Something you didn't mention that I'm kind of curious about is the FCC signing of Lukas Engel. Played inverted on the lwb most of last year with Asad. Luca played his most productive minutes at rwb, also inverted. I always thought the team looked better in possession with players playing on the side with their strong foot, but better in transition when inverted. Looks like we're going to be playing more traditional wing backs this year. What do you think of this switch to a more traditionally wing backs? Is this as imapctful as I'm making it, or is this something Chris and Pat wouldn't really worry about?
I think part of this is to curb Lucho's off-ball roaming in search of possession. They want him (or whatever No. 10 they bring in, should he force his way out) to get on the ball in specific spots – spots that don't break the team's shape, and spots that aren't inherently dangerous if he should lose possession – and bringing in a more standard wingback sort of smooths the way for that.
I still hope they bring Asad back, though. He was a weapon, and one that can be useful on both sides.
First 3 months will be interesting to see how things shake out. Sounders have a ton of depth but there is a lot of top heavy rosters it’ll be difficult to steal points with that depth during the early season fixture congestion.
i get most intrigued by English coaches coaching in MLS. i like to see how they do in a different league than the Premier League, with the travel, the talent level difference, and the roster rules.
so, Dean Smith and Eric Ramsay have intrigued me last year and curious how they'll do in year two!
I don't see much about Smith's gameplan or development history that's particularly intriguing, though I will give him props for Privett and Agyemang. To me the big tell is that when he got a No. 10 (Biel), he shunted that guy out wide instead of leaving him in the middle and letting him cook. Combine that with their overall numbers (basically bottom 3 in every possession-related metric), and the lack of a Plan B in the playoffs, and I don't know. Hard to get too hyped.
Ramsay might be a different story. The Loons weren't easy on the eyes for most of last year but by the stretch run they were, nonetheless, pretty fun!
Apologies for the public rosterbation… just thinking out loud.
3-4-2-1 does help with the JF Morris issue but then it opens up Rusnak PLDV issue. Unless you play as more of 3-3-3-1 with a stay at home CDM. I don’t think we have ever explicitly had a stay at home CDM although towards the end of Ozzie’s tenure we basically did.
But maybe with JP losing his step but keeping his intelligence and tenacity that could be an option.
Something you didn't mention that I'm kind of curious about is the FCC signing of Lukas Engel. Played inverted on the lwb most of last year with Asad. Luca played his most productive minutes at rwb, also inverted. I always thought the team looked better in possession with players playing on the side with their strong foot, but better in transition when inverted. Looks like we're going to be playing more traditional wing backs this year. What do you think of this switch to a more traditionally wing backs? Is this as imapctful as I'm making it, or is this something Chris and Pat wouldn't really worry about?
I think part of this is to curb Lucho's off-ball roaming in search of possession. They want him (or whatever No. 10 they bring in, should he force his way out) to get on the ball in specific spots – spots that don't break the team's shape, and spots that aren't inherently dangerous if he should lose possession – and bringing in a more standard wingback sort of smooths the way for that.
I still hope they bring Asad back, though. He was a weapon, and one that can be useful on both sides.
David Gass theorem on de la Vega? Or anyone else?
for Orlando, hopefully Muriel, but i feel pessimistic about that.
Yeah I'm optimistic on PDLV's Gass Theorem potential and pessimistic on Muriel's.
Am I crazy to think that if PDLV balls out, everything else equal, the Sounders go from Top 3 in West discussion to Top 3 discussion?
I think they’re already in the top 3 discussion.
First 3 months will be interesting to see how things shake out. Sounders have a ton of depth but there is a lot of top heavy rosters it’ll be difficult to steal points with that depth during the early season fixture congestion.
i get most intrigued by English coaches coaching in MLS. i like to see how they do in a different league than the Premier League, with the travel, the talent level difference, and the roster rules.
so, Dean Smith and Eric Ramsay have intrigued me last year and curious how they'll do in year two!
I don't see much about Smith's gameplan or development history that's particularly intriguing, though I will give him props for Privett and Agyemang. To me the big tell is that when he got a No. 10 (Biel), he shunted that guy out wide instead of leaving him in the middle and letting him cook. Combine that with their overall numbers (basically bottom 3 in every possession-related metric), and the lack of a Plan B in the playoffs, and I don't know. Hard to get too hyped.
Ramsay might be a different story. The Loons weren't easy on the eyes for most of last year but by the stretch run they were, nonetheless, pretty fun!
Apologies for the public rosterbation… just thinking out loud.
3-4-2-1 does help with the JF Morris issue but then it opens up Rusnak PLDV issue. Unless you play as more of 3-3-3-1 with a stay at home CDM. I don’t think we have ever explicitly had a stay at home CDM although towards the end of Ozzie’s tenure we basically did.
But maybe with JP losing his step but keeping his intelligence and tenacity that could be an option.