Crew Issues are Many, Run Deep

The wheels have come off. There have been similar events over the last five years like last night's embarrassing failure, but not many. And they are not things you want to measure yourself against.

The intensity of which events happened last night drew out the teams investor / operator, Anthony Precourt (via Twitter):

I will say this. We need to huddle up as a fan base and as a team. We need to stick together. Crew SC stands for that. Easier said then done. I'm hearing of dissent amongst supporters. We need you to figure it out. And inside the club we will do the same. We still got this!

FIRST: The team part of this is in regards to apparent trouble between his two highest paid players in Federico Higuain and Kei Kamara. The latter going far enough to say that he doesn't need Higuain and that he actively worked against him since last year. Even preventing him from getting the league's Golden Boot award.

...it has been going on since last year? Why hasn't this been addressed?

It's easy to focus on what's right in front of us but let's not forget the release of promising CB signing Amro Tarek and the ongoing spat (or whatever) between Gregg Berhalter and Tony Tchani ever since he decided to play for his home country over the USA. Not to mention normal day to day issues like with what's going on with Waylon Francis.

SECOND: You may have noticed that the banners are gone in the supporters section. You may have also noted there is a new one on the opposite side (the fact it exists is the point, size of which matters not). There is a big problem "in the stands," but it has nothing to do with what's happening with the team on the pitch. Absolutely nothing.

Want to know what's going on? Listen to one of many the podcasts here in town. Columbus Crew SC created this problem. Self-inflicted wounds. The wrong hands are all over this situation. Until they pull them off, it'll keep going.

MANAGEMENT STYLE

It's passive. Restrained. Controlled. Insulated. I've written about the "new crew" leadership approach here a few times (one particular event had me worked up). The Crew run a closed shop and the media that follows it leans more brand journalist than anything else (save for Shawn Mitchell, whose talents are being wasted in this league).

Everyone has their own way of operation. The Crew way happens to lead to things like what we saw last night. A slow burn that has turned into a raging wildfire. It happens, of course. And it can be put out. But it won't be put out via social media gifs and the like. They will have to directly address issues.

Good can come from conflict, but from Tchani to players being released, to your DPs disliking each other, you've got put the passiveness aside. Get in somebody's face and fix it. Not now. But right now.

Wednesday, Cup Countdown...

Tony Tchani and Justin Meram are the last guys remaining from the 2011 Columbus Crew playoff season. That year they crashed out of the playoffs in the first round to the Colorado Rapids on a Thursday(?) in front of 8,000.

Meram didn't play that night, but Tchani did much to the surprise of just about everyone in Columbus. If you remember back, he was traded to Columbus in July and came into town unable to play due to injury. His start was a head scratcher. Looking back now we see that Robert Warzycha's faith in him as a player wasn't completely misguided. Tchani is one of the cornerstones of Gregg Berhalter's starting lineup.

2011 was a three team year for him. Starting in NY with the Red Bulls, then to Toronto and finally with Columbus. He's a good example of the league knowing he was a good player, just not able to unlock what he had inside of him.

Tchani has developed a large on-pitch personality. He's always involved in one scuffle or another. Pushing, shoving, talking, smiling, mean-mugging, or what have you. It's the type of player you see on a lot of good teams. Not quite the enforcer, per say. But, something close.

One thing is for certain - Tony Tchani is one huge reason Columbus Crew SC are in the MLS Cup Final.

Trapp, Saeid Compare (+Tchani, Tchani and Sanchez?)

There have been a lot of comparisons in Columbus between the 1st 17 games of last season and the same this year. While it is true that the team is sitting in basically the same spot on the table, it is also true that this year’s start is a major step down (and back) from an outstanding second half of 2014 - a back half that saw a league leading Crew SC earning almost 2 points per game along with 2 goals per game.

Perhaps the most surprising difference are the goals. Crew SC added Kei Kamara this year and he is already on 12 goals, which accounts for nearly half of the team haul. Last 17 games of 2014 saw 33 goals. What this means is with Aaron Schoenfeld and Adam Bedell scrambling around up top scored 30% more than a Kamara lead Crew.

How can this be? The team address a concern and he is doing great but the team is worse? A quick look at the log book shows that Schoenfeld and Bedell combined for only 5 of the 33 goals last half of last year. The other goals came from the mid-field that was clicking on a spectacular level. Such a high level that most pundits were pegging Columbus to be contending for the Supporters’ Shield this year.

2nd Half 2014, 17 games : 33 Goals
Finlay : 7
Meram : 6
Higuain : 5
Anor : 4
Schoenfeld : 3
Arrieta : 2
Bedell : 2
Trapp : 1
Speas : 1
Gonzalez : 1
(own goal) : 1

That’s 25 goals generated from the midfield, absolutely amazing - practically Champagne Football. This year, through the same number of games it is 13. A 12 goal drop in the midfield (which happens to be Kamara’s take).

Crew SC still pass the ball more often than their opponents this year and are fielding practically the same players with the exception of Kamara up top and Wil Trapp in the central defensive mid. Kamara is doing his part for sure but the team has morphed into a more direct Finlay to Kamara, crossing team. It’s yielding gaudy individual stat lines but it’s not as effective as last year, nor is it yielding points.

Critically important to Gregg Berhalter’s tactics is the defending midfielders and with Trapp out we’ve seen Mohammed Saeid move into that spot alongside Tony Tchani.

Tchani is the constant so we can look at some of the key differences between Saeid this year and Trapp last year and come to some conclusions. It’s never one thing, of course, but it looks like Saeid is a much more passive / possession type player than Trapp.

Looking at the graphic you can see that Saeid’s pass completion percentage is statistically the same as Trapp but the number of forward passes is a lot lower, which in turn leads to less key passes (passes that lead to opportunity). A lot of this is reflected in Squawka’s “Possession Score” towards to bottom of the graphic and below that the night and day difference in the “Defense” score (it should be noted that Columbus allowed 23 goals 2nd half last year and 25 through same number of games this year).

I think Saeid is playing a critically important role for this year’s Columbus team but his approach to the game is drastically different than the relative force of nature that Wil Trapp was last year. It’d be interesting to see Saeid alongside Trapp for a few games but it’s hard to break up the successful pairing of Tchani / Trapp.

One thing to keep an eye on when Trapp returns is whether or not the team goes back to its diverse and dominating style or defaults to running Finlay down the wing and looking for Kamara.

If they want to climb the ladder they are going to have to do the former.

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If you would like to go compare players for yourself head over HERE.

FIFA 15's Completely Sensible Season Simulation

Each year around this time I like to sit down for a few minutes and run through a simulation or two of EA's wildly popular FIFA franchise. Before I get to the sim though, let's take a minute to pull up what a 'wildly popular' video game looks like.

"FIFA" sold 13.3 million units in 2014 (Xbox, Playstation). A version of the game was number one last year in the UK, France and Germany out of all games made on any platform. While Madden's NFL and 2k Sports NBA franchises still out sell FIFA four to one in the US, the soccer franchise still manages a very healthy 1.7 million units here (13% of the worldwide total). The highest ranked version of the game last year was 48th (Xbox 360).

Speaking of the global stage; FIFA outsold the Madden franchise by almost 8 million copies on major consoles (13.3 to 5.4 million - Xbox and Playstation). No real surprises there to most of us. Soccer's appeal is global and the game reflects that with leagues spanning most of the planet and Madden looking only at a few markets in the US.

$670 million USD is roughly what EA's FIFA franchise pulled in last year alone. That figure puts it right around Interstellar and How to Train Your Dragon 2 for 11th on the worldwide MOVIE grosses.

Reminder: FIFA, along with many other sports video game franchises, is a yearly release.

Needless to say, it's getting something right. Perhaps more than just having updated rosters, team logos, leagues, uniforms and stadiums... it does get, at least to some degree, individual player abilities down accurately. It has to. Fans playing the game are using their favorite team. A deal breaker would be players behaving incorrectly.

I've been with the franchise off and on over the course of its twenty year history, with a growing physical collection of games dating back to the first. Since 2009, the games have been a regular fall kick off event for me. Usually dying off sometime around Thanksgiving but picking back up right around now - when MLS rosters start to take shape.

EA stays with that shape (for the most part) these days, even with MLS, throughout the offseason. Not perfect by any means but they nail the high level summary of things, all the way down to the player level.



Back in 2012 I did my own set of simulations and came away with the game correctly prediction 8 of the 10 playoff teams and only missing on three teams more than 2 spots in their conference rank. The game also, somewhat remarkably, told me that Justin Meram would be a top scorer (just took him an extra year to get there, which I blame on Warzycha).

In 2013, I got 3 out of the 5 eastern playoff teams (tho, only getting 3 teams more than a couple spots off) - and the same again in 2014. Both years over thinking it and not using plain old and reliable FIFA.

This year SIX conference teams make it in the Playoffs. Since that's pretty much what teams play for, here's who FIFA has making it in:

IN (pts)
Toronto FC (60)
Philadelphia Union (56)
NY Red Bulls (49)
Columbus Crew SC (46)

New York City FC (not available yet)
Orlando City SC (not available yet)

OUT
Impact Montreal (44)
DC United (34)
New England Revolution (31)
Chicago Fire (31)

Woah, Philly. Not sure about that one. I might replace them with New England but otherwise this looks about right. I don't see how Toronto can miss this year. Even if they don't hit this year, they will next. It's inevitable and unfortunate.

Leading scorers were Álvaro Saborío, Clint Dempsey and Federico Higuain(!).

Here is how the rest of Crew SC looked on the goal front:

Goals - NAME (assists)
16 - HIGUAIN (4)
8 - FINLAY (2)
7 - TCHANI (1)
5 - MERAM (7)
4 - GALL (1)
3 - SCHOENFELD (2)
3 - KAMARA* (2)
2 - BEDELL (0)
2 - STEINDORSSON (0)
2 - FRANCIS (2)
1 - TRAPP (1)
1 - SPEAS (0)
1 - POGATETZ (0)
0 - SWANSON (1)
0 - SAEID (1)
0 - PARKHURST (2)

*I simulated a couple times, Kamara plays off and on due to injury.

Anyhow, that's what FIFA says. Off to check out what's going on with Football Manager.

Tony Tchani: Crew Player of the Year

I would have picked Tchani even if he didn't top my player rating system. The guy was reborn under Berhalter. Many will probably forget that he took something of a $100k pay cut last year, coming off a Generation Adidas contract. Fewer still will remember that he was a player left for nothing last year under Robert Warzycha, Brian Bliss and the Hunt Sports Group. Tony Tchani. My 2014 Helltown Beer, Crew Player of the Year.

On the right hand column of this site is my player ratings. I've used the same system since 2011. If you want to see them all (along with basic stats, go HERE).

Player Score : Player Name

8.0 : Tony Tchani
8.0 : Steve Clark
7.7 : Federico Higuain
7.4 : Michael Parkhurst

Top 10% of all MLS Players (above)

6.9 : Wil Trapp
6.6 : Ethan Finlay
6.0 : Waylon Francis
5.7 : Justin Meram
5.3 : Bernardo Anor
5.1 : Hector Jimenez
4.5 : Giancarlo González
4.1 : Jairo Arrieta
4.0 : Tyson Wahl
3.5 : Eric Gehrig
3.5 : Josh Williams

Top Half of all MLS Players (above)

2.9 : Aaron Schoenfeld
2.7 : Ben Speas
2.6 : Chad Barson
2.5 : Adam Bedell
2.2 : Dominic Oduro
1.6 : Agustin Viana
1.3 : Daniel Paladini
1.3 : Kevan George
0.9 : Emanuel Pogatetz
0.9 : Romain Gall
0.9 : Álvaro Rey
0.9 : Fifi Baiden

On the Road with Vidda "JibJab" Grubin

The open plains of Southern Illinois are rolling by outside the driver's side window. They're also rolling by the passenger side window, and under the tires of my Odyssey. (A Honda van, not the crumbling façade of my mind's thinly veiled, ill-chosen path through life).

The open plains, covered in soybeans, corn and wheat, are home to sudden miles of tall white sentries, whose hair spins in the ever present Midwestern breeze. If I don't fall asleep at the wheel while writing this (I'm multitasking. I'm possibly the only writer to ever compose an in-depth analysis of a professional soccer team's style of play while simultaneously navigating the coma-inducing middle of America at 70mph).

Okay, so I'm sitting in McDonalds trying to win a million bucks one Big Mac at a time. But, I am in the heartland and there are many miles, 240,000 to be exact, on the odometer. Travelling the tournament poker circuit in North America is a mysterious fantasy, achingly lonely and eye-opening.

The poker (Mostly cash-game play. Play made-up of staring at total strangers across a couple feet of felt) is not going well of late. Folding winners after the turn, and not getting paid off when value betting the nuts, makes losing hands the primary focus of one's bankroll graph. Unlike the plains, the graph representing money spent versus money earned looks like a downward sloping mountain side.

So, naturally, I've decided to write about the Columbus Crew.

One nice side benefit of playing cards in casinos from Columbus to Las Vegas, and everywhere in between, is the ability to watch almost any sporting event known to man. Simply ask the floor manager to put a certain channel on, and there's the Columbus Crew, beating the NY Red Bull's to every lose ball.

The Black and Gold's maturation in 2014 has been as exciting as it has been surprising. The clues that Gregg Berhalter knows what he's doing were there for all to see during preseason. (Well, for those few who follow the American soccer scene closely. A more ubiquitous presence in the unencumbered media MUST be a priority for Major League Soccer going forward)

In a matter of two or three weeks, Greg Berhalter transformed the stagnant, clearly dissatisfied, roster of Columbus Crew players into a team of creative souls unleashed. While early positive results were followed by a long string of frustrating ties and losses, the trained eye could see the players wanted what their coach was serving on a daily basis.

The spark of excitement displayed on the field never waned. Gregg Berhalter stuck with his core players game after game. Young players meshed with veteran players.

Berhalter wanted his squad to pressure up the field. He wanted his defenders to do their job, with or without cover from the midfield. The midfield was being asked to read the game as they saw it happening in real time. There was/is more freedom of choice being offered by the manager. But, and this is a doozy, Gregg Berhalter has managed to convince his players that with each inch of freedom and creative license comes another inch of personal accountability, for not only self but team.

This is a key difference between the mindset of the players assembled each Saturday in Crew Stadium in 2014 and that of the same players the last 2-3 years. The idea of responsibility and accountability took a front seat to creativity's spot in the trunk of the Odyssey the past couple of years.

Over reliance on stressing responsibility narrows focus. Narrow focus is easily exploitable on a soccer field. The Columbus Crew's focus had narrowed to such a pinpoint between 2010 and 2013 that opposing coaches had little to worry about when it came to preparing their team to play the boys in gold.

The Crew's expanded focus has not only made them more successful, it has created a team that is truly fun to watch. From the chances taken on the back line, moving the ball on the ground through the goalkeeper and central backs, to the overlapping runs of the outside backs and the immediate pressure applied by the mids and forwards when the ball is lost, the Columbus Crew Soccer Club has brought joy, and a love for the game, back to Hudson Street.

Watching the quick interplay in the opposing teams end of the field is inspiring. Seeing players like Tony Tchani, Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay find their voice on the field is what the game is all about.

Bottom Line, Gregg Berhalter gets... IT. IT'S... the players and the combination of equal parts freedom, creativity, inspiration, responsibility and accountability. We as fans have been the big winners this year. Regardless of the outcome of this year's playoffs, we all know, hell, we all feel, the magic of the game is back in Columbus. May it never leave.

Diamond on Fire

via - Russian poster for THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES (Sergei Paradjanov, USSR, 1968)

"Critic Gilbert Adair called it 'a diamond on fire'. The filmmakers of the New Iranian Cinema found its director an inspiration. For years, it became a mysterious Holy Grail for cinephiles." [link]

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Nobody knows where the art for this poster comes from, but it is good.

@NERevolution practice all about prepping for KC. But MF suffering from post-Tony Tchani hangover v @ColumbusCrew - rematch in 2 weeks.
— Frank Dell'Apa (@frankdellapa) September 22, 2014

Tchani is Crew

Tony Tchani will overtake Josh Williams and Eddie Gaven for third overall in Columbus Crew appearances since 2011 this weekend with 72. Thought it worth noting. Here is top 10 since 2011.

Apps Since 2011, Player
87 Chad Marshall
83 Justin Meram
71 Josh Williams
71 Tony Tchani
71 Eddie Gaven
68 Sebastián Miranda
66 Federico Higuaín
64 Bernardo Anor
62 Jairo Arrieta
56 Andy Gruenebaum
55 Ethan Finlay

Have been following MLS since Tchani entered the league. In particular, his time with Columbus. He's done it the hard way. Preferred status here at Helltown. Also, Meram, Anor and Finlay. Maybe not such a surprise they are getting it together.

The Other Guys

Would you believe that this Chicago match is the first time these guys have ever started a game together?

Ethan Finlay, Justin Meram, Eric Gehrig and Tony Tchani are players that have dotted Crew lineups for the past few years but have never really been the main attraction. Yet, this past weekend, the four of them contributed to one of the most comfortable Columbus wins in recent memory (snapping a long eight game winless streak in the process).

MOMENTUM, KEEPING IT TOGETHER

The four of them share a common thread in a strange way in that they are more or less currently seen marginal MLS talent. Regardless of how I rate them, none are big time signings and outside of some local blogs, tweets and Dispatch personality profiles the rest of the country will never know them, but all are critically important to the Columbus Crew franchise.

Major League Soccer has gone through a good bit of contraction and expansion with many a plethora of rule changes over the last decade. So any sort of stability is to be valued.

Take a look as some of the newer franchises in the league: The Philadelphia Union, Montreal Impact, Toronto FC, Vancouver, Chivas USA and even Portland. What they lack is an semblance of continuity. Momentum. It will be some time before they find stability. Not just because the way the league is set up but because it just takes time time to settle any organization, let alone a sports one.

Momentum is no easy thing to achieve, ask any business owner. The secrets to gaining it are never found by most and sometimes when it's lost, like in the case of Cleveland sports teams, it's never really found again.

Anthony Precourt, Gregg Berhalter and company are new to running a MLS franchise and will likely trip over every bump in the road until the find their bearings but as long as they have guys in the organization that have been around a bit. Know how hard it is to get that chance. Know what it's like to be ridiculed. To be benched. Booed. Know what it's like to have to wait months between starts while watching newly signed players get chances in front of them and do it all while not causing major disruption... they will be okay.

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Eric Gehrig, Tony Tchani, Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay might never again find themselves in the same starting lineup earning three points for a win starved team, so it is to be valued. I value it. Criminally under valued, regardless of what happens next with these guys , is that they will be quietly contributing to the stability of the entire organization for as long as they are with it.

Crew Rd 27, A Refreshening

The Columbus Crew play out a fun and open game to victory over the Houston Dynamo.

1ST HALF
Columbus came out in a somewhat different looking lineup. New interim head coach Brian Bliss stated in the press that he wanted some new faces and he made good on it, somewhat.

Eric Gehrig and Ethan Finlay were two of the surprises getting the nod. Other notables include Ryan Finley getting a start over Jairo Arrieta and Tyson Wahl making a reappearance after not playing for a couple months.

The changes early on almost looked to backfire as Houston's Will Bruin was able to easily work past Gehrig on at least three occasions (two of which should have been a goal).

Eventually the game sort of settled into an evenly matched pinball type MLS game rhythm, but not ugly by any means.

2ND HALF
Columbus jumped all over a questionable Houston back line early when Justin Meram found Ryan Finley right in front of goal.

Tony Tchani, who was subbed on in the first half due to a Wil Trapp injury, provided the nice play (huge shoulder barge on Adam Moffat, sending him to ground) setting up that goal. Tchani would go on to play a nice half.

Minutes later Dominic Oduro would be dragged down in the box. Ryan Finley would step up and miss the penalty but it mattered little as Houston seemed to drift further away from getting anything from this game.

For the first time for as long as many can remember, the Crew felt like the Crew and were at full steam.

The Crew would go on to play probably the most balanced I've seen them for the next 20 minutes. There efforts were satisfyingly rewarded in the 74th with Ethan Finlay worked the ball over to Oduro who picked out Ryan Finley at the top of the box. He would go on to whiff but it fell to Meram who did what Meram does and did it beautifully.

2:0 Crew.

The final 15 saw Bliss and his crew settle in and keep a defeated Dynamo out of goal.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This was a refreshing game for me personally. I've been watching and writing closely about them since late 2010. There were few times in 2011 that the Crew felt like the "Crew" I knew. Or at least the Crew image I had in my minds eye.

After a long dry spell from late 2011 there were very few of these 'Crew' moments for me but, goddamn... last night felt Crew.

Missing the star player and a couple defensive cornerstones... players like Eric Gehrig (perennial hard worker, reserve), Ethan Finlay (fan fav last year, went to doghouse, great preseason but no minutes), Tyson Wahl (veteran, journeyman), Tony Tchani (Gen Adidas player, yet to find stride and window closing) were in there, making soccer for me. Not the pretty magic football that people seek out in much better leagues, but the earthy MLS magic that happens so very rarely but I wish happened more.

Brian Bliss is the perfect conduit for this type of soccer. A smart, respected American coach with an intimidating amount of experience. He seemingly did everything right last night. From lineup, to subs (classy move to put Konrad Warzycha on late), to urging team to thank fans, to mentioning Chad Marshall as a USMNT player. He hit all the marks and did it like it was natural to him.

Is what happened last night a model for sustainable success? No. Of course not. Only the most delusional would think that a team as inexperienced and as young as that could win out over a long season... but, within last night's events, that is where the important parts to success breathe.

With the US Men's game against Mexico coming up, history will probably not remember too much about this game but I really hope Crew fans soaked up what happened last night. It hasn't happened often over recent years.

Crew Midfield, MLS Value Conversation

The more time I spend with on this type of analysis the more things start jumping out at me. It's especially apparent now that I've reviewed the Crew Defenders and Midfield. While the specific numbers matter to me, the simpler way to look at this is to call a players contract either a "Hit" or "Miss".

It's great that there are some players far exceeding contract but what is also impressive are those players that demand larger contracts and perform up to that level. Going back to my last post real quick, you'll notice two players that were definite salary / contract "Hits" in Sebastian Miranda and Carlos Mendes and three decidedly "Miss" in James, Vukovic, and Marshall.

Looking at the group as a whole it's easy to say that the Crew missed on the entire backline with contracts falling -$(195,506) to the red. That actually puts them 14th in the league (not good) in regards to the backline (TFC, COL, VAN, PHI) territory. However, upon closer inspection I see that C. Marshall makes up 89% of that deficit.

Similar tale to tell here with the Crew midfield. The players at this position carry a contract deficit of -$(186,126) and through not much fault on his own, Dilly Duka makes up 74% of it (reminder: I always use 'guaranteed contract'). Duka is coming of Generation Adidas graduation and appears to be saddled with a heavily incentivised contract. It is very possible that the 'herky-jerky' nature of his playing time was due to this. Has the Robert Warzycha and Co. ruined a talented player here? I have a feeling we will find out very soon when/if he suits up for another club and plays his natural central MF spot.

Other midfield contract misses are Milovan Mirosevic, Danny O'Rourke and possibly Chris Birchall. Mirosevic's $223,000 is 28% too high in my book. I value him at a healthy $160k, which is significantly above league median of $110k, which means he added value but he did not live up to this heavy price tag.

In fact, no midfielder in MLS really lives up to a salary that high when looking a value based on performance. My analysis shows that anything over $215k might be too high for a MF player in MLS. Or, another way to put that is to say; that if you are a team looking at a offering a contract above $200k... don't, the risk far outweighs the return you will likely get.

As for the contract "Hits" I show Eddie Gaven and Tony Tchani. Now, Gaven is a solid Hit. I rank him as the 3rd best MF in MLS this year. Tchani's hit is a bit of a strange thing, but it makes sense upon closer inspection. MLS is littered with midfield players. Almost 200 different players saw time there (compared with 150 Defenders, 110 Forwards) and a good chunk of them only played in half the games. Only 25% saw more than 2000 minutes compared to 36% of defenders. What this means is the MLS has a lot of midfield players making good money only playing half the time. There are many possible reasons for this, first being that a MF does a lot of running.

That said. This is a 'market value' look at the league so while MLS has a collective problem in searching for the right MF players, Tchani falls into a sweet spot on the list. Here are some of the players around him on my player rating and make similar salary: Gabriel Gomez, Luiz Camargo, David Ferreira, Bobby Convey, Branko Boskovic... Those are some heavy hitters but also some large salaries. All of these players only played in about half their team's games yet make over 200k.

Tony Tchani also has one of these Generation Adidas contracts that tend to out pace player value according to MLS. The difference between his base and guaranteed is $104k and Duka's diff is $130k. That's a lot of added pressure on both player and coach and I can see why MLS is taking a closer look at the GA program (It could be argued that this Adidas program pays correctly and MLS themselves undervalue. I'm not taking that on). Regardless, in my opinion any team with both these players should start them game in / game out. They are talented and will bring wins. Problem with the Crew is that they reached on them before their salary counted towards the cap and now that it does, they realize that, while they are valuable and meet their "Base Salary", they are not worth their heavy guaranteed rates.

CIRCUMSTANCE GUIDES BLISS

Brian Bliss is the Crew Technical Director. On his own, he knows young undiscovered talent (he is connected to that pipeline) but I think he tends to miss on experienced players when he doesn't have the help of folks like Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

Looking up and down the list of Crew midfielders it is circumstance might do in Dilly Duka and Tony Tchani while in my opinion the wise cut might be Mirosevic. If the Crew can rework Duka and Tchani's contracts down to where their guaranteed is at base levels they should keep them as they are both worth that.

One other larger contract th Crew have is Chris Birchall. I'm not sure about him, because he came into the season a little late, if is $109k contract has to be paid in full. I am confident that had he been around all season he would have been a "Hit".

Lastly, we have a trio of lower wage midfielders that contributed well above their league mandated minimums. They were

Kevan George
$33,750 salary : 67,500 HB Value

Bernardo Anor
$44,100 salary : 75,833 HB Value

Cole Grossman (released)
$44,100 salary : 67,600 HB Value

Bernardo could very well end up on the defender list next year even though he's only a defender in the eyes of Robert Warzycha. Note: Ethan Finlay is listed as a Forward by Stats, Inc. I will cover him later with that group.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The MF positions in this league seem to be a revolving door and the Crew is no different. This muddies the waters and makes contract evaluation difficult. My recommendation to the Crew would be to work on a consistent and durable MF lineup (and formation) and work from there. Constant change will only make things more difficult to evaluate and therefore reward/compensate appropriately.

The reason this post is in conversational for is because there is very little to ground these players with. You've got GA players with unbalanced contracts, an aging Chilean who never found his rhythm, a talented young leader who requested out, a skillful gazelle who was put into an unnatural left back position and tore his knee apart, and another who very well could be one of the best MLS midfielders of his generation.

The Crew's problem is here - in the midfield. Not so much in that there isn't enough talent, more that it is probably been misused or there is a disconnect between Brian Bliss and the coaching staff.

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THANKSGIVING

As I'm finishing this midfield post up and getting ready to head out to meet friends on this day I can't help but think of Kirk Urso and his family. While I'd give a lot to be writing about his performance and what he would contribute to next year - his life reminds us all of what is really important.

Dilly Duka, Void

This illustration is sort of what happens when you try and take on a post about the Columbus Crew's Dilly Duka. Nothing to latch on to with this guy.

One thing to comment on is his contract. It's a little wonky. Let me 'splain.

I had the pleasure of meeting David Burgin (of Global Football Today) recently and he raised some interesting questions about the difference between Duka's Base Salary and his Guaranteed. Same thing as with Tony Tchani's contract.

Why the large discrepancy betwixt "base" and "guaranteed" with these two? Is it performance related? Or is it, as Burgin thinks, tied to playing time. If so, are we seeing a couple players getting more starting minutes solely based on contract stipulations and/or requirements?

How about we look at these two Crew players in relationship to the rest of the league. Below are are the Major League Soccer Players that stand to double (2x) their listed base salary* in guaranteed monies. In other words, these are the contracts with the biggest difference between base and guaranteed in the league!

Team : Name
POR : Darlington Nagbe (2.5x)
CLB : Dilly Duka (2.2x)
NER : Kelyn Rowe (2.1x)
MTL : Andrew Wenger (2.0x)
DCU : Perry Kitchen (2.0x)
CLB : Tony Tchani (2.0x)
SKC : Teal Bunbury (1.9x)
CHV : Laurent Courtois (1.9x)

Wow, talented players there. It's predictable that MLS has tagged these players as "hot" and have negotiated contracts as such. I would much rather a broader market determine the worth of these players and not single entity like corporation. It is what it is though.

Interesting that Columbus has two players in the top 8 here. I personally think that the Crew org. went after Generation Adidas players in order to navigate waters below the cap as long as they could. Both Duka and Tchani declared their graduation last year though and thus have thrust their base salaries on the 2012 cap.

Overall the Crew is 13th in league Base Salary. 12th in Guaranteed. They are as about as average as you get when looking at this salary stuff. Remember all that mess about being the lowest paid team in major league whatevers? Yeah, the Crew are fine now. A lot of that had to do with timing and << shocker >> bad data.

Chicago, New Englend, Kansas City, Houston, Chivas and Montreal all have lower base salaries than the Crew right now.

Stepping back now, in early June, Columbus is just in the middle in everything. Regardless of whether Dilly Duka and Tony Tchani do well... it looks like it'll be just fine for the club, in relationship to the rest of the league. Just a matter how how much Mark McCullers, Brian Bliss, Lapper, Iribarren, and Warzycha think these guys matter. Contract or not.

Questions will linger about whether or not Duka and Tchani are playing based on current form and playing level, though. You can be the judge. Tchani or Duka making a mysterious start out of nowhere is more than likely contract related.

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*I'm only using what MLS Player's Union has publically provided in terms of contract data. I consider it reliable (at this time).