I get where he is coming from with KB and Nicky, but the money simply isn't there to sign those guys AND have quality players behind them "pushing them". I'm set to be upset but understanding with the deals Waibel signed with Nicky and KB. I guarantee the cap hit is significant. They're worth more than their production on the field, though, so it's hard to quantify. That said, the team is currently built to be very good with depth there to fill in while there are injuries. Doyle highlights Glad as our best player last year - and I'm not going to necessarily argue with that - but he ties his injury/absence to the early season struggles which is just lazy reporting. We had a preseason with Cassar mixed in with the young guys being absent. Not to mention that we didn't get two absolute game changers in Savarino and (what Doyle misses in his back line analysis) Silva in the middle of the season. Our resurgence in 2017 wasn't just because Glad got healthy. That certainly helped, but it was much more complicated than that. To say we "rely on one player" is naive. Especially when you don't even use the one player (Rusnak) that could legitimately be used to make that argument. rant/ Here is a hot take for you: TFC falls apart this year. So many writers are ready to crown them champs again but I'm not buying it. You could see it starting at the end of last season, they weren't the same level of team as they were through the early/middle stages. Bradley and Jozy aren't reliable for this long. As USA fans, we should know that. Giovinco disappears for really long stretches in games. Vazquez can be both amazing and awful all in the same 30 second span. /end rant
AM depth? Source: Lee Nguyen is still looking to be traded and isn’t currently with the #NERevs as they open preseason. Nguyen has a strong desire to go elsewhere— Seth (@SethMan31) January 23, 2018
Lee's too good and expensive for depth. He'll command a higher salary and a starting role. Last year he made $500k. I'd like to see him in an RSL uniform, but it doesn't make sense unless we used TAM/GAM/MAM to get him. Who would he replace in the midfield?
I wouldn't mind using TAM for AM depth (since it looks as though RSL isn't using all/any of the discretionary TAM) but yeah I can' imagine he'd accept a role as a bench player. Imagine those player rotations though!
Well, according to Nicky, he's here for "two more years". Whether that second year is an option year or not is TBA, of coursed, but I would expect he'll turn 40 at the RioT in the middle of the 2019 season
My hot take is this, but for Seattle. They hung on to their core a long time to keep their championship window open, but I think this is the year there's a crash. Lodeiro was much more average last year, after teams figured him out to an extent. Svensson, Alonso, Dempsey, Marshall, Torres, and Frei are all past 30. Their only two young players of note are Roldan, who is awesome, and Morris, who is honestly not that good. If they land someone like Derlis before the season starts, that changes things. But as is, I think the top two teams in the conference are us and Portland. Maybe Houston.
bingo far too much from Doyle/league writers is being ignored in how much talent those teams are keeping that is old. I also feel like, at least in the article, the goalposts get moved from each team way too much. I mean how can you knock RSL for relying on one player but then be like "well NYCFC might struggle if Villa gets old". Dude. He is old. And it's not a "might", NYCFC relies on him more than anyone. That's why he's MVP material. Same with Portland and Valeri though not as severe. I really don't know what to expect this season. The infusion of cash completely changes the picture of the league. Who was good last year doesn't much matter with how different the landscape is. I'm actually more inclined to say aggressive teams like ATL and RSL are setup to be successful because they aren't sitting back and relying so heavily on previous talent to win in the new environment. note: when TFC and Seattle play in MLS cup again and oen of them won the shield, you can call me a dumbass. or do it now. Either is true
And Seattle also let the best LB in the league walk for free. I get it. If you have a championship-level core, sometimes you have to make bad long-term decisions to keep them together as long as possible. Seattle did that, and damn near won back-to-back Cups for their trouble. For them, it was absolutely worth it. But as we found out in 2015, sometimes the crash afterwards can be sharp and brutal. 1-2 long-term injuries for the Sounders this year, and things could get ugly.
I think we learned what happens when you keep a core together for too long. We dropped off when we tried to stick with mostly the same roster. It won't surprise me at all to see this happen to Seattle. Also, sometimes just adding two guys can turn an average team into a contender.
So, I just saw a tweet that Sunny was a no show today and Petke said he’d echo Burns comments in this tweet...
Yay! Trade Yura for Nguyen. Both are "disgruntled" and want to play somewhere else (I guess for Yura). A win-win situation!!
uh... Waibel was simply saying that RSL, like NER, "...have zero tolerance for guys who don’t honor their contracts.” Nothing about the two clubs working any type of deal for players. In fact, the comment was about Sunny, not Yura. Interesting note at the end of the most recent soapbox article: "All in all, the squad is healthy and ready to go. With Jordan Allen and Chad Barrett doing minimal training to the side because of their injuries, everyone that was healthy at the end of 2017 is still healthy and ready to tackle this preseason." Chad Barrett? Really? We're going to keep Chad ********ing Barrett and not promote Hoffman? Jesus...
There was a second comment about Yura not being at training and the club was currently working on a solution that would be best for both parties. Yura Movsisyan was not at training today. Mike Petke’s explanation: “We are currently working on a solution that is best for Yura and the club together.”— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) January 24, 2018 Edit: To correct myself, it was Petke who commented on Yura, not Waibel. My bad.
I'm nervous about the Sunny situation. There were no rumors or hinting that Sunny was so displeased in his time at RSL that he would hold out to be traded/sold. While I don't think Sunny is a top MLS CM, he's a whole hell of a lot better than Nick Besler - the guy who would suddenly become our first option off the bench at the CM spot. Something's got to change here. This was already a position that most everyone had circled as a potential weakness (with varying degrees). To lose a guy that was considered either first option off the bench or even a starter is HUGE.
Sunny wanted to go to a club and play at a level to get back to the Nigerian NT. He’s been benched mostly behind Mulholland. I’m not surprised that he isn’t happy. It’s not RSL’s fault, but he’s not getting the playing time he wants. He hasn’t been the same player after his face injury. Before that injury he was a stud. Since then he’s been such a roller coaster.
Idk. If they can't replace him we're in trouble, but if this pushes them to bring in someone better more quickly then this is a good thing. I mean Luke was looking to be our starter until at least after the world cup.
Sweet, we get to fight about this again!! At least he is healthy enough to have the debate. While much of the rest of the team looked like crap early 2017, Barrett was who we expected him to be, a decent MLS forward with GREAT off the ball movement, who will finish at a lower than expected rate. His movement was refreshing to see last year and made the other attackers more dangerous. Obviously the front office has made up their minds that Hoffman is NOT an MLS level forward. We can all debate whether that is accurate, but it really isn't debatable whether Barrett has been, at worst, an average MLS forward. Recall that 1/2 of last year, average would have been an upgrade. Other than the new forward whom I have not seen play yet, Barrett's movement was unique to RSL's forwards last year. (As was his ability to miss from 2'...but at least he was there to miss!! ) Now, whether RSL is better served taking what they know vs giving a chance to Hoffman, I don't know.
Time to dump Sunny and get a nice DP level CM! Downside of all of this is that teams will know he's wanting out and not training, so it'll hurt his value from our end. Hopefully all of this is early enough that we can move him and get a replacement that is hopefully above his level. As far as Barrett goes, I can live with him as a 3rd string player. I think he's talented enough for that spot. As the guy first off the bench? Not a chance. And even if the FO doesn't think Hoffman is good enough, I'd rather take a chance on him since he still has a little time for growth. With someone like Barrett, he's much more likely to decline, and at best he'll stay at the same level he's always been.