iced1777

Castelvetrano are one of my favorites, luckily most of the groceries near me have them! If you're going to sub I'd actually still go with kalamata. Castelvetrano are milder but have still some of that briny flavor kalamata has, which is missing from canned black olives.

Little harsh on Thelwell to call the good moves lucky and obvious but knock him for the bad moves. I think calling his time here a mixed bag sounds about right.

Whiffed big on his biggest signing but made a few through the middle of the roster that worked. Brought in a barrage of new players to kickstart a rebuild, but way too many of them were loans that couldn't stick around. Got rid of a lot of the dead weight contracts Hamlett saddled him with, but never really made the most of the roster spots/resources he opened up.

Every move was kinda two steps forward one step backward with him. But at worst, he jolted the club awake after Hamlett had been asleep at the wheel for two years.

I've been going around saying its a free transfer because why tf would the official announcement allude to a sell-on fee and not a transfer fee? MLS gonna MLS I guess..

His on-field demeanor stunk, but off it he always came across as an intelligent, level-headed guy. This is an impressive amount of personal accountability and perspective into why he struggled. Nice find.

Agree 100% and I'm not even being bias about him having played here. The man is such a natural in the booth. He's got one of those relaxed London accents that puts you at ease, and he does such a great job giving a players' perspective of the run of play without sounding like he's just bragging about his own career.

but the big win is still no Ian joy

I'm so glad Apple did away with any commentators whose style is just to yell at you for 90 minutes. With the personalities they're bringing into the studio it seems like they're leaning away from "hot take" approach that has plagued sports broadcasts for years now.

His finishing technique is just really bad. He takes forever to set himself up for shots, almost never hits them one time, so most of them get blocked. The ones that get through are rarely hit particularly hard.

I hope he scores a hat trick in the finals and gets sold to Bayern Munich for a reasonable $40M

You know you've earned it when you're considered a historic bust and you came on a free transfer.

Jorgensen really set the bar for tossing millions of dollars down the drain. Klimala is a club legend in comparison

You can always find a buyer when the price is free!

Looks like no transfer fee up front, but a sell-on percentage just in case Klimala can turn his career around from here.

I'd be lying if I said I paid enough regular attention to Klimala's pressing efforts to argue either way, I'm sure there's fair criticism there. Im thinking more of his work when we had the ball. He busted his ass making run after run behind the defense and fought to win every ball. His hold-up seriously underrated by fans imo.

His demeanor definitely wasn't great even aside from effort though. He was a flagrant diver and was quick to show frustration when he lost his starting spot. I don't blame fans for being put off by any of that.

The profile sounds right, hopefully this guy is more Reyes and less Monzon.

Veron was one of a few decent strikers that suffered from nothing other than playing the same position as BWP, who was basically allergic to strike partners not named Thierry Henry.

This was Thelwell's signing but oh boy did he get fleeced big time. Klimala had never done anything to justify a $4M transfer fee or $1M in wages.

I almost hesitate to even call him a flop because there never should have been expectations that he'd be a star player to begin with. He should have been a TAM level signing, expected to start but not to carry the team.

Who knew taking your star playmaker and having him play near the midfield line would tank his stats?

The way the Fire approach their DP signings is the one and only thing that makes me yearn for the days when the league office was way too involved in who teams could sign

Maybe over-hyped isn't the right phrase cause you're right that the part of the fanbase that pays attention understood he wasn't a proven goalscorer. But a large part of the fanbase also just sees $4M spent and expects a star player based on that alone, which is kinda fair.

I remain skeptical of any formation prediction that ends in 1. The stars are aligning too perfectly for another (possibly ill-fated) attempt at a two-striker look.

I do appreciate that Doyle's overt disdain for Yearwood has held strong. Behind Stroud in the depth chart lmao

Must be nice when the scoop comes from the other teams official Twitter account!

Only detail missing is whether we got any fee for him but I doubt it.

I always feel a little bad for players who suffer only from being over-hyped and over-priced. Klimala was a decent player and effort was never an issue. He's just not a finisher and therefore not a striker at this level. Good luck in Israel!

He had multiple hamstring injuries last year, pretty sure that's what they're referring to.

RBNY ramped up its injury prevention efforts last year with a lot more rotation and preplanned subs, but especially so for the kids. They get the bubble wrap treatment. Good example is Estrela on RB2 who is a great prospect but barely played because he was an injury risk.

He had one or two of these from his highlights before coming here last year too. Not sure how many he'll score this year, but good chance a few of them will be bangers.