in the article it says that galin ivanov is on the verge of singing and when he comes he will be used in the central defense role with nelsen moving up to d-mid (your d-mid questions are solved). With petke and reyes starting on either side of him. Also mentioned was JMM, Stewart and Harkes. Out of those three it was said that Harkes was most likely to come to DC. Their reason was that mckinley might have to retire due to his injury that he recieved to his Achilles' tendon (Harkes would basically take up his roster space and also his role as a leader of sorts). Also, hudson said eskandarian is "the best player at the draft, but is he the best player for us at the moment". NOTES: another interesting comment out of hudson: "It needed to be a new team, we were locked in a pattern. It didn't need a shake, it didn't need tinkering, it needed surgery." hudson also said that the league has improved a lot and is not a mediocre league anymore. last but not least hudson said that by this time next weekend the roster will be mostly made and finished.
Interesting. I'll be honest. I don't like the idea of Nelsen at D-mid. He's turned into a solid central defender with the ability to get forward on occasion. There are better D-mids out there, but not that many central defenders who are better at his price point. When did McKinley injure his Achilles tendon? Sachin
Yeah, WTF with McKinley's Achilles (hey that almost rhymes)??!!!!?? I also found this quote of interest regarding Eskandarian: "He certainly is the best player at the draft," Hudson said of Eskandarian, "but is he the best player for us at this moment?"
Goff reported that the Spain trip is off. Knowing that and looking at this article, it doesn't really say much and Hudson strikes me as being in one of his "cagey" moods: He's not saying anything real here. The article also doesn't say anything real about Stewart or JM and doesn't mention possible deals with C-bus for them to get an allocation for Hedjuk. The ITT news is very interesting though but even there it's vague.
Actually, I found the information about it being "really one allocation" rather interesting. Perhaps this is the Earnie Stewart deal? Earnie is leaning towards Dallas and MLS will make it happen, giving DC really only one allocation because they will be forced to trade with Dallas. I'm hoping that if the league forces this trade, Hudson and Kaspar can get someone good!
"Fluffy" soccer This was kind of interesting. O.K., while I agree about the competitive part, I'm not sure what the $%&(* RH means about "fluffy" soccer. Maybe I missed that part of DCU's championship runs. While I doubt that this means that Hudsper plans to abandon the idea of playing creative, attractive attacking soccer (not that we scored enough goals last year to officially qualify as playing "attractive attacking soccer", of course ), I wonder what Ray was thinking. Maybe this Rayism is a reference to or a parting shot at Jaime.
Our d-mid question is answered but not solved. Looks like we might be seeing some Nelson/Harkes combination at d-mid. At this time, my guess would be Stewart with one allocation and trade the other to who ever the league tells us to. That would make Ivanov a discovery pick and give DCU its max of four depending on Chino's status, a discovery pick or not. Then we can wait for the surprises that Ray has in store for draft day, no more Kantes please.
"Fluffy" Soccer Was that "fluffy" non-competitive soccer that DC United was playing when it won the CONCACAF Champions Cup and InterAmerican Cup??!! I don't think so (and I was at many of those matches). Mr. Hudson needs to stop trying to re-write history to explain his failure of a season. The Bruce Arena-coached teams of '96-'98 would have destroyed Hudson's Miami (non-champion) conFusion. DCU's problem is not the change in the level of play in the league. The problem is the way the team has been mismanaged since Arena left. Well, it's 100% Hudson's team now. No more excuses!
I think the "fluffy" soccer reference is to the way MLS used to have pretty shoddy defenses overall. So, playing against poor defenses in general meant the team with the most talented offenses won the majority of the time. That used to be DC. Well, defenses have gotten much better overall and now almost everybody on the field better play pretty physical defense too or the team's screwed. As for the one allocation reference and hidden costs, etc. I think that's a direct reference to the fact that DC can't fit two allocated players under their present or future salary cap since an allocation wasn't needed for Ivanov. Therefore, the "extra" allocation is going to end up as trade bait, or as an ace in the hole if something breaks before the season starts.
OK, I took "fluffy soccer" to mean that he intends to be a more brutal team ... you know, more hacking and tons more cards. Well Ray, way to once again single your team out as the hack-artists ... didn't you learn anything from watching Nicol? His guys are hacks and he never mentions that, and they actually get the majority of calls! The "hidden facts" comment is most disturbing, as it smacks of league-mandated moves, which will almost certainly be to United's disadvantage. I think part of the allocation equation (like that?) is that the salary cap is going to preclude more than one major acquisition. Yeah, I recall McKinley's injury being mentioned somewhere, but didn't hear that it was season-threatening. I don't mind adding Harkes, but not for more than 60k and I don't want to trade any resources to get him. If the Crew get Hejduk they simply cannot hold onto Harkes, so I'd take him in the waiver draft. Ivanov I don't know too much about, but from the outside looking in he sure sounds like a good acquisition, particularly as a discovery player. I'm leery of Hudson's comment about having some surprises on draft day. It could be good, but judging by the speculation on things like Stoichkov, Harkes, Rooney, Chacon, Hejduk, etc., I'm hoping that he doesn't mean he's trading away one of his top 4 picks for one of those guys. If he's uncovered a gem--like Shavar Thomas--then I wouldn't mind it so much. Or if he's trading down to #2 then I'm fine with that as well. But, I'm a little nervous right about now. As for Hudson's comments, they could all be 100% smokescreen, including the one about cancelling his trip to Spain. One thing I do like about Hudson is that he's crafty about his draft day deals. Now if he were only so crafty during the season. -Tron
My guess is that we'll have to trade one of the allocations to Dallas so they can take Stewart. I think that's what he means.
I agree about Nelsen in general but we all have to remember that he was "given" the defensive midfield job straight away in 2001 and did not adjust very well to the speed of play in MLS.. Now, with all that being said, I would have to say that Nelsen is no where near the same player he was two years ago.. He's fitter (about 10 to 15 pounds lighter) and more experienced and lets face some facts here, he simply was great last season.. I for one would like to see Nelsen get another shot a d-mid in this league.. He now has the player knowledge and his size and ball winning ability are ridiculous upgrades from ABMOD.. Additonally, when he does get forward for this team, he scores goals... Playing Nelsen at d-mid would be a good tactical move for United at this point (I know we would miss his play in the back but if Ivanov is 3/4 the organizer and stopper Nelsen was last season, I'd say it would be worth it to make the move) because it would give the midfield some badly needed size.. Also, we could draft Clark and allow him to bleed into the squad without throwing him into the fray.. All this depends as well on how Ryan sees the move.. From all indications Ryan is a complete team player (he didn't say one word last season when he was left out of the squad - until World Cup play) and would probably embrace the move.. Let's do it....
I'd much rather see Reyes converted to d-mid. He's faster than anyone else on the back line, closes down extremely well, can turn the ball and drive upfield, sees open passes. He's not been successful inside the 18 or near it but when was the last time we had a d-mid who was?
about the injury it happened in one of the games agaisnt the metroscum. it was in mid to late august at Giants Stadium. alavanja came in for him. we lost that game in the last minute because of cletus. i hope that jogs some memories. i personaly dont think he will retire because he played agaisnt C.D. Aguila.
Good call. Also, tmas, it does my heart good to see you calling them the Metroscum. Now we just need to get you down into La Norte Sachin
ok defence is covered, mid field maybe, foward God knows but I was just thinking what about a back up goalie yes nick played it all last year but say something happens who steps in?????
Its funny but all talk recently seems to address everything except United critical need - forwards that can put the ball away. DC's biggest single issue last year was its failure to score. As far as I can tell we haven't upgraded at all in that department to date. Don't point to Alexco and the draft because I just don't see a college player coming in any making that kind of an impact Where oh where are our forwards.........
Drafting Eskandarian will help.. The team is in pursuit of Kucharsky, Stewart and JMM.. I'd say that qualifies as an attempt to upgrade...