Film_Fan

He may, but he could also be the #2 next year or at least be the experienced back-up when we switch over to the youth movement

I’m excited to see our young players up against these new teams. It should be a fun challenge and a fun change of pace for when fans are allowed to attend matches.

It seems to be more about agility, positioning, reading the shot earlier and reacting, and using your taller centerbacks to win more aerial contests. Taller keepers seem to have a little bit more leeway to recover in the air and across the face of goal, but they often sacrifice speed/agility for reach.

Maybe…Height can help the keeper out jump opponents in the box and get that extra bit of reach on a save. Smaller keepers have to be that much better at positioning and situational awareness to overcome the advantage taller keepers have in being able to naturally cover more of the goal. You will see that competition on display with the 2s between Vicente Reyes who is 6’4", Ben Lundgaard who is 6’5", and Novo who is listed as 5’11".

For perspective, many of us would consider Nick Rimando to be a capable goalie over his long career and he was a generous 5’10". Novo is still young and could potentially have a little bit more growth left in him.

Novo is a big deal for us. He and Vicente Reyes will immediately enter a healthy competition for the future of the goalkeeping position in Atlanta. Considering that both players are youth internationals for upper-tier South American programs, that is a very good place for us to be. At 25, Ben Lundgaard is the elder statesman of the goalkeeping rotation and the likely starter, but that is the sort of competition you want for young keepers to keep them hungry. Both should supplant Lundgaard early enough to move him up to MLS as a 3rd keeper and to ensure the young duo split the starts in the USL.

Unless Justin Garces falls on his face for UCLA this spring and in the fall season, he should come in as the 3rd goalkeeper in a 3-man competition of young players with youth national team experience to replace Guzan either in 2022 or 2023.

I appreciate you guys. We will hopefully have some cool stuff when they do their big 2s roster release dump soon.

When has that stopped anyone on this site, honestly

It is free unless you want to buy your creation

https://thesoccerfactory.com/page/team-sales/custom-soccer-uniforms

You are completely right about Wyke getting cut by the team. It is not uncommon for former players who are out of contract to train with their former club or new clubs to stay fit and try to earn a new deal. If that is him, he may be trying to get back onto the 2s

I’m pretty sure we see George Bello and Brendan Lambe. The brown-haired guy who stays in camera in his profile is either Will Reilly or Phillip Goodrum. The guy with the blond buzz cut is either Andrew Durkin or Laurence Wyke. And we have yet to identify the hairy guy with the man-bun.

I love the idea of getting Erik Lopez in there early and often but I don’t feel comfortable using him on the right side yet since there is little evidence he has ever played on that side of the field before. If he can do it in training, great, then I’m all for it, but I think he and Barco occupy the same spot in the 4-3-3. If we played a 2-forward front, Lopez would be playing the Almiron position in Tata’s 3-5-2.

I hear you on a lot of your criticisms and I do agree that this is putting a lot on Campbell to be able to step up in rotational settings. I do not think we will retain a traditional shape, or at least I do not think it is in our best interest to retain a static shape, in 2021 with our players.

The flexibility or the dynamism of the 3-at-the-back shape I propose, which could line up any which way ahead of it as long as there are 3 midfielders, embraces the ability of players to cover zones and shift the formation’s shape depending upon the phase of play. In defense, we could look like a 5-4-1, in the press we would look like a 4-3-3, and in transition it would be a 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1. That’s more of what I meant. This embraces Ibarra’s mobility and capacity to help on the flanks while centerbacks are able to shift with Sosa to advance into zones filled traditionally by defensive-minded fullbacks.

Barco has a lot riding on this year. We are all hoping he lives up to the occasion, for all of our sakes.

I’m not able to delete but I appreciate you saying that.

For what it is worth, I think your 4-3-3 is really solid. I’m averse to 3-4-3 after last season. I think I remember you astutely observing the danger of becoming overwhelmed in the midfield and thus getting forced to the flanks for slower build-up and more vulnerability up the middle on counters. After last season, I want 3 men in the mid-field. I think the only version of the 3-4-3 that I could stomach is a transitional mid-game switch where Sosa becomes one of the back-3, and you have Ibarra and Moreno as your pivot since each has clear roles in that.

I think most of your criticisms are coming from the 4-3-3 that I think is likely but then spend the remainder of the article saying I would not use because I prefer these other tactics instead, but even with that first line-up I already address most of your criticisms with this: "Some alternative line-ups push Barco out to the left wing and insert Emerson Hyndman or Franco Ibarra as Marcelino Moreno’s partner in midfield."

I’m not sure where my tactics show Barco as no longer being a left-sided player. In the 3-4-2-1, Barco would have more free movement like how Almiron set up behind Josef as the 2nd striker in our 3-5-2. Barco can naturally drift out to the left and be able to move in or out depending upon the flow of the game. The same is true for the 4-3-3 where Barco can use his spacing with Bello to do the same. I thought the visuals were very clear in that regard.

And this is essentially what I have…

As far as your 4-3-3, I have the same issue as above, which is that Barco isn’t as effective from central positions. I’m not sure Lopez is a starter at this point, so it seems to me like the best way to do it is with Barco on the left and Ibarra in the #8 role and Moreno as the most advanced central midfield. You can obviously switch the personnel around some depending on the opponent (see my notes on this below), but as a sort of "default" setup, I think that makes the most sense.

You’re going to have so much fun with the Tactics opinion piece we are coming out with soon

I think Cubo Torres already has a green card from his early career with Houston

Walkes probably gets a green card and Jack Mulraney probably goes packing

I’ve become very interested in our potential with a 3-man backline. Miles seems to have had his best matches in that formation and our dynamic wingbacks flourish when they are able to bomb forward up the flanks. I’m also interested in maintaining numerical superiority in the midfield if possible so that we don’t get overwhelmed as easily when the 3-4-3 stretched us thin.

I’d be interested in the malleable nature of a 3-4-2-1 or a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-1-2 that can easily shift into a 4-3-3 with the right wingback becoming the right forward. Brooks Lennon is the best fit for that role at the moment and the best option to temporarily cover for that in-game possession switch would be a hybrid defender like Escobar or Walkes being able to shift over from the RCB spot to cover a more traditional RB fullback defensive responsibility. In the Bielsa-style system we will be playing, Sosa would be dropping into our new 2-man backline between Miles Robinson and Giannetti to create a new back-3 with the #6 (#5) as that central cog of the new triangle in possession.

If your front triangle is a CF and 2 AMs who can become a CF, AM, and LW, then I’d go with Josef, Barco, and Moreno with Barco and Moreno shifting left as Lennon shifts to his advanced spot. If that front triangle is two CF and AM or CF, SS, and AM, then I’d play Josef, E. Lopez, and Moreno with similar ideas of Lopez moving left but leaving more room outside of Bello to overlap and deliver crosses.

Ibarra would be tasked with destroying any counter that happens in the middle of the field.

Former academy player and 2s prospect Diego Lopez received special permission from the club to leave in 2019 to return to California.

This page on MLS’s website is a good quick reference. There aren’t any numbers for salary cap calculations but it is a good place for getting a rough idea of what is going on.

As of my writing this, Ibarra has not been added yet and neither has Giannetti but that will happen soon. They are likely senior roster so will take that to 19 of 20 spots filled. We will have 2 more supplemental roster spots to play with and we may use one on Ben Lundgaard as the 3rd GK and the other on Josh Bauer if he signs in camp. We will also have one lower supplemental roster spot that could be filled by another Homegrown like Bryce Washington (CB) in May before the transfer window closes.

We will need to do a little bit of international slot management with someone like Walkes getting a timely green card or a trade getting made for one more spot. We will likely end up with 11 or so players potentially fitting that designation.