One Big Question:Are their apex attackers good enough?
For the record: I absolutely think they are. Maxi Moralez, Alexandru Mitrita, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi and especially Heber are all excellent at their spots in MLS, and I'd argue that last year both Maxi and Heber were top three at playmaker and center forward respectively. You can't get much better than that.
And yet.
I sat there in that studio week after week, game after game down the stretch of the season and had one guest analyst – current MLS players, mind you – after another tell me that they didn't believe in NYCFC in the biggest moments because NYCFC didn't have a Carlos Vela or a Josef Martinez or a Nico Lodeiro-level player. I'm not saying that they're right, and confirmation bias is a hell of a drug, but it's not like NYCFC gave us much of a reason to think they're wrong.
Then Dome Torrent quit and complained about not having a big enough budget to get the kind of talent he wanted as he walked out the door. So maybe there's a little something to this?
Anyway, Heber's my darkhorse MVP candidate this year:
If this guy stays healthy for 2500 minutes he could go for something like 25g/10a and yeah, that's plenty good enough.
But, well, there's only one way to convince everyone else of that fact.
