Originally Posted by
jloome
The post-mortem on this season is too many injuries, not enough defensive depth, not enough young talent, particularly on the offensive end, to play the second role.
I mean, all the injuries kind of fucked us, but you have to question whether Vasquez was bad business for a new contract if he can't ever play. Obviously, given that it cost him his slot at Barcelona, he has some injury history.
Same with Mavinga, who I really like, but who isn't young. Great player, when he plays. GVDW looks talented but interested and sort of a bust. Auro was great going forward but terrible defensively. Delgado couldn't step up and regressed after his U.S. cap.
The only players who visibly improved this season were Osorio, Nick Hagglund (but still too boneheaded to start) and Liam Fraser. Chapman looked like he regressed. Hamilton's game is nowhere near round enough and for every piece he adds, like holding up the ball, his general lack of intensity and fight seems visible every time he plays. He just doens't have much engine.
Janson, I suspect, has foot skills but is wasted as a striker because he's not a great finisher. He is not the answer to anything, particularly filling Vasquez's shoes.
If we had any failing in terms of players this year it's that being the first club to sign top talent, we overpaid, and didn't have neough cap/DP/TAM space to sign a more talented second unit, ala Atlanta, NYFC and LAFC.
So that would be on Bez, but tempered by the fact that we won the treble last year to set the stage for that.
If we had a failing on the pitch -- other than the injuries -- it was that we were too predictable. We only have two tactical sets and both run off short positioning and triangles, for maximum ball control. But in this league, you have to be able to adapt and give different looks. We were too busy, I think, just finding players to fill out the team to wide our tactical approach and make us less predictable.
Also, I have to question why Zavaleta is starting here, ever. He's just not good enough, and it looks kind of terrible, it's been so obvious, given his relationship to Vanney. He certainly has his blind spots.