It's also not a coincidence that our defense takes a step back as our offense takes a step forward. We took more risks offensively this year in getting numbers into attack and playing guys in attacking positions who aren't getting back as much.
And let's be serious for a minute here about our "bad" defense. Even with our "bad" defense, we allowed the 3rd fewest goals in the league this year.
Here is another opinion that I very much agree with : https://mlsmultiplex.com/2018/12/02/sporting-kc-diego-rubio-khiry-shelton-not-solution/
And even when our defense "failed" us in this last series, we gave up a third goal that didn't matter when we were entirely pushed forward and desparate, and on that first goal, goals that beautiful get scored sometimes, regardless of the defense against it. That said, we were very reliant on Zusi playing 90 minutes at a breakneck pace. He may well have another year like that in him. but he is reaching the age when nous has to start replacing legs, and sadly as he's still a newb at RB, that's not his strong suit. I'm not saying we shouldn't count on him for 2019, but what about 2020? He remains, IMO, the best RB in MLS. Can that last? The upside for us is that Lindsay looks ready to take more of a role and maybe keep his legs fresher. The downside is that i really liked him on the right, lindsay on the left We also tend to go the way of Roger in matches. I'd stack him up against any MLS box to box (not saying he's the best but he should be in that conversation, even if only as a "well of course there's Espinoza"). I got the sense this year that he had at least a couple games where his all action hero game was teetering on the edge of exhaustion. I can't see him making it through 34 games in 2019, and maybe we'd get more of him if that was held to something closer to 20 league games (with CONCACAF). Right now, that would mean Croizet takes an AM role pushing Felipe into his preferred box to box role, or Wan is a like for like (but lesser) replacement. Besler, IMO, as a CB might have four years at this level left. Opara still scares me, but Fontas looks very solid. A thought, an longish term injury to Ilie would be terminal for us. If we are going to splash out on someone this off season, I'd like it to be a 25ish year old stud who plays box to box or dmid. Maybe we take a flyer on someone like Suazo and count on Roger having two years left as a starter. Maybe we go back to our wells and see if we can land George Evans from Derby for a reasonable fee (a young man who was a starter and is now finding game time a bit hard to find (sound familiar) orFerran Sarsanedas from Barca B. But just for 2019, we could do worse than to pull a first 11 from the current players on our roster. this is a very nice off season position, upgrade when possible, but if not we can work it out.
Haha, "goals were a problem." We just saw really the most effective, impressive offense in kc history and people are still bitching we didn't score enough? We got slightly outplayed or unlucky against Portland. Different day, we win that game.
It was a different day in Portland and SKC didn’t win that game. And worse, I think they only had one shot on goal. They need to score goals when it counts and the playoffs is where it really counts. Yes, during league play they scored a lot of goals, but those numbers are misleading. SKC scored 18 goals against two bottom feeders, San Jose and Vancouver, that really made the total season goal count look impressive. SKC was a better offensive team in 2018 than they have been in the past, but they are not a championship level team with Rubio or Shelton playing striker.
Except we got beat by Portland who doesn't really have a striker either. Both teams are goals by committee, which is usually the best way to succeed in the post season. If Atlanta take the title, it will be, as far as the award has been given, the first time a player has ever won the golden boot and mls cup in the same year. A world class striker would obviously make us better. But I think it's really reductive hot takery to blame that. We had a cruel twist of events against a very comparable team that knocked us out of mls cup. Don't overreact to that. It sucks but at that point in the tournament, every team is excellent and anyone can lose. Usually the higher seed does, incidentally. The biggest damage was July, though. The goal leaking led us to take 1 point from 5 league games, effectively ending our challenge for the shield--and get knocked out of the open cup. Playoff disappointment is the biggest, yes, but I'm more concerned about making sure we don't have a terrible month like July next year. That should be priority. And during that month, we were still scoring multiple goals per game.
This is true, but we clearly set out to hold Portland goalless in Portland. We didn't look to dominate possession, against a team known for giving up possession, Instead we played to defend and counter. In that approach, it's really nice to have a top level goal scorer, but the counter can be arranged however Vermes sees fit, and it did put Russell on the ball quite often, and Russell has shown some decent quality with SKC. When it wasn't Russell, it was Sallloi, and Salloi is exactly the sort of player we would pick up, in a best case scenario. I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice if a Zlatan level finisher was doing our holdup play, but I don't think the series with Portland showed our deficiency in attack as much as it showed that we were matched against a very comparable team, and one we knew heading it played a style that could cause problems for us.
Lol, that was the game plan for both teams, though. We pressured the whole game and Portland countered. Portland scoring three goals off of three shots on goal is more luck than anything else. They had several other chances they missed.
I guess this is my main take away. That loss sucked, but everything that needed to go Portland's way did. That's why they won. It wasn't because they were objectively better or have better strikers or anything. That's just the way the cookie crumbled. I feel like we win that game more often than not, we just didn't on Thursday. That's just the nature of sports.
The people saying "we're in a good spot to have a starting XI built from this roster going into next season" are correct. People are also correct saying money can be spent at the #9 spot (already plenty deep on the wings) as well as midfield (Busio and Croizet are likely ok as options in attacking mid off the bench, and Wan has a spot on the roster, but a true Dmid is likely the spot) and a young CB (to essentially replace what we wanted Amor to be I believe). We have roster spots to do it and likely some $$ to throw around a bit too. The thing is, it's going to take a $300-450k/year player to bring in to compete for a starter spot. It will be interesting to see how they go about it. If you think Rubio starts, you "2nd XI" right now is ... Gerso - Shelton - Nemeth Croziet - Busio Kuzain Medranda-Smith-Fontas-Lindsay Dick You'd be bringing in someone for that 2nd XI (or even dropping a starter I guess if you want to dream) to replace Smith, Kuzain and Shelton (or Nemeth). If you brought in someone in the midfield, you could push Croziet to the wing instead of Nemeth and you'd have a very solid 2nd XI.
I was looking at some stuff on our defense. We had more shutouts this year than last year. But in the games we allowed a goal, we averaged 1.9 GAA.
I don't think anyone is disputing that SKC as a bunch of good/talented attacking players, just saying we still don't have that one guy we can count on to deliver. If you ask a Portland fan who they look to when they need a big moment, the answer will always be Valeri. Ask five SKC fans and you'll get 5 different answers. Valeri delivered big moments. Valeri is a former league MVP. Valeri is a former 20 plus goals scorer. "The man" doesn't have to be your striker, but it does need to be someone. Here's another opinion https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018...d-splurge-no-9-playoffs-central?autoplay=true.
To add to that last bit of rambling ... I'd LOVE to see some time with a Busio-Felipe-Illie midfield at times with Roger coming on to kill off a game.
I don't totally disagree or anything. I'm just taking exception to the idea that our arson didn't end in a title because we didn't sign a dp 9. I think that's silly and bit too reductive. I won't argue at all if they make signing a serious striker as a goal, unless they again don't sign anyone and again leave Rubio feeling like a weak second fiddle again.
That's fair, but right now I have Seth starting ... still, you likely don't need a LOT of help there IMO.
One of the things being stated is to get "younger in the back". To me, a kid like Tommy Redding who had promise when being paired with EPB during his Youth National Team Days but is now getting released by a club like RBNY ... should call Vermes up and BEG him to get signed to a league minimum salary. He would be a decent 21 y/o reclamation project that I think Vermes would do well with. He would essentially replace Didic on our roster as the 4th CB option (a development option). Get some time with SPR next to G Smith.
if medranda is back next year at full speed, then i'd like to see him on the backline in place of seth only during games when we're not expecting the other team to be pushing forward and attacking. he has some tackling ability (though i'd like it more if he'd stay on his feet and dive in less), but his positioning is absolutely dreadful. for those games where seth is in back, i'd like to see him in roger's position. i think he can provide the bite in midfield that roger doesn't quite have anymore (or at least doesn't have for every game now). maybe he and roger can split their time there 50/50. medranda's qualities and skillset fit far better in midfield than they do on the backline.
The recovery for Medranda's surgery has him returning by April at the earliest, which means at least May probably before he's back to fitness. I guess I just don't rate him like other people do. He's a fine player, I put him in the same category as Jack Jewsbury, not a bad player, someone who can play multiple positions, but not a stand out at one. But he's not the type of player who is an every game starter for a team that's competing to win the league in my opinion. He has his tackling ability because he's so bad with his positioning that he has to be better at tackling to recover for his poor positioning. And I guess I just don't see the bite in midfield.
I realize that this philosophy probably reached it's sell by date a while ago, but Robb H's theory of team building, as stated at the time of rebrand, was every year to add 2 or 3 of the top players on the roster (meaning, over time, the entire roster gets stronger and deeper, as top new players eventually lead to a first 11 all being at what at least once was considered a top level. Credit to SKC, as they really have accomplished that. This is a really strong roster. Which brings me to your point. Now, if Medranda returns and is at full strength this doesn't apply as well. It doesn't apply at all if Lindsey is seen as ready and ready to play RB. If not on those two, I would think right back might be a position the FO targets to upgrade off season. I would be comfortable with getting younger at CB through the drafts. There are still rare college CBs who can step in at the MLS level, but there are a lot of them who can be ready to be solid starters if you give them a couple years to learn how to be a professional. Also, not a popular notion on here, but I think we have an upgrade at 9 on the roster in Nemeth. I think we will see a very different version of him next season. Stepping into our setup at midseason rarely works out for incoming (even returning) players.
If they bring in 2 or 3 "top 11 players" this offseason we'll be extremely hard to beat next year which is what we all want. Like everyone has said, the 3 spots most likely to be upgraded are probably at #9, box to box mid and LB. I'd love for Lindsay to get some more playing time at RB and I'd like to see Busio get some time as well. I'd like to start pushing guys to Europe that are closer to Tyler Adams than EPB and for that to happen, they need to play at SKC and we all have to be ok with the growing pains. Lindsay will miss some time while at the U20 WC next year though, and for some reason I think that's the time when minutes will be available (probably close to early rounds of the Open Cup?).
I don't disagree, but I do think that, assuming we keep our front guys together which it looks as if we have, a lot of time and effort gets burned chasing after a 9, and I won't be disappointed to see us direct our attentions elsewhere. I know we'd like a younger version of Roger, but we do have the option of bringing in a top level 10 and letting Felipe concentrate on what he's done for his entire career, which is box to box. that said, I'd really like to see that quite a bit next year, when we give Busio games and Roger rest. Do we know how much TAM/GAM we're getting this off season? Same as last year, or is there a bit of a bump again? With what we will have available, we could get a very, very nice lb and box to box, and still have money around. A top level 9 will leave us tapped out. Also, just to note, Fontas would seem to be in the mix as a backup dmid, as he has played that role in La Liga.
Sam McDowell is reporting that Shelton will pursue an opportunity in Europe rather than coming back next year, although SKC made a bona fide offer and will thus retain his MLS rights.