PBP is like a bad penny, he keeps coming back to you no matter how badly you want to get rid of him. There were quite a few Sounders fans that had a similar sentiment regarding PBP after our first season and, yet, there he was sitting at the end of the bench come the first game of the second season.
Wow. I can see him getting here just because he's friends with Soehn--apparently Soehn called him up on his way to play in Asia and asked him to come out. But Seattle seems to have it's act together better. Has V got a stash of photos of MLS managers in compromising positions, that he pulls out at strategic moments during contract negotiations? I'm kidding, but I just don't get the appeal.
At least he only cost you guys $48k. We were paying him $117k to sit on our bench.. Heck, by the end of the second season, we were paying him $117k to sit in the team suite.
I don't understand all the Vagenas hate. At his cap hit he was fine. He's not a very creative player but at least he held onto the ball and made simple smart plays with it. He was an improvement over Dunfield and provided some stability. i understand that an improvement over Dunfield isn't saying much but he did steady the midfield. He defenitely isn't a keeper but i don't think he hurt us either.
I think MOST of the hate for Vagenas is that there are Canadian kids who could do just as good a job or at least be given a chance (Davies!). Vagenas was not an upgrade over Dunfield. Don't even bother with that sort of thinking. It's nonsense.
Believe your love for Canadian kids has clouded your vision when it comes to Dunfield. His poor clearances and costly give aways in critical situations were unnacceptable.
I agree about Dunfield. The only thing about him was that he was willing to tackle, so that gave the midfield a bit of bite. As for the Vagenas hate, if he's still here next year, watch him for an extended period during the game. He runs in circles in midfield, approaching, but never actually getting too close to, the ball carrier. If he attempts two tackles per game, he's doing well. If the ball happens to come to him via a pass from a team-mate, or a mistake by the opposition, he usually makes the quickest, easiest (usually shortest) pass to a nearby team-mate. He almost never holds on to it, and rarely makes a penetrating play to the forwards. Vagenas was one of the reasons Hassli looked so isolated at times, and why Camilo just held on to the ball. The midfield has to feed the attackers, and also participate in the attack. With Vagenas absenting himself, and Salinas losing the ball regularly, the Caps midfield was effectively made up of two players--Koffie and whoever the other winger was. If that was Camilo, then we really had a 1.5 player midfield.
http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2011/11/whitecaps-fc-reveal-expansion-draft-protected-list Not too surprised. Does Montreal already have a keeper? Would have thought they would protect Cannon.
MTL has a keeper signed - but it's a backup I am sure. Cannon can stay or go - replaceable. No surprised on the Caps list either IMO. Jarju, included. Adu available to MTL! Nyassi is a surprise for me as Colorado left him and Folan unprotected. Good players, both.
Cannon is very replaceable, especially at that price. Both goalies unprotected--does this mean Rennie's got a new keeper in the works? Salinas and Harvey on the protected list surprised me a bit. Salinas lacks much imagination and seemed to be slowing down as the season wore on--and Harvey was hit and miss, pretty average most nights. Can't see either one as starters next year if they really want to improve.
i thought a DP like jarju was automatically protected?? maybe the wording of his contract enabled the Caps to leave him unprotected i doubt montreal would be foolish enough to take jarju-- they dont have the soccer jackasses that the Caps have when they signed him in august if no team takes jarju, then i say 'cut bait'-- this type of player is like a professional 'cancer' and needs to be shown the door asap and i expect joe cannon to be back at training camp-- it was safe to leave him unprotected actually i dont see a player on the caps that montreal will want-- which says something about our 2011 team!
Both GK being unprotected probably means yes Rennie has an idea who would replace them if he could. Likely due to their contracts being what they are as well as Montreal having a GK already means even if MTL were to take 1 they'd still have the other....with space to improve the position after the loss of 1. Re: Salinas and Harvey - Surprises me they are protected as well, but both are good squad players. And what the Caps don't want is to lose guys that can continue to help the team as impact players and quality replacements due to injury, fatigue, international call-ups, or loss of form from a starting player. They are the kind of guys you hang onto as they are experienced MLS'ers and ones you only replace if you find a stud prospect to replace them or a superior veteran. Neither Salinas nor Harvey are old either - and I don't believe expensive. Important in an MLS system. @ Sportie - I agree with you about Jarju to an extent, but I am more than willing to give him another half-season. I hope he goes somewhere for training in off-season though. Even if it's back to Belgium. Re: The Impact management - erm, "don't have soccer jackasses" ... do you know anything about the Impact??? DP's don't get protected automatically. JDG was unprotected last year.
Your patience with Jarju is quite amazing. To be willing to throw another 20 games on this guy is a very high level of patience. I for one, would give him training camp and 3 - 5 games and if he still is invisible; try to get him out the door.
Much easier said than done. Contracts for DPs become guaranteed as soon as the first kickoff of the season occurs. So if the Whitecaps do keep Jarju past that point they are most likely stuck with him unless they can sucker.. err... get another team to take him off their hands. Realistically, if Jarju isn't working out in the pre-season, it is the Whitecaps' best interest to just cut him rather than see if he turns things around in the regular season. If they don't cut him, then the odds are he'll still be on the roster at the end of the season.
it seems u r correct about the protection of DPs-- we can assume that jarju is able to be traded so he can be left unprotected-- i copied this from another site: • Designated players are NOT automatically protected (i.e., clubs must choose whether to protect such players and if such player is not protected, he will be available for selection in the Expansion Draft). However, if the Designated Player has a no-trade clause in his contract, then his MLS club must protect him and he will count as one of the 11 players who may be protected. but there is NO WAY that montreal will take him-- saputo as owner and the FO have had a history of being shrewd and knowledgeable about signing players-- so did vancouver until this season!-- i expect montreal to be more competitive than the Caps were this year thinking that jarju will be an asset for 2012 and keeping him on-board to start the season is a lot of risk for the Caps, especially at his salary hit-- too expensive a risk IMO- cut bait and use his salary for more committed, passionate and skillful professional players (2)-- Rennie comes across as a smart coach and will not take well to a player of jarju's temperment and style of play
I don't expect JDG to go to MTL either. He'd probably try and block any such move anyway as he's from TO. I expect MTL to be better than VAN was this year as well. If for no other reason they aren't competing with another team for expansion players. But VAN's expansion picks were pathetic - and to trade Nyassi!? Yeesh. They ended up with Harvey on left wing. Says it all. I have patience for Jarju. He had bits and pieces of good play. I think he's more CM than CF. His movement doesn't appear to be quick but his technical level is good, and he has enough size to cause MLS teams problems in the middle. I don't know Rennie and right now can't assume they are hanging on to Jarju. I think they left him unprotected because he is a big salary and didn't perform so assumed MTL wouldn't take him. Yep, I have a bit of patience for Jarju and want to give him benefit of the doubt for another half-season or so...but if he struggles in pre-season then yes, I'd have no complaint at a cut there. Is Jarju playing anywhere in the off-season, I wonder?
Well it looks like he is staying for now anyways http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/23/whitecaps-notebook-montreal-not-interested-jarju
Well, they took Brovsky. He did not impress me too much this year, I felt he wasn't strong at Right Back. He was young, and had upside, so we will see how he develops.
Khalfan's been waived and Philadelphia picked him up. http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/201...halfan-and-montreal-impact-select-jeb-brovsky I'm disappointed to see him go. I thought they'd at least keep him till next year to give him a better look than he got under Soehn. I think he's got better speed and shiftiness on the wing than Salinas. He was a spark plug coming off the bench this year, whereas putting Salinas in was often the equivalent of pouring wet sand on the game.
Khalfan was a decent player but not worthy of using an International spot. I think Russell Teibert will quickly make people forget about Khalfan next season.