Notes: The Team, Le Toux, The Club, and DPs

With the season slowly getting into gear (as slowly say you'd expect — they do call it "pre-season" for a reason) it's about time to start providing more regular updates again and increasing blasts from the world outside the Claret and Cobalt. With that in mind, I'd like to touch a bit on the Le Toux news (I must apologize up-front for my rhyming, accidental though it may be), our squad, and why it might be tempting but thoroughly unwise to criticize the club or the ownership for what might be seen as a slow off-season.

The Team

I didn't say I'd go through in that particular order, did I? If that's how it's been taken, I must apologize. Any how, on with the team. It's been a bit of a long of week of who-knows-what — those who've made their way to training can certainly offer a greater perspective than I as to what's been happening. I have, of course, done my bit of reading about the matter, but I've rather been trapped outside the friendly confines of open RSL practice. Hey, no complaints.

So, right, not a lot of news. Some of those I've talked to have been very impressed by the performances put forward by Samir Bengelloun, while I've been forced to simply watch a highlight reel from his time in the Bulgarian league. The 26 (27 on February 7!)-year-old left-sided player (full back, wing back, perhaps further forward in a pinch and at a different club) could be a worthy contender for the defensive spot.

That said, I've not heard much about Diogo or our other full back trialists, but I wholly expect we'll learn more as time ticks on, which it always does. But hey, Samir Bengelloun is quite a name, and I do love quite-a-name-names. (No, no, not "named-names," Elaine Benes black-list style.)

Le Toux

It's not often I take time to focus here on a player at another club. Sebastien Le Toux is typically no different, but the news out of Philadelphia — and, soon, Vancouver — was of too much interest to pass on. The striker, one of the best in the MLS last season, seemed like a good fit at Philadelphia. He was scoring goals on a regular basis, and that's sort of what strikers do, isn't it? But when he was seemingly shipped off to Bolton for a trial, it seemed like an odd decision for the club — but one that, given the finances potentially involved, wouldn't have garnered too much controversy. Perhaps it would have been a loss for the league in general, but I'm not entirely convinced by that.

So, when the move fell through and he was unceremoniously shifted to Vancouver, the surprise that may have been initially missing was suddenly making its presence known. Or, you know, something like that — but even that was merely met with tilted heads and perked ears.

But it was when Chris Vito at The Times Herald in Pennsylvania wrote (and had published) an interview with Sebastien that Union fans could feel genuine upset at what had happened.

For reference — it is well worth a read.

Further news from the Union will elucidate on the matter, but it's clear that Le Toux initially wanted to stay at the club, but after what he saw as injustices came to the fore (the other side of the story is, you will remember, yet untold), he's vowed to never play for Peter Nowak again. Again, read the piece.

And that leads me perfectly into the final point, because it's actions like this that help to shine light on the generally stellar operation at Real Salt Lake.

The Club

Sure, we haven't always been the best run club, particularly in our first few years of play. There were, shall we say, growing pains, and while we certainly have come out of them well, there exists a certain frustration among some supporters. I won't pretend to tell people what form their support should take, but I do take issue with some of the rather existential angst I've seen hurled at the wall a few times.

When players are moving back and forth between clubs, exciting overseas players are being handed relatively huge contracts, and transfers are flying left and right, it's easy to slip into a sort of jealousy, especially when your club hasn't made any substantial moves, particularly in.

It's worth taking a quick sidebar to look again at our departures from last season's squad — and these are only league numbers involved:

• Andy Williams, midfielder, 31 GP/20 GS,1970 minutes
• Robbie Russell, full back, 26 GP/22 GS, 1809 minutes
• Collen Warner, midfielder, 24 GP/15 GS, 1106 minutes
• Arturo Alvarez, attacking midfielder, 16 GP/8GS, 724 minutes
• Jean Alexandre, defensive midfielder (also forward), 19 GP/9 GS, 703 minutes
• Rauwshan McKenzie, center back, 2 GP 2 GS, 180 minutes
• Nelson Gonzalez, midfielder, 6 GP 2 GS, 174 minutes
• Blake Wagner, left back, 2 GP 1 GS, 63 minutes
• Tim Melia, goalkeeper, 0 GP, 0 minutes

Of those, two can be said to have been contenders for starting spots on any given match day when we had a strong squad: Andy and Robbie. There's little disputing that. The remaining seven, I contend, were of lesser importance to this club — which isn't to deride their contributions one bit — and can be more easily replaced from within the squad and from outside.

Now, with that out of the way, I've heard the contention that we haven't properly replaced the players we've lost. Back to the sidebar, if just for a moment:

• Andy Williams: Rather hard to replace, I think, but more minutes from Luis Gil will help. Jason and Garth have acknowledged that we will have to rely a bit on younger players in the midfield at times. This will also include, say, Enzo Martinez and Yordany Alvarez, and may well involve homegrown signing Nico Muñiz. Let's also keep in mind that Javier Morales should be back to regular action — we were deprived of his influence for too long.
• Robbie Russell: We have on trial several full backs, and it's expected that two of them will sign with the club.
• Collen Warner: Collen was a decent squad player, but he'd not reached a point where I'm overly pained with his departure. The potential is there, mind, and I think he did well to come in when we needed him, but he wasn't quite what we needed at times. That said, the answer here is largely the same as with Andy Williams, though with significantly fewer pangs of sorrow involved. Do keep in mind that Collen played nearly one-third of the available minutes over the course of the season — not a massive contribution, but certainly not too much to expect from our squad.
• Arturo Alvarez: He never did quite fit into our system, did he? It's less a question of replacing his contributions than merely having a player in our squad to fill that spot. This isn't one that gives me a great deal of grief at all.
• Jean Alexandre: Two words (or, one name. Maybe two names, I guess. Or two parts of one name. How does that work again?): Yordany Alvarez. He's our Beckermandeputy (in the most German of styles, I've shoved two words together to create one new word. It's magical.) Oh, and his time up front? I think we'll be quite good on that front: Arnoux, Agorsor, and Paulo Jr bring depth up top. Now, let's pray we don't run into an injury crisis again.
• Rauwshan McKenzie: A fourth center back to pick up matches should be found in Leone Cruz, and Chris Schuler's come along quite well.
• Nelson Gonzalez: That season-ending injury was too bad for the kid. I wish he could've succeeded with the club — but those are the breaks, I suppose. At any rate, replacing him isn't a concern as a result.
• Blake Wagner: He came in mid-way through the season and didn't play the equivalent of a full match. He did, however, get fouled very late on against Seattle on the road in the playoffs, leading to a free kick which saw the match come to its close with us still somehow ahead. I won't forget that.
• Tim Melia: We've brought in one Lalo Fernandez, a homegrown goalkeeper. We never did get to see much of Tim, but I can't say I was ever upset by that, to say the least.

So, with that also out of the way (for today, at least), we can pick up where we were. The contention that we've not properly replaced can be perhaps applied to only a single player: Andy Williams. In the case of the consummate midfielder, we'll have to explore options within the squad. You don't exactly find exciting box-to-box midfielders lying around on frees, after all.

I wouldn't say there are no question marks over this squad. It's certainly the case that they're there — but they're rather small question marks on the sides of things, not the big ones. You see, we've got the big spots filled. On any given match day with our best players fit, the starting XI last season could well be the same as the starting XI this season. You know — the one that tore the league apart early on.

But I've also seen some contentions that we, Real Salt Lake fans, deserve to have big-name designated players. Can I say I wouldn't be excited by the signing of some washed-up European star? Despite my leanings away from those, I'd say yes — I wouldn't be devastated if we were to sign somebody with a giant star over their name. I doubt very much that we need that, though — and while other teams can bring in their three big-name players and fill the rest of the squad with rather mediocre players, we're better off with a squad of great players with good depth behind them.

Sure, sometimes, the perfect combination of factors comes into play and you win the league championship through the contributions of three major players (none of whom were particularly Adam Cristman.) Just as often, you'll end up pulling in high-salary former stars (ahem, MetroStars-nee-Red-Bulls) and winning, well, nothing.

But here's the kicker: Some have said that we should sign big-name players — a point I will not find too much issue with, even if I don't think it's prudent — and that the ownership structure (Dave Checketts et al) should be funding it. This I find problematic in no small way. To expect our ownership structure to simply funnel money into the organization on what is essentially a high-risk gamble isn't just unwise — it's foolhardy. It's dangerous. It puts at risk the entirety of the club for what essentially translates into cheap thrills and marketing gimmicks.

It's massively important that we exist in a sustainable way. I hate to sound like a broken record (sometimes, I mean. Sometimes I do quite like it.) but pumping money into a club is a fool's errand.

Now, that doesn't mean we shouldn't look to improve the squad where possible. It doesn't mean we should never sign a 'true' designated player (one who is so because of their salary and not largely because of a transfer fee), and it certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't someday move, say, Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando, or Javier Morales into a designated player spot. But we have to do it in a way that fits our club, fits our finances, and fits our principles. Simply asking 'Papa Dave' to pay doesn't cut it — whether he wanted and had the spare cash just sort of, you know, floating around.

Right, I think I've expended my words for today. Do comment if you disagree — I know some of you do — or, hey, if you agree, drop a comment in anyhow. Get that discussion moving.