Juan Ramirez. Our wonderful DP signing in the off-season, who was supposed to be the replacement for Sanchez long-term. He was quick, had a good touch, and could dribble around the best defenders. When he first arrived, the initial reviews were positive. It had been so long since such a young, mercurial talent in the midfield graced the Richard, if ever. He was everything we wanted in Martin Rivero that fizzled out due to injuries and lack of playing time. He was going to be the game changer....or so we thought.

Something was amiss, the more we watched, and it ended up becoming a serious issue to the point where Pablo benched him. Ramirez ended up (as a Designated Player mind you) being benched as a starter, and being subbed in in the final third of most matches. However, recently, he has begun to start more, and with the great play by the team against Sporting KC, I decided to give Ramirez another look, to see if he has improved.

Answer: Ummm.....no

He has literally no concept of team soccer right now, and it is even openly angering some teammates. This guy runs around the field, without purpose, fails to see the field, understand where his teammates are located, and misplays the ball during scoring chances. Three Vines below will display Juan Ramirez's prowess at failing to play team soccer in all their glory. Please note: all of these are from the first 20 minutes of action....the first twenty! I did not even have to go 1/3 of the way into the match to find these gems.

#1: Juan Ramirez likes to play other player's positions

You see - Juan Ramirez is so talented, why should he just stick to any old role as the creative, attacking midfielder. No, he is so talented, he is going to play target striker for Doyle....but without telling Doyle. Sure - Doyle is also in that same space, but if anything, Doyle should be the one to find a new role on the pitch at that very moment. If only that pesky off-sides rule would not hold him back, he could "out-Doyle Doyle"

Juan Ramirez: Target Striker

#2: Juan Ramirez Misplays Easy Goal In Order to be Flashy

Now here is a perfect example of how, Mr. Ramirez has the option to score a goal by basically literally, trying to mimic a traffic cone. All he had to do was stand, and let the ball accidentally hit him, and it would have likely rolled into the net. But no.....we cannot have that. Instead, Ramirez wisely knew that he should jump to high heaven in order for the fullest effect possible. So the ball did not go in....did you see that dive?

Jumping Header

#3: Juan Ramirez Could Pass the Ball, but Why Should He?

This was my favorite moment of the match. As you can see, the team realizes that Juan has not clue what do to with the ball aside from individual antics and pointless dribbling. So they are resorting to trying to coach him, real-time, on the pitch. Of course, this fails, but at least they are trying.

In this Vine, Ramirez has the ball at the top of the box....and on his left are two people: St. Ledger (Patron Saint of Accountants everywhere) and Vicente Sanchez. St. Ledger is literally yelling and pointing for Mr. J Ramirez to pass the ball to Sanchez, who is driving into complete open space within the 18. It literally would have been a goal. There was no one marking Sanchez. So what does our young Ramirez do? Why, he decides to emulate Nick LaBrocca, and launch the ball into the Terraces. Well played indeed.

Do Not Tell Juan What To Do

Added bonus: Drew Moore having to coach Ramirez not to just drive straight ahead, but to take a breath and see what his options are. Of course, it did not matter.

Look - I want the kid to succeed, but he is a liability on the pitch in terms of team play. The good news, he has raw talent, and if only he can get his head right, and learn to play team soccer, he may actually be the DP we all expected. But as of now, he is lacking the part of the game where he makes the correct decisions, or understands his role on this team.

However - the ultimate issue is the fact that he is a Designated Player. DP's are supposed to be not just starters, but one of the best if not the best player on the squad, and should be a star in the league. When a DP on this team has to be told by teammates what to do with the ball (in-game mind you) this is a problem. It would be one thing, if the team had sold Ramirez as a 2016/2017 project, maybe we could understand. But he was brought in by Bravo to be a solution to the lack of creativity in the mid-field last year. Instead, he is actually hindering the squad's ability to perform, and frustrating players on the pitch during the game. At some point, this has to cause issues in the locker room as well, when a DP signing (which means the salary is above most of the others on the team) has to be coached in-game as to how to play the game.