The CFG scouting network could be better than most but no 18-year-old with 30-something professional appearances is a sure thing. The younger the prospect and the less professional appearances the bigger the gamble. Jovan could also turn out to be good in a few years, CFG certainly didn't do him any favors sticking him on an NYCFC team that plays in a system in which his skills don't fit.
NYCFC Season Discussion 2024: The Definition of NYCFC is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over and Getting the Same Result
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The CFG scouting network could be better than most but no 18-year-old with 30-something professional appearances is a sure thing. The younger the prospect and the less professional appearances the bigger the gamble. Jovan could also turn out to be good in a few years, CFG certainly didn't do him any favors sticking him on an NYCFC team that plays in a system in which his skills don't fit.
I have a lot of faith in Bakrar's work rate, desire, and teamwork. Just, damn, I wish he had less clumsy feet.
I really think he plays with too much stress/panic. Maybe it's the pressure to perform? lack of confidence? He doesn't look like he's having fun and playing with confidence. I could say the same with Wolf to be honest. As I said in another post, not sure what Wolf really gives us other than somewhat intelligent press execution.
I do wonder about all that. When we bought him he had become a starter at Red Star Belgrade quite recently, but it is undeniable that he was scoring a lot and with apparent ease. I wonder if the Serbian League is soooo top heavy and Red Star such a juggernaut that such a scoring rate was not particularly remarkable. If they had a ridiculous field tilt in their favor and were creating chances non stop that would explain how he could have been successful without running in behind defenders, pressing, or putting in a defensive shift in general.
I think it's also possible that, at his age, he's homesick and struggling to adapt to playing away from home for the first time. I still think it's too early to draw massive conclusions about the player. I want to give him until next year before I really pass judgement.
Yeah I do feel for him. 18 years old is really young to be so far from home and given the club he came from and the massive transfer fee I'm sure he expected a bigger role and more success. With time he could be good but overall I think it was a poor signing for both NYCFC and Jovan.
Part of me wonders if he was really struggling when he got here and the whole visa thing was just a cover to give him some time at home.
I almost wrote that myself in that post. I've been wondering that myself.
I don't think it was necessarily a bad signing. I think it was a bad signing for this season. But this year has clearly been a developmental year, and I think the club is looking at 2025 to return to true contender status. Look at our roster breakdown MLS posted today. Virtually everyone is signed through at least 2025. I still believe that is the target for true competitiveness.
I tried to look into this a while back by comparing total roster player value between MLS and the Serbian league. Original post is linked below. The tldr version is that only the top 2 teams in the Serbian League have more valuable rosters than most MLS teams and the bottom teams in Serbian (most of which are the teams Jovan scored against) have rosters valued at less than 1/3 of a typical MLS team.
Jovan Mijatović [Forward]
Name: Jovan Mijatović Joined Club: 2/19/2024 Position: Forward Number: 7 New York City FC acquires forward Jovan Mijatović from Red Star Belgrade through 2028 with options through 2029. Mijatović joins under Major Leagues Soccer’s U-22 initiative. Announcement: New York City FC Acquires...
nycfcforums.com
I should clarify that I think it was a bad signing because it didn't set Jovan up for success. Lee went on his press tour at the end of last season where he said the team learned from our poor season, the goal is to compete for trophies every year and he promised fans he would bring in offensive reinforcements. He then went out and paid the 2nd highest transfer fee in club history for Jovan who happens to play the position where we had the biggest need. It's not Jovan's fault but fans understandably had high expectations. Then Jovan arrives and it's quickly clear that he doesn't press (which seems to be a Cushing condition to play) and he doesn't play like the high work rate ST that works in our system. So either Jovan needs to totally change his game of Cushing has to change the system, either way, that's a pretty tall ask for an 18-year-old with a new team in a new country.
The biggest failure of the entire situation dates back to the end of last season in the way Lee chose to shape expectations. If the plan all along was to bring in a bunch of 18-year-olds for a multi-year development process slightly shifting the message could have gone a long way in managing expectations. All they had to do was change from "Our goal is to compete for trophies every year and we plan to go out this summer and get players to help us do that" to We lost a lot of players and we are working on building back to being cup contenders but this will take some time.
Maybe NYCFC should think about that before pulling the trigger? Unless of course it was CFG parking him here. Ugh.
When NYCFC brass are openly talking at a Deuces' match about Jovan being out of shape and not ready for things here, you know they've made a mistake.
Or the higher-ups at CFG that dumped him on us made a mistake and NYCFC brass are annoyed enough to talk about it openly at a duce match.
This is completely correct. Just be honest with the expectations. Maybe they are smug enough to think these kids can come here, be immediate stars, and compete for trophies. But I think Lee and the front office is actually very shrewd, and the business side of the organization is demanding certain messaging so ticket sales aren't impacted. If that's what it is, it's a bad situation and puts players in a bad situation.
I don't think they expected to have a real shot at MLS Cup in 2024, but they also did not expect to have 1 win in 13 games over 2.5 months in MLS and LC combined in the second half of the season while showing zero signs of improvement. Barring a surprise late win streak, 2024 will exceed last years pathetic point total by a few points at most. This is two straight years where I'm pretty certain the results are a downside surprise to the club and to CFG. I think they thought their floor was 48-50 points.
Unless they don't lose any of the last 5 games, this team will have the second most regular season losses in club history, behind only 2015. It is on pace to have the third worst point total, goals allowed and goals scored.
Since the club's last MLS win on July 3, Matt Freese ranks 15th among MLS keepers in G-xG and 10th in G/xG. It's middle of the pack performance. He still ranks near the bottomon the list of reasons why we suck, but he has not been helping much either. He's more liike one of the reasons the team won 24 of 27 points in the Spring which is keeping the season overall above last year.
This is all speculation from the outside looking in but the Jovan signing stinks of CFG meddling. He doesn't fit the way we play at all, no one picking players with the best interest of NYCFC in mind would have picked Jovan. Lee can't possibly be that clueless. My read is that CFG wanted Jovan in the system and the high-ups in Europe still underestimate the quality of MLS and thought a guy being chased by big clubs in Europe could coast in the MLS on talent regardless of fit and experience.
That's not to say Lee shouldn't own some of the blame. He may not have the final say on some of these big signings but he should be trying to influence the guys sent our way to the best of his ability. This nonsense didn't happen when Claudio was here.
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