I’m also not claiming he’s been great. But even if buyouts were unlimited, they should be reserved for negatively disruptive players. Guys you just can’t succeed with. Morales is clearly not in that category. Maybe he only plays against weaker teams. Maybe he only plays when our best back line is in place. I didn’t control for any of that. Maybe he’s subject to some sort of compensation effect where everyone plays better because they know that they have to makeup for his failings. I mean that sounds stupid but I can't rule it out. But the bottom line is we can and do succeed when he plays. Whenever a rising young player (or coach) wants to leave inevitably someone says in the long run you have to let players go in order to sign more good players in the future. Fine. I mean, it's the kind of boring conventional wisdom that doesn't need to be said as often as it is, but fine. But you also need to sign solid cheap and mid-range and veteran and coming back from Europe players, and if you cut them after one year because you decided you paid them too much and tell the world you would rather pay them to leave than have them on the roster, even though you win more when they play than when they don't? Someone is going to notice. Word will get out. You can't do that.
And I'm tired of the casual and repeated expressions of disdain and contempt, which are often wrong.
When Tommy McNamara left, some NYCFC fans still loved him, but a sizable contingent was not just happy to see him leave, but obnoxious about it. We had people repeating stupid nicknames about how fat, slow, and useless he was. And so far this year he has played in every game but one and about 66% of the minutes for a team that just won Supporters Shield and might set an MLS record for points in a season. He's not the primary driver at all. I'm not even slightly regretful that we let him go. But he's a useful player on a great team and all those obnoxious comments just look even more ridiculous in retrospect.
Eric Miller left here with basically no fans, and a lot of vitriol. I won't claim I saw something in him that others didn't. He was never anywhere near as good as even T-Mac ever was. Again I have no regrets about letting him go. But he's played more than 30% of available minutes on the back line of the team that leads the league in fewest goals allowed. Of course, that's 85% because of Walker Zimmerman and maybe 0.5% due to Eric Miller. Maybe Miller will be even be cut in the off-season. But for now in 2021 the coach keeps putting him in and the defense gets the job done so maybe he isn't as dogsh!t as people said.
I'm not against criticizing players. But when people turn on one of them and decide he's not up to par, it gets vicious and often just wrong and completely blown beyond reality. And it's tiresome.
Yes. The repetition of such extreme negativity, especially when it's wrong, is tiresome. Every game chat lately, if Morales is in the lineup someone says it's a guaranteed loss. If one person forgets to say it, someone else chimes in. Clockwork. Well guess what. That's pretty much the opposite of true. Maybe Morales is just lucky, but we win more when he plays than when he doesn't. So maybe look at that and think and come up with a reason that actually adds to the conversation, that isn't just the same repetitive blah blah that everyone copies and becomes groupthink. Maybe you* can find some common element in the games he plays that causes the team to do better despite his shortcomings. That would actually be interesting if you did that, instead of just assuming and constantly repeating that the team does worse when he plays because someone else said it and people agreed, so it's safe. Because it isn't even accurate. Maybe use some thought, and checking, and generate fresh content and show some creativity. But instead we had a half dozen people saying we should buy him out this week. Just like we've had a half dozen or more people all repeating various other things this season that I checked and found just were not true.
Yes. I'm getting kind of burnt out with the forums.
* Not you
SoupInNYC - you add more original thought than almost anyone here.
