good marks by the media there for his play and you'd have it right. I still think it was a big mistake to trade him, but just another example of Andrulis inability to judge professional talent when it presents itself. Who would you have picked given the Crew's draft position? And don't say Noonan or Ralph, if the Crew had picked up either the howling on this board would have been of epic proportion at the time. The fact is Walsh was the best athleate available at that draft positon. Anyway, is it really his fault, once he was draft, he was never put in a positon where he could succeed as a professional player? I still maintain, looking at their individual skills, that id you were to put Martino and Walsh together in the central-mid they would feed off each other like crazy. Walsh has what the Crew were missing in central midfield this year. A creative holding midfielder who has the ability to link up with Martino. Instead of doing this, Andrulis decided to go with an over the hill Mais and a no ball skills Oughton at the second CM spot. I'll keep on thinking that until I see it and it doesn't work. Really, he seemed to be getting some good minutes in the middle of the season. Does anyone doubt he should have been out there instead of Clark or Williams late in the season. That I agree with. I never said that once Andrulis drafts them he has any idea how to use them. As a player you have to be put in a position where you can help the team. All the other rookies you were talking about were given that chance and excelled.
Personally, I don't care for him as a player but that season we had to dump two of the following: - Perez coming off a stellar season - Bonseu, solid center back - Torres, everybody's TI turning SI promising left-back - Oughton, another promising young player - Elcock, fan favorite utility player Obviously Ansil was a ghandi and hindsight being 20/20 either Torres or Oughton should have been shown the exit. But in 2002, Oughton showed enough promise to make the 2003 roster where he was collectively outplayed by the likes of Denton and Maissoneuve. That there should be a buzzing neon sign in Greg's face; Oughton was outplayed by a corpse and a dude with corpse parts. I'd offer to sear that fact into Greg's forehead with a hot iron but he obviously doesn't groom himself in a mirror or any reflecting surface and probably wouldn't notice anything beyond a "forehead, hurrrrrrrrrt" in the morning... I can't fault them for rolling the dice on Oughton, over the more experienced but more expensive Bonseu. I can fault them if they continue to keep him after 2002 and an even worse 2003.
Maybe that's what this sudden uncontrollable twitch is all about. But the voices communicating with me through my molars say I'm just fine. I support the club because someday they'll get it right. The problem is that they're not doing anything much to hasten that day. I could "fisk" your post and disagree with this or that, but we both know what I'd say, and we both know what your response would be, etc. Bottom line, it's not that I don't appreciate the need to be a little positive and optimistic. You're absolutely right. But when Greg is quoted as saying that "as long as we don't make any major changes, we'll win right away next year" then you know that we're simply resigned to mediocrity, and that's hard to stomach. We have the draft picks, SI spots and allocations to effect major change, to upgrade every area of the team in this off season. But we need new thinking, a fresh approach, to realize the potential. Instead, incredibly, the management seems to feel that tinkering with an abysmal team would be a BAD IDEA. What's more, I think they are on a mission to prove that they're right. They want to prove to all of us moron know-nothings that it really WAS bad luck last year, that the team should have and could have won it all. So they'll tinker a little around the edges and go into the season trying to prove that they were right and we were wrong. And when they fail, and Jim and Greg are gone, we'll be the ones paying the price, for years to come. Jimbp will be didging hockey pucks and Greg will be running kiddie camps and they won't be the ones watching the crap they created. Is it too early to just say "screw it" today and go get drunk?
Hmmmm. I'm all for having a Pity-Party for this disappointing season, but you guys are really viewing things through sludge colored glasses now! Leitch was traded (along with Matteo who we got back) in order to get Ross Paule. Although I thought Chris showed good promise, I believe Paule was an upgrade. Usually I don't read alot of dissing of Paule on here, so I'll assume you agree? A good trade in my book. If I remember correctly (and feel free to correct me if I'm confused) Diego Walsh not only had an impressive soccer resume, but was brought in to work with the talented kid Lucci (or Broccoli, or whatever his name was)...even at Lucci's request. Unfortunately Lucci went the way of Lord Tennyson. I don't think Walsh is a wash, though, and I certainly would have liked to see him on the field with Lucci. They supposedly combined very well together. As for bringing up Bonseu...well my god, he certainly lead The Burn to a championship season, didn't he? Oops, no, they were crappier than US this year! And if you think he would have performed better for us, I can tell you with certainty that it was HIS choice to leave here. He didn't like Columbus. I believe Jim Smith even hinted at as much in his Matchnight chat. So losing Bonsue was unfortunate, but not a bad trade decision by the powers that be. I personally think Akwari was a good catch. I didn't like the Dunseth for Williams trade. I think they were trying to re-create a Harkes mentoring situation, but they should have just kept Harkes instead. I DO agree that there needs to be some major changes for 2004. I just can not believe that the team that takes the field next Spring will resemble the guys who finished 2003 for us. I can hope, right?
My sympathies about the extension to Andrulis--he did not deserve to be rehired. In my book, you guys had the most talented roster in MLS. The Crew didn't play like it (but the coach had a lot to do with that, plus all the pieces didn't fit together and then after some injuries and bad streaks...well, you know the rest). And for what it's worth, when the rest of the league (included United) started out the season bunkering and playing for 0-0 matches, the Crew were the only team attempting to actually play attacking soccer.
Paule was a good pick up, but the trade was kinda highway robbery in the fact Bradley waved the guy and then we traded two guys, one of which I think has a very bright future in MLS. I think if the Crew had waited to close to the season the way Chicago did with Williams they would have gotten Paule for a conditional draft like Chicago did. Of Course, in order to keep Leitch and pick up Paule, the Crew would have had to drop another player. So it could all be moot.
[q]Paule was a good pick up, but the trade was kinda highway robbery in the fact Bradley waved the guy and then we traded two guys, one of which I think has a very bright future in MLS. I think if the Crew had waited to close to the season the way Chicago did with Williams they would have gotten Paule for a conditional draft like Chicago did. Of Course, in order to keep Leitch and pick up Paule, the Crew would have had to drop another player. So it could all be moot.[/q] The Crew didn't get Paule until mid March and the season began April 5th, so I think they waited about as long as they could. I suppose they could have held out until late March. As for the highway robbery, I think we have MLS' mysterious rules to thank for that. Notice how Cannon let his MLS contract expire, went to France, came back to find a home in Colorado, and yet San Jose somehow still retained his rights--Rapids had to aquire him from the Quakes. Weird. So even though the Metros waived Paule, I'll bet they still retained rights to him so we had to make a trade. Personally I would have liked to see Leitch stay here. Nice to see a hometown boy play for his local pro team. As for the point about Martino's size-- I agree that he has been bullied off the ball too easily this season. What I wonder is why that wasn't such a problem in 2002? He wasn't any bigger, and yet he was much more effective. Was it just that the rest of the league got wise to him this season, or was it that something was different last season, ie his team mates play, his own self confidence or fitness perhaps? Since no big changes are coming in coaching or players, then I am hoping that The Crew go back to working with Fit To Play for their "Strength and Conditioning", dump their current "Sport and Performance Psychologist" and I hope that they get a new trainer. I can only pray that these folks were the reason for all the untimely injuries that took so long to recover from. I'm still amazed that we had so many injuries at the START of a season. I don't buy that it was just a fluke of nature or soccer gods.