2024 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[Kenny]

I don’t really get some of the optimism I see in this thread. We were BAD last year and the style of play was… uninspiring, compared to previous years. With some of these rumored transfers falling through or remaining unresolved I’m not confident we are doing enough to right the ship. So much youth and still no depth.

 

[moogoo]

I don’t really get some of the optimism I see in this thread. We were BAD last year and the style of play was… uninspiring, compared to previous years. With some of these rumored transfers falling through or remaining unresolved I’m not confident we are doing enough to right the ship. So much youth and still no depth.

couldn't agree more. it's nice that we've signed perea and wolf. but the rest are not official yet and it remains to be seen what cushing can do.

 

[KevinJRogers]

For Cushing at least with the fans I think it will be about how much we are scoring as much as it is about record. If we start 2-3 but we are scoring 2-3 goals per game and playing an offense that looks like it is functioning and producing chances people will be optimistic that things are coming together. If we start 2-3 but every game is 0-1 or 1-0 off a fluke chance and our offense looks as inept as it did for parts of last season that seat is going to get really hot.

This sounds right to me, too. Exactly right. With all the frustration we endured last year, if it starts to even feel like a repeat, Nick's leash is suddenly going to get very short.

I don't think it will happen. But if we do come out sputtering this season, look out.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I don’t really get some of the optimism I see in this thread. We were BAD last year and the style of play was… uninspiring, compared to previous years. With some of these rumored transfers falling through or remaining unresolved I’m not confident we are doing enough to right the ship. So much youth and still no depth.

We were much improved towards the end of the year. The overall record looks bad so it wen a little under the radar, but we had 15 points in our last 8 games. That's a pace of 63.75 points, which would have been good enough for 2nd in the East.

In addition, we've already signed two attacking players and it looks like at least one more is coming. There is logical reason for optimism that our offense will be vastly improved from last year. If it is, we should be in line for a major rebound.

 

[Kenny]

We were much improved towards the end of the year. The overall record looks bad so it wen a little under the radar, but we had 15 points in our last 8 games. That's a pace of 63.75 points, which would have been good enough for 2nd in the East.

In addition, we've already signed two attacking players and it looks like at least one more is coming. There is logical reason for optimism that our offense will be vastly improved from last year. If it is, we should be in line for a major rebound.

I appreciate your positivity. I hope you're right. I was there at some of the last home games and they were mostly 1-0 uninspiring wins, 0-0 or 1-1 draws, and a 3-0 against a terrible Toronto team. Let's hope the new players integrate well, Bakrar gets into a groove, and the squad finds a spark. I do worry that we haven't replaced Maxi. We need that midfield maestro.

 

[413Blue]

Only 4 teams in the league gave up fewer goals than us last year. We have strong points that we can build off. Unfortunately, so far I haven't seen the magic acquisition that will get us the goals we need, but we are at least somewhat stronger than we were at the end of last year. Hopefully more rumors turn into press releases.

We're not approaching contender status right now, but we're also not miles away from it.

 

[mgarbowski]

Only 4 teams in the league gave up fewer goals than us last year

They conceded 2 fewer goals than the 2022 team, yet had 5 fewer shutouts. Instead they had 10 1-1 draws (14 draws total). Move just 2 goals conceded between games and change nothing else. Turn 2 of those draws into 1-0 wins and add meaningless extra goals conceded to losses and that's 4 more points, 8th place, and hosting RB in the first round. Or ignore the shutouts: just assume the 14 draws down to a more normal 8: switch 3 draws into wins and another 3 into losses. That's not a particularly slanted what-if and also ends with NYCFC in 8th place and hosting RB.

Fourteen ties is a very weird statistical anomaly and made the team seem worse than it was. 2023 NYCFC was a poor offensive team with the least offensive potential in club history and yet worse results. And it was better in weeks 25-34 than 1-24.

Offense was 26th in goals scored, 15th in Shots Taken, and 19th in xG. They severely underperformed an already low xG total. On defense, NYCFC was 5th in goals conceded, 5th in shots allowed, and 3rd in xGA. So there's no reason to expect any regression on that side. With a normal correlation between xStats and actual stats they should have had 48-49 points

It won't take much to slide comfortably somewhere into slots 3-6 in the East, even without adding pieces, which they probably will do, if late. They need to shoot more, which improved as the season went on. They took fewer than 10 shots 8 times in the first 20 games and then just once in the final 14. They averaged 11.4 shots before the break and 14.1 after. For reference, 2021 took 15 SPG and 2019 took 14.9.

Be more aggressive, shoot more, finish somewhere close to normal, and this is solid if not exceptional playoff team right now. I'm hoping the team was so meek because Nick saw how toothless the offense was and overemphasized defense, and discouraged risk taking. We'll see.

 

[FootyLovin]

Nick saw how toothless the offense was and overemphasized defense, and discouraged risk taking.

This could also explain the preponderance of ties. Some teams play for one point when they are tied and on the road in the last 10 or 15 minutes of a game. Other teams play for the single point home or away anytime they are tied. That's a bit extreme, but ...

 

[FootyLovin]

As for optimism regarding season over season, here is the player roundup.

OUT
Benalcazar
Cufre
Jimenez
A Morales
Owusu
Pellegrini
Turnbull

IN
Yañez
Rando
Wolf
Jones

I get the optimism of how we ended the season vs how we started. But I'm also curious how has our starting XI changed from last year? Is Wolf starting? Who did he displace? Can someone give me a last year (end of year) vs this year starting XI that is compelling? I'll even accept 1 spot with a TBD.

 

[ZYanksRule]

As for optimism regarding season over season, here is the player roundup.

OUT
Benalcazar
Cufre
Jimenez
A Morales
Owusu
Pellegrini
Turnbull

IN
Yañez
Rando
Wolf
Jones

I get the optimism of how we ended the season vs how we started. But I'm also curious how has our starting XI changed from last year? Is Wolf starting? Who did he displace? Can someone give me a last year (end of year) vs this year starting XI that is compelling? I'll even accept 1 spot with a TBD.

Well I think Ojeda adds to the in column when he's announced, presumably very soon. They're still looking to add another striker, lots of rumors there. And there's also reports about another centerback.

The starting XI on Decision Day was also much better than the roster on opening day. Fernandez and Risa both, hopefully, will be more comfortable which will help considerably. Obviously Maxi's injury hurts a lot, but we also need to rely on Santi to have a better year than he had last year. If Santi takes a step forward and is an impact player for us more frequently, that's massive.

Do we have question marks? Absolutely. But after every piece of bad luck went against us last year, it feels like we are due for some good luck.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Our XI on Decision Day was:

Freese; O'Toole, Risa, Martins, Gray; Parks, Sands, Rodriguez; Magno, Bakrar, Fernandez.

Right now we're adding Wolf to that XI somewhere. Maybe as a 10, maybe as a winger. Ojeda probably challenges Talles for minutes. I am interested to see how they get [Striker], Ojeda, Wolf, Santi, and Fernandez on the field at the same time. Then Maxi probably returns in late-summer. If we sign a striker who can lead the line and score 15 goals, we're going to be really good offensively.

 

[KevinJRogers]

Our XI on Decision Day was:

Freese; O'Toole, Risa, Martins, Gray; Parks, Sands, Rodriguez; Magno, Bakrar, Fernandez.

Right now we're adding Wolf to that XI somewhere. Maybe as a 10, maybe as a winger. Ojeda probably challenges Talles for minutes. I am interested to see how they get [Striker], Ojeda, Wolf, Santi, and Fernandez on the field at the same time. Then Maxi probably returns in late-summer. If we sign a striker who can lead the line and score 15 goals, we're going to be really good offensively.

Perea is now in the permanent mix, too. Nick is going to have a lot to sort out. But that's a good problem to have.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Perea is now in the permanent mix, too. Nick is going to have a lot to sort out. But that's a good problem to have.

Plus we forget about Alonso Martinez because he never saw the field, but I am interested to see what he can bring now that he'll have a full training camp.

 

[gbservis]

Our XI on Decision Day was:

Freese; O'Toole, Risa, Martins, Gray; Parks, Sands, Rodriguez; Magno, Bakrar, Fernandez.

Right now we're adding Wolf to that XI somewhere. Maybe as a 10, maybe as a winger. Ojeda probably challenges Talles for minutes. I am interested to see how they get [Striker], Ojeda, Wolf, Santi, and Fernandez on the field at the same time. Then Maxi probably returns in late-summer. If we sign a striker who can lead the line and score 15 goals, we're going to be really good offensively.

Given how things went with Arezo maybe we should hold off on talking about Ojeda like it's a done deal. From the rumors we get each offseason, Lee/CFG tend to chase players that are right on the margin of guys we can acquire. We also are reportedly very firm on what we will pay as things are often reported falling apart because the selling team or the player wanted more and we said no and walked away. In a vacuum, the ambition to get very high-upside players and the firm stance on spending are good things. The problem in past offseasons has been they go after 1-3 of these guys spend the window chasing them and when things don't pan out they end up needing to wait till the next window to start all over and we get stuck with roster holes.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Given how things went with Arezo maybe we should hold off on talking about Ojeda like it's a done deal. From the rumors we get each offseason, Lee/CFG tend to chase players that are right on the margin of guys we can acquire. We also are reportedly very firm on what we will pay as things are often reported falling apart because the selling team or the player wanted more and we said no and walked away. In a vacuum, the ambition to get very high-upside players and the firm stance on spending are good things. The problem in past offseasons has been they go after 1-3 of these guys spend the window chasing them and when things don't pan out they end up needing to wait till the next window to start all over and we get stuck with roster holes.

You're right -- but I think Ojeda is basically done. Last week we read that he was traveling to NY to complete the medicals and sign. I would imagine we get an official announcement on that one pretty soon.

 

[mgarbowski]

You're right -- but I think Ojeda is basically done. Last week we read that he was traveling to NY to complete the medicals and sign. I would imagine we get an official announcement on that one pretty soon.

He posted goodbye to Racing today on Instagram. Absent a truly bizarre turn sideways where it turns out he's going to some other club, it looks pretty certain.

 

[Revfugee]

He posted goodbye to Racing today on Instagram. Absent a truly bizarre turn sideways where it turns out he's going to some other club, it looks pretty certain.

Last time a guy named Ojeda played his home games in Flushing, it went very well. I am excited.

 

[LionNYC]

He posted goodbye to Racing today on Instagram. Absent a truly bizarre turn sideways where it turns out he's going to some other club, it looks pretty certain.

But we'd still have to sell Talles or buy down Martins to open up a DP spot.

 

[Shwafta]

Maxime Chanot interview with HRB

Maxime Chanot interview: On his new academy, coaching aspirations, NYCFC exit

In an exclusive interview, Maxime Chanot discusses his new La Fabrique soccer academy in New York, the start of his coaching journey, and his exit from NYCFC.

hudsonriverblue.com

Very interesting. Specifically the last few questions. Notice Cushing is absent from the coach mentions, and notice he mentions he was planning to retire at NYCFC. Never puts a link between the two, but...

 

[Kenny]

I spoke with him for a bit at the CITC gala last February and he basically told me he loved it here and was planning to eventually retire here and coach. That's why I was genuinely shocked when he left. And the fact that he named every coach he played under here EXCEPT one, and says his relationship with the club is fine, it is not hard to put two and two together.