Hmm… Doesn’t “guy with speed and the ability to come forward” describe Dejan Jakovic pretty well? Bald Pollack might be on to something here. Perhaps a back line of something like Jakovic-James-Arzu-Wallace???

Getting an attack-minded coach is easy. Getting one that can attack and win in MLS is not.

What makes me nervous about Onalfo? In the context of style, it’s that his teams, despite committing to an attacking style of play, were not effective at turning that approach into goals. In 2008, they scored only 37 goals in 30 MLS games. In the 18 games Onalfo coached last year, they managed 20 goals in 18 games. They were also not able to possess the ball well enough to keep their opponents from scoring frequently enough to make this lack of offense a real problem.

My other issues stem from the fact that the Wizards had the same problems every year (poor defenders aside from Conrad, lack of a dominant central midfielder in either a defensive or attacking role, and that they never adequately replaced Eddie Johnson) and that you never got the sense that it was that big of a deal among the players that they were a sub-par team.

From the perspective of addressing the issues of a team, I have been pleasantly surprised with Onalfo’s approach thus far. He’s picking up on what’s needed and doing something about it. The job isn’t done yet, as we all know, but the moves thus far seem to have a clear plan in mind.

We won’ t know about his ability to inspire until the end of the season. However, I’d see the Wizards approach crucial stretch games with the same attitude as they would a June game against the Rapids. It wasn’t that they were disinterested; it was that they struck me as unable to produce a complete performance when it was definitely going to be required. There was not enough fire in the bellies, so to speak.

Ultimately, my concerns about Onalfo aren’t that he’ll be a terrible coach. It’s that our goals are going to be simply to be just a tiny bit better than last year. Last year was unacceptable; being a tiny bit better than that is still not good. I don’t want DC United to be a team that is routinely in MLS’s middle class.

If its time for the torch to be passed from one generation to the next, then Tino should be considered, as I think he has already taken up a leadership role among the younger players.

Simms is also an option.

I always enjoy connecting the pieces of separate debates, since everything about a soccer team is connected.

In this case, I must point out that captains don’t necessarily have to be fire and brimstone, Roy Keane types. Moreno, for example, leads by quiet example. You barely ever see or hear about him getting mad or giving rah-rah speeches. I see your point, but I don’t think the fact that Simms is laid back should rule him out. He gives his all, is obviously very fit (which speaks to a commitment that goes beyond turning up for practice, meetings, and games), and from all indications is a very team-first guy. He’s an example for young players to follow.

Still, there is something of a parallel here between Onalfo’s two teams. Jimmy Conrad is a fine player and seems like MLS’s most interesting player off the field, but I don’t know if he’s an ideal captain. Given that, and the lack of leaders throughout KC’s roster in the past few years, it could well be that the lack of fire wasn’t directly Onalfo’s fault, but rather an issue with a lack of leadership in the squad he and Vermes created.

I agree with you on Quaranta. He can be an inspirational figure at times. He has developed a sense for when the team needs a boost in games, which he usually provides via the hard-charging run forward. However, his emotions sometimes get the best of him, and that’s an issue. There are times to let someone have it over a mistake, but Tino doesn’t always get that timing right.

Perkins seems to be a leader. The only caveat there is that, as a keeper, he’s going to be removed from a lot of our play. The gap between keepers and field players isn’t impossible to bridge, but it does have to be acknowledged. I’d be surprised if Perkins isn’t at least under consideration for the role.

Jakovic is a bit young and hasn’t shown much to me as far as holding people accountable. I’d guess that, if you polled every serious team in the world, the position that is most often captain is center back. However, I haven’t seen enough from him on this issue to think he’s the man for the job. It could be something he develops into, though.