Except you shut down Villa, you shut down the entire team. At least we have a couple of attacking options now.
Our defensive problems have been solved. We have "officially" signed Matej Dekovic. And, in a method that can only be called "hedging ones bets": HOW ACQUIRED: Selected No. 69 overall in 2017 SuperDraft. Signed to a one year-contract with options for 2018, 2019 and 2020 on February 27, 2017. According to the UNC-Charlotte website (the "fightin' 49's"), Dekovic played youth football with the wonderfully monikered NK Rudes (Rudes is a neighborhood in Zagreb). We also signed Brandt Bronico HOW ACQUIRED: Selected No. 47 overall in 2017 SuperDraft. Signed to a one year-contract with options for 2018, 2019 and 2020 on February 27, 2017.
Except, when NYCFC beat us, they had three goal scorers and racked up 5 assists (with Khiry Shelton assisting on 3 goals), but don't let facts get in the way of your opinion. I should also mention that the Fire do not have a player fit to lick David Villa's boots. David Villa's $5,600,000 salary last season was more than the entire Fire payroll in 2016. 17 CHI $5,292,596.00 $5,600,172.50 http://blogs.denverpost.com/rapids/...ased-major-league-soccer-players-union/27671/ https://www.mlsplayers.org/images/September 15 2016 Salary Information - By Club.pdf
lol NYCFC, excluding Villa, only scored 3 fewer goals than the entire Fire roster last year. People are getting awfully excited about 3 changes to a last place team, 2 of which are minor upgrades at best.
Fire Confidential luncheon interview NRod - they have the $ to buy down and get another DP but may wait til next year
There's a catchy little slogan that worked well for the Northsiders for the better part of a century.
THIS. Appy polly loggies in advance, me droogs. Having seen the arguments that the team changes this season, might, just maybe, barely get this team qualified for the playoffs, shows me just how beaten down the fanbase has been. It makes me sad to see expectations so lowered by a decade of Hauptman's greed and abuse to those who have remained so invested and loyal. I would seriously love 5 minutes in the ring with that measly little man. For charity, of course.
Now, we get a Clockwork Orange reference, after the Killer Rabbit avatar? @Martininho, you are becoming one of the favorite posters round here. Totally agree about the beaten down fanbase. I just said the same a couple of days ago. We have gone from expecting, no, demanding (near) domination to looking forward to avoiding* the wooden spoon three-peat and hoping to squeak into the playoffs. *well, most of us are looking forward to avoiding it.
Of course, they do. They have been squirreling away TAM/GAM like there is no today, but only tomorrow...only to wait until next year. Rodriguez better hope that Mr. Hauptman's delicious TAM/GAM does not spoil before next season, as some expire at the end of each season.
but wait more ways for Andy not to spend his own money. . If I'm not mistaken, this is a new wrinkle to #MLS' Homegrown Player rule. I wonder if we'll know when TAM is used in this way. pic.twitter.com/LrkzCVmF8v— Alexander Abnos (@AnAbnos) February 28, 2017
Because if they do buy down anybody, there won't be any $ left to get so called DP. No way in hell he uses any of his wife's/father in laws money. There will be more funny money next to get so called DP. If Andi was serious about winning he'd buy down a player and use his own (yeah that's funny) to get so called DP, but we all know that's NEVER going to happen. Fvck You Andi, you fvcking cheapass.
That's the spirit. One thing we all can agree on (save lron), is the owner is a bona fide a$$hole, completely derelict to his club and the fans who support it. FU Cakes! Sell now!
more interesting roster speculation. Schmaltz-Toews-Panik Panarin-Anisimov-Kane Hartman-Shalunov-Hossa Kero-Kruger-Jurco Keith-Seabrook Oduya-Hjalmarsson Kempny-Campbell maybe I won't have to tune in to the Fire until July!
This is such a strange strategy unless he was given assurance that both him and Pauno's job is safe. If indeed you think you could get fired by mid-season if you don't drastically improve, wouldn't you spend every cent you can right now in order to improve the team and simply not care about what kind of financial situation you are in next year (since you won't be there anyways?). Even if Andy won't give you another dime to spend on a DP, that is still money you could spend on a player you need (RB, RW, CAM).
in my nightmares so were the Sharks, the Capitals, the Blues, the Predators, the Ducks, the Rangers, the Canadiens, and the Lightning. guess how many cups they won.
I would have figured before his hiring, NRod would have explained the team needed to be rebuilt and that takes time. They didn't expect to end up dead last and don't plan on it this year. It's crazy all the MLS "analysts" have Fire again in last place or bottom 3-4 but put no shots in Final Seattle at top. It also sound like the DP targets ARod said went to China and Mexico for big money were post Nikolic/Juninho/McCarty targets. Maybe there are others that can only come in July.
Kempny >>> TVR Wild better than Hawks? Didn't know that had been determined yet. Careful drawing conclusions from the RS.
Well, some people are paying attention: Vegas odds have dropped from 100-1 to 40-1. But to your point, some (many?) of these experts are a joke.
What's with all the mediocre Dutch players on the roster? Trying to appeal to all the Dutch living in Chicago? Bet our scouts like hitting Amsterdam for "work" purposes.
Dempsey is back so the MLS Cup Champions will be even better! Fire were shit but are better but we don't have a clue how much better so stick them in the bottom half of the east! I too have no clue how the season will go. But history sometimes helps. Garth Lagerwey 128 Wins. 93 Losses. 73 Draws. 2 MLS Cup Championships. 0 Wooden Spoons. Qualified for MLS Cup playoffs 9 season out of 9. Qualified for the CCL in 4/9 seasons. 1 season with more losses than wins (11-12-17 in 2009, ******** everything damn it). Nelson Rodriguez 38 Wins. 78 Losses. 16 Draws. 0 MLS Cup Championships. 2 Wooden Spoons. Qualified for MLS Cup playoffs 1 season out of 4. Qualified for the CCL in 0/4 seasons. No winning seasons.
Dutch players aren't exactly unknown to Chicago soccer teams dating back to the Fire's predecessor the Sting. somewhere in the 1977-79 timeframe Dickie Advocaat played for the Sting. But eventually, the Sting took on such a strong German flavor that some sportscasters started calling them "Der Sting". Arne Friedrich was a welcome addition a number of years ago, but chronic injuries ended his career and stay. We were pursuing Bastian Schweinsteger but couldn't close the deal. It sure wouldn't hurt to obtain a suitable German player, but Bundesliga players are probably price prohibitive. As for the Dutch, it's probably that the talent level and cost of players from the Eredivisie match up well enough with MLS to make them good players to obtain especially for teams trying to get off the bottom of the league.