I only know we need some deph, BIG TIME! One player that match Rays tenacity to be a fighter on the field is Chris Houser. He played for Tampa Bay and was a fan favorite (was given the name "the Undertaker" by fans). Sadly, he had to retire at an early age because of his losing battle with a disease he beat back in college. After college, he became one of MLS's better defenders. That was 2 years ago and is now winning his battle against the disease that took him out of MLS. As of now, he wants to come back to the league. I like this dude because I know he will leave it all on the field. He was one of Tampas better defenders and Im sure he'll be able to contribute to DC. I dont see him as someone for the long haul, but his desire to WIN can only compliment DC.
Hmmm, don't know about Houser, but he certainly was/is a fan favorite and not a bad player. As for the Bulgarian defender Ray's after, I have no clue who it is. But, I'm betting that it's an attacking left back. Remember, Ray was looking at an Ajax left back (no, it wasn't John O'Brien), so I wonder if they have/had any from Bulgaria? Ray's acquisition of Petke and no Dmid thus far kinda makes it look like he's leaning towards playing a 442. I think Ray's best at coaching a 352, and in MLS, it's probably the better scheme as it takes away the center of the field and concedes the flanks. With very few wingers able to deliver accurate crosses and very few strong aerial threats in MLS, I prefer a 352. But, I think that Ray is looking to move Prideaux. He may be the trade-bait for some other acqusition, which I'd hate to see, because Prideaux is dependable, versatile, speedy, and a great cover man. I think Petke will play right central defense to Nelsen's left central. Reyes at right fullback and I think the final defender that Ray's looking at will be a left back. The only caveat to this is if the "defender" that Ray's looking at is actually a Dmid--and I don't think it is--then he may still be looking at a 352. We obviously still need a Dmid, but I'm thinking that it might come from within MLS. -Tron
Interesting thought Tron about the wingers. You are right in that most of the teams concentrate on the center of the field these days. But it's all the more interesting in seeing how good the few teams did who had decent wingers: NE with Ralston, Colorado with Henderson and Chung, and Dallas who sometimes had a pretty devastating wing attack. Our team has that potential too except we don't have any decent forwards yet. But we do have the starting wingers. However I don't think that our forwards need to be strong in the air to make our wingers in a 442 successful: the forwards just need to be able to get open for a shot on goal and we can find those forwards. If our midfield (Etcheverry, Kovalenko, Olsen and Convey with the d-mid laying back)can exert enough pressure by themselves- and I see no reason that those four can't- and with the two overlapping defenders (Reyes and maybe this Bulgarian guy) giving support, two decent forwards should have several open opportunities a game without much need for a strong aerial game. After all, the point of all attacks is to unbalance the opposing defenses and if done successfully the scoring chance should be there in the air or ground. we just need a couple of forwards who can take advantage of the opportunities when presented with them. (Yes, I realize that you could look at what I wrote and see i'm using a 12 man lineup, but I'm just talking theory here.)
Actually, as of right now, most if not all MLS teams would like to have defenders like Reyes, Petke, Prideaux and Nelsen.. Toss in stand bys like McKinley and Namoff and I dare you to name a team in MLS with likewise depth.. As for Chris Houser.. Are you kidding me? Houser made Cle Kooiman look like friggin' Roberto Carlos... Houser was a goon straight out of the John Doyle school of hacking.. He had no skill whatsoever and little to no speed.. He cut and simple was a physical defender.. End of story....
I really hope that Ray doesn't get rid of Prideaux. We're going to need him with all the injuries we always have. What happens if Nellie gets hurt again, Prideaux will be right there ready to play if he's not already on the field. Do you guys think the draft is somewhere we could find a good left back. I've seen a few names mentioned.
Look for Ray to think long and hard about using the No. 5 pick on Clemson back Ricky Lewis (assuming he signs with MLS).
While most of the people in the draft will be right out of college, this is the "super" draft right? That means if say - Frankie HeyDude decides to strike a deal with MLS he goes right into the draft as well. If that's the case - and someone please set me straight if it's not - I wouldn't be surprised for Eskay not to be taken first, but instead someone with Euro experience on his resume.
Nope.. A player like HeyDude will be allocation worthy.. Only a player like Ian Joy (who has pro experience in England) will go into the draft along with all the other P-40 signees and college players..
There's a difference of a Nats teamer coming back to the States- teams need an allocation to get 'em, and a young unproven player coming back (like Taylor Twellman) who then goes into the draft. I side with Sandon here in that for a fifth defender, Ray will look to use a draft pick to fill the slot- either the #5, or since it's been reported that there's interest elsewhere in the league for that pick- later on at #11 or #14. I think at this point, since the team looks like it will probably have four defenders who make a fair amount of money (five defenders if you include ITT as one), Ray wants to use most of the rest of his cap space on offensive players, and look at rookies to add depth to the back line. If for some reason we got Hedjuk, we will trade other defenders, just like will probably will trade Prideaux if this Bulgarian guy comes through.
Speaking of Frankie, I think he'd be a good addition to our team. Maybe bringing him here would allow for Convey to shift into the middle. I'll construct a lineup with Frankie in it. Things to keep in mind - 1. I doubt we signed Diablo to sit him on the bench. 2. I doubt we traded for Petke to sit him on the bench. 3. If Etch is in midfield then it has to be a five man midfield because its too much of a liability to have four man midfield with him in it. This makes me think we're going to play a 3 man back line because there's no way we'll play a 4-5-1 after the crap offense we had last year. So here goes . . . . --------------------Rimando---------------------- -------Reyes---------Nelsen----------Petke------ -----------------new holding mid----------------- --Olsen----------------------------------Hejduk-- ----------------Diablo----------Convey----------- ---------------Tino/?------------allocation-------- We would have two never-say-die wingers that work extremely hard all day long and have good speed. We would not be exposed on the wings with these two players. We have an excellent defender in Prideaux who could walk into any position on that backline. If it were my choice, he'd be in there and not Petke, but I don't see that happening. This also leaves Kovalenko on the bench. I just can't seem to find where he'd fit in. I doubt we'll have Hejduk so next season I think Convey will be a winger again, unfortunately, and Kovalenko will be in the spot Convey is in my above line-up.
Re: Re: What defenders do u think Ray is looking at It's that fact that we have to rely on McKinley and Namoff as our depth that says we have no depth in the back. Namoff was decent as a stopgap but I wouldn't want to play him long term in the back. It's not his best position and he needs to improve a lot to do well back there. As for McKinley, he proved towards the end of last season that he isn't capable of playing in the back for more than a half and barely that. We have 4 good defenders. If we play with 4 in the back we have no depth, if we play 3 in the back with have 1 quality reserve and nothing really after that. I think that Phil Sayler would be a good pick up. I don't know much about the college players, but Lewis has been talked of very well as has Stokes.
Re: Re: Re: What defenders do u think Ray is looking at I don't disagree at all with what you say.. I think it's almost a forgone conclusion that this teams makeup will mostly be in the 3-5-2 formation allowing for that extra dependable defender.. If we go to 4-4-2 (which we will on occasion depending on injuries or opponent) then we are set.. Rarely are defensive back line subs made during the course of MLS matches and I could live with ITT and Namoff playing occasionally.. It's when we have to depend on them when we get into trouble and even with our team finishing bottom of MLS last season, we still had a very good defense with those very same players (Petke for Pope of course)....