way too many B’s.

Rocha, really? I saw the talent in the back half of the season which tells me the in the first half, he dogged it.

I was more impressed with Rocha’s first half of the season. He wasn’t playing like a Brazilian after SH got his hands on him.

pwip – what? Rocha finished as FCD’s assist leader with 8, 6 of those coming in the first 12 weeks. You appear to have a different definition of “dogging it’ to me.

“Josh Lambo – Fast recovery from the horrific injury and no apparent mental set back.”

This can’t be said enough. He’s still got work to do on his decision-making that can only come through gaining experience, but he’s clearly a mentally tough kid.

Rocha camped out in the 2nd 3rd of the field until SH arrived. Maybe you can correct me. Was he the AM/RM for most of his starts? He just sat back deep sending long balls into Coop. Not enough runs into the final 3rd. But ultimately, My memory of the 2009 FCD MF’s were they produced so many embarassing no pressure give-aways that got a coach fired.

Agree with you on Moor becoming meaner. Too many nice guys on the Dallas defense. I hate Houston’s defenders. Do they hate ours?

Lots of high indiviual grade for a terrible team….where’s SH’s grade??? FFFFFFFFF

Oh and the thought around the league on FCD is ‘they are soft’ and I can’t argue it ,can you?

I think ‘get meaner’ can apply to our defensive side in general. Intimidation can be a major factor in the outcome of games. I wish more FCD players had Pablo’s mentality. He deserves to be captain next year…

you give sala too much praise, he needs to go gave up too many easy goals

Nice run down. May disagree here or there but genrally they seem good. Too many front ofice distractions this year – from contracts, to a losing streak, to Morrow tinkering with formations, to LA Beckham meltdowns, to Schellas coming….all too much.

I think Pablo play better the first half of the season. More assist, more tackles, no red cards.. and probably we loss him for ‘09 because SM and MH promises

Saragosa – B?
Saragosa – D should be more like it. The guy plays so sloppy and slow. Terrible player.

man, stop drinkin the hate-r-ade

My only main disagreement is Sala. It seemed to me that after he came from injury, he became very hesitant to go out for corners and other free kicks from the outside. He seemed overly relaxed when the ball was in the FCD defensive 3rd and it cost the team several goals allowed. However, the last few games he seemed to be more aggressive in the 6.

I think what made him “look good” is his height and large frame. But for me, he had a long stretch of allowing too many soft goals.

I’d give him a C.

Rich, Sala “looked” bad because our D was always parting the red sea. From what I remember about this season Dario had a few goals you could put on him. Most of his goals were because he was having to cover up other players mistakes or the player would make a mistake and Dario could do nothing about it.

i dont care that there is a captain on the defense, the true captain is the goalie when the ball is on our defensive 3rd, now if those players left him out to dry because they werent listening to him then its not sala’s fault but if its because he didn’t put them in the position he wanted then its his fault which i think it was a combination of both. I dont know how many times we were ahead and gave up a silly goal for the other team to tie becasue the defense had a mishap. but doesnt really matter now.

Harlan, that the FCD defense was lacking this season is no secret. And I’m fully aware of the add’l pressure that puts on the GK. However, defensive lapses aside, Sala gave up several goals in 2008 that he most likely would have stopped last year. I’m not talking about the “breakaway goals”, or the 1-1 goals. Those I can accept as defensive errors.

I’m talking about goals allowed from set plays (corners, free kicks). My observations are in reference to a change in his “style” of goalkeeping.

Also, when a ‘keeper knows there are problems with his defense (as Sala most certainly should have known), that’s when he has to cover for those issues. One way to do that is to be a bigger “presence” in the 18, and definitely in the 6. That’s where Sala failed, in my opinion. He became less aggressive, less sharp, less “aware” of what was happening when his “turf” was flooded with players from both sides.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I believe he started to get back to his 2007 form there at the end of 2008. And I hope he will continue to improve. I just don’t think he had a very good season.

Good job Buzz. Can’t say I disagree with anything.. but man.. tell me how you really feel about Davino

If Sala had been born in this country, you guys would be hailing him as the best goalkeeper in the league. FYI…our back line is that bad. I would argue that no other goalkeeper had to deal with more 1 v 1 situations than Dario Sala. I would also say that Sala is one of the best in the league 1 v 1. For those of us who know a thing or two about goalkeeping, the only thing right about the defense is Sala. For most of the year Sala was in the top 5 in the league for gaa. The guy reads the game beautifully and has single-handedly kept us in many games with a key save at the right moment. That’s what you want in a goalkeeper, and he has more than delivered. My friends on the inside know that a lot of other teams in the league have requested the services of Sala, so don’t be surprised if Sala ends up in a NYRB uniform or L.A. Galaxy jersey, but then again Lambo needs more time to learn from Sala and Burse has shown he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a starter in this league.

So, for next year:

Sala [Lambo]

Serioux-Moor-Pitch-Wagner
[Dello-Russo, Shea, Wallace]

Rocha-Richetti-Avila-Sikora
[McCarty, Saragosa]

Cooper-Cunningham
[Watson, Oduro]

Where is a new player needed most?

im not saying i want the other guys behind him and i would be bashing him if he was from the u.s.. he kept us in some games but he also hurt us in other situations too.