I know its only been 3 games but man Paulo Wanchope has looked like a bust so far, hes got one goal that was almost an own goal but again Its not about the goals hes not scoring but its about his form. Hes SLOW, hes unbalanced hes got no power behind his kicks so far and we still have not seen him go "all out" on runs. I hate to say it but Calen Carr has looked better, maybe Wanchope is not 100% healthy, maybe hes not in form yet and still needs to shake off the rust. But for someone who dominated once in the WC and has been a pretty solid goal scorer in his career, you don't expect to see this guy play like crap. I've not given up on him yet, but I would like to know why a guy of his class is having balancing issues and loss of power behind his kicks and all of a sudden cant pass with great accuracy. Any Ideas?
To be honest I expected Wanchope to look a little better than he has, but his current form isn't entirely unexpected. The guy has not been with a team for more than a season in some time and he is aging. However, he still has the tools to be a strong striker for the Fire. For the most part I expect him to get another couple goals before the season ends and improve his shape this season and in the offseason. Where my high hopes begin is next season (for Wanchope and others). I expect a good amount of turnover and transformation of the team by Osorio. Getting a chance to organize a team that will be together for the preseason and subsequent season will put everyone on the roster in a better spot to perform.
My concern is that the Fire have locked themselves into a long-term deal for a player that isn't able to round himself into form any longer. According to the Red Card blog, his deal runs through 2010. So far, that's looking like the lemon deal of the week after 341 minutes of play from Wanchope.
I feel the same way, but what scares me is that hes just not looked like hes out of form, hes looked like hes DONE at times. I do have high expectations for him for next season but I'm just hoping he shows some class in the next month or so, because frankly I dont think anyone could argue with the fact that hes looked like absolute CRAP at times.
Well he did not do well in the J-League. I wonder if Osorio would have been better off working his magic by signing a young S. American striker. It seems lately that Central Americans are struggling in our league. They don't excel like they did in the first half of the league's history.
Damn I just mentioned my disappointment with Wanchope in the Roster thread. I pray he improves because I can't handle the inconsistent and shoddy play Carr and Barrett love to throw out there. But so far he hasn't done what I thought he would for us.
Well I respect Osorio's talent evaluation, but lets just hope that Conde another Osorio import hits the ground running, because if Conde struggles as much as Wanchope has then we are going to have to start questioning Osorio's roster moves.