Time to Barter: Patrick Nyarko Might Be Best Option to Trade
by Mark Rogers on May 9, 2011 6:30 AM CDT
in Fire Roster News & Analysis
Email
Print
With the recent signing of Cristian Nazarit, the Chicago Fire have filled the roster and used the final international slot. A lot of people have taken note at the large number of forwards we have now, and that our defense is still lacking in discipline and health. Given that, why did we pick up Nazarit, another forward, instead of adding to our depth defensively? Well, when you find a good deal, especially on young attacking talent, you make the move. The problem we have now is we'll likely need to trade someone away in order to beef up the backline. Who should go? Follow after the jump to find out.
Right now we have a bunch of unproven forwards, a ton of midfield pieces, but defensively we're a bit hobbled and weak. Josip Mikulic and Cory Gibbs have suffered with injuries, Dasan Robinson has looked to be off the pace of the game a bit, and Yamith Cuesta is still somewhat prone to rookie mistakes. Meanwhile, Kwame Watson-Sirboe seems to have completely fallen out of grace with Coach de los Cobos. We just netted our first clean sheet of the season last night, but we're still one injury away from absolute disaster at the back.
To me, the logical step is to move one of our midfield pieces, in order to get ourselves some more defensive support. Trade's are always difficult though. You don't want to give away too much, and fans tend to get a bit upset by trades, especially when sending away a fan favorite. That said, for the good of the team, trades end up being necessary at times. The question is, who do you send away? With our strikers being unproven or necessary to our survival, I don't see any of them being either good moves, or giving us much return. In the midfield though, we have some young pieces that could actually serve as solid trade bait.
I have to stress that my idea pains me, because the player I'm about to suggest is one of my favorites. That said, I think moving Patrick Nyarko makes a lot of sense now. Nyarko and Dominic Oduro play very similarly. Both are going to give you a ton of speed down the wings, probably make the wrong pass, and if they shoot, most certainly they'll miss. I know Nyarko racked up a lot of assists last season, and that he's a fan favorite. Still, Oduro has 2 assists in 100 less minutes than Nyarko so far. Granted, it's only 2 assists to Nyarko's 1, but Oduro has consistently been effective in our offense in his short time with us. When they've played together, Nyarko's ended up out left and managed to be largely ineffective.
Right now I can't see putting both of those players on the field together. If I had to choose strictly on skill, Oduro has to get my vote. He's flat out faster, seems to be less injury prone, and gets himself in dangerous positions constantly. Nyarko's great too, but we have a marginally better version of him in Oduro. It'd make a lot of sense to move Nyarko to a team that needs someone quick on the wings in exchange for some defensive support. There are a number of teams out there right now that could use a speedy player down the wings. Seattle, with the recent loss of Steve Zakuani, comes to mind as a team in need of some speed down the wing.
I think we're bound to see the Fire front office move somebody before the season's over. For me the question is who and when, not if. I can't see sending away a young prospect like Corben Bone, or a creative midfielder like Baggio Husidic. We can still get a lot of use out of them, and don't have direct replacements for their skills. At the end of the day, someone has to go though. You don't want to be stuck with the defense we've put out so far, all season do you?
9 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I kind of agree
But I was thinking we’d unload a striker. It doesn’t make sense to carry 8 strikers if we’re going to play with 1 up front. If Nazarit works out, I think Diego Chaves becomes expendable. I really don’t see Chavez doing well dropping back to midfield. We could get practically any defender in the league for him at this point.
Chavez is staying
I don’t think you’ll see Chavez dropping to the midfield for Nazarit. If anything, I bet we’ll see Nazarit work mainly as a sub for Chavez. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have the 2 of them on the pitch up top together since they’ll likely play to similar to each other. You’re right though, we could move one of these forwards we have. The problem is that with so many of them being completely unproven/untested, will you really get much in return for them? I think we could deal with moving Orr Barrouch because he doesn’t really fit in our lineup all that well. That said, he’s only played a handful of garbage minutes, and other than his trouncing of the RBNY reserve team he hasn’t shown much to get excited about.
Trade away the one guy who makes coming to Toyota Park a little entertaining?! I’m okay sending Nyarko away if it nets some defensive help.
by chicagofire1871 on May 9, 2011 11:42 AM CDT reply actions
Right now he barely finds his way to the pitch with Oduro on our squad. He’s exciting and fun to watch, I agree, but check out Oduro. He does the same things. He just happens to have a stigma of being a poor finisher, which he most certainly is. How’s Nyarko’s finishing though? If he created as many chances for himself as Oduro does, I have hunch we’d be making jokes about Nyarko’s finishing as well. They just play so similarly, and so far it seems like Oduro is the better player. Plus Nyarko should get us something decent in return.
I do agree with chicagofire1871. Nyarko is a lot of fun to watch. That said, it is important to ask what his dribbling does for the team and if it’s all show and no results. He has had some health problems while Oduro remains reliably healthy. Nyarko is only a couple months younger than Oduro so it’s not like one is a prospect and the other might develop more. For both players, it’s likely what we see now will be more or less be what we see in the future.
I’m not sure I agree that trading Nyarko now is the answer. We have a six game month in June and hopefully more USOC games coming up. I think Oduro and Nyarko are the only ideal RM candidates we have on the roster so trading Nyarko just opens up another depth issue IMO.
I think the team is currently served better keeping both players. I’d like to see Nyarko start when healthy and Oduro come in as a substitution forward. Oduro’s only goal has come in that sub role. He has had spectacular misses as a starter at forward and RM.
Also while the Whitecaps are a bad team but pretty good offensively. To shut them out is no small task. I agree that we could use another CB but Kinney should be returning. That might be enough for now. Overall, I don’t disagree that the team should be listening to offers on Nyarko. I would have he is off-limits just a year ago. His star has fallen since then.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
Don't forget...
that the talent uptick we get with Oduro, however big or small that is, is lost with lack of finishing. I am not trying to say that Nyarko is a deadly finisher, in fact he frequently passes up shots when he should shoot. I just don’t think trading him right now is what we should be doing. If a golden offer came along, then yes. Don’t forget that some USMNT alums may come back to MLS this summer. If we want to have a chance at these players, we are gonna need trade chips to move up the allocation list.
If we move Nyarko, we need to wait until at least the summer. He may be a useful trade chip during the transfer window somehow too. If you want to look at expendables, look at what Logan Pause is making vs. the value we are getting out of him…
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
Tradition. Honor. Passion.
Right Wing
The thing is, if you want to trade someone away you hope to trade for someone with potential. If you don’t trade skill or potential, you will get none in return.
If we were to trade Nyarko, and I hope we don’t, Puerari or even Paladini could probably push out wide.
Agreed
I like Puerari, but he seems to have lost a lot of his effectiveness when he moved into the midfield. Maybe a move to the wing would help, I’m not sure. We just got Oduro, so that makes Nyarko one of the players that make sense. I really like him as a player, so I hope we don’t lose him, but if we can pull the trigger to put us over the hump, we have to do it in the best interests of the team.
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
Tradition. Honor. Passion.
No doubt you have to trade talent to get talent. Personally, I think the team has enough talent from back to front to compete. The only question is can Carlos de los Cobos guide the team and will things click.
I think Puerari and Paladini could be good out right but it depends on any return Nyarko could bring. I think a No. 1 Nyarko / No. 2 Oduro with Oduro as a forward sub situation beats having No. 1 Oduro / No. 2 Paladini or Puerari and the return from Nyarko….
Hot Time In Old Town SB Nation's blog for Chicago Fire, Soccer, & Chicago History
by Tweed Thornton on May 9, 2011 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Hot Time In Old Town
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
