TT's write up of soccer disaster

[kevinfootes]

Did anybody see it? Sounds like a mess.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/billiken-...-soccer-season/

[DoctorB]

I was there and walked out after the third goal. The two second half goals were great plays by UNM, but our defense was completely asleep at the wheel -- really dominated by UNM. Utterly outmanned.

Donigan: "It was an embarrassment." true, dat.

[brianstl]

Hey its DD. I don't get high hopes for the soccer team anymore.

[slufanskip]

Did anybody see it? Sounds like a mess.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/billiken-...-soccer-season/

I had to leave after the pk goal in the 1st half. What was up with Ream starting in the midfield?

We tried to live by the long ball, which seems to be a trademark of our teams under DD. Seriously, it's time for him to go. Actually, it's past time. It doesn't matter what kind of recruiting class we bring in. DD has not shown the ability as a coach to organize a team, and get it to play to it's strength's. I've had enough of watching us under perform the last few years.

[moytoy12]

I had to leave after the pk goal in the 1st half. What was up with Ream starting in the midfield?

We tried to live by the long ball, which seems to be a trademark of our teams under DD. Seriously, it's time for him to go. Actually, it's past time. It doesn't matter what kind of recruiting class we bring in. DD has not shown the ability as a coach to organize a team, and get it to play to it's strength's. I've had enough of watching us under perform the last few years.

Man, sounds like he went to the Bob Bradley school of soccer tactics.

[SLUBALLS]

Never seen SLU beat 3-0 at home. I remember a Duke game there a while back but SLU at least made that a game in the seond half and they lost 3-2. Thoughts:

- SLU looked horribly disjointed. I have to think having no less than 5 new guys on the pitch affected their play. The small ball passing was just not there. When we resort to long ball after long ball trying to find 5'5'' Bartolon up top, we have a problem. NM looked awesome off the ball as they would pass and move, pass and move, pass and move. NM's Transition out of the back was not dependent on long balls; so many up and backs to get the full formation up the field in a controlled way.

- Have to find a way to get Roach the ball. He's the one solid creator out there. I thought he worked hard to get the ball, checking back numerous times to his mids, only to see a ball go over his head. If Wiz gets back to full health, will Roach move back to attacking mid?

- I like Viv and his defense, but he looked a bit too casual last night and constantly resorted to the long ball. Maybe that was due to a lack of work by his middies, but it got old quickly to see a long pass become a turnover. I didn't hear much leadership from him either; maybe he and Ream were barking out there but what I do know is NM never shut up and were constantly communicating to each other.

[Box and Won]

And this is after a 2-0 exhibition loss to Memphis. Ugh.

[courtside]

Multiple topics here.

Exhibitions are just that exhibitions to play a bunch of players on your roster and try different things.

I won't overreact or underreact just as I didn't early last season when IU was pasted 4-0 by Dartmouth.

SLU lost a lot of players, and the current issue is lack of Juniors and Sophomores in terms of talent and depth. Other than Roach there is nothing there. Bartolon and Bellomy are bench level players at this level. Several Freshman are asked to start and contribute right away, but the talent level of the Freshman, while promising for the future, isn't good enough to be immediate impact. The St. Louis area has produced very, very few of these players over the past many years. And, SLU has, multiple St. Louis High School Players of the Year on their roster and several former first teamers. This puts pressure to find one or two elite players elsewhere, while also maintaining depth with good, solid talent, such as a Maglasang, Robson, etc..in terms of numbers annually. This year's Frosh class is very good, in terms of depth, talent as four year players, but none are those once every few to several year Nationally elite level talents. Next year SLU already has commits from all of the four to five best local St. Louis high school area players. This bodes well for depth, talent and so forth as these two classes get a couple of years under their belt. It does not bode well for today.

So, to the game, it's one game, and let's take a look.

All American left back canidate Tim Ream was asked to start at midfield to help create offense and for controlling that part of the field. This experiment ended in the second half when he went back to left back.

Solid returnee Alex Johnston started at left back, and he had a sub-par game taking poor angles, commiting the obvious penalty in the box, until he returned to his more familiar right back in the second half.

Jake Brown was the best Freshman on the field and he showed well with size, strength, grit, and winning many aerial battles time and again. However, the disparity in his aerial game vs his ground game is so much that it is difficult to keep him in the game. He will be a very strong defender for years, but he isn't ready for this level yet, as is the case with most Frosh. Brown was completely responsible for one goal and partially responsible for another.

The drop off from Barklage and Patterson on the wings to Bortolon and Sweetin is extraordinary and expected. Bartolon is a limited player who plays with grit and heart, but lacks size and lacks speed. If you don't have either, that's tough. Sweetin isn't ready and played poorly. Again, a promising future player. He showed poor decision making, lack of creativity on the right side. All of the Frosh except for Brown looked very nervous in their first game. The Benny Estes injury is unfortunate as he would have made some impact as a Frosh this season.

Maglasang is a defensive mid playing right back, again, promising future player but it'll take him playing a lot all season to show better results late this season and into next. All of the Frosh need a year to adjust to the pace and physicality of this level.

I'd be surprised if the starting back line next game wasn't Ream, Brown, Viviano, and Johnston. That's how it ended last night and likely how it should have started. Roach will have to be the attacking mid.

The lack of Juniors and Sophs is the issue. The Frosh need time.

There are no excuses for guys like Ream, Viviano, Aranda, Hayes, Holmes and so forth to not have had a better showing.

The goals themselves were a tackle in the box from behind, easy PK finish. The next was one of several Jake Brown giveaways, easy finish. The third was a hustle play where multiple SLU players, inlcuding two veterans were outworked for a goal. Kaufman had no chance on all three. New Mexico was progressively better after a slow start, moving without the ball and connecting some passes. They had a solid road showing.

[slufanskip]

Multiple topics here.

Exhibitions are just that exhibitions to play a bunch of players on your roster and try different things.

I won't overreact or underreact just as I didn't early last season when IU was pasted 4-0 by Dartmouth.

SLU lost a lot of players, and the current issue is lack of Juniors and Sophomores in terms of talent and depth. Other than Roach there is nothing there. Bartolon and Bellomy are bench level players at this level. Several Freshman are asked to start and contribute right away, but the talent level of the Freshman, while promising for the future, isn't good enough to be immediate impact. The St. Louis area has produced very, very few of these players over the past many years. And, SLU has, multiple St. Louis High School Players of the Year on their roster and several former first teamers. This puts pressure to find one or two elite players elsewhere, while also maintaining depth with good, solid talent, such as a Maglasang, Robson, etc..in terms of numbers annually. This year's Frosh class is very good, in terms of depth, talent as four year players, but none are those once every few to several year Nationally elite level talents. Next year SLU already has commits from all of the four to five best local St. Louis high school area players. This bodes well for depth, talent and so forth as these two classes get a couple of years under their belt. It does not bode well for today.

So, to the game, it's one game, and let's take a look.

All American left back canidate Tim Ream was asked to start at midfield to help create offense and for controlling that part of the field. This experiment ended in the second half when he went back to left back.

Solid returnee Alex Johnston started at left back, and he had a sub-par game taking poor angles, commiting the obvious penalty in the box, until he returned to his more familiar right back in the second half.

Jake Brown was the best Freshman on the field and he showed well with size, strength, grit, and winning many aerial battles time and again. However, the disparity in his aerial game vs his ground game is so much that it is difficult to keep him in the game. He will be a very strong defender for years, but he isn't ready for this level yet, as is the case with most Frosh. Brown was completely responsible for one goal and partially responsible for another.

The drop off from Barklage and Patterson on the wings to Bortolon and Sweetin is extraordinary and expected. Bartolon is a limited player who plays with grit and heart, but lacks size and lacks speed. If you don't have either, that's tough. Sweetin isn't ready and played poorly. Again, a promising future player. He showed poor decision making, lack of creativity on the right side. All of the Frosh except for Brown looked very nervous in their first game. The Benny Estes injury is unfortunate as he would have made some impact as a Frosh this season.

Maglasang is a defensive mid playing right back, again, promising future player but it'll take him playing a lot all season to show better results late this season and into next. All of the Frosh need a year to adjust to the pace and physicality of this level.

I'd be surprised if the starting back line next game wasn't Ream, Brown, Viviano, and Johnston. That's how it ended last night and likely how it should have started. Roach will have to be the attacking mid.

The lack of Juniors and Sophs is the issue. The Frosh need time.

There are no excuses for guys like Ream, Viviano, Aranda, Hayes, Holmes and so forth to not have had a better showing.

The goals themselves were a tackle in the box from behind, easy PK finish. The next was one of several Jake Brown giveaways, easy finish. The third was a hustle play where multiple SLU players, inlcuding two veterans were outworked for a goal. Kaufman had no chance on all three. New Mexico was progressively better after a slow start, moving without the ball and connecting some passes. They had a solid road showing.

The problem is .... it isn't one game. It's been far too many years of trying to win soccer games without an ability to create scoring chances or retain possession of the ball. I'm sorry, the roster was created by DD, and it's not like we're coming off a great season where we lost so many great players. We were a good, but no more than good team last year with all the players we lost. Saying it's just one game is like saying Chris Duncan's last K was just one K. It's not just one ... it's just the last one.

Seriously, I've had enough. There is no reason for SLU to get the results they have over the last 5 or 6 years. We have 1 tourney victory in what? 5 years. Yes, I know soccer has improved throught the country and St. Louis is no longer the dominant area it once was, but it is still a good area and imo there is no reason and it's not acceptable for SLU to continue to get the results we've gotten the last 5 or so years. We win 1 tourney game in 5 years and now we have to rebuild? It's time to make a change.

[Lobo]

The problem is .... it isn't one game. It's been far too many years of trying to win soccer games without an ability to create scoring chances or retain possession of the ball. I'm sorry, the roster was created by DD, and it's not like we're coming off a great season where we lost so many great players. We were a good, but no more than good team last year with all the players we lost. Saying it's just one game is like saying Chris Duncan's last K was just one K. It's not just one ... it's just the last one.

Seriously, I've had enough. There is no reason for SLU to get the results they have over the last 5 or 6 years. We have 1 tourney victory in what? 5 years. Yes, I know soccer has improved throught the country and St. Louis is no longer the dominant area it once was, but it is still a good area and imo there is no reason and it's not acceptable for SLU to continue to get the results we've gotten the last 5 or so years. We win 1 tourney game in 5 years and now we have to rebuild? It's time to make a change.

[Lobo]

UNM is riding a high after defeating the Billikens soundly.

I agree, DD has not been an effective coach the last 5 years. His teams don't play up to the level of his recruits and he is effectively pissing away the best record in college soccer. I felt several years ago that he needs to move on.

[slufanskip]

UNM is riding a high after defeating the Billikens soundly.

I agree, DD has not been an effective coach the last 5 years. His teams don't play up to the level of his recruits and he is effectively pissing away the best record in college soccer. I felt several years ago that he needs to move on.

It's not just the record, it's how we go about getting the results we do get. About the only atribute I can say a DD coached team usually has is, they usually hustle. That's it! We hustle, anybody got any other good things to say about a DD coached team?

Are we a technically skilled team? No

Are we a big strong team? No, though we usually try and play a style suited to big strong teams, we aren't and haven't been.

Are we a possession team? No

We're a team of square pegs trying to fit into round holes, and that's generally been true the last half dozen years. I think it was SLUBALLS in an earlier post that said we kept trying to serve the ball long to a short 5' 9" transfer Stephen something I think who doesn't have good speed or isn't strong enough to out muscle someone for the ball.

Many fans don't like Holmes, why? because we can't utilize his assets. We rarely play the ball through to him in space where he can use his speed and ability to finish to score. Why? because we can't retain possession in the midfield. Why? because we haven't had a creative mid in years, instead we have a team full of defensive mids who specialize in outhustling oponents and winning the ball only to drop it back to defender who in return plays it long to forwards that aren't able to take advantage of the long ball. It's an endless cycle, and it's been going on for to long. Time has revealed who DD is and how his teams play.

[Cowboy]

-soccer guys, noticed in today's stlpd and courtside mentioned next yr's class, are these players high major soccer talents? or at least better than who they will be replacing?

[SluSignGuy]

UNM is riding a high after defeating the Billikens soundly.

I agree, DD has not been an effective coach the last 5 years. His teams don't play up to the level of his recruits and he is effectively pissing away the best record in college soccer. I felt several years ago that he needs to move on.

Long time no see. Welcome back.

[floridaguy]

They have lots of internal problems with discipline, prima dona players created by soccer culture. Where was their best guy the first two exhibition games-suspended. Last night was a pasting by UNM.

[slufanskip]

They have lots of internal problems with discipline, prima dona players created by soccer culture. Where was their best guy the first two exhibition games-suspended. Last night was a pasting by UNM.

are you calling viv their best player? Are we the only team with this problem that was created by the soccer culture? Do other sports not create prima dona's?

[SLUBALLS]

Court and Skip....both have fair and valid points. Otherwise, note some of these other opening game scores. It wasn't just St. Louis that had issues:

Creighton 0 (Preseason 2)- Loyola (Chicago) 0 - Creighton outshot Loyola 22-10 but did not record a shot on goal until the 51st minute of play. Loyola keeper Peter McKeown had five saves. Creighton’s Brian Holt had four.

Wake Forest 1 (preseason 3) - William and Mary 0 - A game William and Mary squad kept this one close. Forward Zack Schlawski scored the lone goal for the Deacs in the 73rd minute. Wake Forest had 15 corner kicks.

Gardner Webb 1 - Clemson 0 - John Sargent placed a lob over the head of the Clemson keeper in the 34th minute of play to give the Bulldogs the upset win. A bend but don’t break Bulldog defense got the job done.

Northwestern 3 (preseason 9) - Green Bay 3 (ot) - Northwestern twice led by two goals by Green Bay kept coming back. Matt Eliason scored twice for Northwestern. Santaga Stadium in Green Bay was rocking.

Cincinnati 5 - Dayton 2 (preseason 18) - The Bearcats notched a huge upset by thumping Dayton on their home turf. Branden Stelmak led the attack with two goals. Kit North, Nick Weightman, and D.J. Albert also scored.

[William Iken]

-soccer guys, noticed in today's stlpd and courtside mentioned next yr's class, are these players high major soccer talents? or at least better than who they will be replacing?

Why is it that for the last 3 years (at least) some people just repeat the same mantra, "just wait until next year's recruiting class"? It's a broken record and getting old.

Sorry, but SLU should get some/most of the best St Louis talent and recruit highly rated outsiders. Period. Players like Stephen Bortolon are good kids and hustle but are they really good enough to be on a top 10 or 25 team? I suggest not. In fact (not to pick on Bortolon, but...) quite frankly any Canadian good enough to be on a top 10 or 25 team has appeared in countless games for the Canadian U-17s and U-19s. Bortolon hasn't.

But it is only one game...

Now, going to check if I can watch the game online (although sounds like I shouldn't)...Can't find it. Probably a good thing.

BTW, as I asked in another thread, where's Charles Bryce? And others? Anyone know?

[courtside]

Why is it that for the last 3 years (at least) some people just repeat the same mantra, "just wait until next year's recruiting class"? It's a broken record and getting old.

Sorry, but SLU should get some/most of the best St Louis talent and recruit highly rated outsiders. Period. Players like Stephen Bortolon are good kids and hustle but are they really good enough to be on a top 10 or 25 team? I suggest not. In fact (not to pick on Bortolon, but...) quite frankly any Canadian good enough to be on a top 10 or 25 team has appeared in countless games for the Canadian U-17s and U-19s. Bortolon hasn't.

But it is only one game...

Now, going to check if I can watch the game online (although sounds like I shouldn't)...Can't find it. Probably a good thing.

BTW, as I asked in another thread, where's Charles Bryce? And others? Anyone know?

Holmes, Stl player of the year.

Maglasang, Stl player of the year.

Roach, Stl player of the year.

Robson best player in area before getting injured.

Sweetin and Davenport, two best offensive players in Missouri last season.

The current Frosh are a solid, good, class with depth. They aren't Ibisevic but they are good, solid players, the best of the area and state. Next year, SLU already has oral commitments from 4-5 of the best players in the Stl area alone. That's combining two classes in a row, which is what teams need to do to be successful multiple years and keep it going. So, when the current Frosh are Juniors, all still around and all healthy, combined with next year's class, SLU on paper has a very strong team, and would the following year as well and so forth. The problem is the current Soph and Junior classes, not only don't have depth, they have nothing other than Roach. That's a huge gap and problem. The current Frosh are not ready for the pace and physicality of this level. They will be and they will take their lumps and become very good players, similar to Ream and others, but having them start at key positions asap is a big issue early in the season.

Other than Will Bruin, a big miss, there haven't been many to any significant misses locally in recruiting for SLU in many years, especially offensively. Joe Germanese many years ago, who chose Vanderbilt, then Duke for academic reasons is one of the very few in recent memory on the attacking end.

The departed players were not good enough on the field for the most part. Reiter is at LMU.

Promising frosh Benny Estes is a medical redshirt due to injury this season.

Bortolon gave as hard of an effort as any kid out there on SLU, which only 1-2 other players matched the first game. Viviano, Ream, Aranda, etc...are all much better players and have shown it many times previously than they played the first night.

[courtside]

Court and Skip....both have fair and valid points. Otherwise, note some of these other opening game scores. It wasn't just St. Louis that had issues:

Creighton 0 (Preseason 2)- Loyola (Chicago) 0 - Creighton outshot Loyola 22-10 but did not record a shot on goal until the 51st minute of play. Loyola keeper Peter McKeown had five saves. Creighton’s Brian Holt had four.

Wake Forest 1 (preseason 3) - William and Mary 0 - A game William and Mary squad kept this one close. Forward Zack Schlawski scored the lone goal for the Deacs in the 73rd minute. Wake Forest had 15 corner kicks.

Gardner Webb 1 - Clemson 0 - John Sargent placed a lob over the head of the Clemson keeper in the 34th minute of play to give the Bulldogs the upset win. A bend but don’t break Bulldog defense got the job done.

Northwestern 3 (preseason 9) - Green Bay 3 (ot) - Northwestern twice led by two goals by Green Bay kept coming back. Matt Eliason scored twice for Northwestern. Santaga Stadium in Green Bay was rocking.

Cincinnati 5 - Dayton 2 (preseason 18) - The Bearcats notched a huge upset by thumping Dayton on their home turf. Branden Stelmak led the attack with two goals. Kit North, Nick Weightman, and D.J. Albert also scored.

SLU plays at Loyola Chi next weekend at Toyota Park in Bridgeview Il, and Loyola will be more than ready, and they are coming off of NCAA's, much better these days.

[moytoy12]

Holmes, Stl player of the year.

Maglasang, Stl player of the year.

Roach, Stl player of the year.

Robson best player in area before getting injured.

Sweetin and Davenport, two best offensive players in Missouri last season.

The current Frosh are a solid, good, class with depth. They aren't Ibisevic but they are good, solid players, the best of the area and state. Next year, SLU already has oral commitments from 4-5 of the best players in the Stl area alone. That's combining two classes in a row, which is what teams need to do to be successful multiple years and keep it going. So, when the current Frosh are Juniors, all still around and all healthy, combined with next year's class, SLU on paper has a very strong team, and would the following year as well and so forth. The problem is the current Soph and Junior classes, not only don't have depth, they have nothing other than Roach. That's a huge gap and problem. The current Frosh are not ready for the pace and physicality of this level. They will be and they will take their lumps and become very good players, similar to Ream and others, but having them start at key positions asap is a big issue early in the season.

Other than Will Bruin, a big miss, there haven't been many to any significant misses locally in recruiting for SLU in many years, especially offensively. Joe Germanese many years ago, who chose Vanderbilt, then Duke for academic reasons is one of the very few in recent memory on the attacking end.

The departed players were not good enough on the field for the most part. Reiter is at LMU.

Promising frosh Benny Estes is a medical redshirt due to injury this season.

Bortolon gave as hard of an effort as any kid out there on SLU, which only 1-2 other players matched the first game. Viviano, Ream, Aranda, etc...are all much better players and have shown it many times previously than they played the first night.

I wouldn't know, but is he continually getting quality recruits? Or is this last two years a step up from his other recruiting classes?

If the answer to the first question is "yes", then, is he getting the most out of his recruiting classes?

[slufanskip]

I wouldn't know, but is he continually getting quality recruits? Or is this last two years a step up from his other recruiting classes?

If the answer to the first question is "yes", then, is he getting the most out of his recruiting classes?

Overall the talent coming to SLU is fine, DD just can't coach to the style of player he recruits and can't seem to recruit the style of player that fit the game SLU plays. Hell, I'm beginning to wonder if he can tell the difference. We rarely if ever have had the type of player needed to play the style of game we play, yet we just keep at it and still recruit every defensive mid in the midwest. What the hell was Tim Ream doing in the midfield alongside Aranda? How many times do you have to see Tim Ream play (and I love Tim's game) to know he is not creative offensively. In the midfield, the best you could hope for is Brian Grazier, and that's pretty darn good, but it's not going to help us move the ball forward especially alongside Aranda.

My question is this, when is it enough? DD has had more than enough time and SLU has acheived the worst results of any time in the last 50 years. I'm 100% convinced DD is just not a good tactical coach.

[courtside]

I wouldn't know, but is he continually getting quality recruits? Or is this last two years a step up from his other recruiting classes?

If the answer to the first question is "yes", then, is he getting the most out of his recruiting classes?

Continually? No. Some years are better than others.

This year's Frosh is his best class in several years. Next year's class if all remain committed will be similar to this year's class in terms of quality and depth. Neither has a once every many year superstar. Both have all of the top players in Missouri. And, in some cases the kids are coming from schools that SLU hasn't gotten commits from in a while. Part of that is previously those schools weren't producing top level players and in other cases those kids went to elite academic schools.

The California pipeline experiment has only produced Viviano and possibly Benny Estes.

Roach and Barklage were transfers in of merit.

SLU has done well against elite opponents, but SLU in recent years has had trouble scoring, and creating quality scoring chances. SLU has lost some PK NCAA games, low scoring NCAA games in the November cold in NCAA rounds 1-2 that could go either way, and some of the time their opponents have gone on to go very deep in the NCAA's. Locally, Will Bruin and Joe Germanese have been the only two elite offensive players to not play for SLU in the past many years that I can think of off of the top of my head. St. Louis hasn't produced many.

At the moment, SLU doesn't have any Sophs or Juniors of merit other than Roach. Roach btw is very dangerous on corners and set pieces with his service. When I see they don't have any, I mean, ....any....and that's a problem. The new Frosh are overmatched in terms of size, strength, pace etc...which by the end of the season will improve. However, they must play early and often and learn quickly. That's a problem and a challenge.

SLU chose to come out v UNM and make changes to generate more offensive opportunities and it backfired. SLU was fine for the first 25 minutes, then after UNM's goal on a giveaway tackle in the box, things changed dramatically. SLU needs to drop Roach a little bit to get more touches and to control the midfield. Ream, Brown, Viviano, and Johnston on the back line, Aranda defensive mid. Brown is such an enigma because he is SLU's only aerial threat, and a good one, but his footwork is so poor that he's a defensive liability. It's like watching Gooch a long time ago.

SLU can win with a mix of National, International, and local/regional players. However, there cannot be gaping holes in back to back classes as there are currently in Soph/Junior classes. Connecting 2-3 classes, then perhaps a year or two later connecting 2-3 classes can allow a team to make a run over a few to several year span.

SLU needs a class like this year's Frosh every year or near it, and....and....still mix in an elite player or two every few years, in order to compete at a top level Nationally.

Some players have developed over time, and some haven't, those results are mixed at best.

[courtside]

Overall the talent coming to SLU is fine, DD just can't coach to the style of player he recruits and can't seem to recruit the style of player that fit the game SLU plays. Hell, I'm beginning to wonder if he can tell the difference. We rarely if ever have had the type of player needed to play the style of game we play, yet we just keep at it and still recruit every defensive mid in the midwest. What the hell was Tim Ream doing in the midfield alongside Aranda? How many times do you have to see Tim Ream play (and I love Tim's game) to know he is not creative offensively. In the midfield, the best you could hope for is Brian Grazier, and that's pretty darn good, but it's not going to help us move the ball forward especially alongside Aranda.

My question is this, when is it enough? DD has had more than enough time and SLU has acheived the worst results of any time in the last 50 years. I'm 100% convinced DD is just not a good tactical coach.

Ream has the ability to attack as does Grazier, but neither possess the confidence in doing so. Ream should be kept at left back or inside back. He played there because SLU doesn't have anyone else, other than Roach who can play where he played. There's been a steady diet of defensive mids and backs. SLU hasn't had many good forwards and creative attacking mids. Barklage, Roach are those types of players.

[slufanskip]

Ream has the ability to attack as does Grazier, but neither possess the confidence in doing so. Ream should be kept at left back or inside back. He played there because SLU doesn't have anyone else, other than Roach who can play where he played. There's been a steady diet of defensive mids and backs. SLU hasn't had many good forwards and creative attacking mids. Barklage, Roach are those types of players.

Barkledge a creative mid? I don't think so, an attacking mid possibly, maybe even probably, but certainly not creative. Roach looks like he could be, but in the (admitedly only 1 1/2 games) games I've seen him, I've seen him pass up looks to team mates in better position to get his own shot. I would say he seems to have the skill and I've seen enough to believe he has the vision and the creativity, the question would be, does he have the mindset.

If I were DD I'd play Maglasang, Viv, Ream, and AJ along the back line. I'd really be agressive using AJ up the wing. Aranda would be in the middle along with Roach in the midfield. I'm not sure I know who I'd play wide in the midfield yet but would probably lean to Hayes right now, but to be honest I'd be looking for someone to take that spot from him. I'd also be looking for the Brown kid to be a starter in the middle of the defense very soon. If that happened I'd move Tim wide and AJ to wide in the midfield. Holmes would start up front along with Wiz. I'm not sure I've seen enough of the freshman to klnow where I'd utilize them. But really it's not so much the players as it is the style of play. If we are going to continually just beat the ball long we'd better have a big strong forward who can win the ball in the air and hold it. We don't and really haven't for a long time. If we want to play a possesion style game (which I prefer and even believe we have complimentary players to play) we need a mid (and more than 1) that we can run the ball through and again we can't find that guy.

What would make you feel Ream has the ability to be an attacking mid. I love Tim Ream, he's probably one of my favorite Bills ever. He's deceptively fast, always composed regardless of how much pressure he's under, always in proper position and like a coach on the back line, but his worst trait is his service out. Even with time he depends on just sending the ball long, if that's attacking then so be it. Grazier was the same, he wasn't even a little creative. Strong, composed, smart, yes, attacking or creative no.

My real issue is that regardless of which style we play, DD hasn't been able to assemble a roster that can score on a consistent basis and imo he's had enough time and really I don't get the feeling anything will change and for anyone who does think it might, what would make you feel that way?