I think in a 3-4-3, Wallace becomes a utility player (LM, LW, ST) or starts at LM with Matarrita on the bench. Moralez ends up on the LW cutting inside like Harrison on the RW. Lewis and Okoli/Shelton round out the offensive bench.
You're right, without Herrera, central midfield becomes the team's biggest hole. I wonder if there's any chance at Khedira yet to pair with Ring in the middle.
Two thoughts:
2) I have no clue who they will target, except that we shouldn't be wowed by the next DP in terms of name recognition. That being said, you do raise an interesting point regarding a guy like Khedira. He's going to the World Cup next summer, more likely than not. How do we feel about waiting until late July before the 3rd DP joins? I know the team isn't targeting a high profile move to replace Pirlo, but that doesn't mean the player won't be on a World Cup roster. We could sign someone that plays for Ivory Coast or Switzerland or Ireland for all we know.
Two thoughts:
1) In a 3-4-3, my understanding is that it plays more as a 3-4-2-1. The RWB and LWB are your only true wide players and you have two CAMs underneath your Striker. I'm thinking Ozil and Hazard here. I also could be entirely wrong as I don't understand tactics like many others do here.
2) I have no clue who they will target, except that we shouldn't be wowed by the next DP in terms of name recognition. That being said, you do raise an interesting point regarding a guy like Khedira. He's going to the World Cup next summer, more likely than not. How do we feel about waiting until late July before the 3rd DP joins? I know the team isn't targeting a high profile move to replace Pirlo, but that doesn't mean the player won't be on a World Cup roster. We could sign someone that plays for Ivory Coast or Switzerland or Ireland for all we know.
S: Villa
F: Moralez, Harrison
M: Matarrita, Ring, CM, RWB
D: Callens, Chanot, Ferraresi
Let's not forget that TAM is going up next year, not only from the scheduled increase, but also the Adidas deal.
I think we're going to have a few more new starters than who's listed; I.e. Somebody we love this year may be pushed to the bench next year, which isn't bad to have for depth and rotation.
Maybe Fuchs is TAM. Maybe we find a Ring-clone from another 2nd tier league. if we could score with two more under the radar players like Callens & Ring, to go with a new DP striker, and Fuchs, I'd be pretty stoked.
The number one thing we have to do is offload TMac.
I disagree about the fact we won't be wowed. I think they target someone bigger (and taller, ba dum tis) than Maxi Moralez, but said DP won't have the name recognition with the casual fan. So yeah, I agree with you about no Iniesta or Rooney or even some "lesser" superstars like Marchisio. But I think it'll be someone that is generally known by the highly engaged fans like those that post here.
I was told specifically "more like Moralez." How many of us knew who the hell he was?
I'm not saying a guy like that or Lodeiro of Piatti can't be a good DP. I knew none of those guys. But don't expect Khedira.
My HOPE is that they take the money they're saving and spend it on Villa's replacement.
I think we're just disagreeing over semantics, but agree 100% about the Villa replacement.
I get your point, but expecting all 3 DPs to perform at the level of Lodeiro or Piatti is a bit much IMO. What teams have that kind of production from 3 DPs? Atlanta, Chicago, and Toronto are close I guess.Moralez could have been Lodeiro or Piatti. I hope we get that right next time.
If Herrera returns, I'm not super concerned about the DP next season. But once Villa retires, all 3 DPs need to perform at that level.
I get your point, but expecting all 3 DPs to perform at the level of Lodeiro or Piatti is a bit much IMO. What teams have that kind of production from 3 DPs? Atlanta, Chicago, and Toronto are close I guess.
Really, it's impossible to speculate. We negotiated with Juventus to sign an Italian guy with ginormous name recognition to a $6 million annual salary, and it didn't work out (outside of ticket sales); Toronto negotiated with the same club to sign another Italian guy without much name recognition to a $6 M annual salary, and it's been a jackpot for them. Both are pretty much at the very top of MLS pyramid in terms of salary. What I'm trying to say is that if we're poaching from big teams in big leagues, we may sign somebody who is riding pine, without great name recognition, and still destined to be a huge star in MLS. Name recognition for casual fans is really something like 100 to 200 players, and some guys who get no chances in La Liga or Serie A would take MLS by storm.