The team needs a spine first. 1 top quartile Goalie who is good at stopping pks two good CB OR 1 top quartile 6 or two very good two way midfielders a top quartile #9 who can score with his head and has good hold up skills If your academy can't provide these players you need to go out and buy them.
We will see if Parker can be durable enough and be the dominant force despite who gets paired with him Figueroa needs to only play once a week
this new midfielder from Nashville may be Tab's thought as a 6 because Ceren and Vera are not good enough. Both are tough as nails BUT they are very slow. Ceren is prone to careless give aways that results in Goals against. A liability. I rate Vera better. He is much better in possession, is a better passer, but doesn't chip in enough goals, get's beat in the middle to balls just due to lack of pace. Both are a liability late in games when we are trying to hold a lead because they are too diminutive. They get muscled off and really can't clear contested aerial balls in the midfield or in the box.
I got to give Credit to Ceren that he contributed to more goals last year. 1 g 4 assists, Vera had 0 goals and 0 assists. Despite having having more defensive reaponsibilities - they need to chip in assists and a critical couple of goals. Give aways by both (mostly Ceren) that turned into goals for opponents meant quite a few dropped points, however.
besides goals / assists stats for interceptions and blocks per game challenges / challenges won aerial duels / aerials won passes attempted / passes completed passes forward / passes backwards dribbles attempted / dribbles successful GP / GAA per minutes played would be helpful in objective analysis to compare against other teams players at DM
Ceren is 32 and Vera is 26 so I don't know why they resigned Ceren unless they want to let Vera go / trade away this year during the season.
Ceren has Matt Jordan style longevity. He is constantly re-upped and coaches seem to love him for whatever reason. Would not read anything about it into Vera though. I'm with you though in that I hope that Jones can take Vera's position at the #6 role. Vera built up a reputation in 2019 because he was one of the only players who looked competent on a field of awful. I have become tired of watch balls sail over his head though and his lack of speed is problematic, especially in Ramos ball where you're asking your #6 to cover acres of space because you've pushed seven of your outfield players up the field in attack.