While I disagree that Goose is the most usless player in MLS (a position that a friend of mine espouses at every opportunity--often on national news phone-ins), I would take Pope over him in a heartbeat. I still think Pope's got some legs, even though we raped his defense this year. Cuz, I mean, we rock.
I think people are giving Stokes the short-shift. What everyone seems to forget is that barring P-40, this would have been his rookie year in MLS. He certainly hasn't been dynamic throughout the limited playing time that he's been given over the past couple of season. However, under PN/Soehn/Simpson he's shown a huge jump during practices. He will be back next year. He will have to prove that he can come off the bench as the 4th defender. Much is going to depend on if Prideaux or Hendrickson gets drafted this Friday in the expansion draft. Prideaux played quite a bit under Hudson and Rongen saw plenty of him as DCUnited's analyst. Rongen prefers the 3 back system, and neither Prideaux or Hendrickson are that comfortable in that role. In any case, if either does get drafted, then I expect DCUnited to protect the other defender. I expect Perkins to be drafted because he's a low cost, experienced GK, which is extremely valuable in this league. All that being said, I expect DCUnited to possibly trade up in the 2005 draft to get CJ Claus (Washington Univ) or Gonzalo Segeres (VCU). Or, with two P-40 spots open next season, someone like Drew Moor (Indiana Univ) if he goes P-40 would be a nice pickup depending on the cost of a trade. There's also Patrick Phelan (Univ of SC), a member of the U-20's, is also a possible P-40, but he's only in his freshman year, therefore not likely.
Sit, Pup ..... Agoos is and always wil be one of my favorites...rock steady, and a vicious free kick/wtf whack from the outside....come home Jeff.... While I have great admiration for Eddie, I do feel the same as many others...his career has been ravaged by injuries...and I question the value of a player who has his history of injuries...
We're protecting Prideaux: http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_...content_id=19264&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp#list Thanks for all the other great insight! Seriously.
Motivation, smotivation. Namoff outplayed Ivanov all year long, yet Ivanov mostly got the call over Namoff by Hudson. That was in one of my top ten reasons Hudson should go. Once the season starts, you've got to pick players based on how they help the team, and ignore salary, fan preference, league preference, and all that other BS. Piotr is much better in this respect. However, when picking players, you have to consider salary. So, Pope would help a lot, but only up to a certain salary level. And that level is lower than he is currently making.
DC let him go because he wasn't a vocal leader and needed an organizer. Why spend such a significant portion of the cap on someone with such an injury history in a year where National Team call-ups will be numerous, and he still hasn't improved on his vocal leadership as evidenced by the defense he was in charge of giving up more goals than any other team in Major League Soccer?
I'm a dope and I don't edit myself on the boards. It should read: " . . . if Prideaux gets traded during the off-season or Hendrickson gets drafted . . ." My logic behind that is, with Prideaux and Stokes on the bench the team is eating salary budget. Yes, Stokes is P-40 and doesn't cost a dime to the salary budget. My guess is that will change after next season. If you can solve the problem early, and get a good trade - Prideaux or Stokes for a 2nd to 4th round draft pick - and bring in college player, who will develop in the reserve games, then it's a smart move for the future. If PN & Co. go out and use the Convey allocation or a discovery on a defender to fill Nelsen's role, then having two experienced defenders is a waste. You have to have one in case of injury to starters, but having two is excessive. I would think that Prideaux is a logical candidate for trade-bait. He is very experienced, but is sitting on the bench. Several of the clubs out there are in serious salary budget problems, barring a serious increase above the normal inflation given each year, which is expected. Also, I'm assuming that both CHIVAS and Real won't get the players they want, or the depth they need for their benches.
My worry about the Pope I saw the end of this season is that he might be on the other side of the hill. Maybe it was nagging injuries or something but he did not do much the games against DC.
Hey Diceson, what is your impression of Stokes as a central defender? I have this theory that his troubles on the pitch where caused by the switch to the outside (this is based on my faulty memory of where he played in college). Also, with the reserve team system on the horizon do you think Stokes could blossom into the solid American central defender Nowak wants for his 3-5-2, thereby creating the need to keep him and Prideaux around? I ask because I worry about being stung in a trade. I'm in the "better the devil you know" category. Thanks, Section106
I loved watching Eddie P. with DCU, but I don't think I would spring for him unless he came really cheap. We've lost an organizer and a center back in a 3-man line. Eddie is quiet by nature and isn't going to change into a vocal, finger-pointing defensive leader as Nelsen was. I say we go after a quality central defender, possibly an SI (facility in English would be useful), and join him with Petke and Namoff. Keep no more than two of Prideaux, EZ, and Stokes. If EZ stays but Prideaux goes, pick up a cheap American defender to develop as a reserve, since EZ also fills in at wing midfield. Don't discount Stokes - let's see if a year with Peter and Tommy makes him a better player.
I honestly don't think it's a question of what position he plays, but how much he plays. Of all the players with DCUnited, Stokes probably gets the most out of any type of Reserve games system. Will he blossom? Who knows? Clearly he is one of the most physically gifted - speed, strength, height - players around. He got through college soccer on his physical gifts. The biggest problem with PN's system is that he uses a sweeper. Namoff, Petke, Prideaux, and Stokes are all man-markers. It's a huge leap to move from one defensive responsibility to the other, literally a different position altogether. At this point, I think just getting Stokes to the point where PN is comfortable sending him in off the bench is the goal.
The challenge is more getting Stokes to the point where he doesn't do something completely bone-headed if he plays. He looked like a disaster waiting to happen too many times this year for me to be comfortable seeing him play. We need a five man back line just to make up for Stokes' mistakes... Again, great guy but bad player...
Agoos and Pope are too expensive. The value proposition is not there for these players and would cause strains in other areas.