2020 Roster Discussion

[Marito]

Or we can go the Mitrita route and spend $7 million on a transfer.

People are always complaining that we "never splash the cash" even though we've splashed the cash four times for DP's. Three of the four didn't work out, but we still spent large amounts of money on Villa, Lampard, Pirlo, and Mitrita. And Maxi makes $2M/year, which while not a massive yearly payout, is a large one considering he's now been here for four years.

If we were willing to spend 15 to 18M on a transfer we could get Pavon. That's just an example. But that kind of player, a real difference maker who is a threat all by himself but also capable of combining with Maxi, Tinnerholm, Mata, Parks, etc., is the missing piece. Somebody like him, a dribbler who runs at guys and is dangerous for 90 minutes, would take the team to a whole new level.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I'm not really answering your question of why we lose, but this did prompt me to think about the related question many of us have of why NYC seems to fall prey to so many individual bizarre or bonehead plays at key moments. Part of the reason is that we don't score goals, and so are positioned to lose when one bad thing happens.
Our playoff matchups:

2016 Toronto 180 minutes 0 goals LOSE
2017 Columbus 180 minutes 3 goals LOSE
2018 Philadelphia 90 minutes 3 goals WIN
2018 Atlanta 180 minutes 1 goal LOSE
2019 Toronto 90 minutes 1 goal LOSE
2020 Orlando 120 minutes 1 goal LOSE

For individual game units the line is
0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 1, 1

Because of the extra 30 minutes against Orlando, the average goals per 90 is <1.

I realize this doesn't answer the real question of why the team fails to score or why, when games are close, the freak events happen to us and not them. But lots of little weird things happen in games where you win or lose anyway by 2 or more goals and nobody cares and nobody remembers.
OTOH, when you score more than 1 goal only twice in 9 games, you have no leeway to do something dumb or suffer a bad call and have it not matter, and everyone remembers the Callens red, the Villa interference call, the 2 defensive brain locks at Citi Field, and the handball plus super bizarre spot kick session yesterday. But yesterday, for example, if we score one damn goal in open play we win.

PS: David Villa played in 7 of those 9 games, for the reminder I cannot resist that as great as he was in season play for us he never came up big and carried the team in knockout tournaments.

We were something like 9-0-0 this season when scoring 2+ goals. So yes -- that's absolutely true.

 

[ZYanksRule]

If we were willing to spend 15 to 18M on a transfer we could get Pavon. That's just an example. But that kind of player, a real difference maker who is a threat all by himself but also capable of combining with Maxi, Tinnerholm, Mata, Parks, etc., is the missing piece. Somebody like him, a dribbler who runs at guys and is dangerous for 90 minutes, would take the team to a whole new level.

Before the 2019 season, wasn't Mitrita like the 5th highest incoming transfer fee in league history? It was something like that. We were willing to spend the kind of money few teams had spent before us. The transfer didn't work, but it wasn't for a lack of spending.

Again, the team has given massive salary outlays to four DP's including $8M in total to Maxi, and they had -- at the time they made it -- one of the biggest transfer costs in league history. The lack of desire to spend is really a fantasy born out of the fact that most of their high-priced players haven't worked out.

 

[VernonJohn]

Based on available information (https://www.sportekz.com/football/new-york-city-players-salaries/):

274,833 GMS
274,806 Castellanos
305,500 Gudi
165,000 Parks
750,000* Medina (*DP)
81,375 Rocha

And players listed as possible alternatives:

234,999 Harry Shipp (retired over the summer)
175,000 Aurelian Collin
1,380,550 Bradley Wright Phillips
175,269 Nick Deleon
617,500 Jorge Villafaña
530,000 Lee Nguyen
363,000* Matt Polster (*transfer fee + 100K allocation money to Fire)
674,988 Matt Besler
668,333 Graham Zusi
665,499 Darlington Nagbe

Mathematically, I am not sure how one could replace players on the team with those from the list. Beyond math, I am not sure how many players on the second list are actual improvements. Nagbe, BWP (Jersey bias aside) and Zusi seem the most likely options to have earned playing time with the current NYCFC roster this year. Nagbe would have been helpful during Maxi's injury spell, but is he 500K better than Parks? Zusi definitely would have been better than Gudi (who seems destined to join Nemec and Berget on the one and done list), but 300K additional salary may not have been workable.

There will be changes to the roster for 2021. Gudi, especially after that terrible penalty, should be replaced considering the salary. GMS is 50/50 - he improved, works hard and Ronny favors him despite the lack of obvious production at a midlevel salary. However, it is definitely the use of the DP slots that will tell the tale of the offseason. I'd prefer a striker (cannot count on Heber in 2021) and an attacking midfielder that can dabble as an 8, but I'd settle for two DP's at any positions that can actually contribute - at the same time - for the bulk of the season.

Gudi is being paid over 300,000?
I also think GMS is overpaid at 274,000.
I’d take Nick Deleon over both.

 

[moogoo]

hear me out...

Ronaldo 2024.

 

[LionNYC]

What happens first: we sign a striker (or DP) or we get a stadium announcement?

All threads lead to the stadium thread.

For some housekeeping purposes, while we're starting to get into 2021 roster discussions I will make that thread once our 2020 calendar year is done and NYCFC announces their offseason roster moves. Please waive Gudi.

 

[moogoo]

What happens first: we sign a striker (or DP) or we get a stadium announcement?

All threads lead to the stadium thread.

For some housekeeping purposes, while we're starting to get into 2021 roster discussions I will make that thread once our 2020 calendar year is done and NYCFC announces their offseason roster moves. Please waive Gudi.

I have a feeling we're going to keep Gudi unless Gudi realizes his true passion is with his music and leaves on his own accord (please). Nice guy and all, but with all the talk about not getting enough minutes, he sure doesn't play like he knows he deserves to start. Out of 10 - I would give Mata a solid 7 this season.. maybe even an 8. Gudi started out well with his cameo appearances, but has since gone down hill. I would give him a 3. 4 if i'm being nice.

 

[Kjbert]

What happens first: we sign a striker (or DP) or we get a stadium announcement?

All threads lead to the stadium thread.

For some housekeeping purposes, while we're starting to get into 2021 roster discussions I will make that thread once our 2020 calendar year is done and NYCFC announces their offseason roster moves. Please waive Gudi.

don’t we have a game next month?

I can’t see Gudi return. But we need LB cover still

 

[LionNYC]

don’t we have a game next month?

I can’t see Gudi return. But we need LB cover still

We do, hence why I'm saying I will open up the 2021 thread once our calendar year is done. Once CCL is over, any roster decisions effect 2021. Heck, since the preliminary roster for CCL was announced, that's our final roster for 2020 (includes Andres Jasson).

 

[JayH]

Please waive Gudi.

He was begging RD all season for the opportunity to be a difference maker.

 

[mgarbowski]

He was begging RD all season for the opportunity to be a difference maker.

You and our left backs.

 

[adam]

I did not forget. I dissed.

the isles showed how quickly a stadium can get built in this city if you have the right people behind it.

 

[VernonJohn]

I have a feeling we're going to keep Gudi unless Gudi realizes his true passion is with his music and leaves on his own accord (please). Nice guy and all, but with all the talk about not getting enough minutes, he sure doesn't play like he knows he deserves to start. Out of 10 - I would give Mata a solid 7 this season.. maybe even an 8. Gudi started out well with his cameo appearances, but has since gone down hill. I would give him a 3. 4 if i'm being nice.

I thought Mata was really good this season. Deserves more than a 7 in my book.
He may still have some flaws but overall I thought he elevated his play. I thought the whole back line generally played really well though they still haven’t exorcised all the demons.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I thought Mata was really good this season. Deserves more than a 7 in my book.
He may still have some flaws but overall I thought he elevated his play. I thought the whole back line generally played really well though they still haven’t exorcised all the demons.

There were very few players I had a major problem with this year. Maxi had a down year, GMS did nothing until the last few games, Medina was very inconsistent but ended well. ITS couldn't stay on the field ... but aside from that, I don't have a particular issue with anyone on the field. Our issue was in roster management when we ran out of forwards, which is pretty crazy considering going into the season we thought we had a surplus. This was just one of those years where it seemed like nothing went our way. Sometimes no one is to blame, it's just not your year. Heber's injury really did turn into the death knell. Then Mitrita leaves a couple games later, and it was really over.

 

[JayH]

There were very few players I had a major problem with this year. Maxi had a down year, GMS did nothing until the last few games, Medina was very inconsistent but ended well. ITS couldn't stay on the field ... but aside from that, I don't have a particular issue with anyone on the field. Our issue was in roster management when we ran out of forwards, which is pretty crazy considering going into the season we thought we had a surplus. This was just one of those years where it seemed like nothing went our way. Sometimes no one is to blame, it's just not your year. Heber's injury really did turn into the death knell. Then Mitrita leaves a couple games later, and it was really over.

Don’t disagree with any of this. Instead what I think it emphasizes is that management blew an opportunity (as others have said). All it would have taken was a couple of significant roster moves to put us in a position to run the table in a weird year, and yet they decided to punt because it was a weird year. That’s the most disappointing thing to me.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Don’t disagree with any of this. Instead what I think it emphasizes is that management blew an opportunity (as others have said). All it would have taken was a couple of significant roster moves to put us in a position to run the table in a weird year, and yet they decided to punt because it was a weird year. That’s the most disappointing thing to me.

I don't know that I agree. There was an injury to our starting striker, and then Mitrita shockingly left -- and no, I don't think they saw it coming. Mitrita leaving was a direct result of the pandemic, and obviously no one could have guessed this situation would happen. I don't blame the front office for not bringing in new players in September/October.

There weren't a lot of in-season transactions throughout MLS this season, and the intensity of MLS/USA/NY state guidelines would have made it very hard to bring someone in. Plus get them quarantined and acclimated -- Heber's injury was in September and Mitrita left in October. Even in a non-COVID world it took weeks for guys to get visas. The idea we could have signed someone in late September, gotten them a visa, then they would have had to quarantine for two weeks before they could even start practicing. I realize some teams were able to sign guys, but lots of states around the country had less stringent guidelines than New York did.

I just think the roster crunch we had this season was indicative of a weird year and not indicative of what the front office is capable of.

 

[ZYanksRule]

To be completist: Heber's injury was Sept. 12. Mitrita's last game was Oct. 3.

Let's say it takes 2 weeks to recruit/sign someone. That's being generous and making a really fast signing, but let's say they can get it done in two weeks. That takes us to Sept. 26 for the Heber replacement and Oct. 17 for the Mitrita replacement. Then let's say it takes at least 3 weeks to get a visa. Perhaps even more than that, but for sake of argument we'll say three weeks. Now we're at at least October 17 for the Heber replacement or Nov. 7 for the Mitrita replacement. But we're still not home -- the guy still has to quarantine for two weeks once he gets into New York. So now the Heber replacement can't even join the team until October 31, and the Mitrita replacement wouldn't have even been able to start practicing until yesterday -- and that's if they rush to sign him in two weeks and if it only takes 3 weeks to get a visa.

When David Lee says it was impossible to make a signing at that stage of the season, I don't think he was being lazy, I think he was being honest with our situation. The extra two weeks of NY-mandated quarantine made it virtually impossible to add to the roster from abroad.

 

[Shwafta]

It was also COVID. I don't blame the team at all for not making signings. One, for the probable difficulty of it, and two for the fact that it's a bad look if they call financial problems yet sign millions worth of players at the same time. Bothers me that it's happening in Europe, and I'm happy we haven't done that sort of thing. (at least not yet...)

 

[Annagram]

I don't know that I agree. There was an injury to our starting striker, and then Mitrita shockingly left -- and no, I don't think they saw it coming. Mitrita leaving was a direct result of the pandemic, and obviously no one could have guessed this situation would happen. I don't blame the front office for not bringing in new players in September/October.

Wasn't Mitrita's departure because his pregnant wife never received a US visa at all, rather than the pandemic? The club surely knew this.

 

[ManhattanValley]

Wasn't Mitrita's departure because his pregnant wife never received a US visa at all, rather than the pandemic? The club surely knew this.

Yeah, this situation didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s not like Mitri just announced he was leaving and was gone the next day.

Again - I totally understand why they didn’t make a move. It may well have been impossible to get a like for like replacement for Mitri or Heber in the timeframe they had. Was it impossible for them to do something?