RSL Player moves

[bordelais7]

Originally Posted by BetterThanChivas

I don't think we'd be playing Freddy in the forward position, I was thinking he would play left-mid.

Just imagine our midfield if he did!
-------Talley------
-Klein--------Adu-
-------Mehdi------
That has got to be one of the best midfields in MLS!

Probably unlikely that Adu will be at left mid. All of the interviews yesterday seemed to indicate otherwise. Dean Howes hit pretty heavily on the fact that one of the big reasons that Freddy wanted to come to RSL is that he wanted a chance to have more control of an offense and to really "break free".

I think he'll be the attacking mid, with forward as a second option, and wing midfield as a distant third option. Then again, who knows what Ellinger is thinking.

With the highly paid and fairly talented midfield, I'd be surprised if RSL isn't trying to trade Andy at this point.

[montgjules]

Originally Posted by Loyal1

All this, a bag of chips, and Kreis, Williams, and Harris coming in off the bench.

In '05 when we got Kreis, Williams, and Pope I thought we could be ok.
In '06 when we got Klein I knew we were a playoff team.
In '07 when we add Adu...

my track record of predictions is pretty poor but I'll give one more try...

In '07 when we add Adu we pound the crapids by a aggegate score of 14-0.

I love a good sense of humor!

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by bordelais7

Probably unlikely that Adu will be at left mid. All of the interviews yesterday seemed to indicate otherwise. Dean Howes hit pretty heavily on the fact that one of the big reasons that Freddy wanted to come to RSL is that he wanted a chance to have more control of an offense and to really "break free".

I think he'll be the attacking mid, with forward as a second option, and wing midfield as a distant third option. Then again, who knows what Ellinger is thinking.

With the highly paid and fairly talented midfield, I'd be surprised if RSL isn't trying to trade Andy at this point.

This from an SI.com article:

At United, it appeared that Nowak was bringing Adu along too slowly, limiting his development with an overly cautious approach. Instead of his natural position as an attacking midfielder, Adu was pushed out to the wing and forced to improve his defensive play instead of utilizing his creative ability with the ball.

I think you're right.

[Aerick]

How about a 4-4-1-1 formation with Adu playing the diminished forward/attacking mid position and Medhi playing behind him?

Come on you soccer experts out there, chime in on what this will look like!

[El Chalan]

I am wondering about where Medhi will play. It seems clear that they brought in Adu to play the attacking mid position. I am not sure we even know that Freddy can play that position effectively. I actually really liked Medhi's work as attacking mid. Not sure I like this move other than as good marketing.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Aerick

How about a 4-4-1-1 formation with Adu playing the diminished forward/attacking mid position and Medhi playing behind him?

Come on you soccer experts out there, chime in on what this will look like!

If we are signing Tejada, then I think a 4-4-1-1 is out of the question. Besides that, if we have two decent targets for Freddy, he will have plenty of options: pass to Cunny, pass to Tejada, pass to either winger in the midfield (Mehdi and Klein???), or take the shot himself. Those kind of options should make for some interesting plays in front of our opponents' goal. I would almost like a 3-5-2 like this:

---------Rimando---------
Stewart----Pope----Torres
---Talley---Forko/Novak---
Klein-------------Ballouchy
-----------Adu-----------
----Tejada---Cunningham-

I think in this kind of setup you could have Ballouchy and Klein taking turns between defense and offense and you could also relieve a little of the defensive responsibilities for Adu. Of course, Novak, Forko, or our big international DS signing wingback could play in a 4-4-2 as well. Just knowing that Adu could have Tejada, Cunny, Ballouchy, Kreis, Klein, and/or Andy around him should worry most other teams.

[Aerick]

Just listened to a replay of the Adu interview on 1280/700 from this morning. Here's what I took:

Freddy is genuinely excited about playing here. Coach E was the primary reason for this.

Other reasons include the players who are already here (he mentions Cunningham, Klein and Pope specifically) and the fact that he'll be "the man" on the team. The guy with the keys of responsibility in regards to the offense. (This would indicate further that he will be playing attacking mid).

His goal is to bring US Soccer to a high level from a World Cup standpoint. He looks at being on the US team in World Cup play as being "it". (This should put to bed fears about playing for Ghana, I suppose).

When asked about June and potential offers from overseas he mentioned that he was excited to play here for now and would have to evaluate the situation come June, but for now he's thrilled to be playing for RSL and Coach E.

Coach E was also there and was asked if this now eliminates an excuse for not making the play-offs in 07. He said yes, it would be unacceptable to not make the play-offs now with Adu on the side.

You can listen to it in full here: www.1280thezone.com (I can't provide the exact link because "Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.")

We can perhaps take what he says with a grain of salt as he is still young and may be prone to changing his mind quickly. But I was impressed with him (first interview I've heard with him), he seems mature beyond his years.

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by Burninator

If we are signing Tejada, then I think a 4-4-1-1 is out of the question. Besides that, if we have two decent targets for Freddy, he will have plenty of options: pass to Cunny, pass to Tejada, pass to either winger in the midfield (Mehdi and Klein???), or take the shot himself. Those kind of options should make for some interesting plays in front of our opponents' goal. I would almost like a 3-5-2 like this:

---------Rimando---------
Stewart----Pope----Torres
---Talley---Forko/Novak---
Klein-------------Ballouchy
-----------Adu-----------
----Tejada---Cunningham-

I think in this kind of setup you could have Ballouchy and Klein taking turns between defense and offense and you could also relieve a little of the defensive responsibilities for Adu. Of course, Novak, Forko, or our big international DS signing wingback could play in a 4-4-2 as well. Just knowing that Adu could have Tejada, Cunny, Ballouchy, Kreis, Klein, and/or Andy around him should worry most other teams.

How about a 3-1-3-1-2 (or a 4-4-2 in a different formation):

--------Rimando-------
Stewart--Pope--Torres
---------Talley---------
Klein---Ballouchy--Willams/Novak/Forko/Whoever
----------Adu----------
Cunningham--Tejada----

Or does that clog up the middle too much? I'd really like to see Medhi stay in the opening lineup, and it seems to me that our experiments with him on the left last season didn't work out all that well.

[Deuce]

A couple of photos from the press conference.

[BetterThanChivas]

Originally Posted by Deuce

A couple of photos from the press conference.

I like this little bit from Nessie's Blog!

Originally Posted by Nessie

Steve Pastorino reiterated that the "major allocation" sent to DC is not RSL's designated player slot and that he would be having some discussions with Dave Checketts regarding possible DPs in the near future

Would Tejada require us to take a DP, or will it be someone else?