2020 Roster Discussion

We were never going to have all 3 for all of 2015. Pirlo was not available until summer, and the club made the reasonable decision to wait on getting a third DP until summer when more players are available. Then CFG screwed us by holding Lampard until summer as well and that was a handicap from which we never could recover.

My what-if is that Lampard shows up for camp, and maybe doesn't get hurt as he did in the PL before coming over to us. Of course maybe he does anyway, but it's my what-if. Then the club gets a summer signing DP who better suits us. I also agree Pirlo was quality for the first 1.5 years, but he never was the right fit. Also, if you're taking on an aging player who needs defensive cover he needs to produce goals at a Zlatan level, not what we got from Pirlo. Anyway, if all that happens, then maybe we make the playoffs in 2015. But my what-if is not all rosy: maybe Kries is not fired, and we never hire Vieira. Or maybe Mix never goes fully into the doghouse and has a good career here. Maybe we're not playing coaching roulette, with more stability. Or maybe that is true but we also have less success and a less pleasing style of play because Kries stalls club progress. Or maybe it is just better. The further you get away from the divergence the greater the range of plausible scenarios.

Yes. The what if is what if Lampard is here at NYCFC from his signing and doesn't go to Man City on "loan". He doesn't get hurt and has to rehab. We would have had Villa and Lampard (and Mix and Poku) all playing together from the beginning. Kreis wanted to sign a young South American DP in the summer. Let's say that happens. Maybe we score a few more goals during the season and make the playoffs. Kreis doesn't get fired. We don't have the 3rd pick in the SuperDraft and we don't have the leverage to trade for Jack Harrison...

But I do think the club is in a better position with Vieira in 2016 than Kreis getting another year despite the potential upside results from 2015 if everything went well. We've clearly seen an evolution in the style of play that Vieira started and Dome built upon. Unfortunately it looks like Ronny is ruining it.
 
Yes. The what if is what if Lampard is here at NYCFC from his signing and doesn't go to Man City on "loan". He doesn't get hurt and has to rehab. We would have had Villa and Lampard (and Mix and Poku) all playing together from the beginning. Kreis wanted to sign a young South American DP in the summer. Let's say that happens. Maybe we score a few more goals during the season and make the playoffs. Kreis doesn't get fired. We don't have the 3rd pick in the SuperDraft and we don't have the leverage to trade for Jack Harrison...

But I do think the club is in a better position with Vieira in 2016 than Kreis getting another year despite the potential upside results from 2015 if everything went well. We've clearly seen an evolution in the style of play that Vieira started and Dome built upon. Unfortunately it looks like Ronny is ruining it.
We could have had Messi and Ronaldo that first season and it wouldn’t have changed the fact that the Defense was horrendous and actually made Saunders look competent as a shot stopper because he faced so many shots that the law of averages says he’d stop some.
 
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Yes. The what if is what if Lampard is here at NYCFC from his signing and doesn't go to Man City on "loan". He doesn't get hurt and has to rehab. We would have had Villa and Lampard (and Mix and Poku) all playing together from the beginning. Kreis wanted to sign a young South American DP in the summer. Let's say that happens. Maybe we score a few more goals during the season and make the playoffs. Kreis doesn't get fired. We don't have the 3rd pick in the SuperDraft and we don't have the leverage to trade for Jack Harrison...

But I do think the club is in a better position with Vieira in 2016 than Kreis getting another year despite the potential upside results from 2015 if everything went well. We've clearly seen an evolution in the style of play that Vieira started and Dome built upon. Unfortunately it looks like Ronny is ruining it.

My big 'what if' with Lampard is that he was surely being groomed for the captaincy before Man City took him from us. Which meant that Villa had to become the leader on the field and the face of the franchise off it. I wonder how things would have been different if those roles had fallen to Lampard instead.
 

Heber said:
“This is the best time of my career," Heber said. "Since I got here, the team has helped me a lot. We made a great season, I scored many goals. ... If they want to sign me to a new contract until I end my career, I’d sign.”


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he's got it in his locker - not sure what's been holding him back so far, except maybe not having the confidence yet, or still trying to adapt to the team. A lot of his game in the past has been based on skill and flair and moments of magic, so hopefully we see it before long, because it could fit so well with our style.
 
Per a virtual town hall today held with Matt Goodman and David Lee (first time I think Lee has spoken to supporters'), they confirmed that Acevedo is still in Uruguay.

I've been invited to next week's Virtual Town Hall, which series apparently -- fair or not -- is for premium STHs only for those wondering. The participants will be Brad Stuver, Sam Pugsley (VP of Sporting Operations and Strategy), and hosted by Matt Goodman.

I had to look up Pugsley. I found exactly one reference to him here on the forums, and it wasn't even about him. Has anyone heard of him or better, ever seen him at an event or whatnot? Based on Linkedin, he was previously team Academy Director and before that Director of Team Operations from 2014-18. Before that he was Program Manager for US Soccer U-17, and started his career as a fan relations rep at San Jose. Kind of an odd progression.
 
I've been invited to next week's Virtual Town Hall, which series apparently -- fair or not -- is for premium STHs only for those wondering. The participants will be Brad Stuver, Sam Pugsley (VP of Sporting Operations and Strategy), and hosted by Matt Goodman.

I had to look up Pugsley. I found exactly one reference to him here on the forums, and it wasn't even about him. Has anyone heard of him or better, ever seen him at an event or whatnot? Based on Linkedin, he was previously team Academy Director and before that Director of Team Operations from 2014-18. Before that he was Program Manager for US Soccer U-17, and started his career as a fan relations rep at San Jose. Kind of an odd progression.
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I met him, or someone who claimed to be him, at CBGB in 1982. On the one hand, it seems so unlikely he would hang out at CBGB on a Tuesday night (my friend's band was playing the equivalent of Open Mike night) and introduce himself to random strangers. As far as I know he never lived in NY. But the thought of someone who vaguely looked like a plausible young adult Pugsley doing the same thing is even more pathetic.
 
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How long does it take to drive from Uruguay?

I tried Google Maps. It couldn't come up with a route. I tried other means to calculate the driving time, nothing on the internet. Despite the two locations being connected by land, the internet cannot figure it. I think it would take something like 2.5 weeks?
 
I tried Google Maps. It couldn't come up with a route. I tried other means to calculate the driving time, nothing on the internet. Despite the two locations being connected by land, the internet cannot figure it. I think it would take something like 2.5 weeks?
I think it has something to do with South America. I only tried using google maps on my phone and found that it estimates 3 days and 14 hours to drive to Panama City, Panama. But it won’t give any directions to anywhere in South America, even Medellin, which seems relatively close.
 
I tried Google Maps. It couldn't come up with a route. I tried other means to calculate the driving time, nothing on the internet. Despite the two locations being connected by land, the internet cannot figure it. I think it would take something like 2.5 weeks?
I think it has something to do with South America. I only tried using google maps on my phone and found that it estimates 3 days and 14 hours to drive to Panama City, Panama. But it won’t give any directions to anywhere in South America, even Medellin, which seems relatively close.
The problem is that there’s a small gap in the Pan-American Highway between Colombia and Panama. It’s called the Darién Gap and is about 60 miles or so. There’s no actual road connection between the two. I’ve on and off entertained the idea of driving the whole highway one day but when I did some actual research a year or two ago I found out about the gap, so unfortunately it’s just not (currently) possible.