2015 Offseason Megathread

[Falastur]

Unless they have someone waiting in the wings at the youth level like they did with Pozo last year.

That being said - he needs to take a massive pay cut for it to work here. I honestly think there is a better chance he joins in January of 2017 than this summer. He could slot into a CDM or CB position upon Lampard stepping away. That being said, I would be concerned that he is not quick enough to play here.

They had Jason Denayer ready and waiting to take up the 4th defender space. Then they chose instead to loan him to Galatasaray for a full season. There's no-one else in the club capable of mixing with the first team in CB.

 

[Ulrich]

I expect more out of NYCFC Social Media and this crazy Interweb..... Pretty pissed off that it's the end of a Friday and there hasn't been a news dump by the team, or for that matter a single piece of info to salivate over. Sheesh.... this is about the time that an intern retaliates, after being chided for mixing up a late afternoon mocha latte with a cappuccino, by posting to twitter the new Adidas Away Jersey in high-res. It may only be up for an instant before being yanked, but twitter-born jersey-porn (not to be confused with New Jersey-porn - have some standards) like that is what livens the day. Announce that Hill Country Chicken will have multiple kiosks at Yankee Stadium - that would truly be food-porn for thought..... I'm begging for a now former player to confirm what we already suspect, or an Instagram of Reyna in the Boca Juniors' stands, or hell, even that Kreis has agreed to walk the Windy City's sidelines. Seriously, anything ?!?!? Please ?!?!? The off-season sucks without these juicy tidbits....

 

[PeteDahhSneak]

Whoa ?!?! You just compared a mid-table La Liga team to Liverpool...... that should rile some Liverpool fans up since in La Liga there are 3, maybe 4 good teams and then a cliff-face drop to the others. The EPL has about 7-8 solid teams, and while Liverpool is having an off year, they're easily in the top rung of 5. Bilbao only got competitive last year, and Iraola being expendable may be why - before that, they were mid table at best. I'd venture that getting Iraola is the same as poaching the captain from maybe Sunderland or Astin Villa, which on paper sounds great, but in actuality it may be less than expected.

Bilbao finished 4th in 13-14 and lost in the Europa League final the year or two before that. I'd beg to differ about the EPL having 7/8 solid teams considering they always completely fail in the Europa League and a Spanish club has won 4 outta the last 6 years.

 

[George]

They had Jason Denayer ready and waiting to take up the 4th defender space. Then they chose instead to loan him to Galatasaray for a full season. There's no-one else in the club capable of mixing with the first team in CB.

Sagna can play at CB, last season after nastasic was sold there were only 3 CBs, He will have to take a wage cut anyway, cant imagine clubs in Argentina can afford big wages - i may be wrong i dont know anything about their league

 

[FootyLovin]

OK, so I've spent some time on Transfer Market determining players who are of a similar profile to Andoni Iraola going back 6 months. Players over age 30, market value less than $5 Million, available on a free next summer . Came up with some interesting names for next summer:

CB:
John Terry, Age 34
Daniel Agger, Age 30
Curtis Davies, Age 30
Andrea Barzagli, Age 34
Bruno Alves, Age 33
Martin Demichellis, Age 34
Kolo Toure, Age 34
Philippe Senderos, Age 30

LB:
Patrice Evra, Age 34
Kieran Richardson, Age 31
Cristian Molinaro, Age 32

CDM:
Michael Carrick, Age 34
Matthieu Flamini, Age 31
Mikel Arteta, Age 33

LW:
Steven Pienaar, Age 33

RW:
Dirk Kuyt, Age 35

ST:
Kenwyne Jones, Age 31
Marouane Chamakh, Age 31
Maxi Lopez, Age 31

I love how much of your employer's time you just spent on NYCFC. Bravo!!!

 

[FootyLovin]

Bilbao finished 4th in 13-14 and lost in the Europa League final the year or two before that. I'd beg to differ about the EPL having 7/8 solid teams considering they always completely fail in the Europa League and a Spanish club has won 4 outta the last 6 years.

Oh dip!!!

#BringinItBack

 

[Ulrich]

Bilbao finished 4th in 13-14 and lost in the Europa League final the year or two before that. I'd beg to differ about the EPL having 7/8 solid teams considering they always completely fail in the Europa League and a Spanish club has won 4 outta the last 6 years.

No question Spanish teams do well in the Europa League - they really value that competition because La Liga is so top heavy with Barca, Real Madrid, and Athletico Madrid that the best route to hardware is in the Europa league.

Regarding Athletico Bilbao in La Liga over the last 10 years....
2015/16 table: currently 8th place
2014/15: 7th
2013/14: 4th - their best showing and still they were 17 pts out of 3rd (6 wins!)
2012/13: 12th
2011/12: 10th Runner-up Europa League
2010/11: 6th
2009/10: 8th
2008/09: 13th
2007/08: 11th
2006/07: 17th
2005/06: 12th
That's an average of 10th place

Liverpool over the last 10 years....
2015/16 table: currently 10th place
2014/15: 6th
2013/14: 2nd
2012/13: 7th
2011/12: 8th
2010/11: 6th
2009/10: 7th
2008/09: 2nd
2007/08: 4th Runner-up Champions League
2006/07: 3rd
2005/06: 3rd Won the Champions League
That's an average of 4th/5th place (4.8)

And head to head, going 1vs1, 2vs2, 3vs3, etc, with the exception of La Liga winning the 1 & 2 matches (Barca & Real Madrid), I'd then take the EPL team in each match-up clear through the end of the table. I don't even think it'd be close that the EPL would come out ahead.

 

[Ryan_Kost12]

Whoa ?!?! You just compared a mid-table La Liga team to Liverpool...... that should rile some Liverpool fans up since in La Liga there are 3, maybe 4 good teams and then a cliff-face drop to the others. The EPL has about 7-8 solid teams, and while Liverpool is having an off year, they're easily in the top rung of 5. Bilbao only got competitive last year, and Iraola being expendable may be why - before that, they were mid table at best. I'd venture that getting Iraola is the same as poaching the captain from maybe Sunderland or Astin Villa, which on paper sounds great, but in actuality it may be less than expected.

COYB

 

[Christopher Jee]

Whoa ?!?! You just compared a mid-table La Liga team to Liverpool...... that should rile some Liverpool fans up since in La Liga there are 3, maybe 4 good teams and then a cliff-face drop to the others. The EPL has about 7-8 solid teams, and while Liverpool is having an off year, they're easily in the top rung of 5. Bilbao only got competitive last year, and Iraola being expendable may be why - before that, they were mid table at best. I'd venture that getting Iraola is the same as poaching the captain from maybe Sunderland or Astin Villa, which on paper sounds great, but in actuality it may be less than expected.

Maybe somewhere in between. They were runner up in the Europa as recently as 2010-11, and almost won the Copa del Rey twice in the same period, back when Iraola was playing 30+ matches a season. So maybe a Spurs *ducks*.

Edit - oops, a bit redundant given subsequent messages I hadn't yet read at time of posting.

 

[Falastur]

Bilbao finished 4th in 13-14 and lost in the Europa League final the year or two before that. I'd beg to differ about the EPL having 7/8 solid teams considering they always completely fail in the Europa League and a Spanish club has won 4 outta the last 6 years.

The reason that English teams always fail in the EL is because the Europa is regarded in the UK as a waste of time. English clubs don't need the extra exposure (which is nowhere near the exposure they'd get for playing in the CL), the prize money is insignificant compared to the prize money on offer in the CL or the PL, the chances of winning it are slim and it's basically viewed as a way to destroy your players' fitness, thus crippling your league form in the later stages. Essentially, attempting to compete in the EL is viewed as a "I hereby accept a 5 place league penalty for my foolish short-term thinking" decision.

 

[Ulrich]

The reason that English teams always fail in the EL is because the Europa is regarded in the UK as a waste of time. English clubs don't need the extra exposure (which is nowhere near the exposure they'd get for playing in the CL), the prize money is insignificant compared to the prize money on offer in the CL or the PL, the chances of winning it are slim and it's basically viewed as a way to destroy your players' fitness, thus crippling your league form in the later stages. Essentially, attempting to compete in the EL is viewed as a "I hereby accept a 5 place league penalty for my foolish short-term thinking" decision.

Exactly - you summarized that perfectly. Many of the La Liga teams that do win the EL already know the best they can do is 5th'ish in their league so their motto is What's there to lose, why not roll the dice?!?

 

[The Toe]

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Here's another thought - NONE of us know how the Iraola signing went down. Whatever his wages really are, he's not here on a DP contract.

You can't tell me that they haven't already singled out another similar signing either this winter or summer. That has CFG written all over it. No one else in MLS could have made that move - they took the starting RB and Captain from a mid-table La Liga club. It would be like a player from Liverpool joining up.

Now I'm going to spend time determining who is out of contract in La Liga next summer.

Hey, don't confuse LFC with Everton, man.

Shit. I see others have made my point. And I get yours.

 

[PeteDahhSneak]

The reason that English teams always fail in the EL is because the Europa is regarded in the UK as a waste of time. English clubs don't need the extra exposure (which is nowhere near the exposure they'd get for playing in the CL), the prize money is insignificant compared to the prize money on offer in the CL or the PL, the chances of winning it are slim and it's basically viewed as a way to destroy your players' fitness, thus crippling your league form in the later stages. Essentially, attempting to compete in the EL is viewed as a "I hereby accept a 5 place league penalty for my foolish short-term thinking" decision.

The reason that English teams always fail is that they participate in the most popular league in the world, creating a larger than life image until they get shown up in European competition and everyone is forced to realize their shortcomings. Are you going to tell me the English shortcomings don't take place in both European competitions? And by using the logic the Spanish teams destroy their own fitness, you're saying they'd be a lot more competitive thus a lot better than what the La Liga table actually says?

I'm also sick of this La Liga top heavy bullshit. How many teams have won the PL in the last 10 years? Three. What about La Liga? Three. How many times have the 4 CL teams in England changed in the last 5 seasons? Once? You know how many times the 4 CL teams in Spain have changed in the last 5 seasons? FIVE TIMES! The notion PL teams just get a pass in EL is a joke. It's a chance at a trophy at the continental level for teams AT THAT LEVEL! It's not like the competition is below the players' level. They are playing in it because they earned that spot in the competition.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Exactly - you summarized that perfectly. Many of the La Liga teams that do win the EL already know the best they can do is 5th'ish in their league so their motto is What's there to lose, why not roll the dice?!?

What's the excuse in the CL then?

 

[Ulrich]

What's the excuse in the CL then?

Who's excuse? In the Champion's League, there are too many great teams that none are really heads & shoulders better than anybody else - nearly any team can win on any given day, and sometimes sh!t happens and the ball doesn't roll or bounce where you want it.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Who's excuse? In the Champion's League, there are too many great teams that none are really heads & shoulders better than anybody else - nearly any team can win on any given day, and sometimes sh!t happens and the ball doesn't roll or bounce where you want it.

Ah I was just poking some fun because EPL advocates often bristle at the idea that it's a weaker league, which is a proximal idea that's come up within the broader discussion about what Bilbao's performance tells us about Iraola's ability.

Immaterial / failed attempt at banter aside, it's an interesting data point that might indicate that the underperformance of EPL teams in the EL and the dominance of Spanish teams is due to something aside from discrepancies in motivation, which in turn might indicate that Bilbao and hence Iraola's ability is greater than some might think.

I'm still optimistic that he'll shine in a team that does a better job of keeping possession, which should take more advantage of his skills going forward vs chasing back due to silly turnovers.

 

[EganSoccerWords]

Just as an FYI, someone on reddit translated Mena's Instagram on Reddit and it looks like it just an old pic and shout out to an old teammate, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[The Toe]

Tian and Mena had a pic together eating at PFChangs, with the hashtag #WP. I'm guessing that may mean White Plains.

 

[Fantazma]

Just as an FYI, someone on reddit translated Mena's Instagram on Reddit and it looks like it just an old pic and shout out to an old teammate, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

good, good