NYCFC Season Discussion 2023: We Know What We Are, But Not What We May Be
- Thread starter mgarbowski
- Start date
sounds right to me. good payday if you have faith in the MLS gods favoring our boys
Yup, a $100 bet has a total payout of $840.
Individually it's Inter Miami win/draw -140, Nashville win +190, NYCFC win -145.
We're now at +702 for the 3 leg parlay.
Individually it's Inter Miami win/draw -150, Nashville win +185, NYCFC win -145.
I’m kinda surprised at that Nashville Line. It seems pretty high for a home team. Seems like they think more highly of NYC winning at home vs. already in the playoffs Nashville winning at home.
No one but ourselves to blame for missing the playoffs.
Exactly.
We failed to win 25 of 34 matches this season. Had we turned just ONE of those 25 into a win, we'd be in the playoffs.
Can't feel good about dropping points in 25 out of 34. It was a bad season. The fact that we were still alive until the end is a great talking point in support of smaller playoff fields.
Thirty-five goals in 34 games. Even a few more goals could have made an enormous difference. And we arguably should have won at least four, maybe five of the games where we settled for a draw.
A bad season indeed, but not all that far from a pretty good one, especially considering the challenges of executing what was clearly a strategic transition. We went young, got a lot of typical young team failures and mistakes, and still just barely missed the line.
Now we get to see if all the sacrifice was worth it. If the front office and senior management know what they're doing, 2024 should be a different story, maybe a very different story. If they don't, we'll find out soon enough.
I suspect we will hear soon that Nick Cushing is no longer our head coach. This season isn't entirely his fault -- a lot of blame goes to the front office -- but you can't take a team with this much skill and miss the playoffs. I know we were unlucky this year, I know we never got any calls and had awful luck on the field, but this can not happen.
I'm a little torn though. We have had five full-time head coaches in nine seasons. No one for more than 2 and a half season. I was hoping Nick would be a coach for a long time here because changing coaches every two years is terrible for the team. We've seen how long it takes the team to get together with the new coach, we've seen how it always seems to negatively impact that first season. I don't really want to go through that again. But at the same token, you can't miss the playoffs at NYCFC. I had a lot of frustration with Cushing's lineup decisions this season -- especially how much playing time Gray, O'Toole, and Jasson got. Those were guys who were not at the level. I want to know why Ilenic and Cufre got so little playing time late in the year. Cushing seems like a developmental coach -- maybe he should coach the NYCFC II team. He shouldn't coach the first team.
It's also shocking to me how many of our younger players regressed this season. Santi, Talles, Sands, Gray, Haak ... If Cushing is a developmental coach, then why did so many players regress this year?
The Red Bulls, who have basically no skill on their team, made the playoffs and we didn't. That's purely systems and coaching. There is no excuse for a team with as much talent as we had to not make the playoffs. So, unfortunately, as much as I want Cushing to return, I don't think he should.
The most blame for this season goes to the front office. Frankly, our front office was far too arrogant about this season. They thought they could wait until the summer to make meaningful upgrades and we'd figure it out. They were wrong. For this reason, part of me thinks it's probably a good thing they missed the playoffs -- this will shock the arrogance out of them. You can't disrespect the regular season in this league, even with 18 of 29 teams making the postseason.
All that said -- we won MLS Cup 22 months ago, and were in the conference final 10 months ago. This organization didn't forget how to put a roster together between going to the conference final last December and this season. There were mistakes made, but I still have faith that we will be a hell of a lot better next year. This is the worst season we've had since 2015. The worst season we've had when not dealing with expansion rules. I firmly believe this team will be back near the top of the conference soon.
Vamos NYC.
I'm a little torn though. We have had five full-time head coaches in nine seasons. No one for more than 2 and a half season. I was hoping Nick would be a coach for a long time here because changing coaches every two years is terrible for the team. We've seen how long it takes the team to get together with the new coach, we've seen how it always seems to negatively impact that first season. I don't really want to go through that again. But at the same token, you can't miss the playoffs at NYCFC. I had a lot of frustration with Cushing's lineup decisions this season -- especially how much playing time Gray, O'Toole, and Jasson got. Those were guys who were not at the level. I want to know why Ilenic and Cufre got so little playing time late in the year. Cushing seems like a developmental coach -- maybe he should coach the NYCFC II team. He shouldn't coach the first team.
It's also shocking to me how many of our younger players regressed this season. Santi, Talles, Sands, Gray, Haak ... If Cushing is a developmental coach, then why did so many players regress this year?
The Red Bulls, who have basically no skill on their team, made the playoffs and we didn't. That's purely systems and coaching. There is no excuse for a team with as much talent as we had to not make the playoffs. So, unfortunately, as much as I want Cushing to return, I don't think he should.
The most blame for this season goes to the front office. Frankly, our front office was far too arrogant about this season. They thought they could wait until the summer to make meaningful upgrades and we'd figure it out. They were wrong. For this reason, part of me thinks it's probably a good thing they missed the playoffs -- this will shock the arrogance out of them. You can't disrespect the regular season in this league, even with 18 of 29 teams making the postseason.
All that said -- we won MLS Cup 22 months ago, and were in the conference final 10 months ago. This organization didn't forget how to put a roster together between going to the conference final last December and this season. There were mistakes made, but I still have faith that we will be a hell of a lot better next year. This is the worst season we've had since 2015. The worst season we've had when not dealing with expansion rules. I firmly believe this team will be back near the top of the conference soon.
Vamos NYC.
For me, my struggle is finding the thing(s) to point to that Cushing did well. I will give him one - the team cohesion and attitude seemed to stay strong. Amid that much losing, that’s saying something. But strategy, tactics, development, selection - can anyone point to any of those and explain how Cushing displayed strength?
My expectation is the same for Lee and Cushing. Either they are one or both out. Or there are internal reasons (CFG requirements / instructions) that hamstrung them that will be the reasons why they stay.
I’ve mostly been blaming Cushing, I think it’s time for a change, and logic dictates that you would start with the manager before upending the roster if you were intent on making changes. But to be fair to Nick, there is something else this team is lacking. Blame Lee, or blame CFG,1 but in his recent interview for the Athletic, Jack points out something out about his time here.
“I took something different from each of them but, with Frank for instance, everything was 100 per cent,” he says. “He was such a hard worker but a good team-mate as well. When I saw him and how he conducted himself, not on the pitch but off it as well, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what it takes to be at the top level’.
We don’t have anyone who has had sustained success in a top league. It may not be entirely necessary (we did win a Cup without one) but for a group of young players like ours it sure wouldn’t hurt.
“I took something different from each of them but, with Frank for instance, everything was 100 per cent,” he says. “He was such a hard worker but a good team-mate as well. When I saw him and how he conducted himself, not on the pitch but off it as well, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what it takes to be at the top level’.
We don’t have anyone who has had sustained success in a top league. It may not be entirely necessary (we did win a Cup without one) but for a group of young players like ours it sure wouldn’t hurt.
The 2015 season ended on Sunday October 25. The Kreis announcement came 8 days later on Monday November 2.
I think if Nick or Lee goes we will hear by the middle of next week and probably not before late this week. Re-reading the Kreis announcement I think they have a formal review process they like to follow.
I think if Nick or Lee goes we will hear by the middle of next week and probably not before late this week. Re-reading the Kreis announcement I think they have a formal review process they like to follow.
Last edited:
They’ve got to find a few hours in the calendars of the people in Manchester to discuss it.
The players played hard for him. You're right, the mentality was good. I fear that it's a country club under Cushing -- he might be too nice a guy to be a head coach - but you can't deny the players like playing for him.
That said, I got frustrated this year with how often we whined at the referees. Feels like the players played for him, but I would have liked him to have more control over their on-field antics.
I don't think David Lee gets fired for this season because ultimately there were a few things out of his control. Like Cushing, he definitely could have done better, but I think the coach gets fired before the sporting director in most cases. I think David gets a chance to redeem himself. Again, he was the sporting director who won an MLS Cup and went to a conference final in the last two years. Firing him after one bad season would feel harsh.
We're all frustrated with this season, but how fast we forget the success this organization has had. As I've said all season, look at all the massive teams in this league that have missed the playoffs over the last few years.
Atlanta, LAFC, LA Galaxy, Seattle, Portland, DC. Chicago, Sporting KC, and Toronto have all missed the playoffs either this year or last year. (LAFC missed in 2021, so I'm including them here to help make my point). It happens in this league, even to the biggest teams. Ultimately, having one down season is close to unavoidable in MLS due to the parity & salary cap rules. I think Cushing will be the sacrificial lamb to the fanbase, but I definitely don't think David should get the axe. If we have another bad year next year, then I'd be on board. Not yet.
This is how they announced it. Makes me wonder what was "agreed" with the coaching staff as an "appropriate target" for this season.
Absolutely agree that we need more veteran leadership on the team. Having a team full of young players means the team is ripe for bad habits to creep in. They need an Alex Ring, a Maxime Chanot, or an Anton Tinnerholm. Guys who have been through the wars in Europe, who know what it takes to win. Right now they consider James Sands and Keaton Parks as leaders -- both are young players who don't have that level of experience. Even Thiago Martins hasn't really played at big teams before. Cufre, Alfredo, and Maxi are the only guys who, in my opinion, had that veteran experience. Two of them didn't get a lot of minutes, and the third one came back and suffered a season-ending injury. We need more of those guys.
It's good to have young players -- and I think as MLS continues its evolution as a seller's league, it's very important to have young players -- but there have to be guys on the roster to help mold those players.
Coming out of Leagues Cup there were 10 games left in the season.
Without looking at anything, and don't try to count from memory, guess NYCFC's PPG was over the last 8 games of the season.
It surprised me to see this. My sense was that NYCFC kind of muddled through the end of the season. That PPG number is not off the charts but it's much better than I thought it was. For 10 games after Leagues Cup including those first 2 losses, NYCFC's PPG went up by 0.42 compared to the first 24 games. The PPG in the final 8 games was 0.875 higher than the first 26 games. I get that besides the roster the schedule was easier. I'm not making an argument about what this means. Just pointing out that the year ended much better than I realized compared to the first 70-80% of the season and maybe better than other folks realized.
Something else I just noticed. I've tended to blame the season failure on winning just 1 Away game. But NYCFC also fell apart at home in the middle third of the season.
First 5 home games 2.60 PPG
Middle 6 home games 0.50 PPG
Final 6 home games 2.33 PPG
Without looking at anything, and don't try to count from memory, guess NYCFC's PPG was over the last 8 games of the season.
1.875
Something else I just noticed. I've tended to blame the season failure on winning just 1 Away game. But NYCFC also fell apart at home in the middle third of the season.
First 5 home games 2.60 PPG
Middle 6 home games 0.50 PPG
Final 6 home games 2.33 PPG
Similar threads
