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2014-15 FC Edmonton offseason news


shermanator

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Eddies made 6 cuts today:

 

Lance Parker
Neil Hlavaty
Horace James
Mike Banner
Massimo Mirabelli
Edem Mortotsi

 

Quite surprised to see James go as I thought he played quite well. 2 young Canadians who had seen quite the reduction in minutes in Mirabelli and Mortotsi let go, but not really a surprise in my view.

 

To the best of my knowledge here is who is signed for 2015 as of today.

 

Tomi Ameobi

Sadi Jalali

Daryl Fordyce

Lance Laing

Albert Watson

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Eddies made 6 cuts today:

 

Lance Parker

Neil Hlavaty

Horace James

Mike Banner

Massimo Mirabelli

Edem Mortotsi

 

Quite surprised to see James go as I thought he played quite well. 2 young Canadians who had seen quite the reduction in minutes in Mirabelli and Mortotsi let go, but not really a surprise in my view.

 

To the best of my knowledge here is who is signed for 2015 as of today.

 

Tomi Ameobi

Sadi Jalali

Daryl Fordyce

Lance Laing

Albert Watson

 

 

Surprised to see James cut. He was a good player who got solid playing time.

 

I feel sorry for Edem Mortotsi. He got decent playing time last year and did well when I saw him. He just never really got a chance this year. Writing was on the wall for Banner and Mirabelli. The general consensus among most Eddies fans was that it was time for Hlavaty to go to.

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Edmonton supporters, what are your thoughts on Jalali? Is he developing? Doesn't seem to be getting much playing time.

I don't rate him. He doesn't have the speed or the strength to be a forward. In warm up he really strikes the ball well, but the few times he's played, it hasn't translated to games.

I was surprised that he was resigned for next year. He must show more in training. To be fair he's still pretty young.

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Didn't see him play all of 2014, with the exception of him stealing the ball from Hlavaty and taking the PK to make it 6-1 in the spring. In 2013 he seemed okay coming off the bench but he created nothing when starting and looked weak in keeping possession.

 

But, he's still the youngest striker in the NASL and is now going into his 3rd year. I think he should get more minutes next year (can't get any less really).

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From what I saw at the Milk Cup vs China, he looked okay. He certainly is physical and liked to kick lumps out of the Chinese defenders. IIRC he turned like an aircraft carrier. I thought he looked a bit overweight, but maybe he just spends a lot of time hitting the weights. He did score the lone Canada goal that day, and he had another couple of opportunities as well - at least one of which he created for himself out of nothing - so he certainly offered something going forward.

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  • 1 month later...

Van Oekel has had his struggles with injury, and isn't super consistent. I don't know that he's going to be as big a challenge for Smits as it seems on the surface. Lord Bob had a good article up analyzing his career so far.

I don't mind this signing. Gives some more leadership in goal, especially some with NASL experience. If Smits can get some solid starts in there (like 1/3 to have the year) then I'm happy with his progression. As much as his stats say good things, there were still some really poor goals he gave up last year.

 

Farago showed promise, but that was in one game... Against Atlanta. IMO also needs time to learn. Hopefully Kwaisatum can stick around. There's been a nasty habit of keepers signing from the academy, then getting released with 0 playing time.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Fellas we have an interview with Jeff Paulus coming up as our next From The Black Hole release. Should be out early next week. He offers some great insight from the sidelines and speaks on some of the changes from last year to this year. On another note, how many of you are going to travel to the Mac to see those two home fixtures? Will ESG have a presence at those games?

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Just finished listening to the podcast, and there are some good nuggets in there:

 

- FC Edmonton will soon sign a right wing. Presumably Nonni will be the backup (my analysis)

- Boakai was injured in the El Salvador U-20 game and that explains his absence. 

- Boakai is in Spain on a 3 week training stint to get up to fitness, nothing in terms of a transfer

 

Good discussion on the sustainability of the club long term, as well as the academy setup and how it is developing. Sounds like they have some buy-in from local coaches as well now as opposed to coaches thinking FC Edmonton were stealing their players. Seems to be slowly gaining momentum in the community. The club is also hoping to have a sellout in Fort McMurray which would be some good revenue to help the bottom line.

 

http://www.rednationonline.ca/Podcasts2014/FromtheBlackHoleEpisode43JeffPaulus.aspx

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Just finished listening to the podcast, and there are some good nuggets in there:

 

- FC Edmonton will soon sign a right wing. Presumably Nonni will be the backup (my analysis)

- Boakai was injured in the El Salvador U-20 game and that explains his absence. 

- Boakai is in Spain on a 3 week training stint to get up to fitness, nothing in terms of a transfer

 

Good discussion on the sustainability of the club long term, as well as the academy setup and how it is developing. Sounds like they have some buy-in from local coaches as well now as opposed to coaches thinking FC Edmonton were stealing their players. Seems to be slowly gaining momentum in the community. The club is also hoping to have a sellout in Fort McMurray which would be some good revenue to help the bottom line.

 

http://www.rednationonline.ca/Podcasts2014/FromtheBlackHoleEpisode43JeffPaulus.aspx

As a season ticket holder, I really appreciate the youth program and the high level quality in 1st team matches.

Unfortunately, I would bet on Fath pulling the plug after this season. I just don't see things turning around from an attendance standpoint. I see no plausible way to get butts in seats, even winning.

Jacksonville Armada got 13k for an exhibition match this weekend. It seems in order to have success in nasl, the team has to be hyped up and have buzz in the city from day one like indy eleven. If a team doesn't hit the ground running, it's a massive uphill battle.

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