I don't entirely agree with you. Villa and Mix could play anywhere. I think Saunders is playing that way too. I also think Shelton has shown he is a RW in this league right now. Hernandez and Wingert are replacement level. Could probably start for 1/2 the league. I don't know about Nemec. He's different than any other strike in the league.
I think Grabavoy is shot. I don't know what you see in him. He's been terrible except for one pass at Yankee Stadium. Brodsky might be worse than Ballouchy at this point. Williams and Facey have provided nothing. Jacobson seems OK, but certainly not a guy I want our future depending on. Velasquez kills me. All that speed, but doesn't use it properly and a terrible decision maker.
I was trying to be generous with Grabavoy.
Someon else mentioned Shelton, and I agree he looks like he's going to be an important piece. He just doesn't start for us now.
ETA:
As I said in chat, Brovsky is not MLS quality. His level is USL or, as I've also stated, bartender. I really think with his moustache and wit, he'd really excel in that role if he found the right faux speakeasy setup. He's really wasted at left back.
Facey is alright on the ball, but he looks his age/experience quite often. I think if Velasquez and Nemec were a little better about combining, it would have helped him out.
Jacobsen is serviceable, but isn't going to find a killer ball. He's best at poking it around to himself and holding his hands up before kicking it to the nearest teammate. I'm not sure if it was tactical or a function of his or Mix's on movement, but it looked like he was getting further forward than Mix quite a bit. That's not good at all, IMO.
Grabavoy had no lungs yesterday. Several times, our forwards tried to pressure high, and Grabavoy was sucking wind rather than taking away the outlet or cutting the passing lane.
Bottom line is, we need some pace and width. Given how Kreis likes to play, we need some fullbacks who can get down the field. It won't happen, but we almost look like we need 3 at the back and give maybe Shelton and Calle (or someone) a run out as WB/wide mids.
Hell, we could probably play 2 at the back anyway since our only defense is Saunders saves. And he's been great at shot stopping. He's pretty mediocre in distribution, but you can't fault his ability to keep the ball out of the net. With that form and Meara being a gamble that looks like it won't pay off, I think we are going to be riding Saunders the entire way.
Since 3 at the back isn't a possibility, even a single fullback along the lines of a Robbie Rogers or even a Tony Beltran, we'd be in much better shape. Would at least allow us to play up one side. We don't have anything close to that now, and that's a big problem. To me, our mf suffers in moving from defense to attack because they have to support the fullbacks so much, both in possession and covering.
I think we can get by without a CDM if we have another decent midfielder. I don't care for Frank, but it infuriates me every time I watch us play because our setup screams for another quality central midfielder. It's quite obvious that our squad was planned for him to be a part of it, which makes the Lampard Houdhini act even sadder. Again, he's not going to help us giving up so many good looks on goal with his defensive contributions, but at least he should help with controlling the ball. But yeah, I'll still boo him.
We need to get Spurs to loan us Yedlin or something (would never happen). If Hamburg gets relegated, we could maybe go in for Gotz. If I'm Kreis, I'm scouring European relegation candidate rosters looking for fullbacks and a box to box, in that order.
Would a "10" be great? Of course, but there aren't many of those available in the world. Let's get a box to box to at least help us get the ball from back to front.
Don't forget, we won't have Mix for a month with the Gold Cup...
And where the heck was Williams yesterday? I have thought he was the best we had at playing Kreis's system. Was he injured?
