Refining the Roster Update

The FO is keeping me in a holding pattern with pulling the trigger on the final "Refining the Roster" post, but in the meantime, I thought I'd throw out a couple of bits of speculation. Let's get started with . . .


BTB reports that Danso is back in camp.

Hmmm. So what's going on here? There are two possible scenarios, and neither of them seem particularly appealing to me.
  1. Kocic isn't going to beat out Thorpe for the #3 keeper spot. Goff says Kocic's contract is signed, but if he's really stinking it up, maybe we're looking to fill his international spot. I'm not buying into this one though, because the big Serb got the full 90 minutes last night against TFC. If Thorpe were still fighting for the job, don't you think they would have split time? Which leads us to . . .
  2. Tommy's second-guessing his center backs. Let's face it, two red cards and a PK in 180 minutes of action against MLS opposition isn't going to thrill any coach, but maybe Tommy isn't so impressed with the trio of Peters, Jakovic, and Janicki and wants some options. Of course, if those "options" come wrapped up in the package of a small-college dude with limited experience, we're entering new levels of "oy vey!" territory on the back line.
Of course, maybe they just needed to make up the numbers with injuries and all, but a boy can speculate can't he? And while we're speculating . . .


Where's the Beef?

Let's take a little gander at United's off-season imports, shall we? Ignoring Gomez, since his addition is really just a "returning to the fold" movement (though it is really, really nice to see that big smile on his face), we have . . .

Barklage (5'11")
Jacobson (6'2")
Jakovic (6'2")
Kocic (6'4")
N'Silu (6')
Peters (6'5")
Pontius (6')
Wallace (5'11")
Wicks (6'3")

Lot of sixes, eh? Even the two sub-six-footers are 5'11". Now, outside of any "mark of the Beast" hullabaloo, what are we to make of this? Has United, traditionally a team reliant more upon wee fellas with boatloads more technique than stature, decided to play a more direct, physical game? Or is this just the most exaggerated and ridiculous possible response to the failure of Franco Niell in black and red?

Anybody else up for some idle roster speculation?

4 comments:

  1. Weird things afoot. We let go of a good USL keeper in order to trade a draft pick for another USL keeper because we can't seem to get a handle on whether we want Kocic, Thorpe or both. We get rid of Danso only to bring him back because now we're not so sure the Canadian copy of Nevan Subotic or Mount Peters might work out. Add in the whole thing with Roger and there seems to be a lot of second guessing going on. Good things we have a vision...

    ...and that vision is Tommy hiring lots of second tier-- big burly guys with no technique that remind him of...him!

    Still - I have to admit that we did okay in the draft with Wallace and Pontius. If Barklage, Kocic and even Jacobsen pan out, even better (maybe we can bring Needham back too).

    I'm feeling better about Gomez and Benny seems to be providing good minutes, so the song remain the same....how good is our defense? So far...not so good! But then last year at this time I thought we did well trading away Boswell and adding the Gonzalos. So what do I know?

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  2. Agreed about Pontius and Wallace. If Pontius is indeed ready to pick up serious minutes at left mid, and contribute goals while doing so, I think we now know why the FO was willing to part with Guerrero.

    Still, if we could have afforded the cap hit ($154k vs. $60k), I'd much rather have Guerrero at left back than Burch, particularly since two experienced fullbacks might have helped out a relatively green middle of defense.

    But that wouldn't exactly fit Tommy's big, burly vision, now would it?

    ;-)

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  3. You know where I stand on Burch. The guy has improved every year since coming to DC. I think he's earned the opportunity to see what he can do as the regular starter.

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  4. Did he really improve so much last year? Here's hoping 2008 was his sophomore slump (accentuated by playing in a new and unsettled back line), and that he'll show better this year. I wouldn't be shocked to see Wallace really pushing him for playing time though.

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