2018 Roster Discussion

[The Toe]

Just to go back a bit, I think Sweat would be a neat addition to the January camp where we haven't had a guy who slides into ONLY that position in a while, though I do love seeing a Villafana/Yedlin pairing on the outside and would give Villafana the defensive edge on Sweat. It really depends on what the new coach will want, and I think Sweat is a fringe NT guy in the right system, but giving him run wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But seriously, I think SJ is a USMNT #2 or #3 for the next World Cup, and it's probably where Jurgen and Bruce fucked us the hardest through qualifying.

 

[Ulrich]

Just to go back a bit, I think Sweat would be a neat addition to the January camp where we haven't had a guy who slides into ONLY that position in a while, though I do love seeing a Villafana/Yedlin pairing on the outside and would give Villafana the defensive edge on Sweat. It really depends on what the new coach will want, and I think Sweat is a fringe NT guy in the right system, but giving him run wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. But seriously, I think SJ is a USMNT #2 or #3 for the next World Cup, and it's probably where Jurgen and Bruce fucked us the hardest through qualifying.

I can appreciate what Sweat does for the club, but a candidate for the MNT is a bridge too far for me to get on board with.... he has a poor-man’s Bocanegra skillset, but I feel like the minutes are better spent on some youth to grow into the role.

 

[ManhattanValley]

Alarming amount of Frederic Brillant revisionism on this thread.

He was bad, guys.

 

[Kjbert]

Alarming amount of Frederic Brillant revisionism on this thread.

He was bad, guys.

It’s all relative man. He’s good enough to start on 50% of mls clubs.

 

[Fake Jew]

It’s all relative man. He’s good enough to start on 50% of mls clubs.

Tell that to DC fans.

 

[ManhattanValley]

It’s all relative man. He’s good enough to start on 50% of mls clubs.

The bottom 50%, sure...It was unequivocally good that we got rid of him.

Just looked it up - his first season he made more money than any non-DP! Holy shit. Uhhh, other than Mix, obviously. How far we've come.

 

[adam]

The bottom 50%, sure...It was unequivocally good that we got rid of him.

Just looked it up - his first season he made more money than any non-DP! Holy shit. Uhhh, other than Mix, obviously. How far we've come.

Yeah. Now we’re just paying Berget more than any non DP/TAM player in MLS.

 

[dummyrun]

Great discussion here. Kind of funny though that all it takes is one sketchy rumor to send us into full offseason mode, rethinking our roster from scratch when we've got a great shot at the Shield and the Cup. This team is so desperately starved for interesting news.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

Alarming amount of Frederic Brillant revisionism on this thread.

He was bad, guys.

There is no revisionism. He was prone to gaffes, but he was our best defender in 2016 and helped us salvage Chanot's injury-riddled season in 2017.

I'm not sad he's gone as he is on the wrong side of 30, had athletic limitations, and maybe was paid too much, but he was not bad.

 

[Gotham Gator]

There is no revisionism. He was prone to gaffes, but he was our best defender in 2016 and helped us salvage Chanot's injury-riddled season in 2017.

I'm not sad he's gone as he is on the wrong side of 30, had athletic limitations, and maybe was paid too much, but he was not bad.

Brilliant was brought in to be a starter, and did that well for a time, but he was going to be a bench guy going forward. I think he was probably the one who forced the move to DC, and who can blame him. It’s worked out well for everybody.

That signing was fine. It’s just that the level of what constitutes a starting CB in MLS is appreciably higher than it was two years ago.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Just remember, if we fail to qualify for the World Cup again and Pulisic continued his development, he can still switch to Croatia...

This is false. He played in WCQ, which is an official FIFA match.

You can only switch if you aren’t cap tied.

 

[FredMertz]

This is false. He played in WCQ, which is an official FIFA match.

You can only switch if you aren’t cap tied.

My bad - forgot about the WCQ exception to the exception.

Also getting a very weird deja vu feeling from making that mistake.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

My bad - forgot about the WCQ exception to the exception.

Also getting a very weird deja vu feeling from making that mistake.

No big deal. One time switch can be done if you haven’t played in official FIFA senior competition. So you could play in the u20 World Cup and file a switch. But once you play in a senior official competition, you are stuck with that country. That will include,
Eg,Gold Cup, or any qualifiers for any confederation cup or the cup itself. It would also include nations league comps when that all starts up.

If you play friendlies only, you can file the one time switch. Once it is approved, there is no need for a cap tie. That’s why it’s a “one-time”.

Hope I’ve been able to adequately derail the thread.

 

[mgarbowski]

I get that the shoutbox is for quick reactions and immediate venting. But I'm getting tired of seeing people slam Maxi every time he fails to convert a chance.

He has already exceeded his best career goal scoring season by 33% Among the top 10 MLS assist leaders, he is behind only Diego Valeri for most goals, and behind only Kaku for most assists. He is tied with Almiron and Giovinco for goals scored. The only players besides Valeri with more goals than Maxi are pure scorers who don't run the offense and don't create assists. To be honest I never thought we'd see a season like this from Maxi. I would not be either shocked or consider it a failure if he didn't hit net again this season, and I doubt he repeats it next year. The problem is Villa is hurt and aging, while Medina, Berget, and even Shradi provide only sporadic relief for Villa's missing goals.

Seriously, give me the case for having a reasonable expectation that he should be doing better because the reflexive complaints seem kind of empty. I get that he has missed a good number of very solid chances. But nobody in MLS is doing better than him right now in his role.

 

[canchon]

This is false. He played in WCQ, which is an official FIFA match.

You can only switch if you aren’t cap tied.

Pulisic has played in something like 15 official cap-tieing games by now. Thinking he can switch to Croatia...

 

[Ulrich]

I get that the shoutbox is for quick reactions and immediate venting. But I'm getting tired of seeing people slam Maxi every time he fails to convert a chance.

He has already exceeded his best career goal scoring season by 33% Among the top 10 MLS assist leaders, he is behind only Diego Valeri for most goals, and behind only Kaku for most assists. He is tied with Almiron and Giovinco for goals scored. The only players besides Valeri with more goals than Maxi are pure scorers who don't run the offense and don't create assists. To be honest I never thought we'd see a season like this from Maxi. I would not be either schocked or consider it a failure if he didn't hit net again this season, and I doubt he repeats it next year. The problem is Villa is hurt and aging, while Medina, Berget, and even Shradi provide only sporadic relief for Villa's missing goals.

Seriously, give me the case for having a reasonable expectation that he should be doing better because the reflexive complaints seem kind of empty. I get that he has missed a good number of very solid chances. But nobody in MLS is doing better than him right now in his role.

Maxi is the one guy that’s shown up every game this season while getting beaten up by defenders. Not once has a ref protected him, and yet he continues to deliver

Edit, and to be clear, I’m agreeing with you

 

[Christopher Jee]

I get that the shoutbox is for quick reactions and immediate venting. But I'm getting tired of seeing people slam Maxi every time he fails to convert a chance.

He has already exceeded his best career goal scoring season by 33% Among the top 10 MLS assist leaders, he is behind only Diego Valeri for most goals, and behind only Kaku for most assists. He is tied with Almiron and Giovinco for goals scored. The only players besides Valeri with more goals than Maxi are pure scorers who don't run the offense and don't create assists. To be honest I never thought we'd see a season like this from Maxi. I would not be either schocked or consider it a failure if he didn't hit net again this season, and I doubt he repeats it next year. The problem is Villa is hurt and aging, while Medina, Berget, and even Shradi provide only sporadic relief for Villa's missing goals.

Seriously, give me the case for having a reasonable expectation that he should be doing better because the reflexive complaints seem kind of empty. I get that he has missed a good number of very solid chances. But nobody in MLS is doing better than him right now in his role.

Also one of the better G-xG here: https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/player-xg-2018/

3rd in the top 10 afaict.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I get that the shoutbox is for quick reactions and immediate venting. But I'm getting tired of seeing people slam Maxi every time he fails to convert a chance.

He has already exceeded his best career goal scoring season by 33% Among the top 10 MLS assist leaders, he is behind only Diego Valeri for most goals, and behind only Kaku for most assists. He is tied with Almiron and Giovinco for goals scored. The only players besides Valeri with more goals than Maxi are pure scorers who don't run the offense and don't create assists. To be honest I never thought we'd see a season like this from Maxi. I would not be either shocked or consider it a failure if he didn't hit net again this season, and I doubt he repeats it next year. The problem is Villa is hurt and aging, while Medina, Berget, and even Shradi provide only sporadic relief for Villa's missing goals.

Seriously, give me the case for having a reasonable expectation that he should be doing better because the reflexive complaints seem kind of empty. I get that he has missed a good number of very solid chances. But nobody in MLS is doing better than him right now in his role.

If Josef Martinez weren't having the greatest goal-scoring season in league history, I think Maxi would be a MLS MVP favorite.

 

[The Toe]

Interesting graph here

 

[SoupInNYC]

Interesting graph here

What exactly does the "USL" designation mean and why don't Sweat or Ibeagha count towards that?