thoward18

All your arguments are based in your personal preference and not a pragmatic look at the economic landscape. Just because YOU would be okay with/prefer something doesn't mean that the vast majority of America would. Promotion/relegation works in Europe because it's a completely different mindset. Look at how many fans still support the likes of Leeds after all these years. In the U.S? Forget it. A handful of shitty seasons was enough to put the likes of the Penguins and Islanders, teams with histories of success, on the cusp of relocation. On the other hand, you could take any random team in England and put them in the EPL and they'd gain a massive following. Not going to be the case in the U.S. We've had teams fail in Miami and Los Angeles, while the Revolution (in Boston) have had their fair share of economic struggles. If a team in some mediocre city in the midwest got promoted to MLS? Forget it. No chance of them gaining the necessary following quickly. Soccer in the U.S. right now is barely profitable as a whole, and that's largely because of a few teams carrying everyone else. A relegation of one of the main teams might very well be enough to sink MLS as a whole.

Remember what happened in the 70s without the salary cap? You had two teams dominating while everyone else went bankrupt. The salary cap is in place for a reason. That being said, I agree that they need to loosen it up a bit. The promotion/relegation thing is also financially motivated. It's a totally different animal in the US. Most of the teams in NASL right now play on college fields. Imagine an MLS game played on artificial turf with seating room for 5K people. Meanwhile, you'd have teams constantly going out of business as they are relegated because American sports fans are fucking awful and bandwagon like crazy. A handful of teams in MLS have trouble as is getting fans to the stadium. If they were relegated? Forget it. The MLS Cup thing is similarly motivated. Playoff games are a HUGE portion of MLS' revenue. The final especially. It builds massive hype and gets them constantly in the news on social media, ESPN, etc. that in no way would be matched by a "normal" season. There's also the key fact that playoff-style competition is what Americans have ingrained within their sporting culture. Look at all the Americans that were flabbergasted by the idea of the U.S. "clinching" a spot in the round of 32 with a loss to Germany in the group stage. And you have plenty bitching about watching 90 minutes just to see a tie; something which doesn't happen in any American sport. MLS certainly needs to become a bit more European in its structure. I agree. But also recognize why MLS exists as it does today. It needs to be a very slow crawl towards that. Both for financial reasons as well as cultural.

If the likes of Burnley and Crystal Palace are our direct competition then we've got bigger issues than Luke Garbutt. Anyway, I like what I've seen from this guy. I think you also have to be careful. Playing well at home against some random team from Russia is not even close to being the same thing as playing him against a Theo Walcott or Alexis Sanchez. I'm all for Martinez given Baines a rest against some of the lower teams and giving Garbutt a few starts.

Pleased to say that, at least so far, he's answered every question in regards to his fitness and intentions. What a coup. Martinez has done it again.

I don't know as much as I should about English soccer history, but Stones has to be the best CB prospect in a while, right? Like, since Ferdinand and Terry.

Not happy with how they played, but away at Anfield, missing Barkley, Coleman, and (essentially) Mirallas... I think we can be satisfied with the result all things considered.

In theory Yedlin would have been a good addition, but the price Tottenham paid was overkill. Even most US pundits thought he was worth about 1.75-2 pounds. Hibbert is good as coach for the young guys as well as an "oh shit two guys are hurt and we need someone to step in" emergency situation. We need better.

I think it's pretty clear what he's doing. He wants to still be in the picture, but there's no reason for him to be traveling across the world for friendlies constantly. Not so far away from the World Cup, at least. This gives him a chance to rest, focus solely on Everton, and spend time with his family. And then he can revisit in a couple years whether he wants to play in 2018. This is a guy who has been in goal for the U.S. forever and who knows the coaches and defenders better than anyone. It won't take him very long to get comfortable again if he decides to come back in 2016.

I very clearly wasn't comparing the two players in terms of attitude or accomplishments or anything like that. I was merely pointing out how everyone being in love with each other three weeks in can be short-lived. I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm still not 100% certain that things will be fine if he's on the bench two months from now and rumors are floating about how a team in MLS or Turkey is prepared to offer him double the money. This is a guy who spent prime years of his career fucking around in Russia for the money. I think it's unreasonable to expect everyone's skepticism to fully disappear just because of a few nice plays off the bench and because he's smiling a couple weeks in. But I definitely feel much better about him than I did when he first signed.

Mario Balotelli was all smiles and happy tears and all that upon his return to Milan. That fell apart quickly. I've been incredibly happy that Eto'o has dispelled all concerns... SO FAR. Right now it's the honeymoon phase. Let's see if it lasts. I'm optimistic it does, but I don't think this is a closed case.

Baines. He was a monster. As good as Howard was, the bulk of the workload was when Everton had a commanding lead. Baines got us that far the begin with.

Indeed. I like Naismith a lot but I'm not going to overreact to this small sample size. I don't think it's realistic to expect him to keep this form. I think his role is still ultimately as a super sub. He's someone you can bring on when you need a goal in the second half or after Barkley or Lukaku has tired themselves and you need a workhorse with fresh legs to pressure and do the dirty work.

Our traveling fans are unbelievable.

I don't understand why we couldn't have just done the loan with an option to buy without Olympiakos as a middle man.

Add in Pienaar and Oviedo, and it's going to be interesting to see how Martinez keeps everyone happy. Wish we could trade a midfielder for a CB option.