I'm optimistic. I kind of look at it from back to front. I think Francis showed to be the best wingback in the league last year and he's showing he's not slowing down in preseason. Grana has shown well and could be a really good answer on the right to Francis. The Crew did a good job of spreading teams out and pinning them back last year and if both wingbacks are effective I could see that continuing. I think Parkhurst and Pogetez can be a solid pairing. The way we play is always going to open us up to the counter. It's just the trade off we have to accept to play the wingbacks the way we do. Clark showed last year he's capable of the spectacular save and is one of the better GKs in the league. The backups are solid contributors who can step in and perform. I think we have a very talented midfield with a great spine in Pipa, Tchani, and Trapp. Pipa is a 10g 10a type player. Tchani and Trapp just got better and better the more acclimated they got to the system. Their roles are by far the hardest to learn and adapt to. During the start of last year they were reluctant to move forward and get into the attack, but were much better in the 2nd half. Trapp to me is a Mais like a player. He's going to push himself to get better and better every year no matter what. I like where Tchani ended the year getting more involved in the final 3rd, but I'm looking for him to finish some of those chances. The backups I'm not sure of here. Saied looks like a solid player. The wingers last year combined for 26 goals and 20 assists. Was there a better group then that in the league? If you ask where are the goals are coming from, it's from here. The way this group plays is critical to how we do. I think 3G did a good job last year making an adjustment from possession minded wingers in Anor/Jimenez to more of a forward mentality type in Finlay/Merem. I think this group by far is the most talented and deep on the team. If Finlay/Merem can't have the year they had last year, Steindorson/Gall/Cedrick/Speas seem capable of stepping up. Which brings us to the forwards which again unfortunately is the weakest. Would I like Kamara, plus another experienced hitter here? Sure. However, what do we really need here in order to be really successful? If Pipa's getting 10+, the wingers are getting 25+, Tchani/Trapp chips in 5+, the back chips in 2-3, a player like Kamara who's capable of 10+ can help out tremendously from last year. We scored 51 goals last year only 10 came from forwards. If we have 1 getting us 10+ and the trees 5 per in spot duty. Lets say Cedrick comes in mid-season and plays super sup at forward, could we get 5-7 goals from him off the bench? And I really couldn't care less what other teams brought in. There's a reason coaches talk about focusing on his player's play and the opponent directly in front of them. It only matters how this team plays against those teams/players when they play them. There's some great individual talent this team has to play this year, but how are they going to be integrated in their overall team's play? I know no matter what this team is going to play them tough.
In 1,380 combined minutes last year, they combined for 5 goals, or basically a goal every 3 full games. Arrieta scored 5 goals in 1,236 minutes. Kamara scored 7 goals in 1,022 minutes in 2013 with SKC. While a goal every 146 minutes isn't lighting the world on fire, it's drastically better than anything we got last year. If Kei can post 15-17 goals this season and our backup strikers chip in with just another 3-5 goals, we're going to get double the production out of our forwards. And 62 goals (as opposed to the 52 we scored last season) would have put us 3rd in the league in goals scored.
If that means TFC, NYCFC and LA could claim "undefeated in 2015" then Garber would be all for a stoppage. But I'm sure Seattle already invented such a thing.
My projection: 4th in the East, 11th Overall, assuming the Most Recent Home/Road Results against every other teams in 2014 (vs East) or 2013 (vs West) are going to repeat themselves:
This kinda illustrates why I don't think you should label yourself 'optimistic' if you think we are maybe good enough for 3rd or 4th in the east. In henryo's table we amount to 10th or 11th in the league, which makes us bottom-half / mid table bores. I think the West will be a bit more stacked this year, although Orlando and NYC could come out of the gates and surprise me.
Bump! I think tomorrow is the last day of voting. Get it on record that you are a genius or a complete idiot.
Base on the same projection model: The Crew will make the Eastern Conference Final as the 4th Seed though.
Trillium Cup - Projected Scores: Date Home Team Road Team Home Score Road Score 2015-03-14 Columbus Crew Toronto FC 2 3 2015-07-25 Columbus Crew Toronto FC 2 3 2015-10-17 Toronto FC Columbus Crew 3 2 Standings: Rank Team P W L T GS GA Pts GD 1 Toronto FC 3 3 0 0 9 6 9 +3 2 Columbus Crew 3 0 3 0 6 9 0 -3 Results: Toronto to retain the trophy and move closer to the Crew on all-time title count (3 to 5): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillium_Cup#Winners_by_year
There's some good stuff in the preceding pages. I voted 3rd. I may be right, but the season certainly hasn't been like I imagined it to be.