I gotta give NDS his props, that's for sure. He is perhaps the best ambassador this club could have. Outside of maybe Joey himself, I don't think there is anyone who loves IMFC as dearly as NDS does. I also have to admit that he is a pretty good salesman. As some of you have pointed out, he managed to sign guys like Nesta and Drogba; that is no small feat. He has credibility abroad and he has valued contacts. He does make good international signings and has no problem finding international player. All of that is undeniable.
But, and it is a big but, he has no plan, or, if he has one, it isn't clear and it keeps changing. In 5 years, he never established a clear identity for the club. He is recruiting good players, but he is recruiting without a purpose. Venegas is a very good player and we should ask ourselves why he isn't producing more? Well, he doesn't fit within what we are trying to do. He is a second striker, not a pure winger. We do not use a second striker.
Now, we just got that attacker dude from Italy and are rumoured to go after an Argentinian.. both are target forwards. We do not have the wingers nor the full backs to provide them with quality crosses. Oduro doesn't cross, Piatti doesn't cross, Ontivero doesn't cross, Romero doesn't cross, Toia doesn't cross. Camara and Oyongo have offensive flair, but Camara doesn't really cross. Oyongo does. That's one player out of all of our guys that play wide. Even Drogba doesn't really fit our other attacking players. However, he produces because he is a freaking legend.
We have the wide players to play a possession game, but we sure don't have the midfield players to do so. Alexander, Mallace and Bekker have no creativity whatsoever. Donadel is all right in possession. Bernier is great in possession but he is old as dirt.
So, NDS got us very talented players, but they don't fit together at all. Our wingers are talented with the ball at their feet and they try to cut back to the middle and create while controlling the ball. Our forwards are mostly target forwards. So while he does get very talented players, he doesn't recruit with a purpose.
In a nutshell, the guy is a poor soccer mind. He should continue to be a recruiter, but he shouldn't be the one in charge of the plan. For those who think that's Braz job... well, you are naive. Braz is just NDS's lackey. Like Biello is NDS's lackey. He has all the power and THAT'S the problem. Joey trusts him too much. NDS has his strenght, but his weaknesses are holding the club back. We have money and NDS can get players, so we will always be great on paper and good enough on the pitch to make the playoffs. However, if we don't get a real soccer mind to maximize our resources, we will not be a consistent championship threat.
That's why I think NDS mustn't have all the power.
We need to get players that fit together. We have to get GOOD cap-friendly domestic players. We have to get the RIGHT international players. We need to make sure the players we acquire fit our playing style (what is our playing style, btw?).
The club has no direction and never had. We succeeded in D2 because we were richer than everyone else. Hell, our success in D2 is pretty tame; we were perpetual underachievers. In MLS, we have done okay, but we could/should do much better. Is it all on NDS? No, but he must shoulder a large part of the blame. Him and Joey. Joey should have seen his friend's limitations a long time ago. He didn't.
