DP talk, RSL, and some other stuff

as many of you have seen, there is a post over on imscouting that talks about 5 of the designated players that are being targeted for the MLS. 3 of the 5 are well known to EPL followers, not to mention if you happened to follow france in 1998 and 2000. Henry, Pires and Vieira were all part of Arsenals cup winning teams earlier in the decade, and they were also part of france’s 1998 world cup win, and 2000 euro cup win.

first of all, i have no idea how much truth there is in this article. the chances of more than 1 of those players coming to MLS is probably pretty small,  but let’s forget about that, and talk about who we would take.

these 3 players in particular have obviously have had success. but would i want them on the sounders? yes, no and no.

thierry henry – yes please

bobby pires – no thanks

vieira – no thanks

let’s first start with the no’s.

pires. first of all, he runs like a bowlegged duck. that isn’t good/bad, just had to say it. he was deceivingly fast in his prime. i am not sure if that is b/c he had such good ball control so it appeared that he could run fast, but he sure passed a lot people with his faux speed and canard like ball skills.  much of that speed and skill has taken a bit of a step back these days, and bobby is on the downhill of his career. i would liken the place in his career to where freddie is now. yes, still skilled, but lacking that last bit of speed and skill that made them world class, 7-10 years ago.

and like freddie, i believe pires is a player that needs many other skilled, creative players around them, to succeed. he wouldn’t be a huge game changer by himself.

vieira – in his prime, the argument between ManU and Arsenal players was, who has the best central midfielder in the world…. ManU claiming keane, and obviously Arsenal players claiming vieira. imho, you could take either and do just fine. vieira is a long legged ball winner who can score the occasional goal. his ability to tackle, win the ball, turn around and instantly turn defense into attack, is what made him so good in his prime. after he left arsenal, he has seen time at juve, inter and most recently mancity. i have to admit, since leaving the EPL, i haven’t watched much of vieira, but at 33, he isn’t exactly young for his position. i believe that he can play either defensive midfielder (which we don’t need) or attacking midfielder. now i can’t believe i am going to say this about a man that still has an outside chance of going to travel with france to the world cup, but i just don’t love the idea of trying to extend a once great players career by a few years in the MLS Farewell Tour.

would he be good, yes, do i want him, no.

Henry.

ok, now i am going to probably contradict much of what i just said about the MLS Farewell Tour logic, but yes, i would take Henry.  is it b/c i was born in london to a scottish mother, and what he did against the irish is the stuff of legends? no it isn’t, but it does make me giggle from time to time.

it is because i think he could still score a ton of goals in MLS. henry’s skill over his career has been his speed (to help him beat offsides traps) and his simple, but deadly accuracy. henry found himself 1×1 with the keeper countless times in the epl and he scored at an alarming rate.  he surely has lost some of that speed, but i don’t think he has deteriorated nearly as much as some people say.

but he sits on the bench for barcelona right now, and doesn’t get in too many games. SURELY HE IS OVERY IT.

um, no. this is barcelona. arguably the best team in the world.  ONLY making the bench is not a sign of losing it.  remember when ronoldhino had “lost it” at barca? well tell that to inter fans now.

yes, i do believe henry is on the downside of his career, but not like bobby or patrick. i don’t think he has gone that far yet. plus, he does something that we are sorely missing… he scores goals!!!! and i bet he would still do it a ton in MLS.

i want to build a team around young good midfielders, but i don’t mind bringing in an assassin for a few years up top. most strikers have a short life in this game, so you aren’t going to find many that are good for years upon years. it isn’t even the case that strikers are best in their youth. look at drogba, and to some degree, henrik larsson. they were more deadly  at 30 then at 24. so if we only had henry for a few years, but it was a prolific 2 years, then i would take that for sure.

ok, enough of all that. i am not going to comment on guily or meriem as i know nothing about them right now, and i would be speculating…. and we all know that i never speculate.

as for other players that MLS should go after… well there is this one new guy that many of you may never have heard of. his name is messi, and he is a pretty darn good player. not sure if he would initially get the nod over evans or levesque, but if he tried hard, he might get a game in.

- RSL this weekend. what do you know about that? i felt very confident against NYRB and while a few goals could have gone our way and changed it all in the end, how wrong i was.  my gut on playing RSL is a draw. while they just snuck into the playoffs last year, that run to lift the cup will fill that team with confidence, even a season later. they came out the blocks in the first week, stomping san jose, but then faltered last week in houston.

this will be their home opener so they will obviously want to hold their ground.

like always, this is going to be the same old story. we can likely keep them out of the goal, or at least held to just 1, but can we score? hanauer has promised piles of goals, but he has promised that before. and unless he is lacing up and knows something about his skill level that we don’t, i am not sure he can keep promising these elusive piles that we have not seen.

mike is going to post a little later on all the places around western wa  that have “events” around watching. and by “events” i mean, people will be there and stuff. where will you be watching then?

me, i am sans kids that night. my lovely wife, who doesn’t check my soccer calendar as often as she needs to, made plans with another couple for 7pm. just lovely i say. top notch, pip pip, ra there and go team.

when i want to get somewhere by 7, she is usually ready by 8. think i will have this luck on saturday? of course not.

happy wednesday and GO SOUNDERS.