Post-match: Sunday Bloody Sunday - Crew @ NYRB - 2024 MLS Playoffs: Round 1, Game 2 - 11/3/24 4:30 PM

That was a really tough loss.

 

The tactics from the first game still irk me. Felt more defensive in some ways. Think that's insight to how Nancy felt about the team's health, drive, and confidence.

 

The one issue I saw was that we had a lot of bad passes. Though NYRB was worse. Fouls were also 18-8. I think the one way to get the Crew out of their game is by playing Hack-a-Shaq. This was done.

 

Our defense was bad since early Sept. It showed itself yesterday. Also, we failed to convert offensively which has not been our problem.

Man, I felt like we missed Morris last night.

 

All this and we still could have won with a fifth made pk.

 

Losing to Miami twice, Cinci at home, and a listless scoreless draw at FCC, and with the team banged up a bit, do you think overall the team just didn't feel they had it in them for an MLS Cup run?

 

Or at least "bad" for what's expected of championship contenders.

We went nearly the entire season with the best goals per game average in MLS (below 1). We finished in 4th place, giving up 40 goals in 34 games. Going back to that ORL game in mid-Sept, we gave up:

- 3 goals to ORL
- 2 goals to DC
- 3 goals to Miami
- 2 goals to PHL
- we shut out the hapless Revs
- 2 goals to NYRB

That's shitty form to be entering the playoffs.

 

It's frustrating not to make a run in the playoffs and watch the Nancy/Cucho championship window get smaller.

A lot of great moments this year, but also a lot of moments where you could tell the team was susceptible to losing its way, not playing for the kill, and being a bit stubborn. We all have our hobbyhorse arguments about this player and that, and probably our own view on how the series was lost. I'll save mine for a different day.

In the macro view I think it's clear that they need to bring in a few more difference makers, and they need a Nagbe-vs.Father-Time contingency plan now.

 

Well we have 3 DPs under contract so i think it’s pretty easy to guess we will do 3/3 and we suck so far in picking the right u22 players to invest in.

 

Which has a lot to do with injures which last year we didn’t have so many. The injuries to CM and back line when we lack depth were brutal and we couldn’t get into good form on defense. A lot of that has to be contributed to heavy minutes to guys in defense because we simply had to many empty roster spots and not able to rotate enough. The Depth that I and others harped upon was accurate and a legitimate concern which bit us in the @$$. Talk about ambition all you want , we knew we had to play a lot of Games and we didn’t get enough help and losing Morris is a crushing blow. We will still be a top team and be very good but if we want to win more trophies going forward we will have to get better and more players at CB & CM ( No excuses )

 

The ref called fouls but didn’t give yellow soon enough and allowed the game to favor NYRB by doing so , we need to be tougher

 

With Nagbe, the team will have to manage his time going forward. He should sit out some games due to schedule congestion to stay fresh. He'll be 35 in mid summer. Maybe two more years at the level he's been playing. Maybe. Sometimes the sell by date comes fast. Think of Gino Padula. His play really dropped in his last season as his speed was gone and he had to foul where he did not need to in the past.

 

I don't have any real data on this, but while Nancy certainly gave certain players games off at times, he also seemed to try and give guys partial games off. Not start a handful of guys, and then maybe bring them in as subs n the 2nd half. It just didn't seem to work well, in the long run. The players needing rest didn't really get it, if they ended up playing 20-30 minutes anyway. And it seemed (to me, anyway) that we struggled to develop younger players as alternative starters under that approach,. That is, we had our preferred starters, and then guys whose job it was to keep us in the match until the 60th or so minute, at which time the "real" starters were supposed to take over.

Others may see it differently. And, I suppose, part of this just MLS and the budget/roster limitations. What you really need when looking at the games we played in 2024 is a bigger, deeper, richer roster, so that you can bring in a bubble starter, or maybe up-and-coming talent to spell... well, Camacho, Nagbe, Cucho or whomever for an entire match, so that those guys don't have to travel or dress. We just can't do that, not with this roster,

Last point: That CCC final remains a very, very difficult thing for me to get past. We were on such good form. We were underdogs, and maybe would have lost anyway, has we been fit. But the way we lost that game was and remains just miserably disappointing. Had we won that game, and then gotten bumped in round one of the MLS playoffs, I'd be in a better frame of mind than I am right now. We got so damned close...

 

I assume they will either restructure Nagbe's deal to make him a non-DP or do what they failed to do this year and just buy down his salary below DP level.

 

I’ve been assuming that and it hasn’t happened yet, i hope we are both right and it happens

 

I loathe refs swallowing their whistles in playoffs. It doesn't "allow the players to decide the game", it does the opposite.

 

This was something I went back to repeatedly as thing were discussed here. There would be complaints about our goalie/defense and I could go and point to the stats. But, by the end of the season the wheels really did come off.

I think part of that is Camacho got exposed (he has always been handsy but mostly gotten away with it) and, probably, fatigued . Part of that is the loss of Morris. Part is probably Nagbe likey getting fatigued. Lack of depth. Playing through injuries.
Lots of little things.

I'm not going off the deep end here saying we need an overhaul. The team needs either a top end CB and/or CM and to keep Cucho to remain competitive for 'ships. Everything else will be tinkering about the margins, which is also important.

 

I don't think you need to push Matan and Cheba out the door. They're perfectly capable MLS players.

DeJuan did fine. I think you had really high expectations, which is probably why he was such a dissapointment to you. His problem is that I don't know that he's really an upgrade over Arfsten (with the exception of a 3-4 game really bad spell mid-late season for Arfsten).

All three of those guys are good depth pieces. Now, none of those players may want to stay for what their role and value to the Crew will be, but we don't need cut them and don't need to open the roster spots.

Agree with you on Camacho/Zawadski/Der Jones

 

Matan is out of contract and based on his previous salary there is no way you can bring him back based on the production he provided.

Camacho has 1 more year left so he’s not going anywhere.

 

Maybe this is an old school way of thinking, but while we may not need many players to re-tool for 2025, those we do need are part of the core or spine of the team. Center back, center midfield; sub-par talent in those areas is glaring and exploitable.

I'll tack on Ramirez, while I'm at it. Not a "core" position, and I love him as a player, but he turns 34 in April, and our productivity really drops with anyone else in there. That is, unless Nancy thinks he can get more out of JRR, but I remain unconvinced about that.

This all assumes Cucho stays put, of course. If we sell him, well, that's a whole different kettle of fish.

 

He either goes to another country or he plays for the Crew because he is not a free agent in MLS, he could be taken in expansion draft. He has no contract leverage because the Crew can offer him around his current 400k or less and if he can do better than that outside of MLS i don’t think the Crew will be sad to see him leave. But I do think they will offer him a contract but I have no idea what kinda numbers they value him at.

Camacho is on his last year at 400k but if we don’t want him we can send him packing. We could give him a new contract , leave him available in the expansion draft , trade him, etc … we have options but yes most likely he will be back for 2025.

 

DeJuan went from being arguably the best left back in the league, behind Jordi Alba, to a guy that couldn’t beat out an average winger playing wingback for a starting spot. Yeah, I think to say it anyone’s book that is a disappointing ROI. It’s basically Gressel 2.0

Cheberko or Amundsen can be a backup LCB, when don’t need both, replace one with an upgrade.

Camacho can be a bench vet, we have to get someone better there.

Matan is so frustrating, get him outta here. He scores one hat trick and everyone forgets he was bad this season. He’s had one good season in four. Enough is enough. Chambost can take his spot as an underwhelming attacking bench option.

 

We gave Amundsen a contract extension. Max too.

The 12 to protect are:

• Cucho
• Rossi
• Nagbe
• Farsi
• Arfsten
• Amundsen
• Schulte (If GA not exempted)
• Moreira
• AZ*
• Jones*
• Zawadzki (not a homegrown due to contract extension)
• One of Chambost/Cheberko/Camacho/Matan/Hinestroza

*you can try to flip Jones or AZ before the draft.

JRR, Taha, Cole, Hughes are all protected

Here's the roster page.

Here's the salary search.