2019 Roster Discussion

[dummyrun]

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

This is a single quote from Guardiola back when he was at Barcelona that's been blown out of proportion, and I've never heard Torrent say anything similar. Both coaches can and do train their teams on attacking third tactics. In fact I'd say Man City is the best-coached team at breaking down a defensive block that I've ever seen.

 

[hank]

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.

I agree here but I think Lewis plays on a wing with ITS. I think defensively he will be fine this year especially after the national team camp. I would rather have two wingers with pace and ability to beat players especially if we have no number 9. Almost like playing with Sane and Sterling. I Don’t think Taty should play over him at all.

 

[gbservis]

I agree here but I think Lewis plays on a wing with ITS. I think defensively he will be fine this year especially after the national team camp. I would rather have two wingers with pace and ability to beat players especially if we have no number 9. Almost like playing with Sane and Sterling. I Don’t think Taty should play over him at all.

Do you know if Lewis has played in the middle before in college or has he always been a wing? With a growing log jam of players on the wing and few options in the middle it would be nice for him to get time in both spots. To me he seems to have the skills to play in the middle or the wing, he's strong, fast and can finish.

 

[mgarbowski]

This is a single quote from Guardiola back when he was at Barcelona that's been blown out of proportion, and I've never heard Torrent say anything similar. Both coaches can and do train their teams on attacking third tactics. In fact I'd say Man City is the best-coached team at breaking down a defensive block that I've ever seen.

Jokes are always well served by this sort of analysis and correction.
So thanks.
Also, last year we sucked at that after Torrent showed up.
I don't give a fuck about Pep or Man City or how they're doing.

 

[Ulrich]

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.

Medina can talk to Reyna - Reyna knows personally about being taken out of a game in first 5 minutes with a rough challenge when he got crunched in the WC vs Germany.

 

[ZYanksRule]

It's great to have this much depth. Between injuries, international duty, triple game weeks, I bet we don't see our best XI more than 20 times this year. Plenty of time to go around for everyone. Again, two years ago Mikey Lopez was getting major minutes. Depth is never a bad thing.

 

[ManhattanValley]

If this comes to fruition, I would be very unhappy if I was Mr and Mrs Haak

If Mr and Mrs Haak are very unhappy that their 17 year old son isn't waltzing straight into the first team then I would suggest they're easily upset.

(Or have an inflated view of a homegrown prospect's value - not that we would ever do that...)

 

[mgarbowski]

This is a single quote from Guardiola back when he was at Barcelona that's been blown out of proportion

Here's six minutes of Thierry Henry being extremely influenced by the single quote that's been blown out of proportion

 

[Kjbert]

If Mr and Mrs Haak are very unhappy that their 17 year old son isn't waltzing straight into the first team then I would suggest they're easily upset.

(Or have an inflated view of a homegrown prospect's value - not that we would ever do that...)

My point is that we’re signing a 19 year old not because anyone thinks he can play right now, but because we think he could play for us in the future.

Based off of everything I’m reading both here and on the inter webs today, this kid isn’t seeing the field for us anytime soon. It’s for future nycfc.

 

[gbservis]

My point is that we’re signing a 19 year old not because anyone thinks he can play right now, but because we think he could play for us in the future.

Based off of everything I’m reading both here and on the inter webs today, this kid isn’t seeing the field for us anytime soon. It’s for future nycfc.

Seems reasonable to me. Regardless of how talented any young player is bringing them along cautiously always seems like a better plan than just throwing them in the deep end. They've been cautious with Sands and hopefully they do the same with Haak. Ideally Sands starts seeing regular time this season as he looked poised for it in his appearances towards the end of last year. If Haak spends this season getting used to the training and the travel with a few sub appearances or maybe a loan spell that seems like year 1 success to me. If he shocks everyone and breaks into the first team as a starter, amazing but he doesn't need to do anything close to that in my opinion in his first year for this to be viewed as a great signing.

 

[dummyrun]

Here's six minutes of Thierry Henry being extremely influenced by the single quote that's been blown out of proportion

View attachment 9469 View attachment 9470 View attachment 9471

Can only commend you for overcoming your lack of fucks given about Pep to locate the famous clip that is both the source of the quote and the reason it's been blown out of proportion. Did it make your joke funny yet?

 

[snugglefarts]

we still haven't signed a left back, have we? or a backup to tinnerholm? or a striker. depth is great but it needs to be even.

 

[LionNYC]

I guess we'll be playing a 3-7-0 formation.

 

[mgarbowski]

Can only commend you for overcoming your lack of fucks given about Pep to locate the famous clip that is both the source of the quote and the reason it's been blown out of proportion. Did it make your joke funny yet?

Are you intentionally this obtuse?

1. I don't give a fuck about how well Pep is doing with Man City.
2. I look at Pep's history to try to figure out what to expect from Dome because he's a career assistant to Pep, and we have no video's of ex-players talking about his preferences, or style, or anything, and the club is completely opaque and he'd rather argue with reporters than answer questions.

1 and 2 are not in the least inconsistent.
ETA: And Jesus wept -- it was a joke. I didn't build some elaborate analysis of DT upon it.

The only reason to expect good things of Dome is his connection to Pep. That's all we have. He never ran a top level team, and hasn't run any team for more than a decade. He took a well run team and not only ran it into the ground he made it boring to watch, especially at home, where they started dropping points and under-performing offensive xG by outlier- level amounts. Suddenly as fans we're paying to watch the team consistently pass the ball around 70% of the field, become less direct in attack, giving opponents more time to get back on defense, which led to lots of low percentage shots that rarely went in, and the longer he was in charge the worse our xGD got as well as real world results.

Man City is having a good season? Fuck them and fuck Pep. I don't care. But can Pep's history help me figure out the enigma we have as a manager? I don't know? Maybe not, but it's all we got.

Also, if you think that video's been over-publicized and analyzed then your complaint is with with Henry, not me. Henry's "He used to say" and six minutes of repeatedly saying some variation of "here the freedom begins" when they get in the final third are not really in alignment with your "single quote" characterization. According to Henry, it wasn't something he said once. It's presented as a fundamental basis of his approach to the game. If it was some throw-away remark Pep said, then Henry was basically deceiving everyone with this interview, or maybe he just never "got" Pep as well as you.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Are you intentionally this obtuse?

1. I don't give a fuck about how well Pep is doing with Man City.
2. I look at Pep's history to try to figure out what to expect from Dome because he's a career assistant to Pep, and we have no video's of ex-players talking about his preferences, or style, or anything, and the club is completely opaque and he'd rather argue with reporters than answer questions.

1 and 2 are not in the least inconsistent.

The only reason to expect good things of Dome is his connection to Pep. That's all we have. He never ran a top level team, and hasn't run any team for more than a decade. He took a well run team and not only ran it into the ground he made it boring to watch, especially at home, where they started dropping points and under-performing offensive xG by outlier- level amounts. Suddenly as fans we're paying to watch the team consistently pass the ball around 70% of the field, become less direct in attack, giving opponents more time to get back on defense, which led to lots of low percentage shots that rarely went in, and the longer he was in charge the worse our xGD got as well as real world results.

Man City is having a good season? Fuck them and fuck Pep. I don't care. But can Pep's history help me figure out the enigma we have as a manager? I don't know? Maybe not, but it's all we got.

Also, if you think that video's been over-publicized and analyzed then your complaint is with with Henry, not me. Henry's "He used to say" and six minutes of repeatedly saying some variation of "here the freedom begins" when they get in the final third are not really in alignment with your "single quote" characterization. According to Henry, it wasn't something he said once. It's presented as a fundamental basis of his approach to the game. If it was some throw-away remark Pep said, then Henry was basically deceiving everyone with this interview, or maybe he just never "got" Pep as well as you.

Can only commend you for overcoming your lack of fucks given about Pep to locate the famous clip that is both the source of the quote and the reason it's been blown out of proportion. Did it make your joke funny yet?

As one person who has used that quote fairly liberally (in the non-political sense), you both make valid points.

It appears both reasonable to think that Dome's approach is informed by this and that it may have diverged significantly. I think we all hope for the latter. In a positive way.

 

[gbservis]

I guess we'll be playing a 3-7-0 formation.

I'd like to make a report to the mods that people are stealing my posts

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.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I LOVE depth.

This kid isn't the depth you love. Break glass, maybe. He's not close to contributing.

 

[gbservis]

This kid isn't the depth you love. Break glass, maybe. He's not close to contributing.

I'm almost afraid to ask but for context if the only options are: Mikey Lopez, TMAC, Kwame Awauh or Juan Pablo Torres. Who should start?

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I'm almost afraid to ask but for context if the only options are: Mikey Lopez, TMAC, Kwame Awauh or Juan Pablo Torres. Who should start?

Awuah, if it's as an 8. But that's a really challenging question. So much meh in that scenario.

eta: worth noting, I think it's better for us to carry JPT on the roster than any of those three. He can potentially contribute down the road. Two of your 3 obviously couldn't. And apparently Awuah wasn't coming along as the staff would've liked. So no issue scrapping those options.

With any luck, we'll get good performances out of our other young mids. If we don't, it's going to be a long-ass year.

 

[Kjbert]

Awuah, if it's as an 8. But that's a really challenging question. So much meh in that scenario.

eta: worth noting, I think it's better for us to carry JPT on the roster than any of those three. He can potentially contribute down the road. Two of your 3 obviously couldn't. And apparently Awuah wasn't coming along as the staff would've liked. So no issue scrapping those options.

With any luck, we'll get good performances out of our other young mids. If we don't, it's going to be a long-ass year.

Now what if we told you that you had to pay $200k for him? Does that change your mind?