I feel no excitement for any of these new players. Hopefully this will change. Frankowski seems like the most exciting player on the team right now.
I’m a newer fan. What was the buzz around the more recent non-Basti DPs at the time of their signings? Niko? Katai? Not a DP, but I feel like people were fairly excited about Nico, but nothing wild.
Many of us who knew of Nikolic were excited for him joining the Fire, based on his track record in other leagues. I have a lot of friends who follow the Polish league pretty religiously and they were, to a person, really stoked about Nikolic. Katai was not a DP when he joined and joined on loan. He was an unknown, but within a few games, it was pretty clear (to me, at least) that he was "something special." I think all of us were pretty excited when Gaitan joined us, again based on his track record. Our new guys are all unknowns.
I'm picturing this With Gimenez instead of Azira of course And backups to starters Beric/Sapong Aliseda/Sapong Frankowski/Sapong/Herbers Mihailovic/Medran Stojanovic/Medran Gimenez/Bronico/Azira Sekulic/Bornstein Bornstein/Navarro Calvo/???/Omsberg Kappelhof/???/Omsberg Kronholm/Shuttleworth Not always on gameday roster: Sparrow Slonina(s) Jimenez Pineda Reynolds Guthjar Collier Definitely need an experienced CB. Maybe another winger
You never know in MLS, but with a good coach and Gimenez, that looks like a playoff roster to me. Keep that team together with some minor improvements for a few years and that team plays for trophies.
If Gimenez is signed, the Fire will have: Gimenez Stojanovic Aliseda Sekulic Beric Navarro Frankowski Medran Collier 9 International players, but only 8 spots. Collier might become a GC holder soon, but in the event he does not become a GC holder, he is not worth trading for an international spot or having him in the roster anyhow, so he'll be the odd man out.
He'll be loaned out before traded. I think wicky likes him , I wouldn't doubt if he fits in as Stojanovic''s back up when he has a GC. Djorde and Medran are fighting each other for a starting role and it looks like Medran is essentially giving it away.
The depth among the back line and that #6 position is really, really bad. Pineda being a ready-to-go MLS player and Bronico being capable of playing fullback are two very shaky assumptions.
nope also we might just go with a 4-2-3-1. I’m suspecting we’ll see a lot of different lineups by the end of the season. Wicky has tried everything from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3 and 3-5-2
Pauno did what he did for sport, AND he really didn't know what he was doing. I'll give Wicky a pass this early in his watch at the helm as I'm sure he's still trying to sort out what he has and what works best.
pauno would look at what the other team was going to do and put together something he thought would be the best counter for it. wicky, I think, will look at the players he has and put together the best formation for our side.
It's a combo of both I would hope. Great coaches make tactical adjustments and know how to rotate a squad to create healthy competition. You can also do this very badly like Pauno and de los Cobos where you overthink it and make decisions based on an assumption of ones own genius.
To show you how long I have been away, I’m not really sure who Azira is. She did the halftime show with J-Lo, right?
Agreed, although I think the default is putting out your strongest team with players in their best positions. Then, if needed, you tweak based on the strengths/weaknesses of the other team. I’m cool with little adjustment to the other team unless there is something remarkable. The over-thinking coach is dangerous. Get your best players out there is spots they can succeed and let them run. One of my favorite quotes was from UConn women’s basketball coach Gino Auriema. “There are two kinds of coaches. Coaches who have great players, and ex-coaches.”
There you go, again, expecting competence. [emoji106] Putting out your best players in their best positions is the most anti-Paunovic thing I have read. What a concept!