2018 Roster Discussion

Is it possible that we're looking at the Medina signing all wrong? Maybe Medina is going to come along slowly like Lewis but behind Maxi? Maybe he displaces Maxi and Maxi is the new Tommy Mac this season?

So another Andrea Pirlo where a DP is on the bench for a full year? (Under this premise, Maxi would be on the bench in 2019)?

If this is true, the front office as no direction on DP positioning and forward looking thinking.
 
So another Andrea Pirlo where a DP is on the bench for a full year? (Under this premise, Maxi would be on the bench in 2019)?

If this is true, the front office as no direction on DP positioning and forward looking thinking.


It's possible that your first statement is false and your second statement is still true.

We've gone through the numbers on the minutes available out of the Midfield. For us, in reality, we had 4 guys with starter minutes out of the midfield (Ring, Maxi, Herrera and McNamara). If you are looking to improve quality, and if you agree with Midas Mulligan as I do that Maxi can provide cover as an 8 and a 10, it's not absurd to think of 4 guys rotating through 3 positions throughout the year. My thoughts on Maxi are well known, but it's possible that all of Ring, Herrera, Maxi and Medina start 25+ games in the midfield this season.

To your second point, in hindsight, the Maxi signing makes little sense when you then go out and sign Medina in 2018. If you want to get younger and faster, you don't sign a 31 year old journeyman from Argentina. There's evidence here to say that Maxi was an emergency signing (I don't agree with that) OR that they realize they made a mistake in the type of DP they want and are now following the Atlanta way
 
Assuming we sign Pelupessy and Tajouri, here's our depth chart with known designations, ages, year signed.
  • Interesting that we've almost completely overhauled this lineup in the last 2 years.
  • Aside from Maxi, we're very young in the midfield.
  • Both Sweat & Wallace can backup at LB, so we're not as thin as it looks there.
  • We still have an obvious lack of depth at CB and ST.

NYCFC 2018 LINEUP.jpg
 
Assuming we sign Pelupessy and Tajouri, here's our depth chart with known designations, ages, year signed.
  • Interesting that we've almost completely overhauled this lineup in the last 2 years.
  • Aside from Maxi, we're very young in the midfield.
  • Both Sweat & Wallace can backup at LB, so we're not as thin as it looks there.
  • We still have an obvious lack of depth at CB and ST.
View attachment 7872

The striker depth is so significant and challenging to fill, it's concerning that we're spending time and resources elsewhere. Expecting Villa not to see some loss of quality and ability to stay on the pitch this year would be foolish. Getting a player that can offer something and that Vieira can be convinced to trust enough to give Villa some of the rest he'll need but neither of them will want him to take is essential.
 
The striker depth is so significant and challenging to fill, it's concerning that we're spending time and resources elsewhere. Expecting Villa not to see some loss of quality and ability to stay on the pitch this year would be foolish. Getting a player that can offer something and that Vieira can be convinced to trust enough to give Villa some of the rest he'll need but neither of them will want him to take is essential.


Devils Advocate would say we have the players to go with a False 9 formation and Maxi plays there with Harrison and Medina attacking. Someone smarter than me can tell me if that makes sense.
 
Hell, go for the Triple Crown:
There's nothing wrong with our midfield that couldn't be fixed with more Mix, Maxi, and Pirlo.
Those first two are competent number 8s for the league, but the third is only a competent number 8 man left off the game day roster.
 
Assuming we sign Pelupessy and Tajouri, here's our depth chart with known designations, ages, year signed.
  • Interesting that we've almost completely overhauled this lineup in the last 2 years.
  • Aside from Maxi, we're very young in the midfield.
  • Both Sweat & Wallace can backup at LB, so we're not as thin as it looks there.
  • We still have an obvious lack of depth at CB and ST.

View attachment 7872

Not sure if it's been discussed but couldn't Harrison or even Lewis be the ST backups? Doesn't give us a target sub to put on when we are chasing games but as I think someone pointed out Villa is a very winger like ST. The team is setup and practices for Villa why not go with Harrison as a like for like backup rather than more of a true ST.
 
Not sure if it's been discussed but couldn't Harrison or even Lewis be the ST backups? Doesn't give us a target sub to put on when we are chasing games but as I think someone pointed out Villa is a very winger like ST. The team is setup and practices for Villa why not go with Harrison as a like for like backup rather than more of a true ST.

I'd like that because it if we do sign Tajouri we're just putting more bodies in front of Lewis all over again.
 
I'd like that because it if we do sign Tajouri we're just putting more bodies in front of Lewis all over again.

I fail to see how that's a bad thing. If Lewis is the better player, he plays. If he's not, then he's really good depth. This is how you build an MLS Cup contender -- by layering over your starters with even better starters so talented players are left out of the 18 every week. In this case we could potentially be layering over our bench player with a (hopefully) better bench player.
 
6'4" - 6'5", transfermarkt has him with a 900k valuation, 69 rating in FIFA 18.

What else is there on this guy?

Edit: He's also right-footed, which makes sense for our CB depth as Sweat can provide some left-footed CB depth
 
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