Photo: Earl Gardner
After another rough week for the Philadelphia Union, KYW’s Greg Orlandini talks with team captain Maurice Edu in the latest edition of the KYW Philly Soccer Show.
The Union picked up their sixth loss of the year with Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Toronto at PPL Park. Greg talks with Edu about how the team can stay focused after losing three straight — and only recording one win on the season so far.
Then, CBS-3’s Kevin Kinkead joins Greg to talk about recent Union developments.
There was a big surprise at Union practice on Tuesday, as goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi returned to the team. Mbolhi was benched after the team’s 3-2 loss at Kansas City on April 6, with the impression being that his time with the team was at an end. It was not immediately known if he will once again play for the team now that he’s returned to practice.
Greg and Kevin also talk about some possible transfer targets as the Union look to improve their defense.
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To listen to the pod, click on the player above or visit the Philly Soccer Show iTunes page. Follow the pod on Twitter at @KYWPhillySoccer.
Can we please officially stop with making a point that Blake was a #1 draft pick? Also, the point that the Union “moved up to get him” is kind of overstated considering they moved up only one pick.
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The MLS is not the NFL or NBA where it is the best way for a team to obtain a new player. The Superdraft is, at best, the third best way to acquire a player after signing an overseas player and signing a homegrown player.
Did you see the players that we passed over?
You can say that about every draft.
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Sure, I would love to have Dean or Birnbaum right now on the backline but then again looking back over the years Gaddis was at pick 35 in 2012 and I’m sure a lot of teams are angry about passing up on him. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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I’m talking about in the context of why he should be starting or some mismanagement of resources. Draft picks in the MLS are such a crapshoot. I have issues with a lot of the front office’s decisions over the years but moving up one spot in the draft to get the player, who was according to more then just the Union, the best player in the draft is not one of them. At the same time, just because he was scouted as the best never means he will become the best and where he was picked should just be forgotten about.
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Fun fact: Wenger, Edu, and Adu were all #1 Superdraft picks. Wenger is still trying to find his way, Edu has seen time with the national team, and Adu was without a team until recently. Draft position has nothing to do with success.
Good points.
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At the time, the Union could have picked up a solid veteran MLS keeper for a song AND used the #1 pick to strengthen areas of need (we had tons).
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Blake was not a bad pick, IF the club intended to use him…which it appears they didn’t. This makes Blake a waste of a pick.
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Andre Blake should be our starting goalkeeper (injuries aside)…and should have been given the position in the beginning of last summer. Instead, we dangled MacMath (good backup) and picked up Rais M’Bohli (MINDBLOWING).
I add when you have so many problem positions and you move up to take Blake, who was older than MacMath, to replace your current number one(who started over 100 MLS games) your thought process is off. Especially when you go out and buy M’Bohli. You yourself state that draft pick number doesn’t matter yet say teams are kicking their self about Gaddis. Well it is all about the position you draft the player and their percieved value. Taking a 23 year old keeper at the 1 spot when you have a 22 year old starting at the time does not make sense or is not of value unless you can trade one of them off at that moment for your positions of need. Could Blake still be a great keeper yes, but the manner in which he was brought into the organization and the expectations on him were skewed by where he was picked and the timing in relationship to the current members on the team. And who they were planning on buying (M’bohli). Based on the fact that they had talked to M’bohli 7 months (based on Sak and Sug statements) before he was bought only leads me to believe they had an idea of buying him when they drafted Blake making their thought process or lack there of absurd. So stating that he was a number one pick does matter, because while it is not the ideal way to rebuild an MLS team it still has a lot of value that could aid in helping your team form and be pieced together.
Noop. It indicates the players value and the fact that they traded up one spot makes it more apparent.