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York9 - Season Thread 2020


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1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

It's quite possible that Altobelli had reached the point where he was simply no longer in TFC's plans in terms of getting a pro contract. There are lots of castoffs from the three MLS teams in CanPL. One of the reasons that CanPL doesn't need to do expensive academies is that the three MLS ones are churning out way more would be pro players than will ever get anywhere near an MLS roster.

This could potentially be a perfect storm for Canadian soccer players over time.  MLS castoffs who want to prove themselves by using CPL against non-MLS locals who want to prove they're at least as good as the castoffs.  If they push each other enough, it'll bring better competition, better exposure, and overall better play for CPL and even the national team over time.  A rising tide, as they say.

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With respect to guys like Altobelli, Halley and Ferrari, obviously we had to fill our three U21 Cdn player criteria, so they'll get their minutes off the bench, but there's no doubt that CPL will be a big jump from USSDA. Considering our roster, and what we know about their CanU17 and TFC U19 experience and their age for the first two, my guess is that Ferrari will likely get more minutes than the first two, but will be happy to be proven wrong.

What I would worry for the first two guys may be that perhaps they would be getting more minutes if they went to TFCII rather than Y9. The average age at TFCII is obviously far younger than Y9, while they would pretty much be needed at TFCII because of how many players they graduate each season, while Y9 we have a ton of young Canadian players who rode the bench for us last season, and hasn't found a club for next season. Furlano, Gogarty, Rollocks, Ricci, Zambazis, etc.

When you think long-term development, getting as many minutes as you can when you are young is far more important than being signed at the highest level of team you can play and riding the bench. I know these young guys are signed for multi-year pro contracts though, and I'm sure they're over the moon lol.

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30 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

With respect to guys like Altobelli, Halley and Ferrari, obviously we had to fill our three U21 Cdn player criteria, so they'll get their minutes off the bench, but there's no doubt that CPL will be a big jump from USSDA. Considering our roster, and what we know about their CanU17 and TFC U19 experience and their age for the first two, my guess is that Ferrari will likely get more minutes than the first two, but will be happy to be proven wrong.

What I would worry for the first two guys may be that perhaps they would be getting more minutes if they went to TFCII rather than Y9. The average age at TFCII is obviously far younger than Y9, while they would pretty much be needed at TFCII because of how many players they graduate each season, while Y9 we have a ton of young Canadian players who rode the bench for us last season, and hasn't found a club for next season. Furlano, Gogarty, Rollocks, Ricci, Zambazis, etc.

When you think long-term development, getting as many minutes as you can when you are young is far more important than being signed at the highest level of team you can play and riding the bench. I know these young guys are signed for multi-year pro contracts though, and I'm sure they're over the moon lol.

Don't disagree with this assessment, but just a quick point about young players not finding clubs, I am genuinely surprised that Gogarty and Zambazis hasn't found clubs. They both impressed me and have a lot of upside.

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On 5/13/2020 at 12:34 PM, ironcub14 said:

A friend did note that ADO Den Haag is owned by a Chinese company, and for sure, owners will be friendly for sure, similar to Wu Lei at Espanyol for example, which is all cool, more opportunities for more players. I think a lot of Y9 and CPL players will take positives from this move, thinking, if Estevez can make a big move like this, they can too for sure, which is the long-term goal for most of the CPL players.

The big parallel I am seeing is with Tsun Dai at Wolves (also Chinese owner). Tsun Dai, like Estevez, has shown sparks of potential, and certainly outside of Lam Zhi Gin has played at very high level for a Hong Kong player. But ultimately, Tsun Dai wasn't able to start a single game with Oxford before suddenly getting snapped up by Wolves. Tsun Dai has kind of languished in the reserves before transfer to China League 1 (div 2) side Shenzhen FC.

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1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

At 17 I'm not sure players should be reaching the point that they're not in anyone's plan. I'm sure it just reached the point that TFC was no longer in Altobelli's plans

Players will get cut at all ages especially when there is no pay-to-play involved because soccer is a ruthless meritocracy.

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37 minutes ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Don't disagree with this assessment, but just a quick point about young players not finding clubs, I am genuinely surprised that Gogarty and Zambazis hasn't found clubs. They both impressed me and have a lot of upside.

For me, the best in our crop of guys that got released was Furlano. He had some heavy snap in his tackles, but also made good runs off the ball, got some good crosses and passes in, and even got an assist or two near the end of the season.

I know you have your connections to Gogarty ;) But rewatching the games, there was a stretch in the mid-Fall season where he was starting at LB when Abzi was out injured, and Larson and Platt correctly pointed out numerous times that he was sorely the weak spot on the team, not just relative to Abzi, but just with too many mispasses with the ball. You could tell Jimmy wanted to call him out during the pressers even, it was that bad.

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6 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

For me, the best in our crop of guys that got released was Furlano. He had some heavy snap in his tackles, but also made good runs off the ball, got some good crosses and passes in, and even got an assist or two near the end of the season.

I know you have your connections to Gogarty ;) But rewatching the games, there was a stretch in the mid-Fall season where he was starting at LB when Abzi was out injured, and Larson and Platt correctly pointed out numerous times that he was sorely the weak spot on the team, not just relative to Abzi, but just with too many mispasses with the ball. You could tell Jimmy wanted to call him out during the pressers even, it was that bad.

Furlano certainly had the best pedigree out of the bunch given his experience in TFCII (other than maybe Zambazis, though there were all these murmurs that he only landed in Greece because an uncle owned the club or soemthing?), and seemed closest to signing with a CanPL team given his trial with Cavalry? So agreed.

 

I know Gogarty got promoted as this versatile defender that can play all along the backline, but feel he did better playing more centrally. I'll have to rewatch tapes, but I thought he was a decent passer of the ball from that position? 

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1 hour ago, ironcub14 said:

With respect to guys like Altobelli, Halley and Ferrari, obviously we had to fill our three U21 Cdn player criteria, so they'll get their minutes off the bench, but there's no doubt that CPL will be a big jump from USSDA. Considering our roster, and what we know about their CanU17 and TFC U19 experience and their age for the first two, my guess is that Ferrari will likely get more minutes than the first two, but will be happy to be proven wrong.

What I would worry for the first two guys may be that perhaps they would be getting more minutes if they went to TFCII rather than Y9. The average age at TFCII is obviously far younger than Y9, while they would pretty much be needed at TFCII because of how many players they graduate each season, while Y9 we have a ton of young Canadian players who rode the bench for us last season, and hasn't found a club for next season. Furlano, Gogarty, Rollocks, Ricci, Zambazis, etc.

I think the club is looking at Halley as a right sided Abzi.  An young, quick, talented attacking player that can be converted into a modern attacking fullback.  Doner was a very solid RB last season but everyone who watched Y9 could see that his offensive contributions are the biggest area where he can improve.  Halley's got that offensive instinct already, it'll be teaching him the defensive aspect of the game and who better to do that than Jimmy and Stalteri. 

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41 minutes ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Furlano certainly had the best pedigree out of the bunch given his experience in TFCII (other than maybe Zambazis, though there were all these murmurs that he only landed in Greece because an uncle owned the club or soemthing?), and seemed closest to signing with a CanPL team given his trial with Cavalry? So agreed.

 

I know Gogarty got promoted as this versatile defender that can play all along the backline, but feel he did better playing more centrally. I'll have to rewatch tapes, but I thought he was a decent passer of the ball from that position? 

And Ricci was likely to take the final spot on Winnipeg or something I think it was? Zambazis was not bad either, definitely did not look out of spot, reminded me of Murofushi. I think Gogarty is definitely a LCB who got played out of position at LB and had a torrid time there eventually. So for sure, LB is always the hardest spot to fill, it's a very hard spot to find players for.

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18 minutes ago, Stouffvillain said:

I think the club is looking at Halley as a right sided Abzi.  An young, quick, talented attacking player that can be converted into a modern attacking fullback.  Doner was a very solid RB last season but everyone who watched Y9 could see that his offensive contributions are the biggest area where he can improve.  Halley's got that offensive instinct already, it'll be teaching him the defensive aspect of the game and who better to do that than Jimmy and Stalteri. 

Haha Jimmy and Stalteri to sub in as emergency fullbacks if needed :)

I will say, I overall thought Doner was not that good attacking-wise, especially early season, but I'm rewatching the end of the season now and I see he really grew into that spot the last 2 months, attacking-wise too. You could really see a world's difference in his confidence from the start of the year to the end, very cool to see. Definitely somebody who took full advantage of his opportunity.

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On 5/12/2020 at 7:43 PM, The Real Marc said:

More accurately $150, 074.99 assuming they had to pay to get behind the One Soccer paywall.

Heard all Den Haag season ticket holders now gets a free subscription to One Soccer as part of the deal. 

"But we don't need..."

"Your'e getting it!"

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Finished rewatching all the 2019 Y9 matches haha, took some months, was good to do during this quarantine period, had me looking more forward to when the 2020 season does resume, and gave a fuller picture on how the players did over the season.

Since this is the Vs, might as well as go fully nerd out, and provide a quick review on how I thought the players did throughout the season, and what they did well, or what they may look to improve upon this year. Ranked by what I thought each player's overall contribution to the team was for the whole season. Hope the comments are constructive and helpful for us fans, and maybe the players, who knows.

I watched the 1S Y9 review episode as well, and I overall like Larson's analysis on 1S and on twitter, and I know he covered a lot of the Y9 matches, but I definitely disagreed with some of his individual assessments on that episode. Was more in agreement with Platt overall, and he's had some fantastic analysis on his twitter.

1. Abzi - LB, LW, RW - Best fullback in CPL, unplayable at times. Incredible footwork and agility. No slouch defensively.

2. Gattas - RW, LW, ST, CAM - Highly underrated. Orchestrator of 3rd best attack in CPL. Gets whole team involved. Decisive.

3. Telfer - LW, RW, ST, LB - Fastest in CPL. Incredible runs and goals. Not great decision-making and selfish. Misses obv passes.

4. Ingham - GK - Kept team in games at times. Incredible reactions. Some goal-conceding mistakes at end of matches.

5. Gasparotto - LCB, RCB - Iron man. Steady, calm, collected. Very assured with the ball. Wins headers. Bit slow.

6. Murofushi - RCM, DM - Highly underrated. Best and most consistent Y9 mid. Great thru balls & composure. Weak physically.

7. Doner - RB - Great motor, incredible 1v1 defender. Started season with poor touches & passes. Ended season with tekkers.

8. Di Chiara - DM, RCM - Good tackles. Not good with the ball in centre of pitch. Much better as a box-to-box 8 than a 6.

9. Aparicio - LCM - Best motor in team, highly aggressive. Can't beat D 1v1, lots of missed passes. Perhaps a 6 than an 8.

10. Adjei - ST - Good use of frame, gets whole attack involved, and can beat CBs. Too many sloppy touches however.

11. Thompson - RCB - Solid, steady, good long passes. Can get beat on the ground, and not noteworthy defensively.

12. Porter - RW, LW, CM, RB - 100% misplayed as a LW, can't create from there. Better as a pacey RW or a defensive 8 or RB. Wins offensive headers.

13. Springer - CB - Solid, steady, similar to Thompson. Not a bad option tbh.

14. Estevez - LW, LCM - Highly direct, most agile player on team. However, runs often into double teams, needs refinement.

15. Zambazis - DM - Can control centre of pitch, good composure. One error led to benching.

16. Furlano - DM, RB - Incredibly aggressive tackles, also good off the ball runs, got assists. Sometimes rash.

17. Ricci - RW, LW, LCM - Very direct, can beat defenders 1v1. Final product and decision making not at starting level yet.

18. Lamanna - LW, RW - Silky and smooth, but not given enough minutes to prove himself over 45+ minutes.

19. Gogarty - LCB, LB - Good defensive option, but weak offensively with technique and passes. Masked more when LCB.

20. Cox - ST - Mysterious injury problems and absences on away trips. Fans could use more disclosure on injuries.

21. Rollocks - LW, ST - Good pace, but dribbling and decision-making needs work. Got chances early season.

22. Silva - GK - Got 1 game I think, that wasn't notable.

23. Vance - GK - Got the last game of the season, made a weak save that led to a rebound goal.

 

Edited by ironcub14
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27 minutes ago, ironcub14 said:

I watched the 1S Y9 review episode as well, and I don't think Larson was paying close attention to the team in all honesty. Platt more so.

 

Appreciate the list, I started re-watching as well.  Before I go any further reading your comments this is 100% on point.  I always feel as though Larson doesn't watch Y9.  This isn't some "he's critical of my team thing" either as I read him through his years at the Sun covering TFC and didn't get the sense I get now when I hear him talk about Y9.

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On 5/15/2020 at 1:18 PM, ironcub14 said:

2. Gattas - RW, LW, ST, CAM - Highly underrated. Orchestrator of 3rd best attack in CPL. Gets whole team involved. Decisive.

The first of many player quotes of this post.

I'm with you on Gattas, he was the maestro of our attack but he needed to be more deadly.  He scored 8 goals, 3 came in one half against HFX and the other on a PK early in the season that someone else drew the foul for.  He missed penalties later in the season as well.  Only four goals for the rest of the season just wasn't enough in my eyes.   

He may have been the biggest beneficiary if Y9 had a trequartista and he could stay higher up the pitch.

 

Edit: He scored 2 PK's

Edited by Stouffvillain
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39 minutes ago, Stouffvillain said:

Appreciate the list, I started re-watching as well.  Before I go any further reading your comments this is 100% on point.  I always feel as though Larson doesn't watch Y9.  This isn't some "he's critical of my team thing" either as I read him through his years at the Sun covering TFC and didn't get the sense I get now when I hear him talk about Y9.

I thought I was a bit too harsh on Larson above, so I'ved edited it to provide a bit more context to what I thought about him haha. I overall think he's a great analyst who's covered a lot of Y9 games, but for sure, there was a couple things he said in the review episode that I definitely disagreed with. However, it could all be personal preferences, either opinions could be right or wrong, depending on what you value in the game and etc.

About Gattas, you know, I did see that our last game was a 4-2-3-1, with Gattas as the CAM, so he would probably have been Jimmy's strongest candidate if he wanted a trequartista. I know he wasn't as clinical in his finishing as we would have liked, but I thought he was decisive in his decision making, whether passing or dribbling or shooting, he always knew exactly what he wanted to do, and often, it was the correct decision.

Looking forward to the other comments you have for sure, will just let it all flow, and reply Monday or something!

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On 5/15/2020 at 1:18 PM, ironcub14 said:

15. Estevez - LW, LCM - Highly direct, most agile player on team. However, runs too much into double teams, needs coaching.

 

Watched the PFC and FCE matches from the Spring Season and you can see moments when Estevez is on the ball that would attract attention from other clubs.  There are times he effortlessly ran through multiple defenders without even thinking twice about it and came through with the ball.  It's that kind of natural confidence on the ball that is tough to teach.  If he can get better in terms of decision making and when to make the right pass he will be a good buy for his new club. 

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On 5/15/2020 at 1:18 PM, ironcub14 said:

10. Adjei - ST - Good use of frame, gets whole attack involved, and can beat CBs. Too many sloppy touches however.

19. Gogarty - LCB, LB - Good defensive option, but weak offensively with technique and passes. Masked more when LCB.

In my re-watch thus far I'm seeing things a little bit differently on both of these guys. 

I was initially high on Adjei then turned to where he could do nothing right and re-watching I think he just didn't fit what Y9 was trying to do.  Adjei often got the ball with his back to goal or in a wider position, he doesn't have the ball skills or quickness to get around defenders.  He had a quick release to shoot when facing the goal but rarely got the ball in a position to shoot.  

On the other hand I was high on Gogarty.  I agree with you on him being a good defensive depth option but I can see why other clubs haven't been quick to scoop him up.  He did make his fair share of mistakes that directly led to quality chances to the opposition, not everyone has an Ingham between the sticks. 

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