2017 Preseason Thread

[FootyLovin]

My two cents:

• I like Mikey. Great for the price. People complain a lot about him drawing cards, but if I'm reading his MLS stats page correctly, in four years in the league he has zero red cards.
• I like mgarbowski 's posts because of his new signature.

 

[mgarbowski]

To me, it's not about the believability. I have no doubt that someone or multiple people in the organization view/s it that way. But it's about literally wtf went down because I'd like to know what behavior gives rise to this extreme punishment and be able to judge for myself its appropriateness. Not my right to be given it, of course. But it is my right to not be satisfied with conclusory characterizations with no supporting facts in evidence. It's even more odd given that he played for a national team manager who notoriously has thrown players under the bus or kicked them from camp, and we never heard a peep out of there about anything.

And finally, I don't much see how positing it here changes anything. The club has killed any trade value with their handling it. And I'm sure if Kjbert knows, then every FO person, at least in MLS, already knows as well.

Close to where I am too. To me it rings true, and I'd like to know more, but realize I probably won't. And posting it here does little except partially sate my curiosity and is otherwise non-helpful, but nothing else is moving things forward so why not. I have to figure the club is being secretive because that's just how it does things. Laundry does not get aired. To some degree that helps both Mix and the club, but at some point, even if nobody knows, everybody knows.

 

[Tom in Fairfield CT]

I have a hard time squaring lampard's "respect for this year" response to mix with a clubhouse cancer and all around douche.

Sounds a lot more like being strong armed by a club with buyer's remorse.

 

[mgarbowski]

I like Mikey. Great for the price. People complain a lot about him drawing cards, but if I'm reading his MLS stats page correctly, in four years in the league he has zero red cards.

I see the same. He had a lot of yellows for his minutes but no reds. And half the yellows came in a streak and then mostly stopped. Hopefully he figured something out and calmed down.

 

[Schwallacus]

I see the same. He had a lot of yellows for his minutes but no reds. And half the yellows came in a streak and then mostly stopped. Hopefully he figured something out and calmed down.

CONFIRMED- Mikey Lopez to get three red cards this year.

 

[Kjbert]

I have a hard time squaring lampard's "respect for this year" response to mix with a clubhouse cancer and all around douche.

Sounds a lot more like being strong armed by a club with buyer's remorse.

I tend to agree somewhat that Lampard's decision making rubs me the wrong way considering what Mix has done.

That being said, Lampard's decision was made with the help of Pelligrini. That makes it a little different. I know how pissed our FO was when Lampard stayed over there.

 

[Ulrich]

I tend to agree somewhat that Lampard's decision making rubs me the wrong way considering what Mix has done.

That being said, Lampard's decision was made with the help of Pelligrini. That makes it a little different. I know how pissed our FO was when Lampard stayed over there.

I think you're confusing what Tom in Fairfield CT is referencing. It has nothing to do with Lampard's arrival, it's that when Lampard left he made a comment on social media(?) that he respected Mix for this year. It was a total props moment.

 

[JayH]

Is it too early to start posting weather forecasts for the home opener? No.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york-ny/10007/daily-weather-forecast/349727?day=54

 

[gbservis]

I have a hard time squaring lampard's "respect for this year" response to mix with a clubhouse cancer and all around douche.

Sounds a lot more like being strong armed by a club with buyer's remorse.

It does certainly add to the mystery but it could also support the other hypothetical. Assuming his treatment was a result of disciplinary action I think we all agree he's handled the benching well. He never said anything publicly, continued to come to training and all team events. Isn't it just as possible that Lampard is saying respect for how you handled yourself in response to the punishment?

Maybe the punishment theory is reason for optimism from those who like Mix, it's possible his banishment was for one year with the stipulation that he could earn his way back for this coming season with good behavior. If that's the case we could actually have a chance at seeing Mix make a meaningful contribution to the team in this up coming season.

 

[Kjbert]

The team (and Mix) would like to see the situation resolved and have him play elsewhere.

 

[dannd23]

My two cents:

• I like Mikey. Great for the price. People complain a lot about him drawing cards, but if I'm reading his MLS stats page correctly, in four years in the league he has zero red cards.
• I like mgarbowski 's posts because of his new signature.

Don't take this me coming at you or anything, but I hate the argument of "great for the price". He is not a good player that makes tons of errors. The only way he "great for the price" is if he is paying us to play. I think players that are "great for the price" would be Allen, T-Mac, and when we had him, Poku. They each made close to what Mikey made. But they all perform at least 5x more effectively than Lopez.

Hey, I hope he proves me wrong. If he does, then it will be a good season.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

The team (and Mix) would like to see the situation resolved and have him play elsewhere.

Well shit. What's stopping them then? They've only had 9 months to figure it out.

 

[Kjbert]

He's great for the price for the role that he plays. He's a specialized player. If he's playing more than 20 minutes per game, we have a problem

 

[Kjbert]

Well shit. What's stopping them then? They've only had 9 months to figure it out.

I wish I knew.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I wish I knew.

Im wondering, did your source actually give you examples that you yourself haven't shared or were your source's statements just general?

I'm going to assume your source isn't a ticket or fan rep.

 

[adam]

Don't take this me coming at you or anything, but I hate the argument of "great for the price". He is not a good player that makes tons of errors. The only way he "great for the price" is if he is paying us to play. I think players that are "great for the price" would be Allen, T-Mac, and when we had him, Poku. They each made close to what Mikey made. But they all perform at least 5x more effectively than Lopez.

Hey, I hope he proves me wrong. If he does, then it will be a good season.

Just fact checking here.

Mikey $51,500
Tmac $85,000
RJ $63,000 (now he got a raise)
Poku :'( $70,722.42

The players closer to Mikey's range were:

Shannon Gomez $51,500.04 (bet he holds those 4 cents over Mikey's head!)
Connor Brandt $53,472

Then the next tier:

Rawls $62,508
Norris $62,500
And RJ

Up one more tier:

Tmac
Mhedi $86,662.50
TT99 (get well soon!) $91,875
Khiry $94,500

I think it's good to understand players by pay tiers. The contracts are negotiated using salaries of players of similar production. So, although a player may outperform or underperform his K; the sum paid by the club is indicative of the performance they expected.

Personally, I think the club feels Mikey outperforms his K. And so do I. He's a good roll player for the $. But I wouldn't expect him to start or even be a major contributor. That's like 3 pay tiers above what he's getting. Mata, Iraola, Stivin, Hernandez, Mena type money. $175k-$230k. He's a situational sub and plays his roll well. When asked to do more he fails. But that's more lack of talent, not effort.

 

[Kjbert]

Im wondering, did your source actually give you examples that you yourself haven't shared or were your source's statements just general?

I'm going to assume your source isn't a ticket or fan rep.

Just one example and then General thoughts on the matter.

Source is not a ticket or fan rep.

 

[FootyLovin]

Is it too early to start posting weather forecasts for the home opener? No.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york-ny/10007/daily-weather-forecast/349727?day=54

Clicked this totally expecting to get Rick rolled.

 

[FootyLovin]

Don't take this me coming at you or anything, but I hate the argument of "great for the price". He is not a good player that makes tons of errors. The only way he "great for the price" is if he is paying us to play. I think players that are "great for the price" would be Allen, T-Mac, and when we had him, Poku. They each made close to what Mikey made. But they all perform at least 5x more effectively than Lopez.

Hey, I hope he proves me wrong. If he does, then it will be a good season.

I don't take any offense. Though I think your argument has holes. You say you hate the "great for the price" claim and then cite your own preferred examples of "great for the price".

Fact is, in a salary capped league, great for the price matters a lot. But even taking price out of it, Lopez is arguably the top hustle player on the team. He is a total energy infusion. When the other team has the ball, he makes our defense better.

Of course, when we have the ball he makes our offense worse and there is an argument to be made that because of the risk of him giving the ball away or contributing to a bad giveaway he makes our defense worse. But I think when we need to lock things down for the last 20 minutes of a game we don't have many better options.

 

[NYC24]

But I think when we need to lock things down for the last 20 minutes of a game we don't have many better options.

We NEED a better option before the season starts. 6 is the most important position on the pitch and we have Mikey. We will be fighting for the #6 seed with this guy at 6 no matter how good our attacking players. #1 priority right now has to be defensive midfield.