2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
- Thread starter LionNYC
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With Sands gone, Perea has the 7th highest guaranteed compensation on the roster and is our most expensive Midfielder if you count Nico as a Forward since that's where he played this year. I like him, but at $726,500 even without the injury I think he is overpaid by MLS standards. I was shocked to see how much he is paid.
I have no issues with declining his option. I'll be happy if we can negotiate a new deal, but this is a salary capped league and you can't overpay people for sentiment.
I have no issues with declining his option. I'll be happy if we can negotiate a new deal, but this is a salary capped league and you can't overpay people for sentiment.
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ezbeezy214
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Moving Quick!
ZYanksRule
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Tommy Scoops says we have our new sporting director. Fascinating that we've gone for someone from the USL.
ezbeezy214
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Can’t pretend to analyze this hire other than he’s been on the precipice of this opportunity for a while it seems.
I vaguely remember there being a quote at some point about Lee being one of the only people in CFG who understood the MLS cap and salary rules, and Lee talking about how much work it was to learn it all. Getting an American, with MLS ties and familiarity with the concept of cap rules and roster restrictions, is huge.
I watched a couple Sacramento Republic matches this year. I like the way they played. The USL can be something of a free-for-all, but they were well organized and really solid defensively (always big in my book).
So, maybe this guy knows his business. He definitely has an MLS pedigree:
ZYanksRule
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Yes. Resources and ambition. We have the first part.
Since signing messi and then his friends, miami have added 3 trophies and a plate to their silverware cabinet.
with martins dropping out of DP status and moving magno on, this club will need to dream big if they want to win MLS cup. Yes, spending doesn't guarantee MLS cup or winning even. But with CFG resources, hopefully a good SD, and Jansen picking players he wants, there's no reason why we can't be an automatic contender in 2026 and 100000% in 2027.
with martins dropping out of DP status and moving magno on, this club will need to dream big if they want to win MLS cup. Yes, spending doesn't guarantee MLS cup or winning even. But with CFG resources, hopefully a good SD, and Jansen picking players he wants, there's no reason why we can't be an automatic contender in 2026 and 100000% in 2027.
Back in March I pointed out that every one of Fernandez's 5 goals at NYCFC came in transition and never against a settled defense. He scored 2 more times after that post.
Cincinnati 5/4/25 '9 against a settled defense from straight in front of goal
Columbus 9/17/25 90+4 on another fast break.
Out of 7 goals in 2.5 years he managed one goal against a settled defense.
But here's something sadder than a forward who can almost never score against a settled defense. That would be a forward who needs unsettled defenses even to manage a shot on goal, and then shoots directly at the keeper every time, and almost always with no juice:
2025 Augustin Ojeda.
Charlotte 7/12/25 '38
The Charlotte keeper comes off his line after a bad turnover. Ojeda fields a rebound of a twisting Martinez shot that was stopped by a defender. As the keeper scrambled back, Ojeda sent a weak slow shot 2 feet off ground directly to where the keeper was running as if he purposefully led him with a forward pass. This was just a terrible effort.
Columbus 9/17/25 '86
Fast break right side received great ball marked by one defender, running straight at goal. Weak shot skipping the turf directly to the keeper.
RB 9/27/25 '74
Fast break right side received great ball, running straight at goal. Weak shot right at keeper on a somewhat tough angle.
Philadelphia 10/4/25 '69
Transition, pass from Maxi. Ojeda receives the ball about 30 yards out. He moves forward and has 3 NYCFC players in the box against an unsettled defense. His decision was to shoot from 25 yards. He slipped as he did and sent a weak dribbler directly to to the keeper.
Philadelphia 11/4/25 '38
His best shot of season. Fast break, carries the ball in. Squared up just off center. This was his best hard shot on goal but again went directly to the keeper chest high for a very easy save.
Miami 11/29/25 '48
Turnover, defense scrambling. Maxi makes a poor decision and sends a weak pass that Ojeda corrals before in turn taking a very weak shot deflected onto goal right at the keeper. This was less his fault than any of the others, but it's not like he did better when he had things perfectly teed up.
All year, including the playoffs, Ojeda managed just six shots on goal.
He generated zero shots that were on target but not straight to the keeper.
He never went upper 90.
He never hit either low corner.
He never went far post or near.
Not once.
All keepers had to do was properly position for the best angle and Ojeda conveniently sent the ball exactly there, every time, or he missed the goal entirely.
All year.
I had already figured this out a couple of months ago back when we had that big Ojeda argument but I decided to wait until the end of the season to lay it out. I was right then. I'm right now. He's doing some things better but there's no reason to care until he can shoot the ball on target and not directly to the keeper. If we haven't taught him to shoot in 2 years either he's incapable of learning or we're incapable of teaching him.
We don't need him on the roster in 2026.
Cincinnati 5/4/25 '9 against a settled defense from straight in front of goal
Columbus 9/17/25 90+4 on another fast break.
Out of 7 goals in 2.5 years he managed one goal against a settled defense.
But here's something sadder than a forward who can almost never score against a settled defense. That would be a forward who needs unsettled defenses even to manage a shot on goal, and then shoots directly at the keeper every time, and almost always with no juice:
2025 Augustin Ojeda.
Charlotte 7/12/25 '38
The Charlotte keeper comes off his line after a bad turnover. Ojeda fields a rebound of a twisting Martinez shot that was stopped by a defender. As the keeper scrambled back, Ojeda sent a weak slow shot 2 feet off ground directly to where the keeper was running as if he purposefully led him with a forward pass. This was just a terrible effort.
Columbus 9/17/25 '86
Fast break right side received great ball marked by one defender, running straight at goal. Weak shot skipping the turf directly to the keeper.
RB 9/27/25 '74
Fast break right side received great ball, running straight at goal. Weak shot right at keeper on a somewhat tough angle.
Philadelphia 10/4/25 '69
Transition, pass from Maxi. Ojeda receives the ball about 30 yards out. He moves forward and has 3 NYCFC players in the box against an unsettled defense. His decision was to shoot from 25 yards. He slipped as he did and sent a weak dribbler directly to to the keeper.
Philadelphia 11/4/25 '38
His best shot of season. Fast break, carries the ball in. Squared up just off center. This was his best hard shot on goal but again went directly to the keeper chest high for a very easy save.
Miami 11/29/25 '48
Turnover, defense scrambling. Maxi makes a poor decision and sends a weak pass that Ojeda corrals before in turn taking a very weak shot deflected onto goal right at the keeper. This was less his fault than any of the others, but it's not like he did better when he had things perfectly teed up.
All year, including the playoffs, Ojeda managed just six shots on goal.
He generated zero shots that were on target but not straight to the keeper.
He never went upper 90.
He never hit either low corner.
He never went far post or near.
Not once.
All keepers had to do was properly position for the best angle and Ojeda conveniently sent the ball exactly there, every time, or he missed the goal entirely.
All year.
I had already figured this out a couple of months ago back when we had that big Ojeda argument but I decided to wait until the end of the season to lay it out. I was right then. I'm right now. He's doing some things better but there's no reason to care until he can shoot the ball on target and not directly to the keeper. If we haven't taught him to shoot in 2 years either he's incapable of learning or we're incapable of teaching him.
We don't need him on the roster in 2026.
I agree with your points, but I still think we need to keep Ojeda for roster stability. Maxi might retire, Martínez is out most of the year, and the new SD doesn’t start until Jan 1. We need at least one of Ojeda or Fernández, maybe both, and Ojeda is the only one Pascal trusts to start at RW. By season’s end, Fernández was basically being used as a “float around and try something” sub because he couldn’t be relied on defensively.
Even if Maxi returns, at 39 years old, we still have to replace his and Martínez’s spots in the XI. Ojeda and Fernández were our only real attacking subs last year, if we dump them, we’re either committing Reid, Carrizo, and maybe a Jones comeback or asking the new SD to sign 3–4 attackers immediately. That seems unrealistic.
Given the choice between another half-built, no-depth attack to start 2026 or giving Ojeda one more chance, I’d rather keep Ojeda. For all his faults, his work rate is exceptional, and he clearly cares. I’m tired of the same cycle of starting seasons with a patchwork roster and hoping it clicks late to make some meaningless noise in the playoffs.
While I remain team"Rip Off the Band-Aid", these are fair points. What a choice though between Mr. Clueless and Mr. Can't Shoot.
Yeah, years post-Taty and the offense is still in rebuild mode; there are no good options. We haven't even touched on Wolf, who, from a resource standpoint, may be our biggest offense roster issue. The guy makes $1.5M, that's a lot of TAM for the extremely streaky production he provides.
He'd be a very good 4th forward, and acceptable 3rd forward, but at a much lower salary for either. But he'll be back without a salary reduction and most likely a bump up.
In connection with my Ojeda and Fernandez shot reviews, I looked at on-target rates for the team overall. Wolf is closer to O&F than, well look:
O'Toole 60%
Martinez 49%
Nico F-M 46%
Haak 41%
Wolf 34%
Perea 31%
Ojeda 29%
Fernandez 27%
Maxi 23%
True that Kevin O'T took only 10 shots, and Haak only 17. But combined they scored as many goals as Ojeda plus Fernandez so they deserve to be on the list with the actual supposed offense creators. Hell, Haak had 3 shots on target just from headers, which is half as many as Ojeda had overall, and Haak actually scored one of those.
Back to Wolf, he scored 11 goals from just 21 shots on target and 6.65 xG. I think it was flukey and unlikely to be repeated. I'll be happy to be wrong.
Also Maxi is a very weird combination of still effective catalyst and absolutely done.
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Bingo. Give the man a kewpie doll.
Not exactly what you are asking for, but ASA does have a goals added stat that tries to quantify a player's total on ball contribtuions to the team (someone with a deeper understanding of advanced stats would need to comment on how useful a metric this is, but it's the best I can find that tries to do what you are talking about). Per ASA:
The table below is sorted by the goals added metric for all NYC players with a minimum of 979 minutes played (Chosen so Nico would be in the data). This stat is not kind to many of our attacking players, likely because of how few goals the team scores in general. For reference, the 3 players in the lead for the goals added stat are: Messi (15.85), Bouanga (8.14), and Surridge (7.11).
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For the record I’m with mgarbowski on this one. You can’t polish a turd, and the other is like a drowning fish. Cut dead weight
