DC United All-Decade Team: Starting Defensive Midfielder
by Martin Shatzer on Feb 28, 2025 1:00 AM EST
in All-Decade Team
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PrintI have to start off by apologizing for my absense from this writing series. MBA classes, evening work functions, and happy hours have kept me away far too long. But let's get back to it now with another position that I expect to be fairly competitive.
Defensive midfielder has always been an important position for this team. Throughout its history, DC United's attacking style has revolved around a star #10 central attacking midfielder, and the occupants of this position didn't tend to contribute too much defensively. So naturally more pressure would fall onto the feet of the central midfielder.
Putting together this list of players was fairly simple when compared to some of the other position lists. There are no Craig Ziadies and David Stokes' on this list. No fringe players who didn't really deserve to be starters. Each player on this list has been among the best defensive midfielders in the league at some point in his career. And yet you could say that each plays the position in a different way. One is still a starter in DC, and the other three have since gone on to bigger things.
And so your nominees for the 2000-2009 team are:
Clyde Simms (2005-2009), 133 matches, 3 goals, 7 assists
Brian Carroll (2004-2007), 121 matches, 2 goals, 11 assists
Dema Kovalenko (2003-2005), 77 matches, 12 goals, 14 assists
Richie Williams (2000, 2002), 55 matches, 0 goals, 5 assists
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Misleading
I’m not sure it is fair to list Dema’s stats, since I believe the majority of his goals and assists came while playing on the wing
by BrunoReturns on Feb 28, 2025 9:35 AM EST reply actions
Gotta be Clyde, although I understand why Carroll is getting a number of votes.
by Dan Murphy on Feb 28, 2025 11:25 PM EST reply actions
In the 442 we have today, Simms is the better choice. However, in terms of which player played the best in a United shirt, I think Carroll’s success in Nowak’s 3412 edges out the admirable play of Simms in recent times (where he’s been one of the few truly consistent players on the roster).
by ChestRockwell on Mar 1, 2025 1:43 AM EST reply actions
Like I said, every one of these guys plays the position differently. I think Simms has the potential to be great, but I voted for BC. Carroll won two straight Supporters Shields with United, then he left and won two straight Supporters Shields with Columbus. Coincidence? Probably.
All I know is that United hasn’t made the playoffs since the departure of BC.
by Martin Shatzer on Mar 1, 2025 8:39 AM EST via mobile reply actions
I voted for Clyde. He supplanted Carrol in the First XI for that last Supporters’ Shield, and I think he’s been voted (by the players) the team’s best defender (2008) and MVP (2009) in the last two years.
Missing the playoffs the last two years has more to do with another departure after the 2007 season - Troy Perkins - and the turmoil at that position than with the DM spot. (Which logically means that we’re shoo-ins for the Shield again this year, right? Um… right?)
by The AMT on Mar 1, 2025 12:09 PM EST reply actions
I agree that losing Carroll was not a big reason for our recent mediocrity. Carroll is a great player in any system that features 3 central midfielders. In most variations of the 451 and 352, he’s as good as anyone in MLS. He’d also do well in the modern application of the 433 (beneath the two more attack-minded midfielders), which I recall Bradley trying out on the national team level a couple times when BC got his caps. However, we had switched to a 442, and Simms is much more suited to that formation.
In my view, we would have missed the playoffs with or without Carroll. People around the league and here will paint not protecting him as a terrible decision because of how Columbus has done, but Columbus has been playing the right system (which is a sort of 4231; they call it a 442, but Schelotto is way too deep and their wide midfielders push up too high. Warzycha, when not killing his team’s chances to win in the playoffs with outright stupid tactical decisions, doesn’t change much from what Sounder at Heart calls “Sigi’s Arrow”).
by ChestRockwell on Mar 1, 2025 1:15 PM EST up reply actions
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