Way down at the bottom of this article, from Brian Lewis, on the Red Bulls interest in one Luke Rodgers, is this little blurb:
Backe confirmed the Red Bulls are trying to acquire a left-winger by the deadline as well, but declined to reveal his identity. "I hope we can land it before Thursday. I think so. Erik (Soler, GM) is doing it but I think he is out of contract. But you'll like him."Yes, I know what you're thinking regarding the "he's out of contract" & "you'll like him" lines, however... Big Apple Soccer reports that Dave Van Den Bergh has not been contacted by the club. With Thursday's deadline to sign players fast approaching, it would be odd for the Red Bulls to not have contated VDB yet - IF they had ANY interest in bringing him back.
Now, after the debacle that was this past Saturday's away game @Chivas USA, the main weakness of this club is, painfully, apparent. And I'm not talking about the goalkeeper. It's true that if Bouna "Time" Coundoul had not committed this awful gaffe, the Red Bulls would have, probably, come out of the Home Depot Center with a point. The fact is, however, that RBNY forwards have had no quality service. Juan Pablo Angel, Mac Kandji, Salou Ibrahim and Conor Chinn got nothing from their midfield this past Saturday. Joel Lindpere has, thus far, been a great player for us, but he's not a true Creative Midfielder. If there is one thing the Red Bulls are lacking, it's creativity in the midfield. In fact, if one examines the goals that were scored in the team's first two MLS games (a rebound from a cross and a rebound from a corner kick), this conclusion is fairly obvious.
We, desperatly, need guys in the midfield who can provide a decent cross, a decent chip or a decent through-ball - on a regular basis - for our forwards to score. While lack of speed has been the argument for NOT bringing Dave VDB back, I'm here to tell the Backe/Soler brain-trust that speed isn't everything. Dane Richards is a perfect example of that. Although he can run like the wind all day long, Dane looks World Class one game and Sunday League the next. Then there's the Dominic Oduro example.
It's highly ironic that Dave VDB, a supremely skilled player, was traded to Dallas for Oduro, a speed demon who did nothing but stink it up in his (mercifully) short spell here. It's great to have players with blinding speed, but if those speedsters are not very skilled (or have no skill whatsoever, as in the case of Oduro), then it will always amount to nothing. Remember this guy? He'd walk around the field, then kill you with a sublime pass. He was Quality Personified.
And quality is what we need here. In my opinion, Dave Van Den Bergh is nothing but Quality Personified. He almost single-handedly WILLED us to MLS Cup 2008. This, in spite of that quack Osorio and his equally inept partner in crime, Jeff Agoos. But the insane pair would try to "make this team better" in 2009 by shipping VDB to Dallas and bringing the great Dominic Oduro. Yes, the Red Bulls' best player of the 2008 season was shipped off to Dallas for the 2nd crappiest player in MLS. I can't legally call Oduro the Worst Player In MLS, as Khano Smith, another brilliant move by the Osorio/Agoos tag team, has now reclaimed the top spot. Man, I still can't believe this happened!
So, please Mr. Backe: If you were wondering where one could find an out-of-contract Left Winger, with the talent to provide great service to RBNY fowards (and score a few goal himself every once in a while), I'm here to you there's one in Dallas screaming "Come And Get Me!"
A few other things:
Philly keeper Chris Seitz had a gaffe that was even worse than Condoul's, but they won. Congratulations to Philly, on their great home opener. It was a great crowd and a great game. And any time that DC United is humiliated, we can all rejoice. O and three, DC! Let's keep that going.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that the NYC area is ready for another MLS team, and, apparently, the Red Bulls agree with him.
Red Bulls Head Coach Hans Backe is a brutally honest type of guy:
“There was no pace, there weren’t any killer passes or final passes or turning the game. It was just sloppy all the time,” he said. “It’s difficult to say why, but it was 10 outfield players who didn’t show up. It was a terrible game.”Ok, home game against Dallas this coming Saturday. Let's get it going RBNY!
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