Carey Talley, Farewell Friend
A Realslfan Opinion
As you probably know by now, Real Salt Lake has traded Carey Talley to Chivas for a future 2nd round pick. -> Deseret News/James Edward
Some would say, "good riddance" or "it's about time". I may be in the minority on this, but I'm not comfortable with either of these sentiments. It's true that Carey wasn't the most skilled player. It's true that Carey wasn't up to his previous form, circa 2006. And it's true that he had a difficult first few games of the season.
However, I believe that Carey has meant more to this club than any of us really know. If you attended a practice you'd quickly realize that Carey was the vocal leader for us, and was a mentor for the young players in practice. This aspect of his role on the team was vastly underrated. There is a reason that Carey has been our captain over the last couple of seasons. I also believe that as much as anyone could, Carey was the glue that held our team together during our difficult season in 2007. Finally, I think that anyone who knows Carey much knows that he was extremely competitive. Whether it was on the field trying to get a late equalizer or in practice trying to best his teammates in a drill, he gave it all. For these reasons, I think we should bid adieu to Carey with a kind and grateful "Farewell friend".
Now the natural question is why trade Carey now? Was it to free up cap space? (maybe) Was a 2nd draft pick to tempting to pass up? (doubtful) Was it to free up a roster spot for a impending roster addition? (who knows) Is it a signal that Matias Cordoba has earned the confidence of his coaching staff, and will continue to see a bigger role on this team? Only time will tell.
Where does this leave our midfield? For a group originally touted as very deep, this coupled with Sturgis' injury leaves us quite thin. We have two "wing" players (Beckerman and Williams) who both play very tight in the formation and converge toward the goal in the opponents end. We have a central midfielder, formerly a striker (Kovalenko) playing defensive mid. We also have a player that Garth described as a box-to-box player with strong technical skill (Cordoba) who has largely played a playmaker role with the team but primarily in a reserve role. Cordoba is the only player who may be a "natural" wide player as he predominantly played that position in his native Argentina. Either way we are lacking in true wide midfielders. Also since Beckerman has established himself much more in the attacking end, its doubtful to see him moving back to a holding role. This fact, and the fact that Dema isn't naturally a defensive midfielder means that we will be a bit shorthanded at this position with Sturgis currently hurt and on tap for the Olympics later this year. If we do make a roster move, I'd assume that it would be to address one of these two issues.
Then again an outside back is a real possibility as well (see our practice update coming soon).
Either way, let's all come together and bid best wishes and "Farewell friend".
