Niell's tenure to be cut short?
Word in both the Examiner and WaPo suggest the Niell will be on his way out soon, at the latest by July 1st when player contracts are guaranteed. At $150k a year, he has not produced as expected, and may be having trouble adjusting to the league and new playing demands. Unless he goes on a scoring streak of titanic proportions, I think the club will find it hard to rationalize keeping him.
Niell acknowledged having troubling fitting into United's system.
"I am the type of player that basically runs forward and I haven't had to run back in a defending capacity, which is something that I have had to get used to here," he said. "I feel I am making progress toward that and ultimately it is the coach's decision to include the players. . . .Right now, I find myself on the outside looking in."
While its tempting to but the blame squarely on Niell, the Front Office has to be taken to task for bringing in a player, a not inexpensive one at that, and forcing him to not play to his strengths.
Labels: Franco Niell, Roster Moves
posted by Oscar M. @ 11:06 AM
10 Comments:
I think this league is too physical for him and for some reason he hasn't done the hustle game as well either lately, DCU can do a lot better for 150K-- heck that's about 10 reserve players...
-K
But up until Saturday night, NO ONE was doing anything. It would be nice to see what he could do over more than just a few games.
Maybe he isn't producing in training either.
Well, per Niell's own comments, he's basically limited to the same role Emilio plays... and we know how much service Emilio has been getting. Of course, we also know what Niell's chances are of taking Emilio's job away from him.
Let him go and bring in Ortega on a free transfer (his contract ends with River at the end of June)...
The front office and coach need to be held responsible, they’ve brought in players and made them play out of position and or a system they've never played before. WTF!!
I for one feel Niell has been rather harshly put under the gun in his short (no physical reference intended) DC career. It wasn't Niell's tactical decision in the Chicago game to play long balls over the top so he had to fight in the air w/ a defender nearly a foot taller then himself. That was outright silly and yet DC kept giving it a go.
Soehn is tactically lacking and has created an unorganized and uninspired mess of a team. He bought himself some time after last weekend’s slim/ugly victory over TFC but only for a short while. If DC gets pummeled tonight, then without a doubt Soenh needs to be put on the next bus out of town before the season is a total and complete wash.
While I agree with those of you who think Niell didn't get a fair shake, I also think its okay to let him go. He does have a fairly high, for the MLS, salary and it seems unlikely that United is going to really change so much that he starts becoming effective. I also haven't seen any flashes of brilliance that make me think that he's worth hanging on to, just in case. Again, he hasn't really had the playing time to see and, at times, it seems almost that it is United that is playing to his weaknesses. But I haven't seen anything that made me think, "if only they didn't send him service suited for Peter Crouch."
Niell was getting more service earlier in the season, but was consistently squandering it. It was frustrating to watch him make runs, but never pull the trigger.
Perhaps he could come around. He does bring a little speed to the game. But I agree that we can make better use of his salary.
I just hope that in replacing him, the FO looks for someone who really meshes with the current team. Not just individual skills, but who matches Gallardo stylistically.
True speed is needed, Roy Lassiter type speed. Flames coming up from the ground as defenders eyes grow wide in terror type speed.
Since this post has been up for so long I can't refrain any longer.
The title should be
Niell's tenure, not Neills tenure.
I prefer this blog since you generally seem to pay attention to spelling and punctuation, but do miss things on occasion.
Editing is always a process.
I am sure that I heard rumbling from the Chicago FO that they were desperately in need of a smallish forward who is hesitant to shoot, but will run the whole game. I think I also read (in that same report) that they are desperate to trade away the rights to out-of-contract-yet-called-up-for-Nat-duty keeper Cervi.
How about it DCU FO? Please make this trade, please oh please oh please...
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