2020 Roster Discussion

Serious, if possibly absurd, question: do we think a 36-year-old Claudio Bravo is actually an upgrade on Sean Johnson?

no, but reddit might. i recall many in there saying joe hart was better option ( when he was rumored to come here) than johnson for us as he was ahead of him and others in MLS.....lol
 
does this mean Ronny doesn't have the balls to come into an established team and tell its best player to step aside for PKs for the good of the team?

or is this Ronny truly believing in Maxi and has faith he'll overcome his PK slump, much like who he believes Medina will find his form?

Perhaps if Maxi misses another 2-3 PKs, especially in close games, Ronny will hopefully have the balls to change it up. If not, Maxi hopefully can put aside his ego and let someone else take it like the time he let Medina take it.
 
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does this mean Ronny doesn't have the balls to come into an established team and tell its best player to step aside for PKs for the good of the team?

or is this Ronny truly believing in Maxi and has faith he'll overcome his PK slump, much like who he believes Medina will find his form?

Perhaps if Maxi misses another 2-3 PKs, especially in close games, Ronny will hopefully have the balls to change it up. If not, Maxi hopefully can put aside his ego and let someone else take it like the time he let Medina take it.

I think he doesn't want to throw maxi under the bus publicly. He said he thinks he'll make his next one, didn't say when that chance will come. He's probably hoping the next PK chance comes w/o Maxi on the field. But if Maxi is on, he might just choose a different player. We'll have to wait and see.
 
does this mean Ronny doesn't have the balls to come into an established team and tell its best player to step aside for PKs for the good of the team?

or is this Ronny truly believing in Maxi and has faith he'll overcome his PK slump, much like who he believes Medina will find his form?

Perhaps if Maxi misses another 2-3 PKs, especially in close games, Ronny will hopefully have the balls to change it up. If not, Maxi hopefully can put aside his ego and let someone else take it like the time he let Medina take it.
Damn I am having to suppress a lot of rough feelings about this 2020 campaign already.
 
That’s the problem,

The problem is I think we have other on the field issues. I thought the Maxi PK taking issue would have been solved but apparently we’re keeping that on the issues list again this season.

We're certainly not a perfect team, but we are the best and deepest team in the East. So yes, there are things that we'd like to have addressed, but we should also appreciate that we are one one of the top 2 or 3 contenders to win MLS Cup.
 
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We're certainly not a perfect team, but we are the best and deepest team in the East. So yes, there are things that we'd like to have addressed, but we should also appreciate that we are one one of the top 2 or 3 contenders to win MLS Cup.
Exactly! We’re not a perfect team...
We should be as good as we can in all facets of the game.
Luckily last season the missed PK’s didn’t hurt us but in a game of thin margins why screw around? I believe that Maxi has not converted 6 of 11 PK’s in his MLS career. It’s not like he was unlucky last year, he was just bad.
Maxi might be good at running the offense but I would say scoring is really not a strong part of his game. He’s also terrible at PK’s so why is he taking them?
 
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Yeah, I am usually team “give them more time” but there’s something about the very, very little I’ve seen of NYCFC under Deila that just doesn’t inspire me.

I think it's the fact that we can't finish. and.... our front line seems to disappear for big stretches or entire games. and... Ronny's line change substitution strategy, save for the crew game. Crew game seemed to definitely be an anomaly, but i feel like we could have attacked more toward the end of the game. losing 2-0 is the same as losing 1-0.
 
Exactly! We’re not a perfect team...
We should be as good as we can in all facets of the game.
Luckily last season the missed PK’s didn’t hurt us but in a game of thin margins why screw around? I believe that Maxi has not converted 6 of 11 PK’s in his MLS career. It’s not like he was unlucky last year, he was just bad.
Maxi might be good at running the offense but I would say scoring is really not a strong part of his game. He’s also terrible at PK’s so why is he taking them?

He unequivocally should not be taking PK's. Heber, Tajouri-Shradi, Castellanos should all be above him on the pecking order.

My point was that if this is the biggest on-field issue with this team, we're doing alright.
 
He unequivocally should not be taking PK's. Heber, Tajouri-Shradi, Castellanos should all be above him on the pecking order.

My point was that if this is the biggest on-field issue with this team, we're doing alright.
The biggest on field issue is that Medina is starting matches over multiple players more talented and more productive.

Except for not being able to prove it, I will 100% put money on the fact that he’s being told by the FO to start Medina to get him minutes to raise his value. There is no legitimate reason Jesus is starting over Taty/Isi. None.
 
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I think it's the fact that we can't finish. and.... our front line seems to disappear for big stretches or entire games. and... Ronny's line change substitution strategy, save for the crew game. Crew game seemed to definitely be an anomaly, but i feel like we could have attacked more toward the end of the game. losing 2-0 is the same as losing 1-0.
For me it’s more of a vague sense that Deila doesn’t really have a clear philosophy.

Data points:
* The 4-4-2 in pre-season tournament seemed senseless. It didn’t make sense based on our players or who we were playing against, or any coherent idea of how to play.
* How our dual 8s ran into the space that our wingers / wide forwards tried to occupy in the first leg against ADSC. Seemed poorly thought-out or poorly-drilled.
* In addition to the above, we were very weak at controlling counter attacks, something I know Dome identified about how we played under PV and something that seems to have crept back into our play.
* How clueless we seemed on the counter attack against Columbus. We had opportunities to counter attack but it didn’t seem like our players were on the same page about how to move so we gave away a lot of passes.
* Mitri’s regression towards being a bystander on defense. In the late Dome era, he seemed to have gotten through to Mitri about how to defend. In the little we’ve seen of him under Deila, he’s back to hands-on-hips / pounding the turf status after losing the ball, and frequently out of position.

It could be that he’s figuring out the team. It could be that the team is figuring him out. Before everybody jumps down my throat talking about how little time the team has had together or how little we’ve seen - I know. And like said already, I’m usually team “give them more time”.

Even in the dour Dome days I felt like I saw the seeds of a philosophy, which ultimately bore fruit. I’m not seeing that right now. I get the vague sense that Deila drills very specific patterns of play and when those aren’t coming off, there’s no underlying philosophy which makes it straight forward for us to switch things up in order to regain control of the match. Perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by what Dome served up for us, but I see very little substantive about our style of play right now, and what I do see is uninspiring.
 
For me it’s more of a vague sense that Deila doesn’t really have a clear philosophy.

Data points:
* The 4-4-2 in pre-season tournament seemed senseless. It didn’t make sense based on our players or who we were playing against, or any coherent idea of how to play.
* How our dual 8s ran into the space that our wingers / wide forwards tried to occupy in the first leg against ADSC. Seemed poorly thought-out or poorly-drilled.
* In addition to the above, we were very weak at controlling counter attacks, something I know Dome identified about how we played under PV and something that seems to have crept back into our play.
* How clueless we seemed on the counter attack against Columbus. We had opportunities to counter attack but it didn’t seem like our players were on the same page about how to move so we gave away a lot of passes.
* Mitri’s regression towards being a bystander on defense. In the late Dome era, he seemed to have gotten through to Mitri about how to defend. In the little we’ve seen of him under Deila, he’s back to hands-on-hips / pounding the turf status after losing the ball, and frequently out of position.

It could be that he’s figuring out the team. It could be that the team is figuring him out. Before everybody jumps down my throat talking about how little time the team has had together or how little we’ve seen - I know. And like said already, I’m usually team “give them more time”.

Even in the dour Dome days I felt like I saw the seeds of a philosophy, which ultimately bore fruit. I’m not seeing that right now. I get the vague sense that Deila drills very specific patterns of play and when those aren’t coming off, there’s no underlying philosophy which makes it straight forward for us to switch things up in order to regain control of the match. Perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by what Dome served up for us, but I see very little substantive about our style of play right now, and what I do see is uninspiring.

i agree with your points. to me, it seems that while Ronny preaches about attack and building out of the back, we are not doing much of either aside from our first game against San Carlos. the 2nd game vs. San Carlos seemed to be more of a slow the game down kind of game with bits of flare, but we were far from a strong attacking side. Not to mention our finishing ability seemed to disappear all of a sudden.

Vs the crew, as you said, we were clueless in counter attack. I think a lot of it had to do with our forwards not doing their job. Mitri just not playing defense just like early last season, and Heber just not doing the work he's normally doing, not holding up the ball AT ALL and generally have a poor touch every other time. We seemed lost going forward with no understanding of each other. We did not play vs the crew like a team who had been playing together for a full season. We played like a bunch of guys who hadn't had much time together. Yes, we were down a player, but we are a possession team with attacking power. We did not play possession at all against the crew and our attacks were moreso based on a few lucky passes than purposeful building out of the back, which we haven't really been doing much of even with a full 11. Long balls a plenty this season, so far.
 
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The biggest on field issue is that Medina is starting matches over multiple players more talented and more productive.

Except for not being able to prove it, I will 100% put money on the fact that he’s being told by the FO to start Medina to get him minutes to raise his value. There is no legitimate reason Jesus is starting over Taty/Isi. None.

My hypothesis:

Medina wasn't great under Vieira, but he was somewhat useful. His numbers that first half-season here were fine. But when Dome got here, he wanted his wingers to play differently, and to play a way that didn't suit Medina's skill-set.

Now Ronny is here, and he sees the talent that player has, and maybe he thinks his wingers will play more similar to Patrick, maybe he thinks he can get Medina into a more favorable situation.

That being said, Medina needs to show up quickly otherwise he should be benched. He doesn't get the benefit of the doubt, but I do think this new coach is trying to unlock him.

Also, we're one game in. It's perfectly acceptable for Ronny to tinker with the XI now. We have time.
 
My hypothesis:

Medina wasn't great under Vieira, but he was somewhat useful. His numbers that first half-season here were fine. But when Dome got here, he wanted his wingers to play differently, and to play a way that didn't suit Medina's skill-set.

Now Ronny is here, and he sees the talent that player has, and maybe he thinks his wingers will play more similar to Patrick, maybe he thinks he can get Medina into a more favorable situation.

That being said, Medina needs to show up quickly otherwise he should be benched. He doesn't get the benefit of the doubt, but I do think this new coach is trying to unlock him.

Also, we're one game in. It's perfectly acceptable for Ronny to tinker with the XI now. We have time.
Three games in. Nada to show for it.
 
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Three games in. Nada to show for it.

Right, yes. The clock is certainly ticking on Medina, but it's March 5. It's OK that Ronny is trying to see what he has in that player. I can't imagine it's a long leash.