D.C. United in talks with Pogba, RFK stadium plans, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s a bit of a light news day, but at least the weather’s beautiful!
Paul Pogba, looking to return after doping ban, in talks with D.C. United (Washington Post $)
Will this be the answer’s to D.C. United’s problems? Jason Levien appears to think so.
Commanders, D.C. reach deal for new $4B stadium at RFK site (ESPN)
The plan still has to clear a few hurdles, but it seems very likely that DC will be chipping in to help pay for a new stadium for the Commanders at the RFK site. Of particular interest to me is the Washington Spirit logo that appears on the “Year-Round Activity at RFK” slide of the proposal. You know Michele Kang didn’t hire a lobbying firm on this deal for nothing.
After nearly being promoted, Wolves Women discover club never applied for promotion (Pro Soccer Wire)
Disgraceful behavior from team ownership. The women’s side fought all the way to the final day before being informed that, had they finished first they still wouldn’t have been eligible for promotion to the second division because owners chose not to apply.
Portland Thorns’ Jessie Fleming and Racing Louisville’s Ary Borges express frustrations after NWSL record 41 fouls (All for XI)
There was some weird officiating in the NWSL this weekend, but I think this match takes the cake. Forty-one fouls but just one yellow left both teams feeling frustrated, and Ary Borges earned a red card after the match (and likely a long-term suspension) for confronting and making contact with the ref.
In some sad news, local journalist Pablo Maurer has announced that he will no longer be working for The Athletic, beginning in June. He’s done really good work there, including the recent piece exposing conditions at Loudoun United, and he’s probably the best out there at uncovering interesting stories from the history of soccer in the U.S. Here’s hoping he finds something new soon!
Matt Doyle does a weekly power rankings on his Substack, and he had DC at 29th. His comment was “Expecting some changes soon.”
I read this and commented, “Oh god, the Pogba thing is happening!” to which he replied, “Pogba is using DC as leverage to get $15 million from Saudi Arabia.”
That may certainly be true, but if Pogba not coming isn’t the change that Doyle has in mind, then the next most likely change to happen – in my mind – would be Troy Lesesne getting fired.
We can dream that its owners who care….
Coach Lesesne seems like a decent person but in my opinion, he failed to fix or even slightly improve what was a glaring problem last season: defense. We don’t have a problem creating, we didn’t have a problem creating last season either. But we are abysmal in defense and Coach Lesesne and the GM did nothing to improve that facet of the team. We neither acquired better defenders or at least tweak the system to accommodate the strengths of the personnel we have on field. For all the crap fans put out about Olsen’s failures as a coach, he was way more pragmatic than Lesesne. I get that all coachers/managers are stubborn as hell but unless your name is Guardiola, rigid stubbornness becomes a hindrance.
Here’s my take. When you press/high block, then you need to have some structure and talent behind that frontline when the press is broken. And what you see is Peltola and Enow in Lesesne’s doghouse and showing they’re mediocre at providing that cover so the rest of the team can regroup when the initial press is broken. Our backline isn’t world class but they should perform better. But I think our Central Mids have been the biggest culprit in our defensive failures.
Now, we also don’t finish worth a damn. We create chances, lots of high xG ratings but not so much finishing.
Agreed on the defense remark, it is better than it plays (that makes sense). Finishing is very wasteful.
Jacob Murrell could have been a hero against PHL? Maybe he will be next time with a little bit more seasoning?
It may be my Blue and Gray Hoya blood, but I think he has shown progress, and has not hit his ceiling yet.
I agree with Goff’s assessment. I think Pogo is just using us as leverage. Initially, this is very damning of Levien. He is excited by shiny new toys that have some glitz associated with them but not the damn blocking and tackling necessary to build a good team. With the youth talent in the DC area, it’s inexcusable that we don’t have good transition side from our Academy to the first team. I could live with us being a low budget team if we had a pipeline of youth talent like Paredes showing up. But Levien is too damn cheap and can’t keep his eye on the ball to get this done.
Although Jason is nice to talk to, and seems like a decent man, his view of shiny toys is very Snyderesque. This whole Pogba thing is noise until its not. I do not think he is the solution.
David Gass and Tom Bogert were talking about the Pogba thing on Soccerwise. Bogert noted that Ally Mackay’s pick for a manager had been Dome Torrent, but ownership wouldn’t sign off on the salary, immediately undercutting his first big decision as a GM. (It should be noted that Torrent has the same number of points with Atlanta as Lesesne does with DC, but still.)
Basically, there’s no good reason for anyone to feel at all confident about anything with Jason Levien involved.
Deila is Atlanta’s coach, but Torrent does seem to be available… however, given his grumblings about the league before, I don’t know how happy he’d be working with one of the most mismanaged teams. And the point still stands that it was a cheapskate move.
I just read the piece of coaches on the hot seat from Goal.com, and honestly while I’m less than impressed with some of Troy’s decisions, he’s got far and away the worst team among those discussed (Atlanta, LA). And as much flak as we’ve given him for lacking flexibility, he’s made some pretty drastic changes to the team this year. I give him credit for that even though the results haven’t come. He’s having to plug in unwanted FAs from other teams in place of high-priced players that have performed very poorly.
Whoops (about mixing up Deila and Torrent)!
Somehow ESPNFC only dropped DCU to 20th from 19th after this past weekend in their power rankings.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/44900376/mls-power-rankings-vancouver-whitecaps-inter-miami-top-portland-timbers-hit-form
Are there 19 teams in the league?
Strangely, I think Pogba going to Saudi after making Levien look like a fool is best for everyone, including Levien
I could be way off, it’s possible, but what are the chances that he really wants to come to DC to play for the right reasons, is different than he has been for about s decade when he does, and that the rest of the team overcomes the holes in his game on the field? His best play has come working with N’golo Kante. It may surprise Levien, we do not have a prime era N’golo Kante.
This not happening is better than creating a hoopla and an even worse collapse with recriminations.
Pogba is going to Miami with DeBruyna. MLS will make a new rule to make it happen.
DC United will trade his rights for 5,000 in GAM.
Pogba would basically be Ravel Morrison redux, but with considerably more talent, to be sure.
I like that perspective. You’d think I’d be drooling for Pogba. I am just not sure that he is motivates and also a bit looney. (considering the latter, Minnesota United might be good fit?)
A few other thoughts:
–Minnesota signs Julian Gressel. Good for him.
–That’s inexcusable of Wolves. There are still too many “amateur hour” clubs at the women’s level.
–41 fouls? Yikes. Not much flow to that match.
Does anybody know if any other player besides Gressel has completed the “United Trifecta,” playing for Atlanta, DC, and Minnesota?
Was curious myself after you said this. Looking through the list of all-time players for Minnesota, it looks like Gressel is the only one to do this. Though there are quite a few that are just missing one of the three (like if good old Bobby Boswell decides to come out of retirement to suit up for Minnesota)
Miguel Berry or Tyler Miller seem like plausible candidates.
Oddly enough, Tyler Miller isn’t even listed on that all-time player list on Wikipedia, which is a big omission. So there could in theory be someone really random in there that has done it, but I feel like there’s probably not. But, agreed theyre both plausible. Would think Derrick Williams (or maybe even Klich) would be possible after this year too. Hell, who knows, maybe Atlanta trades Klich there mid-season, that would sure be something
MLS Writer’s Bureau rankings has DCU moving up a spot to 27th, but that’s because they dropped Toronto to 28th from 26th.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings-philadelphia-union-gain-steam-san-diego-fc-stumble