I'm thinking everyone understands that Haak will not be playing any significant role with the first team this season. He is a project. Torres is probably being eyed to play a role this season and maybe next with an eye towards selling him on.
2019 Roster Discussion
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
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Haven't been able to find much either. If this happens, it does seem clear that the club is shifting towards young American talent, which is great IF they sign the pieces around them to make it work.
I like the idea of a bunch of young guys (Medina, Keaton, Lewis, Sands, Torres, Haak and others) being on the roster developing while fighting to establish themselves as true professionals. This is an element that has been missing from this club so far, and I welcome it. A club with a bunch of prime aged players bought and signed from other leagues doesn't endear itself to fans as well as a team with breakout youngsters, especially some brought up at least partially in house.
Ugh....I've only seen him with the US in the CONCACAF U20 Championship tournament.Another young US national team midfielder.Midas Mulligan probably knows more than anyone
He's active and works hard. But sad to report, he was easily the least talented of any midfielder who saw important minutes on that team. Most informed observers thought it was a mistake to play him as an 8 and would have rather had Pomykal play there and push him to the bench.
It's mind-boggling that we're signing him in the context of us having 3 young US midfielders already in the fold. The only difference I see is that he might be quicker/pacier and a little more likely to get on the end of something than any of our existing options.
But truly, I'm baffled. Not so much that he's terrible. I don't think he is, as there's nothing wrong with being over-shadowed by Alex Mendez. It's just, as K Kjbert so eloquently put it, why???? If you didn't bring back Ofori, it might make sense. But we did, so I'm struggling with it.
Unhappy for Haak but even more so for Sands. I still don't get why the glut at the 6 & 8 positions. Contrary to all the noises coming from Dome and the FO about Sands being ready for a much bigger role in 2019, he's clearly behind Ring as a 6, and if this signing materializes he now has competition for the 1st sub role as DM. I am not saying competition is bad, but why pump up the kid as a quasi-starter and then bury him deep in the bench again? A few weeks ago we were discussing in this forum whether the plan was to start Sands as 6 and push Ring up as 8, but now that seems unlikely as we have Parks, Ofori and Haak at 8. Meanwhile no 9 except Jo Inge, and no LBs except Sweat and Mata, if you can still call him an LB. Of course if he doesn't line up as LB he would be an additional 8 or winger, which we don't seem to need, so LB he would have to be. I don't understand our approach to roster building IMHO.
I'm not sure all these players are neccesarily expected to fit exclusively the 6 or 8 roles.
Not even close, man. He was usually the 3rd, 2nd or least talented player on the field in any position (depending on presence of Akinola and Real).
Looking at only mids, and putting aside Mendez, who is a greater prospect by orders of magnitude, Brandon Servania (only a year in an academy), Frankie Amaya (a college player!), and Paxton Pomykal were well better than him. He'd be the 5th choice mid in the FC Dallas youth squad.
you guys all forgetting that injuries, suspensions and us having bunch of three game weeks, they will see minutes, not starter minutes but minutes still. i do think haak and maybe scally will be loaned out from start.
I think Sands and Haak can take a lot of comfort in that pretty much anyone who knows anything considers both of them far better prospects than JPT.
Guys who spend way more time watching youth and whose opinions I respect give JPT effectively no shot at ever rising to the level of an international contributor. Consensus is he maxes his potential if he becomes a reasonably competent MLS player. I think we all have far higher hopes for Haak and Sands.
Step 1, sign all the mids and wingers
Step 2, hire steve sampson as first team coach to implement famed 3-6-1.
step 3,
If you think about soccer as a business, you always want to acquire undervalued assets.
It’s possible that the kid’s agent approached MLS teams and said he wants to come home. Maybe we looked at the cost of acquiring him and his upside and decided it was an asset to acquire. I’m ok with that. But the fee paid and the salary costs are important here. This isn’t Chelsea where you just acquire and loan out. There are cap implications here.
And if that is how things played out...why isn’t he headed to Atlanta?
It’s possible that the kid’s agent approached MLS teams and said he wants to come home. Maybe we looked at the cost of acquiring him and his upside and decided it was an asset to acquire. I’m ok with that. But the fee paid and the salary costs are important here. This isn’t Chelsea where you just acquire and loan out. There are cap implications here.
And if that is how things played out...why isn’t he headed to Atlanta?
I mixed up JPT and Mendez in my mind. Good call.
I figured something was off because I just couldn't contemplate how anyone could have that opinion. No worries.
From the looks of it Dome is about to run out the first ever 3-7-0 formation.
I can see it now our FO is sitting around discussing how difficult it will be to fill Villa's shoes. Whomever they bring in will be unfairly compared to the legend with no chance of living up to the man they've been tasked to replace. When all of a sudden one of the brain trust pitches the solution: No striker, we just play without a striker this season, all midfielders and wingers, problem solved. Everyone pats themselves on the back and they all take 3 weeks off, no need to start trying to get players until training camp starts, maybe even the middle of camp.
Pep and Dome like to say their job is to get the team up to the box and then you leave it to the players to figure out how to score. We now have a roster of players Dome can work with for "his job." That there is nobody to figure out the last 18 yards is not his problem
I LOVE depth.
Remember when Ring played half the season hurt and we suffered for it? Remember when we lost every single open cup game we ever played? Remember when we never have any confidence winning Wednesday games?
Let's go.
Remember when Ring played half the season hurt and we suffered for it? Remember when we lost every single open cup game we ever played? Remember when we never have any confidence winning Wednesday games?
Let's go.
Jokes aside I'd say our best case scenario at this point which isn't great is some combination of we sign a striker, Berget stays and Lewis gets time at striker. Worst case scenario is that they've convinced themselves they can play some sort of false 9 type formation with Maxi or Medina in the middle. That's a total waste of Maxi and Medina is way too soft. MLS teams are just going to throw Medina to the ground a few times to start every game and he'll meekly fade into obscurity just like he did anytime things got physical last season. With the middle taken away they will then focus on locking down our wings and completely take our attack out of the game, while we pass the ball around the midfield and pat ourselves on the back for our possession advantage.
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