who do you think had impacted the Wizards the most. Maybe Garcia, Klein, Preki i dont know about a fifth maybe Meola or Igor or Talley or Darrio Help me out
I will have to go with garcia on this one. He is rock solid almost all the time. If Darrio hadn't come so late I might have said him, but unless he goes on a scoring tear he will lose out on that award this year.
I can't agree with being the top man this year. I do think he is an integral part in the team. I just can't justify putting him up there because he has missed so many games, and really how many times has he even touched the ball when he was in the game, not near as many as Bo has. While the back line seems to be more confident with Tony between the pipes, it is the backline that gives him relitively little to do. Bo even made the record this year for most saves in a game for all time wizards keepers. This can be attributed with the back line not doing as good as job. The performance of the keeper is directly related to the men directly infront of him. That is why I have to give Garcia credit for the MVP this year thus far. I give the order this way. 1. Garcia 2. Preki 3. Armstrong 4. Klein 5. Meola 6. Dario 7. Zavagnin 8. Igor 9. Talley 10. Deigo 12. Burns 13. Bo 14. Brown 15. Gomez 16. McKeon 17. Vermes 18. Quill 19. Lassiter 20. Glasgow 21. Brunt
ouch. you rate brunt worse than 2 players who dont even play for us anymore? I wasnt able to be at the game he played in, but is he really THAT bad?
Armstrong has proven himself over and over this season. As of this right now, he gets my vote for the biggest and best surprise on the team. He even beats out ol Fabbro and Igor. Remember at the beginning of the season when he was a "defensive liability"?
I guess my top 5 would look more like this: 1. Armstrong 2. Garcia 3. Preki 4. Igor 5. Talley Really I see the top three here as tied. Armstrong's skills on the ball really impress me and he is coming off his best game as a Wizard. Preki has been tireless and that recent overtime game were he went the full 100 minutes he was amazing and was close to scoring the goal of the season. Garcia and Talley have strengthened the backline in my opinion and formed a good partnership. As they play more and more together with Tony I think the goals will stop leaking. As a defender myself I think people underestimate how important that partnership is. I do think Garcia stills gets out of position a lot but his speed allows him to recover (most of the time!) Igor has impressed me too. I think he fitted into the team quicker than Fabbro did and plays well off other players. I expect Fabbro to break into my top 5 as he is improving with every game.
Mines close to yours. Garcia, Preki, Talley, Igor...probably the top 4 in an order I couldnt choose. the rest would probably be.... 5. Armstrong 6. Fabbro 7. Diego 8. Talley 9. Zavagnin 10. Klein 11. Meola 12. Bo 13. Brown 14. Burns 15. Gomez 16. McKeon 17. Quill 18. Vermes 19. Brunt Glasgow and Lassiter.....who cares
Yes Brunt is that bad! My rankings: 1) Garcia - Undoubtedly is in the midst of playing his way on to the National team. Excellent organizer and fearless in taking the oppositions best guy game after game. 2) Armstrong - Brings loads of fire and energy when he steps on the field. Defensive liability I will take any day. 3) Preki - The old man still has it. Good to see him playing in Wizards blue. If only he could get a few more to go in instead of off the post... 4) Talley - Has stepped up and helped solidify the back line and has even added a few goals. 5) Diego - Outstanding left sided defender/midfielder. He adds tons of creative play along with solid flank defending. I disappointingly leave Kerry Zavagnin off of the list not because of his great skill and defensive ability but more for what the guys listed above have brought to the field this year. he is my 5 1/2. Meola does not make the list because he has been gone at the World Cup for a good chunk of the season. Something tells me he will work his way back into the top 5 by season end.
I can't believe how lucky you effers are to have armstrong. when he went to your squad in the offseason i was thinking how much the crew could use him at left mid and was jealous as hell. But you guys have had him up top and times and he's been great there too. And lord knows that Hudson wouldn't have figured out how to use him in that mess in DC I've only seen six or seven of your games on shootout, but everytime i watch armstrong has been magic. he definately has to be top five for ya this season. but maybe i'm a bit biased as an indy boy sticking up for the former butler bulldog.
No need to be biased, look at what Gansler had to say about him: "The guy everybody should be talking about as far as I'm concerned is Stephen Armstrong because he deserved a hat trick today," Gansler said. "The amount of running that he does on the other side of the ball is great. He does running for all sorts of people around him. That's what we want him to do, and that's what we needed." http://www.cybersoccernews.com/mls/wizards/020728wizards_quakes.shtml
Alphabetical order for Top 5: Armstrong Garcia Gutierrez Preki Simutenkov Honorable mentions (again alphabetical): Meola Talley Zavagnin All 8 of these individuals are vital to this team, which is why I can't wait for Diego to get healthy again.
1. Preki - Solid, intense, ageless 2. Garcia - The focus is back 3. Zavagnin - Game in, game out works hardest 4. Talley - Stepped up when Vermes went down 5. Igor - Some semblence of 2000 and Miklos
Re: Re: Top 5 Wiz players this year I don't care about them either, it was just to show how I rate Brunt on this team. You are the weakest length, the tribe has spoken, an american idol you are not.
In no particular order: Preki...a 1/2 step slower is still better than many middies in the league. What would the Wizzers look like if he and Henderson were still together. Talley...improved the D...a real surprise for me. Garcia...tough...tough...tough. Needs to control his temper a bit. Armstrong...real nice addition...starting to meld into the team. He beat the Quakes. Igor...looked very dangerous against SJ...he had some nice diagonal runs off the ball. Can't put Meola in that list right now because he was gone for the WC. Perhaps by the end of the season and the playoffs.
Re: Re: Re: Top 5 Wiz players this year Really...whats so wrong with Brunt? Besides the Burns-like pushing that could be a yellow card..?
I would put Brunt ahead of Lassiter and Gregor for certain. Not above anyone else. Brunt belongs at the bottom of the list. Still, I don't agree with Voodoo's assessment. He isn't that bad. He had one incredibly horrible game. He'll probably have another in the coming weeks. From what I saw during that game he made errors of comission not omission. Meaning he had the physical but not the mental. Nobody ran past him except when he "lost" his man. Noone made moves to get by him. Those mental things are correctable. To me Brunt certainly looked like an athlete, more so than garcia. He had speed and power. We'll see if that was just an adrenal spark or if it carries over to the future. One more thing, Talley earned Vermes' spot BEFORE PV was hurt. I think he should be rated a bit higher overall. Quick question, name the most dangerous Wizard on set pieces this year?
Re: Re: Re: Top 5 Wiz players this year Name someone else's 18th guy you would trade even up for Brunt. Maybe Eddie Johnston in Dallas. Other than that I'll live with Brunt and his upside for now.
I criticised, so here are my top 5 in no particular order: Meola: 5-1-2 with him in net. Sure Bo took the sting of the red card game, but you can see (and hear) the difference in the positioning, defensive organization, and distribution of attack with Tony in goal. When KC plays well, Tony is back there barking orders and communicating. It's almost a 1 to 1 correlation both ways. The entire team plays more controlled and relaxed with him in, period. To be done: Make Keitzman ask you a friggin' question that actually has something to do with tactics or the team. Preki: He's the leading scorer having missed a couple of games. Good for 2+ highlites a game. Only he and Tony sell tickets to the casual fans. To be done: It is way past time for a goal. He's on a longer doughnut than Kreis. Zags: The glue that keeps the system working. KZ has a bad game and KC's done before they start. To be done: I dunno, he got a goal earlier. Keep playing, I guess. Talley: KC earned their way to last place without him getting solid minutes. With him they are earning their way to the other side of the standings in the toughest division to do so. Most dangerous guy of set pieces this year. To be done: Hopefully they have permanently resolved the problem of getting caught out when he creeps forward. Simutenkov: He can adequately replace a missing Preki, Fabbro, or Klein; and might be the best finisher (not saying much). He's the guy that makes coaches decide that they can't double/pressure anyone up front OR in the midfield. Teams that do this with Igor there eventually get carried out on their sheild. Consequently they can't key on anyone. Simply, he's the reason the offense can attack effectively as many different ways as KC can. I mean this, clearly the league understands how to stop Preki. They may not be able to, but he's known. Igor is just another ball to juggle, one too many in most cases. To be done: Go get a ring and a Cup or two. Could be: Fabbro: He's the big frame upon which to set a target. His scoring pace is similar to those in the MLS top 10. To be done: The standard is Molnar. Don't disappear late. Up the scoring pace to that level over a season and stay healthy. A hat trick v Morelia would be a great start! Armstrong: I still miss Henderson, just not nearly as much. That's saying alot. To be done: Tough duty, make me not miss Hendu. Brown: Everyone reports that he finishes like a demon in practice. To be done: Do it in games consistently. Even when he scored he's also had several other quality misses. Dario has as many shots in half as many games. Garcia: He can erase opportunities and demoralize guys every bit like a great NFL cover corner. Still the best tackle I've ever seen in soccer is the pick from well behind on Henandez when he was solo on Tony in Game 2 of the LA series in 2000. To be done: Extend that to a season-long level that makes everyone else better too. Lead. Whew!