Talles Magno [Forward] [On Loan - Out]

[gbservis]

I realize i just quoted 4 consecutive posts but there is a point. It starts with 2 posts blaming Cushing, then one post saying Cushing gave him a chance, ending with a twist that seems to agree with the first 2 but subtly shifts the blame to Lee (or at least both Lee/Cushing).

My contribution:
Bakrar 2023-24: 1945 minutes 6 goals 75 shots 24 on target
Talles 2023-24: 1975 minutes 5 goals 53 Shots 29 On Target

Both very frustrating but in different ways. We started 2023 asking Talles to step up and become the guy while shifting to the middle. It was a reasonable ask and worth trying but Talles did not and maybe could not step up. Forget balls in nets, Talles barely increased his attempts. Taty shot more than 4 times per 90 while at NYCFC. When we asked Talles to fill the void, his shots went from about 2.2 to 2.4. Maybe we learned he needs to play off a striker, or maybe he's more comfortable not being the guy, or both. By the time 70% of 2023 was over and Lee finally delivered a striker Talles had lost Cushing. Now, Cushing should have tried playing him more with Bakrar anyway. But I also get it. When you go 3/4 of the season asking someone to shoot more and he doesn't you get frustrated, and when you get Bakrar who at least takes his chances (but not well, which is his path of frustration) you might think of him as the replacement not the complement.
Lee gave Cushing no options for 3/4 of a season and when options finally arrived maybe Cushing got a little petty, or had developed blinders. I don't know exactly but it starts with deciding to wait a full year to try to replace the club's best scorer.
Lee created the roster conditions that required Cushing to ask 2 big things of Talles at once: (1) change positions and (2) step up and become the guy. And that experiment with its confounding factors failed. Last year Talles rated 39th in MLS in Shots per Game for players with at least 1500 minutes. At his contract price, you need to do better. By the time the roster gave us and Talles the chance to maybe just be the guy but from his preferred position, Cushing was in "Talles out" mode.
As for 2024, the Talles story is black box to me. He got hurt early then did not play when he returned, until gets just a taste before he was loaned out. Might it have been different if he was completely uninjured for the first half of the season? I can't even guess.
I don't think Cushing handled things well. Coaches should rise above their frustrations in situations like this. But Lee set both Cushing and Talles up to fail, and both grabbed that opportunity. Focusing on Cushing while giving a pass to Lee and Talles makes no sense.

I'm 100% in agreement that Lee deserves most of the blame for the Magno situation. I think Lee deserves the bulk of the blame for the majority of the team's struggles post-MLS Cup win. Just off the top of my head, bad moves by Lee include:

1. Wasting a DP spot on a CB by acquiring Martins when we had arguably an MLS-best CB pairing in Chanot and Callens that had just won an MLS cup. I always wonder if we have saved that DP spot could we have kept Callens, now there is a guy that might actually warrant being a CB DP.
2. Taking a ridiculously long time to find a replacement for Taty and triggering the failed Magno at ST experiment.
3. Spending $32.5M in transfer fees on Jovan, Magno, Ojeda, Fernandez, Illenic, Bakrar, and Risa and netting one consistent starter (Risa).

Lee is a terrible GM, he won a cup with a roster 95% built by Reyna and then blew it all up so he could go on a spending spree for unproven 18 years olds turning our roster into an underperforming development academy. The fact that some fans can watch Jovan plod around looking disinterested with 2 shots on goal in 441 min as a striker and still think Lee has some master plan he's cooking up is ridiculous. Lee is either being told who to sign by CFG or taking wreckless home run swings on high-cost prospects for some other reason but there is no way to convince me that he's spending transfer money with the primary goal of making our roster better.

 

[moogoo]

Lee is a terrible GM, he won a cup with a roster 95% built by Reyna and then blew it all up so he could go on a spending spree for unproven 18 years olds turning our roster into an underperforming development academy. The fact that some fans can watch Jovan plod around looking disinterested with 2 shots on goal in 441 min as a striker and still think Lee has some master plan he's cooking up is ridiculous. Lee is either being told who to sign by CFG or taking wreckless home run swings on high-cost prospects for some other reason but there is no way to convince me that he's spending transfer money with the primary goal of making our roster better.

taty replacement troubles aside... i'm thinking the invest in young up and comers is a CFG directive. it's gotta be right? if he was finding players strictly to make us better now, he'd be finding more experienced players who may not be getting as much playing time or just down on their luck. wolf is a great example and a good signing. it being free made it even better. add a couple more wolf like signings to this team and we'd be a lot more consistent, i think.

i am sad to see magno go, but it is a loan. maybe he returns for a big big splash with the new stadium?

 

[Gene]

Been saying it the past two years or so. When it comes to swinging deals for guys like Freese, Perea, etc, I feel Lee has all the autonomy in the world.

DPs?

You get who CFG says you get and you'll like it..........F.U. Cush, make it work.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Been saying it the past two years or so. When it comes to swinging deals for guys like Freese, Perea, etc, I feel Lee has all the autonomy in the world.

DPs?

You get who CFG says you get and you'll like it..........F.U. Cush, make it work.

Exactly.

 

[mgarbowski]

taty replacement troubles aside... i'm thinking the invest in young up and comers is a CFG directive. it's gotta be right? if he was finding players strictly to make us better now, he'd be finding more experienced players who may not be getting as much playing time or just down on their luck. wolf is a great example and a good signing. it being free made it even better. add a couple more wolf like signings to this team and we'd be a lot more consistent, i think.

i am sad to see magno go, but it is a loan. maybe he returns for a big big splash with the new stadium?

The problem with using Wolf as an example is he is an outlier by nature. As Kevin Nelson noted "As far as reclamation projects go, Wolf is among the most successful. However, for every return on investment like this, there are ten more like those of Pellegrini, Chris Gloster, or Gedion Zelelam." If players like Wolf were capable of being identified in advance they would either not be available or cost a hefty fee like so many of lee's failed acquisiitons.

 

[SoupInNYC]

1. Wasting a DP spot on a CB by acquiring Martins when we had arguably an MLS-best CB pairing in Chanot and Callens that had just won an MLS cup. I always wonder if we have saved that DP spot could we have kept Callens, now there is a guy that might actually warrant being a CB DP.

Definitely agree that using a DP spot on a CB was a terrible use, but I do think it was worth spending good money to bring in a quality CB. Just never worth a DP spot.

Callens had his mind set on moving to Europe at the conclusion of his NYCFC contract. DP-level money to stay wasn't going to change that, although I do agree with you that someone at his level would warrant a CB DP.

Somewhat related, NYCFC severely lacks a CB aerial threat on set pieces after Chanot and Callens left. Thiago and Birk have provided nothing on attacking set pieces.

 

[moogoo]

The problem with using Wolf as an example is he is an outlier by nature. As Kevin Nelson noted "As far as reclamation projects go, Wolf is among the most successful. However, for every return on investment like this, there are ten more like those of Pellegrini, Chris Gloster, or Gedion Zelelam." If players like Wolf were capable of being identified in advance they would either not be available or cost a hefty fee like so many of lee's failed acquisiitons.

i realize with any signing, young or experienced, it's a gamble. but i wouldn't compare wolf to pell, gloster, and zel. those three were much younger and inexperienced with no real evidence of performance at a high level. but lee has been going more for the younger gamble vs the older going into their prime gamble. i suspect that is more a CFG directive than something cushing wanted? maybe? we'll never really know.

 

[gbservis]

Been saying it the past two years or so. When it comes to swinging deals for guys like Freese, Perea, etc, I feel Lee has all the autonomy in the world.

DPs?

You get who CFG says you get and you'll like it..........F.U. Cush, make it work.

I agree that CFG is likely calling the shots on the big $ players in DP and U22 slots but I don't think that completely absolves Lee from responsibility. He needs to be advocating for players that fit our style. Even within heavily directive based organizations, good leaders find ways to cultivate success through influence. Jovan plays exactly the way all the prearrival scouting articles said he would and it doesn't fit our style at all. Fernandez plays with zero game awareness and looks like he belongs on the wing in a park the bus and counters fast in a straight-line offense not with an intricate link-up style offense like ours.

Maybe Lee's hands are completely tied and the criticism is unwarranted but contrasting Lee's acquisitions to Reyna's it seems like Reyna was at least able to make sure the players coming in matched our style and made sense on the roster (outside of maybe Pirlo). Lee just seems like a CFG yes man that was like, oh you want us to get an $8M player from Serbia that doesn't match our style, and is years away from contributing, thank you so much that's so generous of you.

 

[ZYanksRule]

I agree that CFG is likely calling the shots on the big $ players in DP and U22 slots but I don't think that completely absolves Lee from responsibility. He needs to be advocating for players that fit our style. Even within heavily directive based organizations, good leaders find ways to cultivate success through influence. Jovan plays exactly the way all the prearrival scouting articles said he would and it doesn't fit our style at all. Fernandez plays with zero game awareness and looks like he belongs on the wing in a park the bus and counters fast in a straight-line offense not with an intricate link-up style offense like ours.

Maybe Lee's hands are completely tied and the criticism is unwarranted but contrasting Lee's acquisitions to Reyna's it seems like Reyna was at least able to make sure the players coming in matched our style and made sense on the roster (outside of maybe Pirlo). Lee just seems like a CFG yes man that was like, oh you want us to get an $8M player from Serbia that doesn't match our style, and is years away from contributing, thank you so much that's so generous of you.

Or at the very least, we need to have a coach that's better with developing players. Too many guys have regressed or not developed under him.

 

[BxLio91]

He just scored tonight for Corinthians

 

[LionNYC]

He just scored tonight for Corinthians

Back to back matches against Red Bull Bragantino