NYCFC Players Wanted Thread
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
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We messed up not going for Vela. He’s so freaking good.
LAFC has their core man for how many years now? 5 at least. Probably 7 or 8.
Also, Diego Rossi is 2-3x the player Medina is.
Our club is being cheap asses and shopping from the bargain bin at WalMart when the teams who will be our long term rivals are shopping at Neiman.
LAFC has their core man for how many years now? 5 at least. Probably 7 or 8.
Also, Diego Rossi is 2-3x the player Medina is.
Our club is being cheap asses and shopping from the bargain bin at WalMart when the teams who will be our long term rivals are shopping at Neiman.
Vela may/may not have been interested in coming here - SoCal and being closer to home may have been the deciding factor for him to come to MLS. Or, maybe we screwed up.
Your other points are all dead on. It's going to be interesting to watch this season and see which scouting depts across the league earned their salaries.
I am interested to see how LAFC fares when they go against Toronto, or NYCFC, or Atlanta (ignoring last week's implosion), or even RB and their relentless press. Playing RSL and Seattle (with their CCL matches depleting them) are not the hardest of games to start the season.
I am mostly using him as an example. We sign Maxi, they get Vela. That’s Not exactly even.
ETA: I don’t think LAFC are great. I do think they are pretty damn good attacking with pace. I also think that thus far, they are more solid tactically than we are.
Rossi is off to an amazing start but I Medina was solid last week it's way too early to early and ridiculous amount of hyperbole to make blanket statements like that yet. You'd think we still outright sucked like year one the way some of you talk about this stuff.
LAFC is an odd group for now. Ciman has been great at the back for them and Tyler Miller has been solid. I think their back line will be in some decent shape once Zimmerman is back.
And then they've looked great in the attacking third with Vela, Rossi, and Urena.
But their midfield hasn't looked all that great IMO. I know its super early, but I haven't been impressed there yet.
Learn to quote people if you’re responding to them. (ETA: poor phrasing here sounds more harsh than I intended)
The evidence over the course of their careers and their prices suggest no one is leaping to anything.
I’ve watched both so far. More of Rossi pre MLS. I’m entirely confident Medina is a massive step down from him. Maybe he closes the gap. Too bad for us our club is trying to squeeze a few mil rather than buy the most appropriate player.
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Their midfield or team ?
I think they look more congruous than we do.
You don’t have to be great in midfield to win with how they are playing. I’m impressed. Not saying they are great, but they are better at 4 positions than us right now, and they have a DP spot. Moutinho looks like he might be the best LB in the league in another 10 games. Great talent.
Wasn't just responding to you. I don't think it's all sunshine and unicorns but the amount of negativity on this board in general seems over the top these days.
I think that LAFC is in the top 5 right now. Problem with that team is that they're a top 5 team right now and I think that their peak will be a little after the home opener. The season is long and whether you like it or not injuries will happen and they have little to zero depth.
I think LAFC's floor is higher than a lot of teams, but their ceiling is lower - they just don't have the depth to compete over a full season especially if injuries hit (see 2017 Atlanta). Luckily for them, they're already playing at their ceiling (or close to it) right now.
Even with their first-choice lineup they're giving up over 2.5 xG a game so far (for comparison, Minnesota averaged 1.95 last year). Bradley's going to have to tighten that up if they're going to be a legit contender.
I wouldn't say they look more congruous than we do. Their attackers combine very well, and I will give them lots of credit for that. Rossi, Urena, and Vela look like they've been playing together for a few years.
I just don't think they have the spine there yet. Ciman and Miller saved their first game from losing 4-1 at Seattle. And that was a Seattle missing quite a few key pieces.
I really like what they're doing, and they will continue to figure it out. And as several others have pointed out, they'll get hit hard in the middle of the season when their depth is exposed. But I could see them making a run for one of the last playoff spots in the West.
I don’t understand the advanced stats of MLS (xG and whatnot), so I can’t comment on it. LAFC’s Achilles heel, like every expansion team, is gonna be depth, and they’re very likely to dip badly when rotating tired starters out for a rest or trying to replace those starters when injured, and both will happen since it’s impossible to play the top 11-14 for 34 matches.
You can't compare the roster construction of Atlanta/LAFC to ours. Different rules. We got f'ed when you look back now and see how they were able to field their team
Expected goals (xG) is a complex metric to calculate but easy to use: it's just a way of weighting chances by how likely they are to produce a goal. For example, a one-on-one with the keeper from the penalty spot might be worth 0.8 xG (an 80% chance of scoring) while a 35-yard prayer might be worth 0.05 xG (5% chance of scoring).
It's a useful stat because actual goals are scarce and kind of random while chance quality is more consistent and predictable. Over time, most players and teams will tend to score or give up goals at a rate that tracks their xG. So it's significant that while LAFC has only conceded 1 goal in two games, they've given up 5 xG—in other words, they've been lucky on the defensive end.
American Soccer Analysis keeps a bunch of good xG info here:
https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/team-xg-2018/
https://www.americansocceranalysis.com/asa-xgoals/
Ben Baer usually tweets MLS xG charts for each game. Here's the hot mess that was LAFC-RSL:
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To add on this. If you put Alex Ring on LAFC, then watch out.
Several points to add to the conversation:
1. Small sample size. Remember Orlando won what five of their first six games year and how’d that work out for them? Don’t go around sucking anyone’s popsicle after two games.
2. On the other hand, RSL and SEA were supposed to be solid playoff teams this year - so beating both of them on the road is impressive. From what it looks like, LAFC generally did a smash and grab and got outplayed in the first game and won a wide open game against RSL. If LAFC continues to play an open game, expect teams to counter that.
3. NYCFC didn’t really have a shot at Vela - LAFC needed to sign a DP and the Galaxy (their rivals in the #1 Spanish speaking market in the US) were signing Mexican internationals. Everyone saw the Vela signing before it happened. Plus NYCFC didn’t have any DP spots open anyway.
4. I don’t know enough about Rossi to say he is head and shoulders above Medina. He had a whale of a game yesterday - but once again small sample size. Popsicles again.
1. Small sample size. Remember Orlando won what five of their first six games year and how’d that work out for them? Don’t go around sucking anyone’s popsicle after two games.
2. On the other hand, RSL and SEA were supposed to be solid playoff teams this year - so beating both of them on the road is impressive. From what it looks like, LAFC generally did a smash and grab and got outplayed in the first game and won a wide open game against RSL. If LAFC continues to play an open game, expect teams to counter that.
3. NYCFC didn’t really have a shot at Vela - LAFC needed to sign a DP and the Galaxy (their rivals in the #1 Spanish speaking market in the US) were signing Mexican internationals. Everyone saw the Vela signing before it happened. Plus NYCFC didn’t have any DP spots open anyway.
4. I don’t know enough about Rossi to say he is head and shoulders above Medina. He had a whale of a game yesterday - but once again small sample size. Popsicles again.
On #3, I don't think anyone here is saying we had a shot at Vela. But we should have been signing someone of a similar stature. (and no this isn't a Maxi Moralez height joke)
On #4, I agree with you in regards to the sample size. But I don't think I'm too early or overreacting when I say Rossi already looks like the better player. There was a reason he had a lot more hype than Medina coming in.
You can live with the Medina risk when your second DP isn't Maxi.
That being said, Maxi played well last week and maybe Year 2 will be better than Year 1
That being said, Maxi played well last week and maybe Year 2 will be better than Year 1
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