Some Random Ramblings

[Mikeylito]

I almost hijacked mgarbowski's By The Numbers thread when I realized what I wanted to say really didn't have anything to do with his thread other than a jumping off point. So, here I jump.

In the 18 games before our transfers played, including the 11-game winless streak, we averaged 1.11 PPG. In the 8 games since our transfers showed up we are at 1 PPG. We’ve gotten worse since our transfers showed up.

This is one of the reasons I'm willing to give Kreis a pass on this season. Aside from the fact that the team was built from scratch, there was this mid-season influx of "talent" which completely disrupted whatever rhythm the existing squad may have gained.

I have no clue who was responsible for building this roster. CFG? Presumably. Reyna? Most definitely. Kreis? I'm sure he had some input. However, it's ridiculous the amount of criticism he's taken when trying to find a formula that works.

People on this forum whined and moaned, rightly so, that Poku should be in the starting lineup. They also complained that Kreis should "quit tinkering with the lineup." Now today, after City did nothing offensively, some of the same people are complaining that Mullins isn't being played.

I'm no different than anybody else. I'm a big sports and media guy so I was fascinated by how this match was being received in various quarters. (It's one reason why I was reading The Guardian.) I had commented in a couple of places here that the match received far more coverage on ESPN Deportes than on the English-language ESPN US networks.

As part of its coverage, ESPND picked their top 10 goals of 2015 scored by either the Galaxy or City. Well, lo and behold, goals #1 and #3 were scored by none other than one Mehdi Ballouchy, now languishing on the bench for NYCFC. God forbid Kreis ever inserted him in the lineup over some other options like Mix or Poku or Mullins or whatever is the flavor of the week.

For weeks, commentary about David Villa has been about how "frustrated" he was. He was so frustrated that when he finally got some help and scored a goal against Columbus, he was so "joyful" (deliberate word choice) that he removed his jersey and picked up a yellow card. After today's episode, he showed his frustration in another way, a way that liable to have ramifications for a bit of time, I would think.

I don't know what I'm trying to accomplish here other than dumping some thoughts that have been stored in my brain for a while and now seemed to be a good time for a dump.

And so it goes.

 

[Paul]

With regard to Mehdi, I believe he has been injured lately and has missed at least 2 matches as a result. Otherwise he'd at least be on the bench in place for Alvarez or Velasquez and would likely have been used as a sub in recent matches. Kreis seems to trust Mehdi a lot and, as you pointed out, he hasn't been terrible or worthless like some of our other mids. We went weeks if not months without seeing Velasquez and now he's getting a lot of minutes as a sub (presumably because Mehdi isn't available).

On the topic of Mullins, while some are calling for him to start alongside Villa, I think most would be happy to see him at least be utilized as a sub when we need to push for a goal instead of someone like Grabavoy or Velasquez. He drew a penalty today after only a few minutes on the pitch and could have helped go for a winner against Columbus.

 

[mgarbowski]

I almost hijacked mgarbowski's By The Numbers thread when I realized what I wanted to say really didn't have anything to do with his thread other than a jumping off point. So, here I jump.
*******
I don't know what I'm trying to accomplish here other than dumping some thoughts that have been stored in my brain for a while and now seemed to be a good time for a dump.

Feel free to, er take your dumps in my thread, or something. We've spent almost as much time there discussing how many forum members are lawyers as we have discussing the team's chances.

This is one of the reasons I'm willing to give Kreis a pass on this season. Aside from the fact that the team was built from scratch, there was this mid-season influx of "talent" which completely disrupted whatever rhythm the existing squad may have gained.

I have no clue who was responsible for building this roster. CFG? Presumably. Reyna? Most definitely. Kreis? I'm sure he had some input. However, it's ridiculous the amount of criticism he's taken when trying to find a formula that works.

I've been spreading the blame around. I think that poor decisionmaking has permeated the entire organization.I think CFG underestimated the league, overestimated their own intelligence and judgment, and failed to grasp a very basic point about how their MC model won't work here. I think Taylor Twellman was exactly on point yesterday when he criticized team management for trying to follow the path they took in the EPL when that cannot work in MLS due to the salary structure. Of course I said that back in January so I'm somewhat predisposed to confirmation bias.

For an expansion team we have some very quality players, but the parts don't fit together.
The Mix Diskerud situation is also on the organization. Has he been hampered by playing out of position, in too many positions, by lack of a cohesive midfield around him, is he just not as good as we thought, or some combination of the above? I see a hard working talented player who runs all over the field on defense because nobody else in the midfield pays much attention to defense at all. It's a valuable effort but we hardly seem to be getting maximum value out of him Whatever your answer, it all flows back to the organization, and even calls into question some very basic decisions. When Orlando won the coin flip, they chose first pick in the Expansion Draft. CFG then had next choice and picked Allocation Ranking which eventually got us Mix. We could have opted instead for first pick in the Super Draft which would have gotten us Cyle Larin. I'm not saying Larin is better than Mix but he has had more of an impact this year. At the least it seems that Orlando had a plan for using him which is more than I can say for CFG and Mix.

The thing is, Kreis and Reyna should have known all along that the MC model wouldn't and couldn't work here. There is some limited indirect evidence that they have pushed back at some of CFG's moves, but one thing the organization excels at is keeping secrets. There are remarkably few leaks and off-the-record discussions. And as I've written before, when you participate in the omerta you accept equal blame for what it hides.

 

[Keith Putnam]

Poku or Mullins or whatever is the flavor of the week.

That seems a little unfair to Poku. Sure, he quickly became a fan favorite, but with his goals and assists per appearance (and not to mention his work rate) I'd say he's earned the love.

 

[Gotham Gator]

I think people continue to underestimate how hard it is to win as an expansion franchise, particularly in a league that has a strict salary cap.

Against LA, for example, we had solid performances from our two DPs, Villa and Pirlo. I don't think they were outshone by the Galaxy's DPs of Keane, Dos Santos and Gerrard - particularly when you consider we were missing a 3rd DP in Lampard.

Where we were really outclassed were at all the other positions. Guys like Zardes, Lletget, Rogers, Juninho, Husidic, de la Garza, etc. Those guys are just better than our comparable group of non-DPs. Heck, LA has a forward that gets caps for the national team and comes off the bench.

The important point is that you can't just buy that kind of depth in our league. It has to be grown over time as you make careful selections and grow talent over time. They also have to have time together to develop chemistry.

I think the good news is that we are starting to do that with guys like Poku, Mix, McNamara - maybe Shelton too.

 

[Mikeylito]

That seems a little unfair to Poku.

First, if you're gonna quote me. quote all of me. I included Mix as one of those flavors.
More importantly, that wasn't a criticism of Poku, but rather a criticism of posters who would whine and complain if Kreis inserted Ballouchy into the lineup instead of one of their favorite players despite Medhi's production during the season before the transfers arrived.

 

[Mikeylito]

They also have to have time together to develop chemistry.

I have a question.
How do people feel about the pizza and beach photos that have popped up on Twitter and the forums?
Team building? Distractions?

one thing the organization excels at is keeping secrets. There are remarkably few leaks and off-the-record discussions.

I think CFG underestimates information gathering and dissemination in the 21st century. Everybody is a "freelance correspondent" and news isn't gathered in the same fashion as before. No more second and third confirmations. It's who can get the information first and what spin they can put on it. It's hard to believe that "Americans" and their media can be more rabid than their equivalent in the Land of the Tabloids.

 

[Gene]

I have a question.
How do people feel about the pizza and beach photos that have popped up on Twitter and the forums?
Team building? Distractions?

No problem with it whatsoever. I know the Giants and the Rangers do things like this quite often (team bowling nights, etc) and I would imagine a lot of other teams do so as well.

 

[JayH]

Forgetting for a moment about any blunders by owners and coaches, the biggest difficulty I believe is three-fold, all related to it being nearly impossible to operate cohesively and effectively as an expansion team when: (i) from the outset you have an assembly of players who never have played together (some of them so deficient in skill, further thwarting any on-field chemistry); (ii) the coaches have no idea what they are working with, and must continually tinker with the team to find out what works; and then, on top of that, (iii) adding so many important pieces so late into the season which only disrupts the progress, and, effectively, resets the entire process for building cohesion, chemistry and comfort. That's a difficult hill to climb.

 

[mgarbowski]

I have a question.
How do people feel about the pizza and beach photos that have popped up on Twitter and the forums?
Team building? Distractions?

I don't mind much either way. I think it's pretty standard. Someone, maybe Falastur , pointed out in another thread that even with all the practice, training and studying, pro athletes have a lot of free time, especially a one-game-per-week soccer team.

I think CFG underestimates information gathering and dissemination in the 21st century. Everybody is a "freelance correspondent" and news isn't gathered in the same fashion as before. No more second and third confirmations. It's who can get the information first and what spin they can put on it. It's hard to believe that "Americans" and their media can be more rabid than their equivalent in the Land of the Tabloids.

Fair points but there is a lot that hasn't gotten out, which is true not just for NYC but for the league as a whole. Salaries are generally kept a secret until the union publishes its list; nobody knows how much allocation money teams get, or how much is included in a trade, or assigned to individual players. With NYCFC, we still have little idea what happened with Lampard: such as: Why was he originally signed to a CFG contract unlike Villa who signed direct with NYC? Was the fix in from the beginning, or was it something that developed over time? Did Frank push to make it happen or only go along because the organization asked him? All of this is unknown. And today, where the hell is Nemec? Did the team give up on him, did he get fed up with the team, have they mutually agreed he just need not show up? How did Lampard seem fine in the last training session before the LA game, then become unfit to play? We presumably signed Mix using the extra allocation money doled out to expansion teams and maybe some obtained via trade; if so, do we have a plan to keep him next year? No one really has a clue. They keep this stuff locked down pretty tight.

 

[Mikeylito]

How did Lampard seem fine in the last training session before the LA game, then become unfit to play?

I wonder if CFG is setting up Lampard for a loan deal in Melbourne?
Or worse yet, another one in Manchester?

 

[AJS]

I don't mind much either way. I think it's pretty standard. Someone, maybe Falastur , pointed out in another thread that even with all the practice, training and studying, pro athletes have a lot of free time, especially a one-game-per-week soccer team.

Fair points but there is a lot that hasn't gotten out, which is true not just for NYC but for the league as a whole. Salaries are generally kept a secret until the union publishes its list; nobody knows how much allocation money teams get, or how much is included in a trade, or assigned to individual players. With NYCFC, we still have little idea what happened with Lampard: such as: Wwhy was he originally signed to a CFG contract unlike Villa who signed direct with NYC? Was the fix in from the beginning, or was it something that developed over time? Did Frank push to make it happen or only go along because the organization asked him? All of this is unknown. And today, where the hell is Nemec? Did the team give up on him, did he get fed up with the team, have they mutually agreed he just need not show up? How did Lampard seem fine in the last training session before the LA game, then become unfit to play? We presumably signed Mix using the extra allocation money doled out to expansion teams and maybe some obtained via trade; if so, do we have a plan to keep him next year? No one really has a clue. They keep this stuff locked down pretty tight.

I think that what this email rightly points out is that there is a lot we don't know and will never know and so it is very hard to really evaluate and assign blame for the frustrations we all feel. I think that extends to many of the on field things we see too. We can rip Kreiss all we want, but he has far more information than we ever will. Some of the frustration falls at the team and CFG's feet. There is no way to spin the Lampard July arrival as anything but poor fan relations. But a lot of it is a product of the fact that most teams and businesses operate that way (and should operate that way) and it is just one of the tough things about being a passionate fan that is emotionally invested.

 

[MagnusPax]

Don't mean to derail this thread, but reading it got me thinking. What is the ideal position for Mix? I don't think he is a CAM and he isn't a Cdm, at least not one that we need. He seems more like a natural CM, but is there a formation that uses both DMs and CMs?

 

[Mikeylito]

Don't mean to derail this thread,

You can't derail this thread.
It's a stream of consciousness thread.

What is the ideal position for Mix?

What is the position that he played in Scandinavia?

 

[NY Soccer Kid]

Yeah let's take pictures on the beach before a game... Nothing says we care more about winning than that.... Hope the guys enjoyed their vacation

 

[SoupInNYC]

Yeah let's take pictures on the beach before a game... Nothing says we care more about winning than that.... Hope the guys enjoyed their vacation

Yes, exactly. No fun allowed. The guys need to stay in their hotel rooms at all times when not practicing.

They better not have watched any in-flight movies on the flight either, if they're serious about winning.

 

[Mikeylito]

The guys need to stay in their hotel rooms at all times when not practicing.

Since I asked the question, I suppose I should give an answer.
I wasn't bothered by the pizza photos. I considered that a team building exercise.
I suppose the beach trip could have been the same, but I was disturbed as soon as I saw it.

...when not practicing.

That's what was bugging me.
I suppose you can over-practice.
However, after dropping two points in Columbus, I was just annoyed that they seemed sorta laissez-faire about the whole thing, especially when somebody noted that Villa -- he who says he needs help -- wasn't in the picture.

It probably means nothing at all and I'm overreacting.
I'm also being honest.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Since I asked the question, I suppose I should give an answer.
I wasn't bothered by the pizza photos. I considered that a team building exercise.
I suppose the beach trip could have been the same, but I was disturbed as soon as I saw it.



That's what was bugging me.
I suppose you can over-practice.
However, after dropping two points in Columbus, I was just annoyed that they seemed sorta laissez-faire about the whole thing, especially when somebody noted that Villa -- he who says he needs help -- wasn't in the picture.

It probably means nothing at all and I'm overreacting.
I'm also being honest.

I don't understand why the beach photo wouldn't be the same, or why a picture of them on the beach would mean they were being laissez-faire about it. I think people are reading way too much into this picture, as well as Villa not being in it.

 

[AJS]

For me, this is the sort of thing where, if they win, the media and fans talk about how bonded they are and how their beach trip helped the team relax, etc, etc. Because they lost, the narrative is that they weren't focused, didn't take it seriously, etc. Ultimately, there is no way to know. I just thought it was a funny picture.

 

[Seven]

Since I asked the question, I suppose I should give an answer.
I wasn't bothered by the pizza photos. I considered that a team building exercise.
I suppose the beach trip could have been the same, but I was disturbed as soon as I saw it.



That's what was bugging me.
I suppose you can over-practice.
However, after dropping two points in Columbus, I was just annoyed that they seemed sorta laissez-faire about the whole thing, especially when somebody noted that Villa -- he who says he needs help -- wasn't in the picture.

It probably means nothing at all and I'm overreacting.
I'm also being honest.

Villa was there, as Pirlo posted a picture of the both of them at the beach on his Instagram, he just wasn't in the shirtless photo. Also, it seemed like the beach happened right after practice, as the caption for Pirlo's photo said "after practice cool-down." That's why every one is wearing their practice shorts in the photo.