Wizards waive Armstrong, sign Vuk Rasovic

defense isnt our problem!

we bought a 31 year old defender! how stupid is that. we need creativity in the attack, and we give up someone who was going to be able to provide that relatively soon, for someone who is OLD, and plays a position we have plenty of depth at right now?

WHY?!

this was a HORRIBLE move. armstrong may never have turned into preki, but he at least was somewhat creative in the attack and a good passer/possessor of the ball. this was a travesty!

i know i havent seen this new guy at all yet, but we honestly dont need defense. we need offense, and i cant see this move as anything but a total failure.

also, why on earth is Gomez still with our team? he is horrible.

i am majorly disappointed with the management of this team right now.

lame.

 

Huh, I try to find a way to defend this to be the "devils advocate" to what I know will be the general opinion of this board, but I just can't find anything to say. Through three games we've given up ONE goal. We have a four man back line of Zotinca, Conrad, Thomas and Garcia in place. We have very adequate subs for the back line in Gutierrez and Burciaga. If anything this takes away from the development of Burciaga and/or Zotinca.
Maybe Armstrong wasn't/isn't going to make it back from his injuries? Maybe there's another move coming? (That rumor about Joe Max Moore is still out there) I'm not sure what is going on here, but this does seem a little out of place and ignorant. Hell maybe we're going for the "2000 method", if the other teams never score you can't lose. In that case where's Molnar?

 

The only explanation that I can think of is that this guy came on cheap and is a hell of a defender. Besides that, I'm not sure why we picked him up. I would have preferred an attacking midfielder. Lets face it Diego and Francisco aren’t getting the job done. We are probably going to win 1-0, loose 1-0 or tie 0-0 until Preki and Igor get back.

 

Rasovic must be one hell of a player because he sounds like he has some good experience, as in he will have a high salary. We don't need a defender though, which is the crazy thing. We just gave up Stephen Armstrong, who was very versatile in my opinion and probably should have been back from his injury soon as it was just a sports hernia, nothing overly serious. There must be something we don't know, i.e. when we signed Igor- he didn't sound wonderful but look at him now.

 

ben - you are going to have to try a lot harder than that to make me feel better about this move. i appreciate the effort, though.

i think its possible that they made this decision a while back and have just had difficulties getting it all finalized. That would explain things better. its possible they were still worried about some of their defenders during the pre-season.

im still not really all that happy about that though when you consider some of the moves other clubs have made (Colorado and New York in particular).

 

EVERYTIME I begin to think Curt is starting to redeem himself, he pulls this sh**

 

Wow, I agree this is a very embarrassing move for the organization and their fans. Is management aware of the team's current situation? The team can't score goals...that won't be solved by bringing on an other defender, that's the team's strength stupid. A bargain is only a barain if you need the product and KC didn't need another defender. This move ranks up there with taking Taylor #4 overall in the draft when he would have been there in the second round, the other GM's continue to laugh at these moves.

 

Vuk, Wiz. I'll bet some opposing supporters can work with that material.

 

I thought you couldn't cut/waive a player who is currently injured.

 

yes,,, another step backwards...

the lack of offense defends me... i mean... the lack of offense offends me...

 

KC--too many defenders
NY--too many strikers

Either a trade is in the works with Garcia going for Wolyniec/Magee, or Bob Gansler is going with an 8-1-1, keep it level at 0-0, then hopes to win on penalty kicks when Blatter abolishes ties.

No, really, I'm thinking there HAS to be another shoe about to drop here.

There HAS to be....

There HAS to....

There HAS....

Thu....uuuuuuuuuu.......

But hey, in other news, Tony Meola has lost about 100 lbs., so that's nice.

 

I truly can't believe this! I am very sad to see Armstrong go, he was one of my favorites. He always seemed to create some kind of spark on offense I thought. I pray to god something else is in the works here.

 

I did a Yahoo search on this guy. He scores goals. Some of it was in other languages but he takes PK's. He's 6 feet tall so maybe he can head the ball. He has good credentials. Let's see what he brings. Might be a good fantasy pickup, similar to de la Torre at Colorado.

 

I too will miss Armstrong...he was one of my favorites. I realize that we are thin at forward, but as others have alluded to a sick Armstrong is better than a healthy Gomez. I just don't see Gomez ever scoring goals consistently and would rather give Arnaud more chances. Way too many shots flying over the crossbar.

 

I'm pretty sure Arnaud is getting more chances than Gomez, considering Arnaud has started every game and Gomez has been the #1 sub for the midfield.


Setting aside the fact that we picked up a defender when we need an attacker, is losing Armstrong that big of a deal? I ask that openly, because I've seen good and bad from him. He's not a great attacker and had a tendancy to keep the ball a little too long trying individual moves instead of making the pass. I think he's a good player, I'm just not sold on if he was all that valuable to our attack.
I think two questions still remain: 1) Is there another move coming soon, one that will see a defender leave and an attacker come in? 2) Armstrong has been injured for quite some time, was/is it more serious than once thought?

 

I am very upset to hear that Stephen has been waived. I think Stephen did a good job for the Wizards when he was given the chance to perform. I wish Stephen luck and I hope he gets picked up by another team.

 

I just plain don't get it.

I dont really think that it's out of the realm of possibility that we made this move without any kind of intention of signing anyone else.

Something inside me says that this will push Zotinca into the Midfield. PERHAPS, on the right wing, and then letting Klein play centrally, and act as out kind-of "playmaker". This would mean having the 2 Diegos fight for time on the left, a battle which Guti is winning pretty well now.

this means, basically :

----------------Meola---------------
-Garcia---Thomas--Conrad---Vuk----
-----------------KZ----------------
-Guti-----------------------Zotinca-
----------------Klein----------------
----------Wolff-----Arnaud----------


Armstrong was probabaly one of my favorite figures on the team, but If you ask me, if we end up lining up like i showed, then this move may turn out to be pretty decent.

 

My only problem with this lineup, is that it puts us with two "defensive" players on the wings, and 3 total in the midfield.

This signing is still weird though, I mean our defense has at least sounded likes it's been solid this season, and only 1 goal allowed. I know it's been said once, but could this be damage control after we make a trade, possibly for Moore, even if he is hurt right now.

 

We are now resembling the Mid 90's Detroit Redwings of MLS. (sans championships) with the Russian/Slavic connection.

"Rusovic checks to the board, wins the puck, passes to Zotinca then up to Radosavljevic who makes a brilliant cutting move and centers to Simuntenkov who one times the top shelf goal. Wizards win the Stanley Cup er... uh MLS Cup!!!"

I see this as a defensive coverage move for WC Qualifying. I think Zavagnin is going to play somewhat of an involved role in qualifying. Garcia is probably second string Nat'er right now but through a season of injuries and player availablility could prove that he could miss some time. Remember Shavar is solid (so far) but young. Conrad was supposed to be a bit of an f'up at times (he's been solid for us). Burciaga is still untested and stunk it up at the Olympic Qualifiers when he even saw the field.

It saddens me to see Armstrong gone. He was our best utility guy and now we no longer have Talley as well. Armstrong could play anywhere with mad skills but like stated above held on to the ball sometimes one too many fancy moves, but nothing like Glasgow used to. He was taking an SI slot which Shavar will occupy next year so Vuk may only be a one year deal unless Shavar gets a Green Card or we release Walsh.

We don't want JoeMax. I love the guy to death but he is spent goods and not worth his salary. He should be like an 80k forward/A-mid. Plus many of our starters are becoming ancient.

Yes it appears to me that Bob is returning to 2000 (Championship form by the way) form but this time out of necessity more than as a structure game plan. If teams have a problem scoring on us then they tend to push forward with too many. We've got the tools to counter effectively as our forwards are crafty with speed and not necessarily target guys. They like balls played into space and if they don't have to defend as much they are more potent longer into the game. We also gain a bigger back line better for set pieces on both ends.

Still we have a problem at left mid...

 

I am going to withold judgement until I see the Vuk'er play. I am really not that distressed about seeing Armstrong leave. While he was creative at times, he really wasn't seeing the field that much with us anyways. I have to agree though, that it almost sounds as if there might be another deal in the works.

 

OK, now we know what he'll be called if he sucks...

Anyway, I agree on the waiting. You have to think that at least Armstrong wasn't progressing back to competitive (as Burciaga might not be) and the move is simply able v unable today. I also agree with the options of Zoti pushing up and/or another shoe dropping.

This move is hard to understand in the absence of a clear picture. One we will not have due to reporting issues. For now, it adds water to my arguement of CJ being something less than Executive of the year. What would this board have done if Armstrong was axed closer to the Quill/Talley ouster?

Monopolies are always beneficial to the holder. See also the diamond industry: A stone so common as to be pedestrian, yet the price remains high. If KC has defenders to stockpile (i'm not sure they do just yet, but whatever), then the price can be set by Mgmt.

So for me, I can see a trade for a left-mid or a #10. The need seems to be temporary and long-term in offensive midfeld as Preki and Simu are not only hurt and limited in years.

Best of luck to Armstrong, but production was exactly 2 goals even when healthy.

 

Maybe there's a deal with the Revs in the works. They're desparate for defense. How about Thomas for somebody?

 

Please don't give them any ideas... they're quite capable of screwing things up all on their own.