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| Who will The Viper's Nest put on the chopping block? |
With the World Cup close to completion, the nation's eyes will be returning to MLS and the Red Bulls. Okay, that may be overstating it a bit, but it is as good an excuse of any for a quick column on the state of the team.
The question posed was "If you were making a decision today, who on the roster do you cut and who do you keep?" The responses might surprise you (but probably not). Below you can see the decisions and a few thoughts on each player and those at the top of the org chart from Matt, in black; Tom, in red; and Big Viper in blue.
Andy
Roxburgh
Keep But Austria has to be concerned about his
talent evaluation
Keep Needs to step
it up, but FO needs continuity & adult supervision
Cut We need a
GM that values creativity
Mike Petke
Cut Hate to do this, but he is tactically
naïve. We need an adult in charge. What do
we do in training?
we do in training?
Cut Still
looking for any evidence of coaching skill. Suspect of "character"
claims
Cut Has
lost the ability to motivate these guys. Again, need someone here who values
creativity
creativity
Andre Akpan
Keep Bench fodder
Keep We need to get
younger fast
Cut Totally
useless
Eric
Alexander
Keep But only to play on the wing. Otherwise
bench.
Keep Needs a consistent
role for long term value
Cut Not
the answer at all
Armando
Cut Every game he's a red card waiting to
happen. Would rather see Miazga develop if
we're gonna suck.
we're gonna suck.
Cut Lots of
mental lapses in coverage, major foul risk. Will miss the hair.
Cut When Matt
Miazga is better than you, there is no choice but OUT
Ruben Bover
Keep Great in a sub role for now. Promising
talent.
Keep Jury is far
from in, but glimmer of talent is exciting. Needs minutes
Keep Pretty good
sub option
Michael
Bustamante
Keep No reason to cut - has he even played?
Keep Purely for
Young MC joke
Keep Showed good
play in the few games he played last year
Tim Cahill
Keep When he's here a key
player for us. You can see we miss him.
Keep The real leader
of the team. Probably has 2 good years left for us
Keep A "Get
Stuck In" guy. He has been huge for us
Santiago
Castaño
Keep I guess. Third keeper.
Keep Meara will go,
so we need a backup
Keep I can't rate
this guy
Ian
Christianson
Keep Not sure if he'll ever play. Injury-prone.
Cut Haven’t seen
him yet and probably never will
Cut Seems to
have a broken metatarsal at all times
Bobby Convey
Keep But only because we have no one else at
left back at the moment. Massive
disappointment, but I never expected much.
disappointment, but I never expected much.
Cut The Heath
Pearce of 2014. Illusion of competence
Cut Dude is
total crap
Chris Duvall
Keep Has looked decent in the changes he's had
so far
Keep Solid to strong
in starting debut, defending and going forward. Could give us back
what we lost with ridiculous Barklage cut
what we lost with ridiculous Barklage cut
Keep Our long term
starter at right back
Richard
Eckersley
Cut Pricey GARBAGE
Cut Number 1
reason to burn FO to the ground
Cut Horrible
Thierry
Henry
Keep Probably his last season. Lousy way to go
out.
Keep Le Roi!
Cut Gone next
season anyway
Kosuke
Kimura
Keep Not great but he'd be my preferred backup
to Duvall at RB.
Keep Middle of the
road player. Some bonehead moves this year, including horrendous
foul in the box for a PK
foul in the box for a PK
Cut Too much for
a reserve Right Back
Connor Lade
Cut If he can't get a game at LB over
Convey he must blow.
Cut Sadly. More
of a Petke issue, it would seem. He will come back to bite us.
Cut Has to get
time elsewhere
Péguy
Luyindula
Keep Like his in MF, less so as striker.
Keep Feelings change
on him day to day. Does just enough to keep you optimistic
Keep I guess
Dax McCarty
Keep He's having a poor season by his standards
but our best pure DM.
Keep Losing Dax
would be big blow to vaunted "consistency." Not sexy but solid.
Cut Probably
our best trade option
Ryan Meara
Keep Solid backup to Robles.
Cut Still think
he may be better than Robles, but we can't keep him on bench forever
Cut Might be
worth something in a trade
Matt Miazga
Keep Can we please see if he's better than our
current central defenders? Can he really
be much worse?
be much worse?
Keep Keep for youth
Keep Our Long Term
starter at Center Back
Roy Miller
Keep Never thought I'd say it but I hope he
comes back soon.
Keep THE SINGLE MOST
IMPORTANT PLAYER IN RED BULLS HISTORY
Keep Has
done a great job for us. At least one more season here.
Marius
Obekop
Keep Why not?
Keep Youth movement
Keep Can't rate
this guy
Jámison
Olave
Keep But he has no pace anymore. All
bull-in-a-china-shop defending. Card after card
and always a penalty danger.
and always a penalty danger.
Keep Our best pure
defender
Cut He's
slow as molasses and prone to give up bad PK's
Ambroise
Oyongo
Keep Great attacking skills, probably needs to
work on defensive side of his game
Keep Yes, 2 weeks
ago had no idea who he was.
Keep Our Long Term
option at Left Back
Luis Robles
Keep Less great in recent weeks but has kept us
in many games. How sad is that?
Keep So much more
than we could have hoped for
Keep Has been huge
for us for two seasons now
Lloyd Sam
Keep Pretty good season for Lloyd so far.
Keep Good and
getting better
Keep Good to have a
player like Sam
Ibrahim
Sekagya
Keep I guess. Not a huge fan. Big body, no pace.
Cut Flashes of
quality, but let's not kid ourselves
Cut See Olave
above
Jonny Steele
Keep But only as bench depth. Not having a good
season.
Keep I'm a fan.
Waiting on a big comeback. Needs minutes to produce
Cut Has totally
lost his Mojo
Eric
Stevenson
Keep Again, who?
Cut No reason to
say “yes”
Cut I can't
rate this guy
Bradley
Wright-Phillips
Keep Banging in the goals. Just a shame we're
giving them out like Halloween candy
at the other end.
at the other end.
Keep Do I really
need to explain this one? Can work on his passing
Keep Scoring goals
in bunches for us. Imagine if he had some creativity behind him.
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