Missing the playoffs this season with this roster is the yellow card. Doing something similar again next season is another matter...
I wonder if these two things are related. I wonder if the whole mindset of treating "We're going for MLS Cup this year, so as long as we're above the red line at the end of October, it's all good" has contributed to a certain lack of grind that we've seen the last couple months, especially since they started so hot without Diaz and without much from the two big offseason signings. They're a young team and well, young teams tend to believe their own press hype more than more experienced teams. I'm not saying that having last year's grind would have them contending for the Shield, because let's face it, TFC is just killing it this year and is flirting with the best season ever in league history. But a little more grind might've gotten them through this rough six-game stretch with more than two points. I mean, I'm pretty sure it would've gotten them all three points against Houston, for example. FCD's gonna be without five regulars on Saturday night, who'll be on international duty. Hopefully, their understudies will treat this as an opportunity give El Profe something to think about when he's making out the lineup card for future games
this week there have been two surprising media reports of an unhappy FCD locker room - Silvana from AlDia, claiming Urruti is "unhappy" and then, MLS' Matt Doyle posted on reddit there are players pissed the new players brought in were paid a lot more. None of this rings true to me. This has been a very tight locker room, at least on the level I've seen it. on the other hand: I think Urruti wants more money, but that doesn't mean he's unhappy (and he's certainly getting a lot less than Colman) and Barrios, even in his new deal is getting trumped by Lamah.
Well, he is human and I can understand feeling aggrieved that he's outperforming everyone who is earning more than him. He deserves a better deal and I can't see him not getting it. I'll give up a million Colmans and Lamahs for Maxi. Hopefully the rest is just BS. I imagine there is a lot of frustration going on around that locker room right now with the current run we're on. The team has never been in this bad of a spin since Parjea has been here.
Wait... I just checked the MLSPU website and it has Urruti's guaranteed 2017 compensation at $300k and Colmán's at $385k. I know, I know... those numbers don't tell the story and for all we know, Colmán might have a lot of non-guaranteed, but easily attainable incentives. Still, Urruti has earned a fat raise, and HSG's opener should be double what they're currently paying him. Anyway, as is usually the case with these stories, there's a kernel of truth. Is the locker room unhappy? Of course it is. They haven't won in over a month! Are there sideeyes toward players who aren't producing to the level they're being paid? Of course. But win a couple games and start paying a few guys and all that goes away. The latter is of course what Urruti's agent cares about.