This thread is a catch-all for general banter not specifically related to transfer rumours.
This thread is a catch-all for general banter not specifically related to transfer rumours.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo_ggC0zpTs
Insigne interview
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Well… the cynical in me says not so much of a surprise, if this serious allegation is accurate; can you say Chelsea?
Check out this tweet at [URL]https://twitter.com/worldsoccertalk/status/1763665341366841693[/URL]
Didn’t know where to put this but Gio Reyna not even on the bench for Forest today. The supposed best player in US history.
The best part is the American indignance over it. They just can't accept he isn't good enough to unseat Morgan Gibbs-White, a much, much better footballer.
Reyna has ball skills. Like most American players, he has a million holes in his game, and that's before you get to the arrogance he's displayed since he was a kid.
15 years of a weekly tally of US players who scored a goal in Europe really has warped people's minds as to capability.
Its like you take the "oh where is the latest shiny star" mentality of the english press & add a dash of short term memory loss
Guy scored goals for Dortmund a few years ago and people think he's great based on those.
So when TFC is terrible like last year, I find it hard to get motivated to pay attention to the rest of the league, but I've just been going through some of the weekend's highlights from the other games and I gotta say I'm starting to feel that energetic vibe again!
Great crowds even in places that don't normally draw well, like Chicago and NE, packed stadiums in the ones you'd expect. Some craziness (RSL v. LAFC). I really hope BMO is packed next week for the home opener and everyone can start having some fun again.
Last edited by ag futbol; 03-03-2024 at 07:25 PM.
Jacob Shaffelburg scored a brace against Miami tonight. Guess that was a mistake trading him.
You know, we did totally blow it with Shaffelburg but I feel Ike he’s in the right place. That flowing mullet and Nashville just go together so well.
He’s very much cementing his cult hero status over there. All around great story.
Bob wasn't a great coach, but as GM I stand by the fact that he might be the worst one in league history. Never has somebody gotten so little with so much, and almost every big roster decision made was objectively absolutely catastrophic. A random number generator would have at least gotten some decisions correct, the damage his roster construction did was incredible.
Delighted for shaff, though. He clearly didn't let it get to him and likely used it as a motivator, that's a great mentality to have
Shaf had to be let go because BB the GM had to fit his roster into what BB the coach wanted to play - a 4-3-3
Shaff was under BB never going to be a LB or a mid in a 4-3-3 or the sub for Insigne.
The move made sense at the time but the decisions why it made sense were wrong.
None of this “made sense at the time”. This isn’t Liverpool. Bob was delusional. Nobody in this league should ever let young talent go for free, for roster construction reasons. Every good MLS team has excellent, cheaper components, in fact that's usually at least 3-4 of the starters. When you have one of those pieces, you figure it out.
Same for JRR btw. Bob just blew it on talent evaluation. Period.
Last edited by ensco; 03-08-2024 at 08:34 AM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Yeah I can't agree that that move in any way shape or form made any sense at the time, and most of us said so at the time. You don't give away young talent who are insignificant hits to your cap in this league, the way the league is structured players like that are golden and to just give one away made absolutely no sense then or now and thinking like that is why Herdman inherited a bloated cap with no room to maneuver while having a bottom feeding squad.
The Shaff trade would have been bad in a 'normal' league, in MLS it was absolutely unforgivable. You cannot build a squad in this league without some low cap hit, solid options. That's the foundation you build on in MLS
I've said it so many times people are sick of hearing it but it was one of the worst personnel decisions this or any club in this league has ever made, for what we got.
I'll also say there are a few people at the club who regard giving him full control over personnel the single dumbest decision the club has ever made.
His judgement was just awful, in handling people, in handling personnel. "He would not listen to a single word anyone said to him, neither of them would" was basically way one of my contacts there put it.
They'd expected him to be collegial, for it to be a mentoring atmosphere, but from day one it was "show the hand", not just to the players but to other people at the club.
He was old school coach I think. Coaching has moved beyond being a drill sergeant and he hasn't/can't move with the times. The best coaches now reach their players emotionally too. Klopp being the prime example. Herdman I think probably falls in that category too. His talent evaluation was clearly terrible too though, as you said.
Last edited by Canary10; 03-08-2024 at 09:44 AM.
It's not exactly inaccurate, but this headline in the Guardian today was uncomfortable.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...-miami-insigne
Oh, definitely Michael. The way it was put to me was basically once they were both in place, it was "do as we say if you want to win." That extended to players they were looking at and Jack Dodd bailing out, several other lesser front office people leaving.
Problematically, the front office gets massive pressure on how to operate from MLS. The single-entity interference is constant, in everything from personnel decisions to how they handle corporate communications. The politics are continual, and he is perceived as a great coach by many of the league's brass.
I would bet at least 75% of the "they want to go immediately" shit during the offseason was just MLS people priming the pump, and 90% of that Athletic article was Michael and MAK.
Last edited by jloome; 03-08-2024 at 10:32 AM.
Obvious article but MLS/Apple have to be careful here people are not dumb - https://www.theguardian.com/football...es-us-open-cup