2020 Roster Discussion

Honestly, we should be commending NYCFC for finding a way to help Mitrita. They could have easily have said no to this. Obviously the pandemic has changed how travel into and out of the US works, so this story from the team really does make a lot of sense. This is not the sign of NYCFC "crumbling" or any of the stuff that was typed in this thread earlier this week -- this is a sign of a healthy team that does right by its players.
Agreed, but on a both/and basis. The club and CFG generally really do seem to value accommodating players and coaches when they can.

But I doubt this is entirely as presented and some items were likely left out. Message discipline is a top priority for NYCFC. So,the happy story is true, as far as it goes, but I expect it is also true that: if Torrent stays, and the club doesn't start 1-5-0, and Mitrita isn't benched for a spell, and he averages more than 45 minutes per game, then maybe he never even asks for a transfer despite all the personal and Covid issues. And if he does, and we're contending for the Shield and optimism of a playoff run is high, and the coach says he needs him, then maybe the club is not so accommodating. I also expect the reduced revenue this year has them looking at ways to cut costs and while they would not not offload Mitri just for the money, having him ask for a transfer, then getting $2+ million for him on a loan when they overpaid his transfer fee and probably could never get it back had to look like some kind of good fortune.

And this is not just a one-off thing, we know from other players' experiences that they all feel this way - when Keaton signed he said he felt like the team did everything they could to make him happy, etc. So I think on the player side of things, they really know how to handle their shit.

Yet we've had both a Head Coach and Designated Player decide to leave the team midseason 2 years apart, and in between those events, the team Sporting Director and another Head Coach both left unexpectedly and roughly simultaneously, leaving the club rather disjointed and barely able to sign a new HC in time for the preseason camp.

Are they really good at keeping key employees happy, or just good at letting them leave when they want to?
 
Agreed, but on a both/and basis. The club and CFG generally really do seem to value accommodating players and coaches when they can.

But I doubt this is entirely as presented and some items were likely left out. Message discipline is a top priority for NYCFC. So,the happy story is true, as far as it goes, but I expect it is also true that: if Torrent stays, and the club doesn't start 1-5-0, and Mitrita isn't benched for a spell, and he averages more than 45 minutes per game, then maybe he never even asks for a transfer despite all the personal and Covid issues. And if he does, and we're contending for the Shield and optimism of a playoff run is high, and the coach says he needs him, then maybe the club is not so accommodating. I also expect the reduced revenue this year has them looking at ways to cut costs and while they would not not offload Mitri just for the money, having him ask for a transfer, then getting $2+ million for him on a loan when they overpaid his transfer fee and probably could never get it back had to look like some kind of good fortune.



Yet we've had both a Head Coach and Designated Player decide to leave the team midseason 2 years apart, and in between those events, the team Sporting Director and another Head Coach both left unexpectedly and roughly simultaneously, leaving the club rather disjointed and barely able to sign a new HC in time for the preseason camp.

Are they really good at keeping key employees happy, or just good at letting them leave when they want to?
I mean sure looking at it that way, but look at the rest that haven't had these problems.
- Maxi is still here
- Villa left at the end of his contract on good terms
- Dome left at the end of a season (not necessarily the club's fault, we don't actually have conclusive evidence either way)
- We still have our amazing core with players like tinnerholm, callens, chanot, ring, johnson, taty, etc. and they seem to like it here from what i can tell
- We've signed a few great academy players to the first team in sands, haak, grey, scally, and there are more probably along the way. Sure, the Gio Reyna situation happened, but for the most part it's been very good

Are we the only team in MLS over the past few years that have let DP's leave midseason? I don't think so. Mitrita, we knew from the start, was someone who tends to feel alone/selfish/homesick, I remember reading about it before he signed for us... So I don't think it's the club's fault here. Besides, we've gotten some nice money from other players in the past (shelton, lewis, etc.) and I bet Sweat would have been sold for a nice amount if not chosen in the expansion draft
 
- Dome left at the end of a season (not necessarily the club's fault, we don't actually have conclusive evidence either way)
I'd probably leave the last part of this out. Not necessarily saying 100% its the club's "fault", but there was definitely a lot of friction between Dome and the club.
 
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I'd probably leave the last part of this out. Not necessarily saying 100% its the club's "fault", but there was definitely a lot of friction between Dome and the club.
We don't officially know if it's with the club or with mls as a whole do we? If we do then oops, you're right - but from what I've heard up until this point, anyway, it sounds like it was a general dislike of mls.
 
We don't officially know if it's with the club or with mls as a whole do we? If we do then oops, you're right - but from what I've heard up until this point, anyway, it sounds like it was a general dislike of mls.
I'll defer to EganSoccerWords derek_villa on this one. But I'm pretty sure its with the club.
 
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I'll defer to EganSoccerWords derek_villa on this one. But I'm pretty sure its with the club.
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... I also expect the reduced revenue this year has them looking at ways to cut costs and while they would not not offload Mitri just for the money, having him ask for a transfer, then getting $2+ million for him on a loan when they overpaid his transfer fee and probably could never get it back had to look like some kind of good fortune.

Yet we've had both a Head Coach and Designated Player decide to leave the team midseason 2 years apart, and in between those events, the team Sporting Director and another Head Coach both left unexpectedly and roughly simultaneously, leaving the club rather disjointed and barely able to sign a new HC in time for the preseason camp.

...

For the last few months, I’ve been rolling around in my mind whether the departures of Claudio and Domé were fundamentally about CFG wanting to cut costs at the Club.

Domé and his staff had to cost millions. Claudio was certainly more expensive than his assistant.

I’m far from convinced this is true, but I can’t discount the possibility - especially given that we may have Exhibit C in Mitri.
 
For the last few months, I’ve been rolling around in my mind whether the departures of Claudio and Domé were fundamentally about CFG wanting to cut costs at the Club.

Domé and his staff had to cost millions. Claudio was certainly more expensive than his assistant.

I’m far from convinced this is true, but I can’t discount the possibility - especially given that we may have Exhibit C in Mitri.

Mitri has nothing to do with money. He wanted to be in a country without travel restrictions in place.
 
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On a serious note, I do think this move points to a broader challenge that the US (and MLS particularly) is going to have attracting international talent, if it keeps failing to get its shit together on coronavirus. I doubt Mitri is the only player wondering if they belong here, and I can't imagine there are too many big name European players desperate to move their families to New York right now.
coronavirus-data-explorer (1).png

Not sure why people seem to think that's still true. The US was the worst for several months but the cycle is in a new phase. The UK, Spain, France and Belgium all have more cases /million than the US right now. Romania's numbers are affected by a very low testing level. Germany and Italy are also on a second wave upswing and might surpass the US soon (or not) but it's hardly like it was this summer.
 
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Not sure why people seem to think that's still true. The US was the worst for several months but the cycle is in a new phase. The UK, Spain, France and Belgium all have more cases /million than the US right now. Romania's numbers are affected by a very low testing level. Germany and Italy are also on a second wave upswing and might surpass the US soon (or not) but it's hardly like it was this summer.

Why people seem to think what's still true? Without this devolving into another amateur covid thread, the point isn't that the US is the worst place in the world (although it's certainly one of them). The point is that the US has failed to contain the virus in a way that allows people to travel (relatively) freely in and out of the country. Say what you will about Europe's case numbers (spoiler: they're bad), but they have found a way to keep borders open to a much greater extent. That apparently proved to be a dealbreaker for Mitrita, and it may well yet be for the other big-name Europeans that we should be targeting for future DP slots.
 
Villa did not leave on good terms

I think our next two DPs will both be Young DPs
 
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Ronnie says Maxi could possibly be back as early as next wednesday or sunday.

personally, i would prefer he wait til he's definitely 100%. our last few games are tough away games which we could definitely use him for and for sure we'd definitely use him in the playoffs. but does this mean we'll see Wing Ring make a return? Odd man out would be Isi or Gary, depending on who Ronnie is higher on at the moment. Isi is definitely the more productive of the two with 3 goals this season in limited game time. If we can get him in form and match sharp, he's a huge threat. Gary has worked hard, but we need goals and a 1v1 threat (which he's doing more but not successful enough)
 
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Why people seem to think what's still true? Without this devolving into another amateur covid thread, the point isn't that the US is the worst place in the world (although it's certainly one of them). The point is that the US has failed to contain the virus in a way that allows people to travel (relatively) freely in and out of the country. Say what you will about Europe's case numbers (spoiler: they're bad), but they have found a way to keep borders open to a much greater extent. That apparently proved to be a dealbreaker for Mitrita, and it may well yet be for the other big-name Europeans that we should be targeting for future DP slots.
I think amateur is the correct word to describe this so lets get back to figuring out if we are going to add one or two Jesus Medinas to the roster next year.
 
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