Practice Observations: Run
May 13th, 2008 . 4:11 pm . By: Buzz Carrick
It’s a bit humid today, but thankfully, not yet warm. The nasty weather hasn’t hit Frisco this morning, so we stay dry. The session in general didn’t tell us a ton about the tactics this week. Since FCD is playing Sunday and has tomorrow off the buys were run fairly hard by Morrow today. News, Notes, & Observations- The LA Gals are traveling to Vancouver for an exhibition tonight against the Whitecaps. Landycakes and some other players didn’t make the trip. So only some of the team will be tired from trekking to Canada and back. - Dax McCarty left for the airport at the end of training to fly to Germany for his hernia op tomorrow. He’ll be back Friday and should only miss two weeks or so. - Break Shea and Blake Wagner are leaving tomorrow to join the US23s. Which means neither will be available this weekend. - Ricardinho is rehabbing today. He took a knock to his shooting leg just above the knee twice in training last week, then did it again about 2 seconds into coming on against RSL. I imagine he will be able to play this weekend. - Josh Lambo took full part in training and you can tell he wasn’t allowed to do anything for 6 weeks. Not because of his skills, but because he was sucking wind in the running. Morrow said he needs at least a week of training before they put him back on the bench, so either Burse or one of the MLS pool players will be Sala’s backup this weekend. Morrow wouldn’t say which. - Anthony Wallace was consistently one of the first people in the running today. Nice to see that. - Adrian Serioux trained full speed and looks fine. - Alex Fichera is still here. - Cooper, Oduro, and Shea stayed out again to work extra. Again. TrainingAfter the jogging and stretching the team did some hurdles and cones to push the tempo. Following that was a 45 minute version of the shooting gallery the players enjoy so much. It was fun and light hearted but intense. Old vs Young again it looked like. Green: McCarty, Wagner, Moor, Alvarez, Toja, Avila, Shea, Fichera, Thompson, Dello-Russo, Daniels Practice ended with about 20 minutes of hard interval change of direction sprints up and down the field. Catching up with MorrowDon’t forget the coach speak translations are a bit. I don’t speak for Morrow. On Beckham and Donovan
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Who? Do you recall the NASL and Pele mania?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Buzz and I are the same age, he doesn’t recall them either. You’re missing Shea and Wagner, other than Toja who can play wide left?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: Wallace. Isn’t Shea very young to be in the 23s?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: The kids got some serious skillz. How do you view being the youngest team in the league?
Buzz’s Coach Speak Translator: You’re as old as you play. Lineup PredictionSo Morrow was no help with the training session. No Wagner or McCarty (or Shea for that matter) but everyone else is good to go. During the media session, Morrow said something about the impending loss of Wagner figuring into the team selections against RSL as they wanted to see Toja wide left once first. Ok so does that mean staying 3-4-3 with Toja wide? Certainly it could, so why not. With McCarty gone and injured I’ll keep Rocha right.
LA plays with a couple rookies in their midfield, so I would really like to see Wallace take Saragosa’s spot for this one. It’s a good chance to get one of the kids some minutes against opposition he should be able to handle. Thought of the Day OneI asked Morrow about Cory Gibbs being out of contract. Morrow says FCD is so far down the allocation list (currently 7th – someone above them burned one) that FCD had no shot at him so therefore Gibbs wasn’t really worth talking about. Which I took to mean they would be happy if 6 other teams passed on Gibbs. If Gibbs signed with MLS that is this next window. It’s another pipe dream, but I’d love to see Gibbs here to play Serioux’s spot so that Serioux could move back to midfield where I believe he’s better suited. Thought of the Day TwoOne could make a case that FCD has dropped 3 wins they should have (or could have) gotten early this season. My thought I’m sharing isn’t about how or why so much as to ask a question: how do you look at those points? Is it bad that FCD has missed out on the points and they will rue the day when those lost points come back to haunt the team? Or does it say that FCD is a better team than their record says and if one or two things are fixed they can have quite a nice team this year? So which are you? Feeling bad about the dropped points, or feeling good about the potential? 18 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Totally agree about Serioux in the midfield. Didn’t he look great there last year?
Regarding your Thought of the Day Two:
If the only thing that mattered was the MLS Cup, the points wouldn’t be nearly as important as we’re still in good shape. Getting into the playoffs with a prepared team is the most important thing.
But regular season record is important to get into the international competitions, and that means we need points whenever we can get them. So unless we win the MLS Cup, or tank and are far from making the playoffs, I’ll rue the 8 points we’ve missed out on in the last 3 games.
looks like your man crush jamie wastson is gone. proves he isnt better then what we have like you thought. give a little credit to the guys on the developmental roster that are still here and beating out people constantly.
Don’t understand about the big loss issue with Wagner. He’s been terrible and didn’t even dress last week so yeah big loss.
Gibbs: He didn’t want to be here last time and gave a half-hearted effort and was only in MLS to be seen by Arena. Now why would be want to come to MLS and take cut from $5-700K down to maybe $250K in our league? Just crazy talk.
Cory Gibbs? really? he didnt wanna be here when he was here. he was a Euro snob. and he hasnt played in about 2 seasons. would much rather have someone like Pearce or D Hernandez if they wanted to come back. I’d rather give a call to Phil Salyer or Matt Benhcke.
why does the US setup consider Brek Shea a defender and FCD have him attacking most of the time? Brek played in the back in the U17 WC and is going to France listed as a defender.
Homer, sorry you hate Watson. He has some talent and he’s young.
Ric, Wagner isn’t a big loss, but Morrow still has to find a way to fill the spot without hurting the formation by drastic changes.
Of course Gibbs is crazy talk, but it doesn’t hurt to ask crazy questions sometimes. Thankfully FCD is good enough to pass on US internationals capable of playing in Europe since they had no shot at him anyway.
TT, Shea plays all over the field for both the US youth teams and FCD. What position they list him as is really a technicality.
rue the day all the way!
What to make of the dropped points? “How do you view being the youngest team in the league?” Taking the age of our roster into account, I would say it seems about right. I think a lot of us (me included) didn’t expect much from this team this season, and the early success (even with the dropped points) raised expectations quite a bit. Now we find ourselves in that evil limbo, do we just let the kids play and maybe miss the playoffs? Or, do we add a veteran, maybe make some trades and see if we can’t steal a trophy? I fear we are the middle child.
so is Watson gone?
Feeling good about the potential.
wally seems to be in great shape and could run all day. instead of even talking about gibbs, wally should be given the chance 1st. that way, we could move adrian to the MF where he belongs. i think saragosa is better as a sub and not a starter. we need guys to move the ball.
The glass is half full, they’re still working out roles in the new scheme. They do need to start separating themselves from the rest of the West, though.
Buzz… Assuming they stick with the same formation/lineup from RSL, how do you think Toja responds re: lining up against Beckham? Does he look at it as a challenge and rise to it, or does it end up taking him even further out of the game because he’s more concerned w/defensive responsibilities? Let’s face it – he had no impact @ RSL, and this team can’t afford for him to be anything less than an impact player.
Still don’t think the 3-4-3 is the way to go, but if they’re sticking with it this week, I would love to see Rhine get a run out left. Yeah, I know he’s been primarily a right-sided player, but I bet he would defend the hell out of Becks. It also allows what I believe would be two other positive moves: Toja to the center and Saragosa to the bench.
Michael Owen to FCD? Rumors picking up that he wants out of Newcastle. could be a good running partner for Coop. Longshot, but might be fun.
Possible, or just crazy?
Buzz,
Don’t hear much about Andrew Daniels…any insight on his development? Will he ever fit into this teams plans? Just curious…
how did the Gibbs topic come up? Is there word he is heading back to MLS?
Was also wondering about Owen. I’d be surprised if the team could afford him, though.
My beleif is that FCD will rue the day they lost those points, as it could be a few points that keep FCD out of the playoffs. Nor do I think there is a very bright future ahead. Buckshot Jones was young, too.
Thanks for the info on #7.