This will hurt.
But perhaps a profound change in our attack will be a good thing in the end. I think Anderson could be great if he could just stop taking knocks. And Baribo starting to get minutes is a good sign. I'd even like to see more Rafanello, that Portland game was one of our most entertaining all season.
But perhaps that's just my foolish optimism showing.
Well, being good was fun while it lasted. A solid 5 year run of incredible results. I'll cherish actually watching this club be good forever. And actually win a significant trophy.
What are the odds Ernst can find another top tier roster out of the soccer equivalent of the bargain bin again? He's very good at what he does. Building that team we had was a masterclass of club management.
But poor man Sugarman is making his job impossible. MLS gets better every year. And the moneyball thing only gets you far. And only in clubs outside the top 12 or so in the world. MLS will be top 10 soon. And relying on the academy and value shopping ain't going to do it.
Union have made about $14 million from the sale of Aaronson so far. I understand the need to put some of that back into the academy, but it doesn't feel like we've haven't seen the necessary level of investment in the first team for a few years. Sucks, but I don't expect that to change.
If you expect Sugarman to spend money, you will be disappointed.
He got very lucky in hiring Earnie and the Ernst and getting a lot of right guy at the right moment signings.
Inter Miami is trying to dump Campana at the moment for Di Maria, I’d be happy to take him off their hands since he’s much more proven as a goal scorer in this league than Carranza was when we acquired him.
Agreed. I would take him in a second.
He actually might be a good fit next to Uhre as well, considering he plays as more of a target forward similar to carranza. He’s really crafty in and around the box as well.
My only concern would be his work rate out of possession, but I do concede I haven’t watched a ton of him.
Sugarman made it seem that Ernst & Jim could walk into his office, his home or call him on the phone and request certain players.
We knew Carranza was on his way out, but it's beyond clear now that upper management is totally fine with the Academy being the pipeline and not anything notable externally.
In retrospect, I'm really annoyed the way they presented Cavan Sullivan's signing. They went the whole 9 yards with the press conference and presented him like a world class signing at only 14, when in reality hes pretty much already been sold and when he won't play consistent minutes for the Union for another 12-18 months and he's gone probably 18 months after that.
The season ticket opt-out e-mail is going to hit my inbox like a drug later this summer, these guys are in for a rude awakening when the attendance will plummet.
We're gonna miss the heck out of Carranza.
But the offense looked pretty good last week. The team completely controlled the pace of the game, created several good chances, and scored twice. It's also the only game I remember walking away from thinking "wow uhre had a really good game, all around".
Sure, Montreal had the red card, but we were dominating the game [almost] the whole first half before that happened.
Aside from the early goal and the shock after Elliot was sent off (not just at the send off but the injury itself looked really bad, I'm sure it was messing with their heads), the team played really well and could have come away with a 2-0 result. And anyway, those mistakes aren't the offense's fault.
Like I said, we're gonna miss Julian for a while. But, especially after what I saw Saturday, knowing how hard these guys fight for all 100 minutes, I'm still feeling good about the season.
> Sure, Montreal had the red card, but we were dominating the game [almost] the whole first half before that happened
I don't think we were watching the same game. They were down 1-0 after like 50 seconds.
Hence the [almost]. It was a counter attack, I believe, out of nowhere. From then on, it was Union's game.
Defence getting caught looking a couple times a game (which is not good, don't get me wrong) is the only thing holding us back from a lot more wins.
I disagree. Foot Club just bunkered and let the Union have possession, knowing that frenetic counters and set pieces are how the Union score. The red card led to 2 goals. Then the moment it was 10v10, they scored. Even play, they won 2-0.
I have been posting something similar to this every time anyone mentions how good our attack looked last game. Glad to see someone else viewed it as a Montreal defensive decision and not us dominating as well.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here.
I do think this team firing on all cylinders can still beat any team in this league. Heck, even Atlanta who have been a mess this year just beat Miami.
But I think there's two very fair conversations to be had. Can this team win a championship and can this team compete in general this year.
For the championship conversation, I think that's unlikely with the pieces we have and probably minimal pieces we bring in over the summer. Not saying it couldn't happen though, but we've dug ourselves in the ground pretty far already. Only 1 team wins MLS Cup, and honestly that even needs a bit of luck to do.
But I do think this team getting confidence back and a fairly equal Carranza replacement could still make a deep playoff run. Yeah, we had that losing streak, but you know what, we started the season as the longest unbeaten team and we technically are on a 4 game unbeaten streak right now.
We've really only had one blowout losing game. And that was against Pachuca who looked great against all competition this year. Most of our problems this year have been self inflicted wounds, not teams being drastically above us. Self inflicted wounds can be fixed a lot quicker than new talent acquisitions.
>What are the odds Ernst can find another top tier roster out of the soccer equivalent of the bargain bin again? He's very good at what he does.
The last two years would argue against this. You could argue it's Ernst and Jim not being on the same page, but Carranza was the last good player we signed. Uhre's a dud of DP spot, and he's making more than the average DP in MLS. Perea and Torres were both considered depth pieces by Curtin and rarely saw the pitch, and Baribo currently makes about 7 times what Donovan despite getting even fewer minutes—an absolute waste of budget space.
I'd grant a case for Lowe and Semmle as necessary replacements but obviously neither were upgrades to the roster.
Tbh I can see us being fine with Uhre and Gazdag being a striking partnership. Obviously we look better with Carranza but our offense is not what worries me at the moment
Every time we’ve tried Gazdag as the second striker we’ve looked terrible. We’ve tried it more than a few times over the last several years and it just doesn’t work, even though in theory it sounds like it should.
But then again, we’ve also had to do that a few times just based on availability and try to make it through a half with that. Maybe if we just fully commit to it it’ll get better? Opens up the 10 spot for Quinn, Cavan, and Vazquez (or a new signing!) to rotate at…
Maybe a hot take but I think both he and Uhre look better as a strike partnership then how we’ve set up before. Neither has what it takes to be the sole guy at the top. And Gazdag is always so hot and cold at the 10 spot with his passing.
I’d much rather put McGlynn in at 10 where he can actually pick out some dangerous passes and not have to worry so much about his weaker defensive game.
Some context:
- The source in this case is rather reliable, Feyenoord fans just consider him a massive dickhead so I'd rather not push traffic to his platform (1908), current link is the editorialized link from the biggest Feyenoord fan-forum.
- Player and Feyenoord already have an agreement.
- Feyenoord hopes to seal the deal soon and add him to the squad ASAP.
- They aim for a modest transfer free now with the threat of him walking for free, or they are offering Philadelphia a sizeable sell-on % if they let him come for essentially free now already.
Tbh a good sell on is probably better than a one time modest fee. If he takes off at Feyenoord they could offload him for a lot with how ridiculous the forward market is. Which means we could get a good chunk of change
I also read somewhere that Banfield may be owed a sell on fee from his initial transfer to MLS, I wonder if letting him go for nothing up-front avoids that.
So Feyenoord start playing in early July. Probably friendlies before league starts. League begins play mid August. They have also qualified for group play in the champions league.
Not sure he will start for them but they will want bodies early during the league matches when group play starts.
He'll start off as second striker behind Ueda, the striker of Japan's NT, who is still technically Feyenoord's record signing of all time but he himself was behind Giménez this year, who is all but guaranteed to make a big transfer.
If it's for a fee now? July/August. They'd want him through the door in early July to give him some kind of time to adjust to Europe etc, then start pre-season with them.
If Feyenoord want to wait until his contract runs down, he leaves after the MLS season ends, which would be mid season in The Netherlands, and they register him in January.
Gonna miss him a ton, he was a steal and performed so well for us but unless he’d be willing to stay as a talisman and a huge payday then you have to sell him before he walks on a free. In our position it allows us to at least get something back and if he replaces Giminez there and balls out, we could be looking at a nice add on in a yr or two when he’s sold to a top 5 league for 20+ mil. This season has been tough and we’re not looking like we’ll compete for a top spot currently anyway so no point holding out. Make some cash and plan ahead for the future. We should still be able to get in the playoffs with some tweaks and the defense getting it together more so who knows what can happen there. But feel like building for next yr is where the focus for the FO will be.
This is an enormous bummer. We're losing him for a fraction of his value, and will get a 20% sell on clause or something, with a few million up front now at most.
Someone said it on this thread earlier, if Miami are trying to free up a spot by offloading Campana, we should be all over that immediately. Because we'll need a physical striker.
This frees up a DP slot, albeit our lowest-paid DP. If Sugarman were ever to open up the coffers and make use of the Aaronson transfer money, now's the time.
This will hurt. But perhaps a profound change in our attack will be a good thing in the end. I think Anderson could be great if he could just stop taking knocks. And Baribo starting to get minutes is a good sign. I'd even like to see more Rafanello, that Portland game was one of our most entertaining all season. But perhaps that's just my foolish optimism showing.
Seconding that the Portland game was the best game of the year. I really want the team to get back to that energy level.
Well, being good was fun while it lasted. A solid 5 year run of incredible results. I'll cherish actually watching this club be good forever. And actually win a significant trophy. What are the odds Ernst can find another top tier roster out of the soccer equivalent of the bargain bin again? He's very good at what he does. Building that team we had was a masterclass of club management. But poor man Sugarman is making his job impossible. MLS gets better every year. And the moneyball thing only gets you far. And only in clubs outside the top 12 or so in the world. MLS will be top 10 soon. And relying on the academy and value shopping ain't going to do it.
Union have made about $14 million from the sale of Aaronson so far. I understand the need to put some of that back into the academy, but it doesn't feel like we've haven't seen the necessary level of investment in the first team for a few years. Sucks, but I don't expect that to change.
If you expect Sugarman to spend money, you will be disappointed. He got very lucky in hiring Earnie and the Ernst and getting a lot of right guy at the right moment signings.
Inter Miami is trying to dump Campana at the moment for Di Maria, I’d be happy to take him off their hands since he’s much more proven as a goal scorer in this league than Carranza was when we acquired him.
Agreed. I would take him in a second. He actually might be a good fit next to Uhre as well, considering he plays as more of a target forward similar to carranza. He’s really crafty in and around the box as well. My only concern would be his work rate out of possession, but I do concede I haven’t watched a ton of him.
Sugarman made it seem that Ernst & Jim could walk into his office, his home or call him on the phone and request certain players. We knew Carranza was on his way out, but it's beyond clear now that upper management is totally fine with the Academy being the pipeline and not anything notable externally. In retrospect, I'm really annoyed the way they presented Cavan Sullivan's signing. They went the whole 9 yards with the press conference and presented him like a world class signing at only 14, when in reality hes pretty much already been sold and when he won't play consistent minutes for the Union for another 12-18 months and he's gone probably 18 months after that. The season ticket opt-out e-mail is going to hit my inbox like a drug later this summer, these guys are in for a rude awakening when the attendance will plummet.
They even have Cavan’s Jersey for sale in the stadium store.
We're gonna miss the heck out of Carranza. But the offense looked pretty good last week. The team completely controlled the pace of the game, created several good chances, and scored twice. It's also the only game I remember walking away from thinking "wow uhre had a really good game, all around". Sure, Montreal had the red card, but we were dominating the game [almost] the whole first half before that happened. Aside from the early goal and the shock after Elliot was sent off (not just at the send off but the injury itself looked really bad, I'm sure it was messing with their heads), the team played really well and could have come away with a 2-0 result. And anyway, those mistakes aren't the offense's fault. Like I said, we're gonna miss Julian for a while. But, especially after what I saw Saturday, knowing how hard these guys fight for all 100 minutes, I'm still feeling good about the season.
> Sure, Montreal had the red card, but we were dominating the game [almost] the whole first half before that happened I don't think we were watching the same game. They were down 1-0 after like 50 seconds.
Hence the [almost]. It was a counter attack, I believe, out of nowhere. From then on, it was Union's game. Defence getting caught looking a couple times a game (which is not good, don't get me wrong) is the only thing holding us back from a lot more wins.
I disagree. Foot Club just bunkered and let the Union have possession, knowing that frenetic counters and set pieces are how the Union score. The red card led to 2 goals. Then the moment it was 10v10, they scored. Even play, they won 2-0.
I have been posting something similar to this every time anyone mentions how good our attack looked last game. Glad to see someone else viewed it as a Montreal defensive decision and not us dominating as well.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I do think this team firing on all cylinders can still beat any team in this league. Heck, even Atlanta who have been a mess this year just beat Miami. But I think there's two very fair conversations to be had. Can this team win a championship and can this team compete in general this year. For the championship conversation, I think that's unlikely with the pieces we have and probably minimal pieces we bring in over the summer. Not saying it couldn't happen though, but we've dug ourselves in the ground pretty far already. Only 1 team wins MLS Cup, and honestly that even needs a bit of luck to do. But I do think this team getting confidence back and a fairly equal Carranza replacement could still make a deep playoff run. Yeah, we had that losing streak, but you know what, we started the season as the longest unbeaten team and we technically are on a 4 game unbeaten streak right now. We've really only had one blowout losing game. And that was against Pachuca who looked great against all competition this year. Most of our problems this year have been self inflicted wounds, not teams being drastically above us. Self inflicted wounds can be fixed a lot quicker than new talent acquisitions.
>What are the odds Ernst can find another top tier roster out of the soccer equivalent of the bargain bin again? He's very good at what he does. The last two years would argue against this. You could argue it's Ernst and Jim not being on the same page, but Carranza was the last good player we signed. Uhre's a dud of DP spot, and he's making more than the average DP in MLS. Perea and Torres were both considered depth pieces by Curtin and rarely saw the pitch, and Baribo currently makes about 7 times what Donovan despite getting even fewer minutes—an absolute waste of budget space. I'd grant a case for Lowe and Semmle as necessary replacements but obviously neither were upgrades to the roster.
Tbh I can see us being fine with Uhre and Gazdag being a striking partnership. Obviously we look better with Carranza but our offense is not what worries me at the moment
Every time we’ve tried Gazdag as the second striker we’ve looked terrible. We’ve tried it more than a few times over the last several years and it just doesn’t work, even though in theory it sounds like it should. But then again, we’ve also had to do that a few times just based on availability and try to make it through a half with that. Maybe if we just fully commit to it it’ll get better? Opens up the 10 spot for Quinn, Cavan, and Vazquez (or a new signing!) to rotate at…
Maybe a hot take but I think both he and Uhre look better as a strike partnership then how we’ve set up before. Neither has what it takes to be the sole guy at the top. And Gazdag is always so hot and cold at the 10 spot with his passing. I’d much rather put McGlynn in at 10 where he can actually pick out some dangerous passes and not have to worry so much about his weaker defensive game.
It is what it is
Some context: - The source in this case is rather reliable, Feyenoord fans just consider him a massive dickhead so I'd rather not push traffic to his platform (1908), current link is the editorialized link from the biggest Feyenoord fan-forum. - Player and Feyenoord already have an agreement. - Feyenoord hopes to seal the deal soon and add him to the squad ASAP. - They aim for a modest transfer free now with the threat of him walking for free, or they are offering Philadelphia a sizeable sell-on % if they let him come for essentially free now already.
We can't resist a good sell-on, congratulations on a successful negotiation with the Philadelphia Union
Tbh a good sell on is probably better than a one time modest fee. If he takes off at Feyenoord they could offload him for a lot with how ridiculous the forward market is. Which means we could get a good chunk of change
I also read somewhere that Banfield may be owed a sell on fee from his initial transfer to MLS, I wonder if letting him go for nothing up-front avoids that.
Hope he goes to England next, he could go to a Championship team and the sell-on would still be massive with the way they're overpaying
So Feyenoord start playing in early July. Probably friendlies before league starts. League begins play mid August. They have also qualified for group play in the champions league. Not sure he will start for them but they will want bodies early during the league matches when group play starts.
He'll start off as second striker behind Ueda, the striker of Japan's NT, who is still technically Feyenoord's record signing of all time but he himself was behind Giménez this year, who is all but guaranteed to make a big transfer.
Realistically what is the soonest he could be off the union? He doesn’t have to wait for the transfer window to open?
we may never see him play again
If it's for a fee now? July/August. They'd want him through the door in early July to give him some kind of time to adjust to Europe etc, then start pre-season with them. If Feyenoord want to wait until his contract runs down, he leaves after the MLS season ends, which would be mid season in The Netherlands, and they register him in January.
He hasn't played and hasn't even been on bench for 2 games straight. I'd say he's gone now
Gonna miss him a ton, he was a steal and performed so well for us but unless he’d be willing to stay as a talisman and a huge payday then you have to sell him before he walks on a free. In our position it allows us to at least get something back and if he replaces Giminez there and balls out, we could be looking at a nice add on in a yr or two when he’s sold to a top 5 league for 20+ mil. This season has been tough and we’re not looking like we’ll compete for a top spot currently anyway so no point holding out. Make some cash and plan ahead for the future. We should still be able to get in the playoffs with some tweaks and the defense getting it together more so who knows what can happen there. But feel like building for next yr is where the focus for the FO will be.
This is an enormous bummer. We're losing him for a fraction of his value, and will get a 20% sell on clause or something, with a few million up front now at most. Someone said it on this thread earlier, if Miami are trying to free up a spot by offloading Campana, we should be all over that immediately. Because we'll need a physical striker.
Fuck
This frees up a DP slot, albeit our lowest-paid DP. If Sugarman were ever to open up the coffers and make use of the Aaronson transfer money, now's the time.