I dunno, I thought they were attached to Lambe but by the end of the season he was well down the list in terms of priorities. I hope he moves on as he's starting to remind me of Caribbean Andy Welsh.Originally Posted by Canary10
Agreed Agboss is an outside chance. If it happens a trade is more likely. Talented enough to have value, far enough down the depth chart where they might want to find another option at central defender that's more experienced and game ready when called on.
Possibly Darel Russell as well.
I've seen Lambe tweeting quite a bit that he's going to the gym. He could be working out on his own schedule of course, but I think they've got him on a strength regimen. Just a guess though.
That would give me some faith.
Here's the question: does Hall become fair game as well if that's the case? I really go back-and-forth about whether he is providing anything or not. The number of time he lost his man in the middle of the field and hung our CBs out to dry was troubling.
I think Elmer and Braun are locks to go but I could easily see Lambe and Hall go too. Russel is iffy too depending on what irons are in the fire and he isn't that cheap. For me Hall would be a lock to go as he has to be behind Laba, Russel, and even Bekker in the central midfield now.
I don't think so. He's brought a bit of bite to midfield, scored a few goals from midfield and doesn't cost an int spot. He's on a decent wage, but I don't think he'll get cut unless TFC brings in another DM
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
I think Hall stays ahead of Russell, for the international spot if nothing else. Some room needs to be cleared at central mid though. If there's no upgrade there we're toast this year.
edit: Ah, didn't realize he's not international, thanks Yohan. Yeah, I'd drop Hall and keep Russell then. I like the bite he brings personally.
I don't think Hall is getting dropped either. He adds versatility by playing multiple positions, which you need a few of those in every MLS squad. And he was one of better players in 1st half of a terrible season. I think Nelsen rates him.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
hahaha! we should sign balotelli and confuse the fuck out of them!!
yeah possibly. I originally didn't have him as going, but there has to be some movement in the midfield. Thomas is the only one out at the moment. Russell gives you a lot of the same as Hall position wise too.
Last edited by Canary10; 11-29-2013 at 11:45 AM.
Gila's a great player, and I hope we sign him, but I'm not at all interested in TFC signing a player just to pander to a certain community in order to put more bums in seats. Either you buy in to this club as an opportunity to support local football, or you don't. No, this team and league aren't likely to be as good as the one you support in the 'old country', and the style of play might not be as attractive as what you're used to either. It is what it is - an opportunity to watch live football in a professional league in your own back yard. If you're cool with that - great, hop on board.
This is what I was thinking. No point in keeping both and and for the extra $15K or whatever I think you get more from Russell. Hopefully we are targeting at least a couple fresh mids and we will need some space for them. And as for that irons in the fire thing; that may also effect Convey. I know he is decent and rated by Nelsen but he does make a lot of cash.
I think you want 3 DMs, in case one guy does go down injured and for squad rotation purposes.
Hall may be gone, depending on what Nelsen's plan for Bekker is. Seems like both Floro and Nelsen are bent on trying to retool Bekker's game as a DM of some sort. I'm not buying that Bekker can play that role. But if Bekker is going to need mins and not be on loan (which I think is best for his career right now), either Hall or Russell is going to be gone. Russell likely, because my guess is his contract ends soon.
Making changes for the sake of getting some new players is dumb, and that's what TFC has been doing for so long. If you're going to bring a new player in, there better be a purpose, not just getting a new guy in.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Agreed.
I agree. But we need one central midfielder who can create. Moving someone for that is a necessity imo.
Would also depend on if you really think a player like Hall is good enough, even at bench level, to contribute to a playoff caliber team (ie. what TL says we will be) or will develop into that role in the foreseeable future. I don't see that from him. In my opinion, Bekker could improve and fill a role in time and he has a better upside than Hall while I think Russell has more to offer than Hall right now but is more of a short term option.
Bekker and Hall have different skill sets, and IMO to be a DM, you need to have that 'destroyer' skillset, unless you have exceptionally good positioning like Laba. Bekker as of right now have shown very little of 'destroyer' skill. Hall, when giving a limited role and not ask him to do much, has shown adequate showings as DM. He even makes good runs once in a while. And underrated technique he doesn't use to his advantage often enough.
I also think there is a bit of bias against him for his 2012 season, when he was played out of position at RB and got torched a lot.
Hall's biggest problem is that he's still more of an athlete than a soccer player. He needs to develop his football IQ. Bekker has more upside for sure, but I don't think he's better than Hall at DM right now.
Hall has also the benefit of knowing Nelsen's system, and his role in it. Can TFC do better than Hall on his salary? Probably. Can TFC afford to teach a new player Nelsen's system on a supposedly make playoffs or die year? I don't think so. It takes a while to learn a new system and more importantly, build chemistry with other players. I think Hall is 'good enough' for now.
If you know of a better back up DM than Hall at his salary, and is available, I'm all ears. (and Jun Marques Davidson isn't it)
Last edited by Yohan; 11-29-2013 at 12:32 PM.
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
And I know this may not be as important as the on-field stuff but Hall, Wiedeman and Bendik are really, really good characters for the locker room.
Professionals, through and through but they lift spirits. Funny, marketable, and genuine guys off the field and good, reliable footballers on it - We haven't had enough of those at TFC.
Depends on what is 'good enough'? I think you can teach any player, even a rookie, what Hall does. It's all 'get ball, panic too soon, play off shortest available pass, then stand there'. Without looking anywhere else, I would say Russell is better than Hall, has more experience, and is only modestly higher paid.
I agree with you to an extent, but supporting local football really has to go both ways. A lot of what TFC has been marketing, most notably the club academy program, has been nothing but window dressing. So ignoring the ethnic side of things for a second, a lot of this is about community outreach. TFC in the eyes of some people is all about being your buddy when it comes to spending money, but when it comes to actually being apart of the local soccer community the way they claim they are completely absent. So the flip side of the coin is, when it comes to supporting local football on the non-MLS level many people think TFC is severely lacking.
http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/co...ad-TFC-Academy
Sources: Vanney to lead TFC Academy...Is Rongen out?????
And those saying that Italian footballing has been largely ignored at TFC and Canadian soccer are speaking from experience too.
Soccer in Canada equals UK mentality outweighing all others by a large margin. It is what it is.
I think Hall has played reasonably well for us since being moved into a defensive mid position. I agree with Yohan that he's decent for his price.
Should be but it's not....and hasn't been since day one at TFC.
I think I understand the type of player they want Bekker to be. These are going to be laughable examples because of the quality gap, but on a very small level think about players like Xavi, Pirlo, etc... These guys aren’t fast, they rarely try to beat anyone on the dribble and they use their ability to spray the ball around to control play.
Bekkers best qualities are his range of passing, his shot, and to a certain extent his ability to read the game. They just really, really, need him to up his defensive game if he wants to stay on the field. Out-and-out attacking midfielders who slack on defense provide the ability to counterattack with their speed and their ability to beat people on the dribble. Bekker has neither of those, so he can’t play that spot.
Have never been sold on Rongen, but I'm getting a little tired of us parachuting in Americans to run the academy. There are local people who are just as capable and understand the environment better.
This guy is going to spend a long time getting the run around from local clubs before he finally starts to understand how things work.
I just don't get why people care if they have someone with their nationality on the team. Why does TFC have to suck up to certain nationalities. I have Scottish a d Italian background but don't care if there's a player on TFC from there. For some reason this only happens in soccer. For the rest of the sports people cheer for Canada.
Why get rid of Rongen? What's Vanney track record? Any good players coming under Vanny watch?
It's because we don't have a Canadian running this club. Until we have a Canadian running TFC, we are not going to see much local influence in academy side of things.
oh boy! time for another Jason de Vos rant! lol
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
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