2024 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread

[ZYanksRule]

I'll give him a fair shot for 10 matches. That's the sensible Lion talking. Reality Lion may just be three.

Considering our early-season schedule with a lot of home games, I think 10 games is a fair number. We need to get off to a quick start because we have another April-May long homestand. Seven of our first 11 games are at home, ending with a 5-game homestand. Two games against Charlotte, home games against Colorado, DC and Toronto -- we need to get off to a good start this year.

I just think, considering the roster Cushing has had the last couple years, it's horribly unfair to judge him off that time.

 

[DeGrozz]

Gonna be a lot more interested in how we're playing than results on the field the first few games. Being duds in the final third killed us.

 

[Dnigly13]

I'll give him a fair shot for 10 matches. That's the sensible Lion talking. Reality Lion may just be three.

Reality Lion is correct, its 3. if we look like crap on the road to start 2 games, then lay an egg at home... its over for me.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Reality Lion is correct, its 3. if we look like crap on the road to start 2 games, then lay an egg at home... its over for me.

All MLS teams suck on the road, though. If you decide it this way, you're really only giving him one game.

 

[LionNYC]

Reality Lion is correct, its 3. if we look like crap on the road to start 2 games, then lay an egg at home... its over for me.

And we've never beaten Portland at home...

 

[gbservis]

All MLS teams suck on the road, though. If you decide it this way, you're really only giving him one game.

I don't think it's as much about results as it is about how the team looks. Nick's just had the most complete preseason roster in NYCFC history. Most of the projected starters had multiple games together at the end of last season and a full preseason. If we see coaching issues like a poorly organized press where half the front line goes and the other half doesn't and it all ends with players pointing at each other the way it went so many times last year Nick needs to go.

 

[Shwafta]

And we've never beaten Portland at home...

I can tell you where we HAVE beaten Portland....

 

[Shwafta]

 

[ZYanksRule]

I don't think it's as much about results as it is about how the team looks. Nick's just had the most complete preseason roster in NYCFC history. Most of the projected starters had multiple games together at the end of last season and a full preseason. If we see coaching issues like a poorly organized press where half the front line goes and the other half doesn't and it all ends with players pointing at each other the way it went so many times last year Nick needs to go.

I can understand that, but all teams are rusty at the start of the year. It's 34 games. If we're firing him after 3 games, he shouldn't have started the season. It's so disruptive to a season, in-season coach firings should be the last resort.

 

[KevinJRogers]

I don't think it's as much about results as it is about how the team looks. Nick's just had the most complete preseason roster in NYCFC history. Most of the projected starters had multiple games together at the end of last season and a full preseason. If we see coaching issues like a poorly organized press where half the front line goes and the other half doesn't and it all ends with players pointing at each other the way it went so many times last year Nick needs to go.

This brings up the other side of the coin: through all the frustration and finger pointing and transition-related turmoil, Nick kept the squad in it. They kept fighting. They didn't fold. They didn't quit. And in the end, they just barely missed the playoffs. So, there's another way to look at last season.

That being said, he's certainly been handed everything he could have asked for. No one is talking about us, which is fine -- I'd much rather catch opponents off guard and rock them back on their heels -- but on paper we just stocked up with a busload of young talent. This team is bound to be inconsistent, especially in the early going. But we should be capable of competing with anyone.

If we can't, then we have a problem.

 

[mgarbowski]

Nick's just had the most complete preseason roster in NYCFC history.

What? 2020 NCFC returned every starter from 2019, and a clear majority were >25 and had been with the team 2+ years and were coming off their most successful regular season ever. Then they lost 5 of the first 6 games. New coach, and Covid was in there, but they started 0-2-0 before Covid and if anything Covid gave them, and everyone else, an extra preseason. The 2021 team had a 15 points in 15 game stretch before winning the Cup.

Again, I'm not defending Nick because I see issues, but the ideas that (1) NYCFC is entering 2024 with roster stability or that (2) three or even ten games is a fair test is absurd. Only 2 attacking players have been with the team for as much as a year, their ages are 24 (Santi) and 21 (Talles). The five new attacking players Bakrar, Fernandez, Martinez, Ojeda and Mijatovic have a combined 1,110 minutes played with NYCFC (barely a half season for one player) and an average age of 21. Ojeda just got off the plane yesterday.

We could have fired Nick in the offseason. Firing him (or even judging him) a month or even 2 into this season just means the FO first lacked guts and then panicked.

 

[mgarbowski]

And FWIW, CFG sister club Troyes AC changed head coaches in midseason 2021-22, then again in 2022-23, and again in 2023-24. In 2022-23 they ended up relegated, and this season currently sit 3 points above further relegation. CFG's record with on-the-fly coaching changes is not one of consistent improvement.

 

[mgarbowski]

Couple more:
2016 NYCFC returned Villa, Pirlo, Lampard, McNamara, Mix, Iraola, RJ Allen, and Hernandez and started with 1 win and 7 points in the first 8 games before ending with 54 points.
2017 NYCFC returned Villa, Pirlo, Lampard, Harrison, McNamara, RJ Allen, Matarrita, Brillant, Chanot, and Johnson, and had just 10 points after 7 games before ending with 57.

Cushing might be terrible. We won't know for a while. In both 2022 and 2023 he coached the second half after the team sold its top scorer in the summer. The only time he had something close to a complete roster (yet no Taty) he won 2 out of 2 games against the Red Bulls, Campeones Cup, and 2 playoff rounds.

 

[gbservis]

What? 2020 NCFC returned every starter from 2019, and a clear majority were >25 and had been with the team 2+ years and were coming off their most successful regular season ever. Then they lost 5 of the first 6 games. New coach, and Covid was in there, but they started 0-2-0 before Covid and if anything Covid gave them, and everyone else, an extra preseason. The 2021 team had a 15 points in 15 game stretch before winning the Cup.

Again, I'm not defending Nick because I see issues, but the ideas that (1) NYCFC is entering 2024 with roster stability or that (2) three or even ten games is a fair test is absurd. Only 2 attacking players have been with the team for as much as a year, their ages are 24 (Santi) and 21 (Talles). The five new attacking players Bakrar, Fernandez, Martinez, Ojeda and Mijatovic have a combined 1,110 minutes played with NYCFC (barely a half season for one player) and an average age of 21. Ojeda just got off the plane yesterday.

We could have fired Nick in the offseason. Firing him (or even judging him) a month or even 2 into this season just means the FO first lacked guts and then panicked.

Fair points on the roster stability, I overestimated that a bit but I'm not willing to give Cushing, Lee or any other part of the organization leeway based on player age. After we missed the playoffs last year Lee, Cushing and Sims all did some form of Q&As saying we need to do better and the goal in the offseason is to improve the team and get better results. Then they went out and signed players that made an already young squad that struggled partly due to inexperience even younger. They chose not to add any veterans which is fine but they shouldn't get a pass or reduced expectations from the fans because of their choices in building the roster. We are super young because that's how they built it.

 

[moogoo]

for me, whether i am upset with cushing or not depends on how good we look. i think our roster is pretty much a tossup right now because of all the new attackers and all the unknowns with that. but if we at least look entertaining and are creating chances, i'll be optimistic that things will improve throughout the season and there will be more to come next year.

if we look boring as shit and no sign of attacking patterns or improvement over a span of 10 games, then i'll be pretty annoyed. let me be clear - getting points would be great, but i'm more concerned about how we look. yes, the dreaded eye test. i know mgarbowski loves it. haha

yes it's unscientific, but i personally think if we look entertaining and play a nice, attacking style with clear intentions and patterns, it's just a matter of time before the results come. but implementing that attitude and style/patterns is cushing's job. if those don't happen, that's on him.

i still think we need some more depth at LWB and midfield. but i have high hopes this roster will make some fun things happen this year.

 

[mgarbowski]

for me, whether i am upset with cushing or not depends on how good we look. i think our roster is pretty much a tossup right now because of all the new attackers and all the unknowns with that. but if we at least look entertaining and are creating chances, i'll be optimistic that things will improve throughout the season and there will be more to come next year.

if we look boring as shit and no sign of attacking patterns or improvement over a span of 10 games, then i'll be pretty annoyed. let me be clear - getting points would be great, but i'm more concerned about how we look. yes, the dreaded eye test. i know mgarbowski loves it. haha

yes it's unscientific, but i personally think if we look entertaining and play a nice, attacking style with clear intentions and patterns, it's just a matter of time before the results come. but implementing that attitude and style/patterns is cushing's job. if those don't happen, that's on him.

i still think we need some more depth at LWB and midfield. but i have high hopes this roster will make some fun things happen this year.

As it happens, the reasons I'm not a full-fledged Nick supporter are all eye test: diminished pressing and youth development. There's data on the former that I have seen in some articles but not available to the public AFAICT.

 

[LionNYC]

I can tell you where we HAVE beaten Portland....

Technically, it was a tie...

 

[ZYanksRule]

Technically, it was a tie...

Technically, french fries are a vegetable.

 

[Shwafta]

Technically, it was a tie...

I seem to recall a beautiful trophy in our cabinet that one gets from... winning

 

[KevinJRogers]

Fair points on the roster stability, I overestimated that a bit but I'm not willing to give Cushing, Lee or any other part of the organization leeway based on player age. After we missed the playoffs last year Lee, Cushing and Sims all did some form of Q&As saying we need to do better and the goal in the offseason is to improve the team and get better results. Then they went out and signed players that made an already young squad that struggled partly due to inexperience even younger. They chose not to add any veterans which is fine but they shouldn't get a pass or reduced expectations from the fans because of their choices in building the roster. We are super young because that's how they built it.

I think the Ninja may be here to do double duty: not only provide center back depth, but also to mentor Mijatovic. Or at least give him someone, a countryman, to lean on. He can legitimately be called a veteran.

But yeah, we're young everywhere by design.