Amidst the first team’s return to the playoffs, WFC2’s season quietly ended in September. After a very bright start to the season, WFC2 fell off significantly in the second half of the season, after Levonte Johnson and JC Ngando more or less graduated to the first team on a full-time basis, and missed the playoffs again. But the point of a reserve team is not … Continue reading WFC2 Year End Report Cards
Ryan Raposo is weird (as a player I mean, I’ve never met him). If you just look at his fbref page then you would come away with the impression that he is an extremely effective attacking fullback. But if my Twitter timeline is any indication, most people do not come away with that impression of him. So, what I want to do here, is investigate … Continue reading Ryan Raposo is a Good Attacker
I tweeted that if the Whitecaps signed Junior Hoilett after selling Sergio Cordova I would “do January 6th on the Whitecaps’ offices.” Now I have no choice but to fly back to Canada, put on the head of the Spike costume, break into the building, and livestream myself smoking a cigar in Axel Schuster’s chair. Ok, but seriously, why don’t I like this movie? Well, … Continue reading A Throwback Signing: Junior Hoilett
When you sign a player to a DP Contract, giving up your first-round draft pick to acquire his MLS rights in the process, and then sell him at cost in less than a year it’s fair to say a mistake was made at some point. But what were these mistakes? When did they occur? Let’s examine that Before the Signing: It’s important, when evaluating signings, … Continue reading Mistakes Were Made: The Sergio Cordova Story
In addition to some major first-team additions, the Whitecaps also added four players to their reserve side. I feel extremely positively about these signings as they follow essentially exactly the recruitment strategy I have previously advocated for. Allow me to explain. WFC2’s roster will always be primarily made up of academy graduates and draft picks, that’s what it’s for. But not every generation of academy … Continue reading WFC2 Give Me Everything I Want
The Vancouver Whitecaps are making big moves. They have added Richie Laryea on loan from Nottingham Forrest and Sam Adekugbe on a permanent deal from Hatayspor. The additions of Richie Laryea and Sam Adekugbe are flashy and exciting. But I have some dour and unfun reservations that I can’t quite shake. Let’s explore those. First, let’s discuss Laryea. Stylistically, he should fit like a glove. … Continue reading Are we sure this is smart?
The Vancouver Whitecaps find themselves in the unenviable position of having lost Julian Gressel. Gressel is hard to replace because he is very good and has a unique profile and the Whitecaps don’t have an open DP slot to replace his DP-level contributions (though he himself was not a DP). So I thought we might take a look at where the team might go from … Continue reading Every Crisis is an Opportunity: Life After Julian Gressel
With the Whitecaps finally having an off week, we’ve had a chance to catch our breath and evaluate the team. Normally there is a 3000-word essay by me about everything that’s going wrong at this point. But this year things are going pretty well. The Whitecaps have already won a trophy, are fairly comfortably in a playoff spot, and are playing the most exciting style … Continue reading How far are the Whitecaps from being MLS Cup Contenders?
The MLS Next Pro season is well underway so I thought it was a good time to bring back my Stock Up/Stock Down series. This looks at the players who helped their chances of one day making it to the first team the most in recent weeks (and the ones who hurt their chances). It’s not necessarily a measure of who the best players are … Continue reading WFC2: Stock Up/Stock Down
When we bloggers are analyzing signings (or re-signings) we are at a serious disadvantage. This is because, in most cases, we won’t know until later how much a player is making. When you have a salary cap to deal with, whether or not a player is good is only part of the equation. You also have to consider if signing that player is going to … Continue reading Cristian Dájome: A Cautionary Tale