Expansion draft on Nov 24th

[bettermirror]

Unless the Caps find a few outstanding players through scouting (ie, Peru) and are willing to pay transfer fee's for DP's a lot of the D2 players remaining will be with them in MLS. How many and what percentage, I can't say. They will fill the attacking holes they need to through scouting/drafting/DP's but the foundation of the team will remain consistent. Bank on it. (yes, I predict to see 10+ new players on the team to supplement and build on the D2 roster - ie, Joe Cannon).

[youllneverwalkalone]

Also, draft picks, allocations, and international spots all have trade value. Soehn is very experienced in MLS, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are several players on his watch list that could still be acquired via trades.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Also, draft picks, allocations, and international spots all have trade value. Soehn is very experienced in MLS, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are several players on his watch list that could still be acquired via trades.

Exactly, there's no guarantee we are picking these allocation's or spots to use them on high priced Foreigners, it would seem right to the mold there are trying to build anyways.

but in reality we could be stockpiling these general assets that are more attractive than say a player that only a few team may be interested in. We could turn around and move all this stuff we just picked up for other MLS players who might have been protected or otherwise.

It's been barely a week into Vancouver's MLS tenure and TFC fans are already branding us of going the same direction of teams who failed.

we have 9 players on our roster so far, how can you possibly make these assumptions yet. We aren't gonna be a team of journeymen or a team of foreigners or a team of youth. It will be a balanced mix. You can see that in the 9 players we already have.

[RS]

It's been barely a week into Vancouver's MLS tenure and TFC fans are already branding us of going the same direction of teams who failed.

Where is this happening? I'm seeing neutrals criticize Vancouver's moves and TFC fans stay largely silent on the matter (likely because we've learned not to overreact to every little move, RPB board notwithstanding).

On the flip side, I've definitely seen Vancouver fans lauding the "superiority" of Vancouver's roster and its technical staff, without the Caps having kicked an MLS ball in anger.

We get it. TFC sucked for an overwhelming majority of the four seasons it has existed. Much of that is on one man, who is no longer with the club. Both teams will look vastly different in March (and even then, it will be far too early to deem either a success or failure).

[Michael Crampton]

It is no longer a league of journeymen.

I think you have a different definition of journeyman than I do. Did you see most of the starting line-up for Colorado and Dallas? Let alone San Jose or Columbus? Even the flashier sides like LA and RSL have a solid base of journeymen.

[tmcmurph]

I think you have a different definition of journeyman than I do. Did you see most of the starting line-up for Colorado and Dallas? Let alone San Jose or Columbus? Even the flashier sides like LA and RSL have a solid base of journeymen.

Maybe you and I just have a different definition of journeymen level players. To me it is someone who is barely out of the D2 level for North America. The last part is the important thing to me. Yes most of the MLS players would be journeymen in Europe. But by North American standards more than half of the players I've seen in the playoffs (limited viewing I know) would not be considered journeymen. It is much better than even 5 years ago when what you said would have been true.

All the successful teams have a solid base in net and the back four! The journeymen come and go but success depends on a solid back 5.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Maybe you and I just have a different definition of journeymen level players. To me it is someone who is barely out of the D2 level for North America. The last part is the important thing to me. Yes most of the MLS players would be journeymen in Europe. But by North American standards more than half of the players I've seen in the playoffs (limited viewing I know) would not be considered journeymen. It is much better than even 5 years ago when what you said would have been true.

All the successful teams have a solid base in net and the back four! The journeymen come and go but success depends on a solid back 5.

which is why you saw most starting back 4 guys protected by there clubs, and most journeymen were left unprotected, as they come and go there journeymen thats what they do. A week into he MLS roster and we have 2 MLS quality goalies, who will push each other everyday, and a back 4 that on paper looks more than capable of being solid in the MLS. It's can't be looked at anything more than a great start to me.

The back 5 is definitely spot you want some solidarity, you don't want a revolving door on the back end, as a back 5 no matter how talented is useless with out chemistry and communication. Which is built over time, so you need to put players there you want for the long haul, so settling that out first seems logical.

Something TFC will probably build on next year, keeping together Frei with the two same CB's at least is gonna help out the whole team, I though Cann, Nana and Frei were showing great trust in each other and that comes with the communication and synergy you build over time in that position.

[tmcmurph]

Something TFC will probably build on next year, keeping together Frei with the two same CB's at least is gonna help out the whole team, I though Cann, Nana and Frei were showing great trust in each other and that comes with the communication and synergy you build over time in that position.

Very true. Even when Harden was in I thought the 3 spine players at the back were fairly solid. Just no help and constantly covering for their RB & LB was tiring. If TFC can keep the spine and add a solid RB/LB they could start to build forward. So far I've seen no one there who I would consider an upgrade on JimmyB or MarvelW. Hopefully they can get some serious backs and wing mids. They seem to really struggle finding players for the outside.

[BearcatSA]

Very true. Even when Harden was in I thought the 3 spine players at the back were fairly solid. Just no help and constantly covering for their RB & LB was tiring.

Also, a lot of covering defensive support for the fullbacks provided by the guys on the flank of midfield.

[ag futbol]

Very true. Even when Harden was in I thought the 3 spine players at the back were fairly solid. Just no help and constantly covering for their RB & LB was tiring. If TFC can keep the spine and add a solid RB/LB they could start to build forward. So far I've seen no one there who I would consider an upgrade on JimmyB or MarvelW. Hopefully they can get some serious backs and wing mids. They seem to really struggle finding players for the outside.

Attacking wise, I agree. Defensively, I think a scarecrow would have provided better defensive posturing than those two.

The new guys were generally given a mostly defensive role (stay at home with orders from Preki). Funny enough neither the Latvian or the Russian fit that description. Garcia and Gargan (while not perfect) did a much better job than anyone we had there in the past.

I thought our CB's were decent but they were benefactors of a one-way system of an overly defensive coach.

[TheKottonmouthed1555362307]

Attacking wise, I agree. Defensively, I think a scarecrow would have provided better defensive posturing than those two.

The new guys were generally given a mostly defensive role (stay at home with orders from Preki). Funny enough neither the Latvian or the Russian fit that description. Garcia and Gargan (while not perfect) did a much better job than anyone we had there in the past.

I thought our CB's were decent but they were benefactors of a one-way system of an overly defensive coach.

well, I think you can play they style they had defensively, if you have a plan offensively as well, Preki had no shed of offensive tatics it seemed, so as much as Cann and Nana could be exposed more often in a more open and attacking style, I think theres a middle ground there but you gotta have the tatics to go with it.

[matthew]

A few quick replies:

YNWA> that’s a fair enough point and if their idea is to bring the core of last year’s team forward to fill in some of the starting spot and provide the depth, they will have cohesion in knowing each other and Teitur Thordarson’s system . . . I can see some merit to that. However, I still would argue that those players’ ability to play at an MLS level is somewhat unknown. It’s not like Janicki, Nolly or Wagner did particularly well in MLS. I think they’re better players now that they were then, but when I talked about “known” players I meant known quantities in MLS.

I think Rochat and Chiumiento were very good signings, but really they fall into the unknown category too. Who knows what Akloul can do or if he can stay healthy? Maybe I’m overly cautious, but if you keep guys with a bit of a track record in the league you can at least know what you to expect. I'm not saying build your whole team around that, but use it to some extent in addition to the players you have from D2 and your bigger name signings.

As far as them being a football club and not a franchise, I would love to believe that, but the season ticket pricing has already made me highly skeptical of any altruism.

I don’t argue for a second that they need to spend some money and a foreign spot on some scoring. I thought maybe they would think Nkufo fit that bill, but at 34 I’m glad they didn’t. That was a need they weren't going to fill in the expansion draft, but they could have done worse than to get a guy like Lenhart to come off the bench and work his tail off.

I guess my main argument was that I am fearful that they passed up on players who made the league minimum who were young and were significantly better than the players they have in some cases. At the very least use the draft to select players and then let internal competition allow the best players to earn the right to stay.

As a supporter you have to trust the ability of Soehn and Thordarson to judge talent and I’m trying to be less cynical and have some faith.

hc1> I like the Caps front office a lot and with a lot of the early signings I really felt like they knew what they’re doing. But I’m a little skeptical that they’re smarter than everyone else in MLS can assemble a highly competitive team out of nothing.

The players on offer weren’t everyone’s 12th best. There were a lot of interesting emerging young players who seemed to be worth a gamble and some established veterans who could start on almost any team in the league. There were also some wildly over-priced big-name players, but I thought there were enough interesting pieces that were worth looking at. I guess the Caps felt differently.

Someone else called the players available ‘journeymen’ and I’m not sure exactly what your definition is, but it was the younger players I thought had the value. Sturgis is 23, played at two U20 WC and an Olympics. Eric Avila’s 23 and has 30 U.S. youth caps. Anthony Wallace is 21 and has 43 U.S. youth caps. I couldn’t believe Wallace was available. Nyassi, either of the young keepers (Dykstra and Knighton) that started significant number of games last season . . . those were the sorts of players I thought they should pursue.

I really am hoping I’m over-reacting and the Caps had a sound plan they’re following.

cheers,

matthew