Not really. The Crew were playing very competitive soccer in MLS at the end of the season. Did you watch any of the games? Are you a Crew Fan? You don't sound like it.
What? The team that finished 18 points ahead of the Crew? The team that has made MLS Cup 3 out of the past 4 seasons. The team that has Ruidaz, Lodiero, Morrios, Roldan, Brad Smith, Frei. The team that has accumulated 37 more points than us over the past four years? Look man, Seattle as an organization is light years ahead of us in terms of roster, coaching, and infrastructure until proven otherwise. If you want to take a ten match sample and weigh it more than the last half decade or so, knock yourself out. If you want to fall back the last refuge of a scoundrel and question others fan-hood for pointing these things out, be my guest.
I watched. I saw us go 3-5-2 in our last 10 games for 1.4 points per game (when every single point mattered). That 1.4 points per game would have squeaked us into the playoffs, displacing the Revs who finished with 1.32 over 34 games. Sure, we played better. We also were miles away from contention.
I'll say it again, and again, and again, Afful was NOT the problem. It's hard to have great assist #s when your forward has a stretch where he can't finish literally from inside the 6. I also think for a long stretch he was not give greenlight from the skipper to get forward as much as he was under GGG. Again that wouldn't be an Afful problem, but rather a system problem. There were no signs of him slowing down. He still has plenty of ability to run up & down field...like a young man.
The American Soccer Analysis link that zman posted shows that Gyasi Zardes slightly overperformed his xGoals in 2019 whereas Harrison Afful's xAssists were slightly lower. If you want to place the brunt of the weight for Afful's production at the foot of a striker who outperformed his xGoals, I guess you could. But, anyone who has watched even several dozen minutes of Crew soccer over their past years has seen more than their fair share of poorly weighted Harrison Afful crosses. But, I'll even concede that xGoals are not the whole story here. There is more at play. Similarly, I believe that a starting MLS RB for a championship contending team should probably offer a lot more than "plenty of ability to run up and down the field...like a young man." Maybe Afful's stamina will remain in later years. Unfortunately, to really be successful you don't just need to run up and down the field, often you are required to do so with the ball at your feet. It's here, and when the opponents have the ball at their feet that Harrison Afful is woefully inadequate to be receiving serious minutes for a team with championship aspirations in 2020.
We have 2 very promising Outside Backs so I'm ok with bringing back Afful as a veteran presence and match congestion rotation. I'll set the O/U on Afful 2020 Minutes at 1500 and take the under. I think this makes Maloney a roster casualty. And Francis/Jimenez as Expansion Draft targets. Side note: this signing reinforces that a formation change isn't likely. Crew are sticking with 4 in the back and the outside backs are going to be offensively minded. CAM remains Target #1 with strengthening the CDM roles and reinforcing the wing and forward spots as secondary action items.
Maybe he was instructed to stay back because he was getting beat and turning the ball over when he did get forward. His wonder goal vs NYCFC in the playoffs will always be a fond memory. I'm not sentimental. I want us to field the best possible team under the constraints of the current roster rules. I don't see how a one foot through the door of retirement coming off of a season where he didn't contribute offensively and the defense leaked goals is going to make us better. Sure, he's beloved, sure he's had some shining moments, neither of those things are going to bring the 2015 version of this guy back
I am not expert on NFL salary cap rules. But near as I can tell, lack of spending is not the Cleveland Browns' problem. Regarding active players, they seem to have the 5th highest priced roster in the league. As we discussed shortly after the "Haslam family" was announced as part of the ownership group, no one in here was terribly disappointed that Jimmy doesn't seem to plan on playing much of a role with the Crew. He seems to have gone in way over his head re: the Browns and shares some personal responsibility for how badly the team has performed under his ownership. It's Dee that controls the show in Columbus, though. And say what you will about the Haslams, they're not cheap. Beyond the Browns example, there most certainly IS reason to think they'll spend $$ here. I mean, they already have. The same fans complaining about an imagined lack of commitment to spend funds on players have bemoaned the $5M they dropped on our coach. In case no one's noticed, we also signed this Bezbatchenko guy away from Toronto (name sound familiar?) who had control of the biggest roster budget in the league. Bez wasn't going to come to Columbus just because of his Westerville roots and his long-held desire to managing a soccer team on a shoestring budget. The idea is just ludicrous. No, we won't spend money like TFC. Thank God. But we will spend money, and I'm quite sure at a level this franchise never has seen before.
Bingo. Sure, they'll spend money. But will they spend it well, or will they spend it poorly, as they did with Porter?
This take is so bad it almost defies belief. Columbus played playoff caliber soccer for 10 games this year. Seattle is also a playoff team. They beat LAFC. Therefore, Columbus should contend next year...?? I am baffled. Seattle, as an organization, has attained a staggering level of consistent success this decade. Columbus is currently not in the same stratosphere as Seattle when it comes to roster, scouting, GM, coaching, whatever you want to pick. This should go without saying. There is simply no comparison. "Who thinks that Seattle has a much greater roster than the Crew?" Literally everyone with a functional brain. Come on man.
Championship aspirations in 2020 lol LOL lol i think we are building this roster for 2021. money aside Afful > Maloney now hopefully Cadden wins the job but if he doesn’t than we can use Afful to bridge the gap until the summer window or God forbid the following winter than so be it. We hope for playoffs in 2020 while building a team that by 2021 is a strong contender then the next step would be CCL team by 2022 .
Oh look, it's someone else who has built up an irrational hatred for a sports team he's never even seen play!
We"ll know soon enough. Leaving aide the not-irrelevant issue of whether or not Porter can get enough out of the talent the club signs, Bezbatchenko is the one really under the microscope with this club. He's still in a honeymoon phase, considered a Wunderkind when it comes to building an MLS roster, a master of the rules, etc. Thing is, in Toronto he had the luxury of engineering a $10M (right?) transfer for Jemaine Defoe and having it not work out. He wont; have that same luxury here. I really, really like Bez. I'm also aware that I rarely feel that way about the guy in charge of the soccer side of the FO, or that if I do, the emotion doesn't last. Again, time will tell.
You know this is a really good point. I especially like the bolded part. I mean Bez did eventually get Toronto over the hump, but it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows by any means. His first full season in charge they had a 12 point improvement to 41 points from 29. In 2015 they were at 49 points and clinched the final playoff spot. We know how 2016 and 2017 went. His last full season Toronto finished with 36 points. This was all with a near bottomless budget. I like the guy too, even if I don't at all trust in his hire of Porter. But the bottom line is that Bez is gonna need to be much better at his job in Columbus than he was in Toronto to achieve the same results.
I've heard form a reliable source that the Porter hire was directed more from the Haslams than any other. They wanted a winner and Porter was the only unemployed and alive coach that had won an MLS Cup. That was the main criteria. The Haslams do not have a good track record of hiring good coaches. I want to trust in Bez and totally agree that he has the most wide open checkbook of any GM we've ever had. I'm hopeful that Cadden and whatever big winter signing show that he has an eye for talent that can make this team better. Can Porter coach them? We'll see there too. The Afful re-signing gives me a queasy feeling because of how I viewed his performances.
For what it's worth, the Browns problems this season are mainly due to a rookie head coach in over his head. The Haslams hired a well regarded professional GM, John Dorsey. After firing Hue Jackson during last season, he had to hire a new coach. Instead of keeping the interim coach who turned the team around, he hired the OC who had good rapport with their young QB. Both the coach and QB have taken a step back this season. They've also had considerable injury problems. None of it is related to the Haslam's willingness to spend.