I don't see our issue so much with "keeping guys out" as much as getting good ones in. We've been doing loads of getting guys out. This year and previous years too. So, who do we "get" in order to improve our anemic attack? Staying put leaves us out of the playoffs. So, give us some suggestions of affordable and probable heavy contributors.
It is a good thing that you are not in a position to make player personnel decisions for any MLS team. If teams took your approach to things you would never see a guy like Schelotto in the league simply because he is 34. Nevermind the fact that the guy can play and contribute to a team.
Right now Christian Gomez and Amado Guevara are out there to be had - and I would take either in a heartbeat. Problem childs ? maybe. But I am more concerned about winning a few more games than sing-alongs in the bus. Both would be a significant upgrade for us and could be landed cheaply - by that I mean we wouldn't have to give away players to get them.
I would be looking to move Ricchetti, Saragosa or Serioux if we pick up Gomez as we have too many defensive center mids and we need to create a way for Wallace to get time there. Serioux/Ricchetti +maybe 2nd or 3rd round draft pick/or small allocation cash.
No, I stated that I couldn't do it because I don't know the region well enough to pick out the relatively unknown type of players that MLS as been focusing on. If you want to do some research and offer some candidates, go right ahead. Lets put it this way, not one of us on this board had any idea who Juan Toja was this time last year. Nor had any of us heard of Richetti. Somehow FCD was able to find these guys, bring them in for relatively small amounts of money and add two unquestioned starters who are clearly capable of playing at this level, and even raising the level of play in the league. Now, can you tell me that anyone on this board has the deep knowledge of the secondary and tertiary players in South America to the extent that they knew of Toja and Richetti? Obviously that isn't the case. Chamo, who I would say is the most knowledgeable in regards to South American talent, and who is regularly bringing up candidates for FCD to acquire, almost never hits on someone they actually bring in. I'm just realistic in my level of knowledge regarding the player acquisition picture. Others think they KNOW that FCD can't possibly acquire a serviceable forward......who do you think is being more reasonable in their approach?
Bingo. FCD would need a C.Ronaldo or Adebeyor type to score goals with the lack of service/crosses from this team.
THANK YOU!!! That's what I've been sayin' for a while now. Everyone wants us to go out and get a great striker to solve our scoring woes....but what the hell is he going to do all game long? Unless you expect him to receive the outlet pass directly from Dario and then dribble his way past the 10 opposing field players, I'm not sure how anyone is scoring 20 goals with this team right now. Hows about we play some possession soccer, open up the field a bit, and see how we do with our current attackers, once they actually get a chance on goal that doesn't come with 3 defenders on their back.
Here's my problem with the Ruiz move: OK, it frees up a lot of cap room and gets us a few allocation bucks in return, which will theoretically allow us to go out and upgrade the midfield. I think we can all agree on that. Before we traded Carlos Ruiz, we were going to need an extra 10-15 goals next season to have a go at things. OK, a healthy Cooper would help with that, but we were still going to need to upgrade the midfield to provide adequate service to Ruiz and Cooper (and Thompson and Oduro, I suppose) get the remainder of those goals. However, we've traded Ruiz's seven goals to LA, so we not only have to get those 10-15 goals, we have to replace the goalscoring that we just sent out the door. And while I'm willing to allow for the suggestion that trading Ruiz gets us a lot more flexibility to significantly upgrade the midfield, are we counting on the upgraded midfield to get a few more goals, and for Cooper, Thompson, and Oduro to get the rest? OK, I'm willing to allow for the possibility, but that's putting a lot of faith in Morrow and Hitch to hit the jackpot in our midfield upgrades such that we can get not only replace Ruiz's output with our current attackers, but add another 10-15 goals.
Well, I never stated that I agreed with the move in the first place. In fact, my first reaction was that we'd regret it come Sept 08. But that's not the point of this thread. We are talking about the market for strikers and whether or not FCD can acquire one. I'm of the opinion that they can, and probably will, acquire a productive forward to replace Ruiz. I'm also of the opinion that the majority of our scoring problems last season can be chalked up to tactical issues, not talent. It's not that I have faith in Steve Morrow, if he was a half-way decent tactician he would recognized the issues midway through LAST SEASON. But I'm encouraged by the fact that he is changing things up to a style that I believe more suits our club's talents, our field and our climate. I appreciate where you are coming from, but I don't see the issue the same way.
Until the team commits the wide defenders to attack (watch Man Utd, Arsenal lately?) and not think of the half way line as the edge of a cliff things ain't gonna get any better. Still amazed at the ammount of attacking Drew Moor did for the USA compared to his FCD work.
I agree, but I think that's too much to ask of your average MLS outside back to understand the nuance of when to join the attack and when to stay home....and not only for them, I think the CB's aren't good enough to cover for them when they do attack. For that reason I'm in full support of the 3 back system. It takes the guess work out of it.
It's not like any of those forays into Sweden's half amounted to much. Drew Moor still can't cross consistently. It's not just about releasing the fullbacks, it's also about actually having fullbacks that can contribute at both ends of the field. This team needs a big time forward, a midfielder who can create chances, and a right wingback type.
Id love for us to play a wingback style like evra does, i thought dax could do that pretty good. Spectre is an american back who can play up but no1 ever lets him on the US team. Im a fan of the left or right defenders pushing up into the attack. The fact though is that you have to have a solid winger to work in tandem with the back and they alternate pushing forward and the winger has to be good outside, be able to cross, and know when the back is pushing up what to watch for to not get burned. I dont think dallas has the players to pull it off b/c of a lack of width. when backs push forward like evra does for manu, and you dont have the width, the back gets overexposed very easily. my $.02 id personally like to see at least 2 aquistions to put a stamp on the youth. a striker to replace Ruiz and a wide presence in the attacking zone. those 2 things are probably the some of the hardest transfers to pull off though.
not really the point. Fact is, he gave Donovan another option by involving himself in advanced positions. Watched the Man Utd vs Pompy game today and Evra and to a lesser extent Brown spent as much time in and around Pompy's penalty area as they did their own.....something about the best form of defence being to attack.
Here is a freebie/gimme. I will run this name by Parrot and Tex. I know that you and Tex are secretly closet scouts, so tell me your thoughts about Alvaro Saborio who currently plays for FC Sion in Switzerland. He is a Costa Rican international target striker who would fit Morrow's tactics as tight as latex. Don't know his price, but age, pedigree, league, ect, ect, and especially playing style would make him extremely interesting. Think of a guy that plays a lot like EJ, except that he can finish consistently. This guy and KC would be magic and a huge pain in the @ss for all of the league's defenders. Add a discount creative center mid, and you are talking making a run for the whole thing.
you just told us more than I could ever tell you, since I don't know anything about the Swiss league except that they have a team called Grasshoppers that wears Blackburn's kit and is a perennial Swiss title contender.
Seriously, give him a look. I wish that there was an easy way to check $$ for players like this. Unfortunately, no such stikercatalog.com website. BTW, when my insomnia kicks in, you are on Bigsoccer like clockwork. Is this your lunch break in Japan?
It's great that we get the random name dropped like this, but the missing ingredient is whether or not the player is actually interested in playing in MLS.
you mean playing in the ML$, but nah the more I look, the more that this guy's stock is headed to astronomical heights. He is making UEFA goals and was the leading scorer in Switzerland's premier league. But, you never know. The whole Beckham thing has given MLS a lot more credibility w/ the international community. And too, a plane trip to CR from DFW is probably a lot closer than from Western Europe. Sometimes those things can factor in as well. But, I tell you. Saborio would be a perfect fit.
times must be very hard for you, theo. you like to play scout, but the people who could come here and do well are almost impossible for armchair (sig-line reference intended) North American fans to identify. we're talking about people who fly under the radar even in obscure South American leagues, and people who can't break into the starting XI in the big ones. you're not going to find youtube clips or wikipedia articles on them.
I'm starting to think that Morrow and Hitch may have gotten lost at the market because we haven't heard any thing from them.
Are we kidding ourselves, or would a CAP discard really be that much help to us? This team can't afford the luxury of taking a flyer on a position as critical as forward when we are weak at that position to begin with. ...And the forward we bring in had better be faster than Donovan in order to chase down the poor quality passes in the area unless we sign a real DP-quality #10. DC gets 5 reputable South Americans in one week, and where do we stand? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? "Calling Mr. Guevara and Mr. Christian Gomez to the white courtesy phone."