2018 Roster Discussion

[NYdoesitEZ]

It annoys me to no end that you and K Kjbert are right about this, but you're right. There's a substantial part of this city's potential MLS market who will only be bedazzled by someone who made a name in Europe.

Not ashamed to admit I am one of them. NYC always have to win and win with big stars. A winning workman-only-team will not cut it. I just won’t pay to see 11 workers play even when they are winning. The team has to bedazzle me. It’s the total entertainment package I am a fan of. At the end of the day, it’s a form of entertainment... hate to say this

 

[Kjbert]

It annoys me to no end that you and K Kjbert are right about this, but you're right. There's a substantial part of this city's potential MLS market who will only be bedazzled by someone who made a name in Europe.

It has to pass the Mom test or the Mrs. KJBert test.

It has to be someone that my wife texts me and says, "did you hear Andrea Pirlo is coming to NYCFC?" Albeit, she'll text me a week after she attended the match with me that he debuted in, but you get the idea.

 

[JayH]

Yes, it's probably the sad reality that Rooney would be a better signing in that respect than Almiron or Darwin. The Pirlo and Lamps lovers didn't seem to mind that they sucked. Unfortunately Villa is the white unicorn from whom you get the upside across the board.

Maybe we open our new stadium in 2021 with newly signed DPs from within S. Aguero and D. Silva.

 

[Kjbert]

Yes, it's probably the sad reality that Rooney would be a better signing in that respect than Almiron or Darwin. The Pirlo and Lamps lovers didn't seem to mind that they sucked. Unfortunately Villa is the white unicorn from whom you get the upside across the board.

Oddly enough, that's the name that crossed my mind too.

I've watched a little bit of him since he joined DCU. He's playing as a 9 and he looks OK. Let's see what his legs have left in them but he looks alright.

 

[JayH]

Not ashamed to admit I am one of them. NYC always have to win and win with big stars. A winning workman-only-team will not cut it. I just won’t pay to see 11 workers play even when they are winning. The team has to bedazzle me. It’s the total entertainment package I am a fan of. At the end of the day, it’s a form of entertainment... hate to say this

If you lived in Hotlanta, would you pay to see that team?

 

[Kjbert]

If you lived in Hotlanta, would you pay to see that team?

Tough to compare the cities. Only comparison is LA. Lots of competition for a fixed number of eyeballs in NYC. You have sports, you have museums, you have entertainment, you have sightseeing, you have history.

Atlanta has the Falcons, Hawks, and Atlanta United. The Braves just moved out of the city and with that traffic, they may as well play in Charlotte.

New York is a starf*cking town.

 

[JayH]

Tough to compare the cities. Only comparison is LA. Lots of competition for a fixed number of eyeballs in NYC. You have sports, you have museums, you have entertainment, you have sightseeing, you have history.

Atlanta has the Falcons, Hawks, and Atlanta United. The Braves just moved out of the city and with that traffic, they may as well play in Charlotte.

New York is a starf*cking town.

Yeah agree. I just meant that if his standard is being bedazzled by personnel, AU clearly do that without any "big" names.

 

[NickFromAstoria]

I have 2 itches I need to scratch. If 5 people find these amusing that's 5 more than I expect.

First, I was hoping he would turn us down so I could say "Eloi, eloi, why have you forsaken us?" And then I go straight to hell.
Second,
View attachment 8951

Damn, you beat me to the reference!

...heyyy, wait a minute...

 

[mgarbowski]

Damn, you beat me to the reference!

...heyyy, wait a minute...

well played

 

[mgarbowski]

Not ashamed to admit I am one of them. NYC always have to win and win with big stars. A winning workman-only-team will not cut it. I just won’t pay to see 11 workers play even when they are winning. The team has to bedazzle me. It’s the total entertainment package I am a fan of. At the end of the day, it’s a form of entertainment... hate to say this

There's few things stupider than for me to argue about why things make you happy or not, but though I totally get the point that winning and hard work aren't enough for some, I truly don't get the special appeal of watching someone who had a great career elsewhere, even if he's still pretty good here and especially if he's a borderline has-been. Sure, for one game, I get it. I got to see "____" before he retired. But do you want guys like that on your team clogging things up? For flair, for a team I root for, I'd much rather have unknown rising stars than the world famous downward slope. I'd be very curious of your response to Jay's question about Atlanta.

I'm probably an outlier in the other direction on this, but I barely GAF about what Villa did before 2015. I love him for the last 3.5 years.

 

[NYdoesitEZ]

Yeah agree. I just meant that if his standard is being bedazzled by personnel, AU clearly do that without any "big" names.

Atlanta has Tata, that is a big name. It doesn’t have to be a player. It can be owners daughter who is super beautiful and who happens to be a big celebrity, something I can mention at the dinner table to get people interested. And I agree with kjbert, it’s because it’s NYC. And I need something to convince my family it’s a glamours thing to follow the team and spend money on them. That’s all. Imported car is always better than domestic cars, in many peoples mind (I can’t get caught driving a Lincoln or Cadillac, just uncool. and Pulisic is our TSLA, the only bright spot among domestic ones)... hope my domestic vs. import car analogy does not offend anyone here because that’s not my intention.

 

[Kjbert]

Atlanta also has a fantastic gameday atmosphere.

We don't. Even smaller market sides who are successes - Kansas City and Portland are two - it's the gameday atmosphere. Tailgating, full stadium, inclusive Club events. That makes a difference.

We play in a monument built for George Steinbrenner.

 

[Marito]

I have the same question about him that I did about Jack, is he good enough? His passing would need to improve

He's very far from being at a level that would see a Man City 18. I mean, Man City is a team where Gundogan is a sub and Bernardo Silva saw very limited minutes for several months, and could easily lose his starting job. Kun is mostly a bench player. Kevin de Bruyne is literally the only one with a guaranteed starting job in that MF. Now try to say Yangel Herrera in the same sentence. I can't say he'll never get there but he's miles away from the requisite level to even make the bench.

 

[JayH]

He's very far from being at a level that would see a Man City 18. I mean, Man City is a team where Gundogan is a sub and Bernardo Silva saw very limited minutes for several months, and could easily lose his starting job. Kun is mostly a bench player. Kevin de Bruyne is literally the only one with a guaranteed starting job in that MF. Now try to say Yangel Herrera in the same sentence. I can't say he'll never get there but he's miles away from the requisite level to even make the bench.

At times, there were some valid arguments (as well as some valid counter arguments) as to whether he should be in our starting 18.

 

[roxfontaine]

is he good enough?

No.

 

[NickA]

Yes, it's probably the sad reality that Rooney would be a better signing in that respect than Almiron or Darwin. The Pirlo and Lamps lovers didn't seem to mind that they sucked. Unfortunately Villa is the white unicorn from whom you get the upside across the board.

But we sucked for other reasons too. We had a bad roster in the beginning. It's a much better squad top to bottom now. As a Juventus and Italy fan, I know Pirlo well. He lost his step on a team that had monster talent and it was a problem there. How the hell was he going to be protected on this team? Wasn't going to happen. Neither he nor Lampard were legit signings. I'm not talking about guys in their late 30s though. I'm not talking that big of a name either. Some would consider them legends in their country. We don't have to go that big. Maybe more like Edinson Cavani...but that's probably not realistic either.

I'm going through my head about what players in MLS I'd be excited to go to a baseball stadium to see. I was excited to see Atlanta. I like seeing Giovinco. Would have been cool to see Zlatan. Bastian is ok.

I don't need the names cause I watch soccer. I know who Maxi is. Know Giovinco, Nikolic. I know Josef Martinez. I've heard of Almiron. Watched Alessandrini play...etc. I love these 30 and under talents. BUT, the casual fan isn't getting hyped up about these guys and that's what we are talking about I guess.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Not a knock to him at all. I read up on him and he IS Girona. Born and raised there and left once and came back. He had a year left on his contract and even though they told him he'd have a minimal role, he wanted to stay and finish his contract. He absolutely loves Girona and wanted to play 1st division with them. Good read linked below:

https://as.com/futbol/2017/07/07/primera/1499411997_768185.html

Hmm. Having read the article, I wonder if there's a possibility that CFG is making this happen because they don't want him to kick up a fuss and alienate some of the fanbase to the new ownership. He seemed to be described as hurt and potentially volatile. If this is the case and we are getting saddled with his cap hit, it would be disappointing.

Maybe it's less cynical and they have just identified a win-win, in which case we are taking advantage of a somewhat unique-to-MLS opportunity, which is kind of cool.

We have a pretty solid track record with CFG when it comes to purely technical football matters so far, so I'm optimistic. But this is definitely an odd one and may be telling.

 

[Ulrich]

Ulrich figured it out no later than shortly after the team's first season.
http://nycfcforums.com/index.php?threads/2016-mls-college-superdraft.3906/page-12#post-117677

I don't think it is asking to much for the club management to have seen it coming sooner than that.

I realize I sing this song all the time, and will continue to blame the FO for the awful rollout, but how the heck did you remember that particular post??? You really have that search feature mastered, don’t you?

 

[mgarbowski]

Hmm. Having read the article, I wonder if there's a possibility that CFG is making this happen because they don't want him to kick up a fuss and alienate some of the fanbase to the new ownership. He seemed to be described as hurt and potentially volatile. If this is the case and we are getting saddled with his cap hit, it would be disappointing.

Maybe it's less cynical and they have just identified a win-win, in which case we are taking advantage of a somewhat unique-to-MLS opportunity, which is kind of cool.

We have a pretty solid track record with CFG when it comes to purely technical football matters so far, so I'm optimistic. But this is definitely an odd one and may be telling.

I didn't get that sense from the article at all. Eloi is out. The contract is done. He didn't cause trouble while riding the bench for 10 months so I don't think they would feel a need suddenly to placate him now.

 

[mgarbowski]

I realize I sing this song all the time, and will continue to blame the FO for the awful rollout, but how the heck did you remember that particular post??? You really have that search feature mastered, don’t you?

I was pretty sure I was involved in a conversation on this topic way back. I was also pretty sure I don't write about the academy a lot. So I searched for posts by me with that word knowing I would not have hundreds to wade through and started from the back. I had responded to what you wrote, my search found that, and bob's your uncle.