Columbus is built on the platform of Nagbe's press resistance in central midfield, you just can't press him with any success. There is a reason that Caleb Porter as soon as he took the Crew job ditched Trapp and spent big Garber bucks to buy Nagbe from ATL. Nagbe is on $1.8M, just got an extension, and is the most effective midfielder in MLS. I was certainly in the camp that he should move to Europe back in 2016. He did it his way, won his trophies and showed that his path was best for him. Much Respect!
Morris have been with the USYNT/USMNT programs more if it weren't for the cancellation of his U20 cycle due to COVID, and then tearing his ACL in an early CCL game. He missed the entirety of the 2021 MLS season. Then when he finally got back to full fitness in 2022, we weren't in "casting a net" mode any longer. Even so, Berhalter invited him to the pre-WC camp for domestic players. Thereafter we've capped him 4 times in 2023. It would have been more if he hadn't left the Gold Cup early for personal reasons (which we never learned the nature of).
I've come around to this being the best set up for this LAFC team given the lack of mobility up the spine between Vela, Ilie and Chiellini. Add onto that that this midfield was not capable of setting up in the attacking third and methodically picking a team apart...compressing the field defensively and playing very direct makes sense. Kudos to Cherundolo for getting the team bought in on it, I don't think they would have gotten as far as they did in so many competitions playing expansive, open games. It remains to be seen if this was a personnel driven decision like I suspect or a reflection of Cherndolo's vision. I dont think you bring in Long last season if you plan to play sot deep defensively. They will have lots of opportunities to remake the roster this offseason, if they want more versatility in the ways they can win games against good midfields next season. Vela, Palacios, Chiellini, Ilie, Acosta, and Crepeau all on ending contracts. I think Hollingshead may be too, or he just signed an extension. I think priorities have to be Crepeau and Palacios but...we will see. Maybe Chiellini, Vela or Ilie come back in a reduced role.
I don't think the general idea is a bad fit for LAFC, but I do question how passive they were in the first half. Their best chances come off forced turnovers, and they acceded that to a Columbus team that is very talented in possession but not above an error. I also think that you could once behind that pressing helped, but there wasn't much of a further plan. It's one of the reasons why I don't love straight counter teams -- possession teams can counter, but most counter teams struggle with possession. If Cherundolo sticks around, next year will be interesting. That's a lot to replace and presumably a lot of the extra expansion allocation cash is long gone. They've had some sales for profit in there, but they and Atlanta, two of the more successful expansion franchises, are now settling into big off seasons with a lot of flexibility on star level players but perhaps not as much in the core. Personally, if I'm Cherundolo and Thorrington, I let most of those guys go. I don't think he'll have a choice on Palacios. Crepeau is someone you could resign. I'm not sure you can afford both Tillman and Acosta, who are both reasonably pricey and play the same role.
The game yesterday was frustrating for sure, if you wanted them to press higher (and risk Columbus getting behind over and over). As it was, they conceded one big chance and a penalty. If you think about how things needed to go for then to win or force extra time, it really wasn't much different than what played out. Conceding the first goal like that was unfortunate. When you play for a 1-0 you really have no margin for conceding soft goals, and they really had done a good job of that in the past 5+ games. The PK + Yaboah chance was it. There's a scenario where one of those are saved or Bouanga's cross that megs Schulte is turned in...and it's a different story. For what its worth, I don't think this team could have won in a high scoring shoot out with Columbus, and Cherundolo is very risk averse. I think they could resign any combination from a cap perspective, but I doubt we see more than one or two stay. Probably Crepeau. And I'd hope Palacios but those are the only two I think would be write in pen starters next season. Any others they re-sign are probably not starters. Maybe Acosta but he also limits the team's because he is not press resistance and not an assist or goal threat. He covers ground, but is not really a 6... so I'd let him move on too. I think Thorrington will believe he can upgrade pretty much each of those players with the possible exception of Palacios. The question, relevant to this thread, is will any of the replacements be US eligible? LAFC has been aggressive in free agency and trading for domestic players recently.
On the flip, I think thinking you are going to shut Columbus out was wishful thinking. Columbus had scored 17 goals in their last 6 matches coming in against mostly very good teams. LAFC was pretty effective when they did attack. I think an early goal was their avenue to a win. I expected Palacious to leave MLS, but maybe I'm wrong. Crepeau seems like an easy re-sign. I think Acosta is going to want to try Europe, not find a lot of takers, and then go for more money than Thorrington would commit to him. Tillman is a good proxy in a lot of ways and already on the books. Replacing Vela will be interesting. They already have Olivera so will they finally get a big time 9? I know they signed a younger guy but he clearly wasn't ready. Or perhaps a 10? I wonder if Eryk Williamson is still available with Savarese out in Portland? He's been hurt a ton, but LAFC could really use his sort of attack-minded 8 game. I could also see Dax ending up there. But most of the American CMs in MLS that are pretty good are either too young to move MLS teams or really entrenched at their clubs (Nagbe, Pomykal, etc).
Thorrington and LAFC will find midfielders. LAFC is one of the destination clubs for foreign players in the league. Guys want to play in LA; not Minnesota. Prior to this season they had turnover. 12 players out and 12 players in. They'll just it again. They nabbed Tillman, which was a good signing. They'll nab guys like that. Hell, there are Americans that want to come back. With all the players leaving, Thorrington is going to have DP spots, salary cap space, etc. to work with. Lots of fun. The year did kinda suck for LAFC. They played for 6 trophies and lost all of them. Lost MLS Cup final. Lost out on the Supporter's Shield, and in fact finished behind an expansion team in the West. Were eliminated from the USOC by friggin' LA Galaxy. Lost the CCL final to Leon. Lost in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal to Monterrey. Lost the Campeones Cup to Tigres on penalties. Kinda one of those seasons in which a club plays pretty well the whole way thru but lost out on everything.
A good group of Americans that could come back and have an impact. We know that say, Djordje Mihailovic, can have an impact in this league. We've heard rumors that he may be interested in returning, and there should be a lot of clubs contacting him. [I have no idea why it hasn't worked out for him in Holland, but it hasn't.]
AZ would be the best team in MLS. Djordje has to beat out some pretty talented players for PT. We also saw last summer that he wasn't as good as Busio.
Busio is good, so being outperformed by him in his actual position is no shame. Djordje has started a few games lately with AZ.
yeah, hes seemingly found his footing a bit, starting 3 of the last 4 if im not mistaken. not to say hes made himself indispensable but i dont think the timing really points to a return to mls right now. he was on pretty big money before he left, right? which makes sense- keeping domestic players by "overpaying"- but does that apply to buying returning players? im asking. montreal paying him (or zim in nashville, or vazquez in cincy) is one thing, but if/when they leave what is the "returning" market if theres no real change? will la (or any other team) pay a transfer fee and the same $1.3 per year (complete guess), or does it make more sense to spend that on a 22 yo argentine in serie b hoping its the next rossi?
I think the challenge with Djordje is his pricetag IN HOLLAND. According to capology, Mihailovic has the highest salary of any AZ player. Does his performance merit that? These boards continue to drastically undervalue MLS' place in the financial structure of world soccer. Look at AZ's salary structure on capology or somewhere. I'm sure its not exact, but it can give us a ballpark. Djordje Mihailovic makes about $1 million a year at AZ according to capology. He's the highest paid player on AZ. At my club, FCD............of Americans both Jesus Ferreira and Paul Arriola make more than that. Pomykal is close. People understand, right, that Taylor Booth makes 110k a year for Utrecht. Paxtom Pomykal make 900k at FCD. So yes, an MLS club can afford to not only pay Mihailovic what he's making in Holland. They can give him a pay raise to come back.
I believe you are correct on Maxine and Palacios. I also agree that they have to fix their midfield balance to better align with the way they want to play. The USMNTers, Acosta and Tillman tilted in front of an aged Ilie is not optimal for the lightning fast transition they want because they don't win and turn the ball over enough. It will be fascinating how they evolve the squad but I would not be surprised if Vela, Ilie, Chiellini, and Acosta are all gone next season.
Williamson to LAFC seems like a very natural match, and I think he’s an instant upgrade, but that injury history plus the likely salary ask would make me nervous if I were in the FO
You'd be safer to just re-sign Acosta in this case............................. ................and why would Portland part with Williamson? Its pretty difficult to acquire quality domestic talent at the moment. There are 29 clubs and they all NEED it. When I look at the list of 2024 free agents, there aren't many that look likely to stay and are good enough to impact your team. Julian Gressel is a versatile, capped USMNTer that might help a team. Who couldn't use a player like Julian Gressel within their squad? He might not be easy to sign. Vancouver was trying to sign him to an extension, the parties couldn't agree, so the Whitecaps sent him packing to Columbus. There were rumors that he wanted to be on the East Coast.
I love Williamson but who would he replace in LAFC's 23? He does not seem to provide anything that they need. What am I missing?
Williamson is a much more effective offensive player than Kellyn. LAFC might want him for that reason. He's also on $625k rather than the million plus Acosta will be asking. Between injuries and benchings, Eryk has barely played a season's worth of ball over the last three. I don't know if the issues were with Savarese or broader, but it wouldn't be strange to see him moved at all. Also, you know, in a trade you get something back.
Shrug. There's a new coaching staff with Portland. If there were problems with the previous Portland staff, they're in the past. It would be extremely difficult to acquire a domestic midfielder as good as Williamson. He doesn't cost that much in the grand scheme of things. Yes, there's the injury risk. Same as a player like Paxton Pomykal. Teams need domestic talent. You can trade for it, but you're going to pay out the nose. You can do it. Dallas paid out the nose for Paul Arriola and Sebastian Lletget. They had amassed a war chest of allocation money from all of their sales. Arriola was $1.5 million in General Allocation Money in 2022 and $500,000 in 2023. Plus another $300k when Arriola reached certain performance incentives. DCU also retained 30% of any future transfer fee. [They had their international spots full, so all they could spend their millions in allocation money on were domestic players.] I just don't know why Portland would sell one of their few good domestic players.
Silly season has officially begun for MLS players. The trading window within MLS opened today. And of course we're going to start hearing rumors about overseas interest. US striker Brandon Vazquez on Brentford new year shopping list.✍️ @mcgrathmike#TelegraphFootball— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) December 11, 2023