I can recognize David Lee's flaws and rate Risa
2025 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
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ZYanksRule
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Risa was fine -- If he needs to go back to Norway for his family, that's going to happen sometimes. I thought Risa had a good tenure here. Playing in America isn't for every player, and that's OK.
Bogert just tweeted too
Also posted in the Risa thread....
www.newyorkcityfc.com
New York City FC Transfers Defender Birk Risa to Molde FK | New York City FC
Today New York City FC announced that it has transferred Defender Birk Risa to Molde FK. The Norwegian joined the Club in the summer of 2023 and went on to make 62 appearances for the ‘Boys in Blue’ across MLS, Leagues Cup and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, notching
www.newyorkcityfc.com
While I'm obsessing about actual production:
Maxi has a lower G+A per minute than Wolf, Martinez, Fernandez and even Bakrar. His G+A per minute is almost 70% below what he produced last year, and 40% lower than his previous MLS low (excluding his 4-game 2023 season).
Among MLS CAMs with 500 minutes he ranks 19 out of 23 for G+A per minute.
"Where would we be without him?" is the wrong question. The question is "How much better would we be with a top 10 CAM this year? Or even a mid-level CAM?"
He's old. This was predictable. If you can't let go of great players before they fall of the cliff you fail. We never should have signed him for this year except maybe as a sub 1,000 minute backup. A replacement should have been in place before preseason. And Santi does not quite count because if Santi stayed and became first choice CAM, then we still needed a new winger.
Truth is, we never should have taken him back. We had the worst 3 year stretch in club history with him here. It's not his fault, but he didn't prevent it. If we were honest instead of sentimental and signed someone younger sooner we'd be better off. Because of age and injuries he played 4 games in 2023, just 901 minutes in 2024, and is dead weight in 2025. He's a gamer this year with all the minutes, but it's not helping.
ETA: And this forum should have voted him off the Island.
Maxi has a lower G+A per minute than Wolf, Martinez, Fernandez and even Bakrar. His G+A per minute is almost 70% below what he produced last year, and 40% lower than his previous MLS low (excluding his 4-game 2023 season).
Among MLS CAMs with 500 minutes he ranks 19 out of 23 for G+A per minute.
"Where would we be without him?" is the wrong question. The question is "How much better would we be with a top 10 CAM this year? Or even a mid-level CAM?"
He's old. This was predictable. If you can't let go of great players before they fall of the cliff you fail. We never should have signed him for this year except maybe as a sub 1,000 minute backup. A replacement should have been in place before preseason. And Santi does not quite count because if Santi stayed and became first choice CAM, then we still needed a new winger.
Truth is, we never should have taken him back. We had the worst 3 year stretch in club history with him here. It's not his fault, but he didn't prevent it. If we were honest instead of sentimental and signed someone younger sooner we'd be better off. Because of age and injuries he played 4 games in 2023, just 901 minutes in 2024, and is dead weight in 2025. He's a gamer this year with all the minutes, but it's not helping.
ETA: And this forum should have voted him off the Island.
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ZYanksRule
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The problem was not signing him -- at his salary, he's fine. The problem is not signing a new No. 10 until July 24. He should have been a bench/secondary option instead of playing every minute of every game.
Signing him in 2023 is the main reason we didn't get a new younger CAM in 2024.
Beyond that, it was 2 separate signings. First in summer 2023 for 1.5 years. That was an immediate disaster as he was unavailable for 21 of his first 25 games after his return. Not surprising for a 36 year old.
Second signing was January 2025, about 3 weeks before Santi left. I think it's likely Lee knew a Santi sale was at least a possibility by then. Signing Maxi for yet another year is what made Lee think he could wait until summer for a real replacement, but Maxi should never have been on the roster after he left at the end of 2022. If 7th Place, 1.48 PPG and no chance to make the top 4 of the table is good enough then I guess Lee was right.
On the whole Maxi's return has been a disaster. The highlight was 900 moderately solid minutes in the back half of 2024. He played just 31% of the possible minutes in his first 1.5 year contract, not because he was a backup but because he was old and injured. This year he has been ineffective while playing almost every possible minute.
He's probably great in the clubhouse. He should have been a coach. All else is sentimentality. While I agree waiting until now to replace Santi is ridiculous, it was pure folly to have Maxi on the roster at all.
Justin Haak and Julian Fernandez both have more assists than Maxi, btw.
Maxi has no business being a starter this season. I love the guy, but he just doesn't have the same influence he used to by a mile. It's a shame that we have had to rely on him as a starter and I fully expect Jansen to use Maxi as a super sub once Nico is available to play. If we're still starting Maxi when Nico is playing, then something ain't right.
ZYanksRule
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He tore his ACL when he collided with another player. That's not a "old man gets hurt" injury, to be fair. It was a violent play that could have happened to anyone. He came back quicker than younger guys did and made an immediate impact upon return. He hasn't been as good this year, which you're right, was predictable. But considering the situation we found ourselves in, signing him was a low-risk proposition. His signing didn't prevent us from signing a better CAM because it was neither TAM nor DP. We could have signed someone in April, we chose not to.
I 100% agree Maxi should not be a starter for us. I will also add that his value on the field is partially player/coach. That doesn't make up for a CAM not delivering G+A. But it is a value he brings.
Risa was arguably a best 5 NYCFC squad player for 2 years. Also arguably not, but close. But it was also during the worst 2-3 years in team history so he going to be mostly forgotten by NYC fans. It's also a comment on the team that he's in the conversation for top 5.
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I hope for this as well. For us, of course, but for him. he seems like such a good kid and to have his career cut short like that would be really tragic.
All that being said, we can't rest our hopes on Jones. We need some proven, near DP level wingers and a DP #9 if we want to compete for the cup again. right now, we aren't anywhere near it. not even sniffing it.
As MG summarized, Maxi’s availability to return (twice) was the perfect recipe for Lee to continue to mismanage our roster - it made it so simple and convenient for him to be slow and lazy with a crucial position. I love the guy, but don’t think he should have come back (maybe at most as a player coach type who barely saw the field). I think part of it was sentimental and we don’t say no to anyone but the other part is that he saved Lee from having to be aggressive and proactive with finding our new quarterback.
ZYanksRule
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I just don't buy the premise that Maxi's roster spot had anything to do with the DP No. 10 we needed. First of all, Santi was on the roster and was that No. 10 until he left on the day of the season opener. The only time we didn't sign a No. 10 was the winter window this year.
By the end of 2024, Maxi was the consistent first choice 10. He started 7 of the last 9 games, 6 of the last 7, and the last 5 in a row. Once he was not just back but fully fit, he played CAM instead of Santi. Maybe Pascal would have done differently this year if Santi stayed. We'll never know. But there's no evidence Maxi was signed for 2025 primarily to sit behind an excellent winger and merely adequate CAM. The counter argument I suppose is Santi would have played at 10 to allow minutes for Wolf, Fernandez and Ojeda at winger.
Maxi was signed 3.5 weeks before the first public Santi rumor. Maybe Lee had no idea Santi might leave when he signed Maxi, but to me Occam's Razor says Maxi was signed to play the 10 as much as he was healthy for, and to run him into the ground in case Santi was sold.
Signing Maxi in summer 2023 was marginally defensible. It was just for 1.5 years. What is the worst that could happen?
It turns out the worst is that Maxi is almost immediately injured, is unavailable for 60% of that 1.5 years, then plays just well enough over the final quarter of 2024 to fool Lee into signing him for 2025 so he could play 90% of available minutes as a bottom third productive MLS CAM.
Finally, even if Maxi was supposed to be a bench player and even if the Santi departure was entirely unexpected, Santi left in late February and the window was open for 8-9 weeks. Playing Maxi more than 80 minutes a game for 70% of the season was a choice.
I'm also in a bad mood because I'm completely unexcited by an acquisition whose career non-PK G+A is 0.22 and high is 0.42. When Maxi arrived he was fresh off 2 seasons above 0.50 in LMX. Maybe Nico will be one of those guys who just take over MLS after never really tearing it up elsewhere. I hope so.
We haven't had an excellent CAM since 2022. As of now I'm thinking we could have signed someone like this much, much sooner.
Maxi was signed 3.5 weeks before the first public Santi rumor. Maybe Lee had no idea Santi might leave when he signed Maxi, but to me Occam's Razor says Maxi was signed to play the 10 as much as he was healthy for, and to run him into the ground in case Santi was sold.
Signing Maxi in summer 2023 was marginally defensible. It was just for 1.5 years. What is the worst that could happen?
It turns out the worst is that Maxi is almost immediately injured, is unavailable for 60% of that 1.5 years, then plays just well enough over the final quarter of 2024 to fool Lee into signing him for 2025 so he could play 90% of available minutes as a bottom third productive MLS CAM.
Finally, even if Maxi was supposed to be a bench player and even if the Santi departure was entirely unexpected, Santi left in late February and the window was open for 8-9 weeks. Playing Maxi more than 80 minutes a game for 70% of the season was a choice.
I'm also in a bad mood because I'm completely unexcited by an acquisition whose career non-PK G+A is 0.22 and high is 0.42. When Maxi arrived he was fresh off 2 seasons above 0.50 in LMX. Maybe Nico will be one of those guys who just take over MLS after never really tearing it up elsewhere. I hope so.
We haven't had an excellent CAM since 2022. As of now I'm thinking we could have signed someone like this much, much sooner.
He got hurt, he hasn’t produced at a higher level, he allowed Lee an excuse to further sit on his hands, and we continue to struggle just hoping to make the playoffs and lose. We should have signed a game changing CAM earlier (it can only be debated how far back that should have been).
ZYanksRule
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We had a game-changing CAM! Until February, we had Santi. OK he wasn't as good as prime Maxi, but he had 12 goals, 10 assists last year. He was very good.
The frustration over our roster-building strategy is fair. We shouldn't have waited until summer to find a No. 10. The rest of the roster has been completely mismanaged. But the idea we didn't have a game-changing CAM, I just don't agree.
Marito
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Also, at the end of his evolution with us, he was a dribble-happy and slightly chaotic kind of orchestrator (the opposite of Maxi, in fact) but that may have been because everyone else in our front line (Wolf, Ojeda, Julian, Maxi) was very dribble-averse, so he was a singular weapon. With such an incomplete and mismatched offense it is difficult to gauge how good the scarce good parts (right now Alonso and Wolf) potentially are.
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