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This same group absolutely crushed last year


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#1
arisrules

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excited again by Doyle's post

 

New York reportedly have upwards of $700,000 in allocation money on hand, which means they have more than enough to pay down either Gonzalo Veron or Sacha Kljestan's DP hit (or maybe both?) and add a big name. I 1,000 percent expect that to happen fairly early in the window.

But the question is...

 

Where, exactly, do they make that big add? They're clearly missing Dax McCarty, but both Tyler Adams and Sean Davis have improved over the course of the season, and I just don't see RBNY walking away from the wager they placed on those guys after just six months.

 

Here's a tidbit: When Aurelien Collin goes 90 this season, RBNY are 3-2-0 with 6 goals scored and 3 conceded, and have posted three of their five shutouts. In the other 13 games this year they've gone 5-6-2 with 14 goals scored and 22 conceded. Their with/without Collin splits from last year were similarly horrible. Guess who they need to stay healthy?

 

So New York are clearly in the market for Collin insurance in central defense, and my guess is they'll go for a splashy attacking signing as well. Too much of the goalscoring burden has fallen onto Bradley Wright-Phillips's shoulders this year.

 

LIKELIHOOD OF MAKING A SPLASH THIS WINDOW: High. Thierry Henry's not walking through that door, and Youri Djorkaeff's not walking through that door, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a Juan Pablo Angel-esque signing walking through that door.

I think that CB spot next to Long is where the team really needs to upgrade. Gambling in the off-season on the trio of Baah, Colin, and Perinelle was the biggest mistake by Marsch. Everyone likes to talk about Dax's loss, but as Doyle himself notes there, even last year when Colin wasn't healthy, we struggled. I really hope we get a decent player who fits right away. This same group of forwards, wingers, and midfielders absolutely crushed last year. No reason why they shouldn't rediscover that form. 



#2
iced1776

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This same group of forwards, wingers, and midfielders absolutely crushed last year. No reason why they shouldn't rediscover that form. 

 

Grella had a good start to the 2016 season before his form dropped off as injuries set in, but other than the only two guys on the roster who were doing anything were Kljestan and BWP. Those two carried our entire attack from the summer on. Nobody knew this winter that Kljestan's legs would deteriorate before our eyes, or that Grella's knee injuries would pile up, but at this point I don't have a ton of confidence that the current crop can get it done.



#3
arisrules

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Grella had a good start to the 2016 season before his form dropped off as injuries set in, but other than the only two guys on the roster who were doing anything were Kljestan and BWP. Those two carried our entire attack from the summer on. Nobody knew this winter that Kljestan's legs would deteriorate before our eyes, or that Grella's knee injuries would pile up, but at this point I don't have a ton of confidence that the current crop can get it done.

I would argue that Royer's run when he first arrived was very strong, and one of the reasons we struggled in the post-season was his injury. Grella even at the start of the year had random injuries and wasn't in top form at all. But by the end of the year, the offense was really rolling after struggling at the start of the year. 

 

They struggled last year and bounced back what makes you think they will bounce back now. They do need an upgradr in CB but they also need some offensive help. They can't generate any offense. No shots on goals or goals and thats not on our CB problem.

Obviously this is the big gamble. I think we expected a bit more improvement from Muyl in the final third, Royer to have the same form as he had last year, Veron to be providing more, Sacha to be playing well instead of yelling at everyone, etc. This is the big question, and I don't know how to answer it. I don't think there is anything wrong in bringing someone in, but it's going to be hard to upgrade on the talent of Sacha for example. I do think right now Felipe should be playing behind BWP, with the two d-mids rotating between Adams, Kleijstan, and Davis. For me right now Sacha has no right to be in the starting lineup. 



#4
Captain Koolaid

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I would argue that Royer's run when he first arrived was very strong, and one of the reasons we struggled in the post-season was his injury. Grella even at the start of the year had random injuries and wasn't in top form at all. But by the end of the year, the offense was really rolling after struggling at the start of the year. 
 
Obviously this is the big gamble. I think we expected a bit more improvement from Muyl in the final third, Royer to have the same form as he had last year, Veron to be providing more, Sacha to be playing well instead of yelling at everyone, etc. This is the big question, and I don't know how to answer it. I don't think there is anything wrong in bringing someone in, but it's going to be hard to upgrade on the talent of Sacha for example. I do think right now Felipe should be playing behind BWP, with the two d-mids rotating between Adams, Kleijstan, and Davis. For me right now Sacha has no right to be in the starting lineup. 


I 100% agree with you on Felipe moving up move. However I feel that it will only be a short term fix or ban aid repair. It will definitely not be effective If and when we make playoffs. My arguement with people who say that we are fine at offense just tweek some things is that we havent gottwn better in that category. Yes we were amazing last year and it ended up making us ranked first in offense but that was last year. In a season where everybody got better and we didnt, I dont see these guys making it far in playoffs with the current squad sorry. We been lucky in Open Cup so far with our opponents (NYCFC didnt have some starters and injury to Morales set them back in second half, Philly is trash and we still amhad to go to penalties and NE isnt having a good season either. If we are able to win at Harvard we will play a second division team and in theory we should win [say that to CBus, Chicago , OC and ATL] and go straight to finals) So I cant really look at that competition and be exited about that. I feel that a couple new guys will help out this offense. Im tired of Muyl. As for Royer last season maybe we could have gone far in playoffs if he was there but Sacha didnt show for playoffs so whatever you are seeing from this team now or in playoffs last year is what you would have seen if Royer was not hurt.


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#5
arisrules

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I 100% agree with you on Felipe moving up move. However I feel that it will only be a short term fix or ban aid repair. It will definitely not be effective If and when we make playoffs. My arguement with people who say that we are fine at offense just tweek some things is that we havent gottwn better in that category. Yes we were amazing last year and it ended up making us ranked first in offense but that was last year. In a season where everybody got better and we didnt, I dont see these guys making it far in playoffs with the current squad sorry. We been lucky in Open Cup so far with our opponents (NYCFC didnt have some starters and injury to Morales set them back in second half, Philly is trash and we still amhad to go to penalties and NE isnt having a good season either. If we are able to win at Harvard we will play a second division team and in theory we should win [say that to CBus, Chicago , OC and ATL] and go straight to finals) So I cant really look at that competition and be exited about that. I feel that a couple new guys will help out this offense. Im tired of Muyl. As for Royer last season maybe we could have gone far in playoffs if he was there but Sacha didnt show for playoffs so whatever you are seeing from this team now or in playoffs last year is what you would have seen if Royer was not hurt.

I don't think this is the wrong way to look at it, but the immediate concern for this team is the defense. I think it has been ever since Baah went down and we saw Perinelle is a shell. Our xGA and actual GA are bottom quarter of the league. Our GF is poor, but at least our xGF is top half to top quarter of the league, which means we've been a bit unlucky (not to mention producing nothing on set pieces). It's still not elite like last year, but it isn't horrific like the defense. A good CB to improve the backline and help on set piece offense and defense would do this team wonders. We are a team that relies on a strong backline to compensate for our aggressive pressing style. Colin when healthy provides that as Doyle noted. But right now he doesn't.

 

As for replacing Sacha in the hole with Felipe, yes it is a bandaid. But Felipe did play in a CAM for Montreal when he first came to the league. He has shown the ability to make the killer pass. He's been playing with a lot more fight and mixing it up than Sacha has this season. For me, I would bench Sacha to send a message. 

 

And for the playoffs, until we evolve our playing style to include a second striker, we will continue to crash out. The 4-2-3-1 is too easy to shut down when teams sit back, and get us on the counter (and this year unlike the past on set pieces). It's easy to isolate BWP and Sacha. The d-mids then play higher up to try to press the issue, and there are huge gaps in the lines. It happens all the time (also that NYCFC game recently where Viera wrecked us; Marsch can say it's lack of execution, but to me that was just a team that knew our game plan and adjusted to stifle our plan). 






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