2018 Roster Discussion
- Thread starter The Toe
- Start date
I guess the difference is that we have plenty of depth at CM (Sands, Kwame, Tommy), but none of the backups is really that close to starter quality, and we’ve seen that we need 4 top guys over the course of a season. We don’t have good depth at CB - only 3 people for a position where you really need 5. But all 3 of those guys are starter quality.
More established teams fill the McNamara/Awuah spots with 20 year old Homegrowns. We're still years away from doing that.
If you need a fifth center back for one game, it's no big deal to spot-start Ring or one of the fullbacks there. If you need one for longer than that, chances are you'll want to go out and sign a starting-quality player instead of trusting the type of guy who'd fill a fifth CB slot. Look at it this way: Sands was our fifth CB before Hountondji's injury, and everybody was cool with that because he wasn't about play there. But lo and behold, as soon as it looks like Sands might actually get minutes at CB in some future contingency, people are clamoring to sign somebody else. So how much do you really need a fifth CB?
I agree that it's worth picking up a body for depth, since you never know what could happen and we don't have a reserve team to draw on in an emergency, but that's a whole lot lower on the list of priorities than a third CM, who's going to get regular minutes all season long.
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I really think we don't know the answer to this, and it may be partly due to PV's stubbornness. Haak looked great in preseason, and Sands has looked good, much better than Tummy or Awah, in very limited minutes as a sub. I personally think Sands could be a guy getting a lot of minutes, and to a lesser degree than JLew, I also don't understand why he has not.
I think CM and LB are the two biggest issues, and maybe a body at CB, but not as pressing.
For CB, in addition to what
dummyrun laid out above, Sweat is also a guy that can slide inside if we need to. Which takes me to LB...
Sweat is a known meh, and Mataritta isn't necessarily a homerun there, and is often injured. Sure, SAS or Tinny can switch over if needed, but that is less than ideal. I think we need to add another LB if possible.
For CM, I'm a bit more ok with replacing Maxi. I think that is a spot that we can bring Medina there, and use our winger depth to fill in. I know many are done with Berget, and I'm definitely not advocating for him to start, but I think he can still bring something there off the bench, at least enough that we can move Medina off the wing if needed.
For Ring, I'm ok with Sands filling in there. He's impressed in spot minutes he's received, and at some point, he's going to need to play. I'd really like to see him thrown into the fire.
For Herrera's spot, sounds like Ofori filled in nicely against Atlanta (I wasn't able to watch), but I'm still a bit concerned about his consistency there. I also don't think Sands can fill in there, as I'm not sure him and Ring would pair well. I also don't want to see either TMac or Awuah there.
I think the #8 is the biggest area of need for this team at the moment. Everywhere else we can slide someone over to fill in if necessary. Further down the road, another injury or yellow-card accumulation is going to bite, and we need to be in a decent spot to cover.
For CB, in addition to what
dummyrun laid out above, Sweat is also a guy that can slide inside if we need to. Which takes me to LB...Sweat is a known meh, and Mataritta isn't necessarily a homerun there, and is often injured. Sure, SAS or Tinny can switch over if needed, but that is less than ideal. I think we need to add another LB if possible.
For CM, I'm a bit more ok with replacing Maxi. I think that is a spot that we can bring Medina there, and use our winger depth to fill in. I know many are done with Berget, and I'm definitely not advocating for him to start, but I think he can still bring something there off the bench, at least enough that we can move Medina off the wing if needed.
For Ring, I'm ok with Sands filling in there. He's impressed in spot minutes he's received, and at some point, he's going to need to play. I'd really like to see him thrown into the fire.
For Herrera's spot, sounds like Ofori filled in nicely against Atlanta (I wasn't able to watch), but I'm still a bit concerned about his consistency there. I also don't think Sands can fill in there, as I'm not sure him and Ring would pair well. I also don't want to see either TMac or Awuah there.
I think the #8 is the biggest area of need for this team at the moment. Everywhere else we can slide someone over to fill in if necessary. Further down the road, another injury or yellow-card accumulation is going to bite, and we need to be in a decent spot to cover.
If you want 3 ATB to be an option, you need another CB. Sands might be able to play one of those outside spots, but you can't have 1 backup for three spots. You can't consider Sweat a CB option when Ronald is hurt so much.
I have no problem living and dying with our kids as the 4th CB, 5th MF. How many minutes is Houngoindji get before the USOC injury? Let Sands have those. How many minutes has Kawame and Tummy had this season? Let Haak have those. But we need a starter in the Midfield ASAP to start in place of our current 3 so they can rotate and rest.
I think CM and LB are the two biggest issues, and maybe a body at CB, but not as pressing.
For CB, in addition to what
Sweat is a known meh, and Mataritta isn't necessarily a homerun there, and is often injured. Sure, SAS or Tinny can switch over if needed, but that is less than ideal. I think we need to add another LB if possible.
For CM, I'm a bit more ok with replacing Maxi. I think that is a spot that we can bring Medina there, and use our winger depth to fill in. I know many are done with Berget, and I'm definitely not advocating for him to start, but I think he can still bring something there off the bench, at least enough that we can move Medina off the wing if needed.
For Ring, I'm ok with Sands filling in there. He's impressed in spot minutes he's received, and at some point, he's going to need to play. I'd really like to see him thrown into the fire.
For Herrera's spot, sounds like Ofori filled in nicely against Atlanta (I wasn't able to watch), but I'm still a bit concerned about his consistency there. I also don't think Sands can fill in there, as I'm not sure him and Ring would pair well. I also don't want to see either TMac or Awuah there.
I think the #8 is the biggest area of need for this team at the moment. Everywhere else we can slide someone over to fill in if necessary. Further down the road, another injury or yellow-card accumulation is going to bite, and we need to be in a decent spot to cover.
The problem with talking about a CM signing right now is that Torrent doesn't know the squad and we don't know Torrent. Maybe he'll decide he likes three at the back and we'll need another pivot. Maybe he'll aspire to play a City-style system with two free eights and we'll want somebody with range. Maybe he'll look for an orchestrator type to free up Maxi for a more traditional attacking mid role. Maybe he'll dig into the dark heart of MLS like some kind of Catalan Kurtz and start Tommy in a straight-ahead 4-4-2. So yeah, we need somebody, we just don't know who we need.
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July 10 to August 8. Plenty of time to feel things out.
Well, some of this also comes down to whether Sands can be considered CB depth. He typically plays there for the USYNT, but he hasn't done so for us, with all his appearances being in midfield, and he is listed as a midfielder.
But the team has talked about him as a guy who can play both positions, which I think kind of speaks to my point that "fifth center back" is a notional role.
Fair enough, except that position is now the 4th center back or maybe the 3rd.
The team has talked about him as a holding midfielder who needs to get physically stronger and faster and could one day play centerback. I think alot of people are shaded towards CB because that's what he played for the US U17s. I don't think he has played a single minute of preseason or a friendly at CB or reported that he is training as a CB with the team.
I think we need another body at CB regardless and if Sands beats them out Sands beats them out. We shouldn't be gifting playing time on a MLS Cup contending team to someone who doesn't deserve it.
For those of you that want an external candidate at CB, remember that Hountondji is coming back next year.
Herrera isn't.
So the correct answer to me is getting a midfielder.
Herrera isn't.
So the correct answer to me is getting a midfielder.
I think the main point is that if anything, Sands would be the #4 CB on this team. Unless Torrent wants to move to 3 ATB, that means 2 additional guys now missing time via injury or suspension. And, Sweat can also play there, so Sands may even still be at #5 on the depth chart there. And, we've even thrown out there that Ring could play there in a pinch if needed. We're not talking about starting Sands at CB, or having him as the first bench option.
And to my second to last sentence, I think we are more likely to see, if needed, Ring slide back to CB and Sands cover at the #6.
We can sign a temp injury replacement cap-free up to 250k for the second half of the season if Cedric goes on the season ending injury list. Why risk it?
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