u/Farmballfan

This is just an observation. But if you look back to the success of Rafa - he generally had teams that had :

1. A solid GK - Vaclík (Basel) & von Ballmoos (Young Boys)

And perhaps just as improtant....

2. His backline was sort of the star of the show :

At Basel he became famous and sort of a prodigy because
Michael Lang, Marek Suchy, Manuel Akanji, Eder Balanta, Serey Die were all able to build up drives by attacking space and had the recover speed to mark on counter attacks.

He was asked to replicate that at YB.

Garcia, Lustenberger, Camara and later Cheikh Niasse were all solid defenders who could control the ball well and find excellent through balls in the attacking 1/3.

Watching this game tonight, and I know there are injuries and other concerns , but our back line is almost like a recreational league team of 8 year olds where they have the least amount of talent on the team and we just stick them there because they have to.

I don't think Jansen Miller would dominate in the USL in his peak, but KC (even after Lee got here) seems to be attached to developing him.

Bartlett, Davis, Meyer might have some fan love... but they are kinda run-of-the-mill defensive backfield players that wouldn't work in a Swiss system and their ceiling isn't high enough for Wicky to utilize them as the starting back line.

I feel like our pace and dribbling ability / ball skills and overall speed is just not what Wicky would be satisfied with w/ a team he was coaching - tactics he'd want to explore. Mosquera is probably the closest to what he'd want to have ... but kinda wish we had more options than him.

Maybe Lee is just dealing with what he can w/ the situations of Moises and Blorian. His years of development even after he left helped Peretta at Basel and Amenda, Zesiger, Blum at YB to the point that they could basically reload.

I think KC fans sort of have the Chiefs (traditionally winning record) and Royals (traditionally losing record) and see Sporting KC as a middle child of sorts.

For all of the good that Vermes has done - KC doesn't have ability to sign slightly aging Premiere League stars. And it lacks a youth development system that produces talent on the field at a consistent rate.

If you aren't paying for Premiere League trained players, then you're going to have to have high level training, focused scouting, and a system that has an identity that is unique.

At this stage of the MLS, if you're going to put youth players against higher level DPs ... you can't half-ass your individual training system or overall training system.

Wilfried Nancy / B.J. Callaghan were really terrific at pinpointing what a smaller-market club had to find and how to develop players to the first team expectations that the MLS didn't really have in the 90s or 00s.

Nashville has athletic well built players that are fast with transitions.

Columbus has players that are extremely flexible at multiple positions that are tactically aware and technical.

San Diego has invested time and resources finding skilled players that have great vision going into empty space that can also press.

I can't tell you what the identity of a player developed at Sporting KC is. As a Royals fan it reminds of of "I like the guy and have a good feeling about him" philosophy of Dayton Moore after he won a Championship sort of thing where you need lots of individual training for each player and even then they don't exactly fit together.

I've gone to several games ( 5 W, 14 L ) . We need patience here but it's hard to have patience when there doesn't seem to be a vision as to why we even took on most of these players other than they could fit variations of 3-4-3 well in 1-2 roles. I hate to say it but the input and output for SKC is closer to a USL team in terms of what we're getting accomplished far more than other MLS franchises.

Midseason Expectations > Opening Day.

Offense - 1 Offseason Addition - Walker , 0 Draft Changes

QB : Mahomes
HB : Walker
WR : Rice
WR : Worthy
WR : Thornton
TE : Kelce **
LT : Simmons
LG : Suamataia
C : Humphrey
RG : Smith
RT : Moore **

Defense - 1 Offseason Addition - Gilman, 4 Draft Changes (Thomas, Woods, Canady, Delane)

DE - Thomas
DT - Woods
DT - Jones ****
DE - Karlaftis

LB - Tranquill **
LB - Bolton ****

NB - Canady
CB - Delane
CB - Williams

S - GIlman
S - Conner **

** Dictates either free agency in 2027
**** Dictates potential cap casualty in 2027 offseason

OVERVIEW -
In past drafts Brett Veach was able to take chances on positions that would potentially assist the team with expected absences in free agency the coming year.

KC could have between 48-83 Million in Cap Space in the 2027 Offseason.

The Chiefs will have 3rd Round Pick (McDuffie) and 4th Round Pick (Compensation for Watson). They'll have SF's 6th round pick, but they lost their 6th pick for Justin Fields.

Potential Free Agents 2027:

Leonard Williams, Derwin James, MIchael Owenu, Kyle Pitts are all possible free agents that KC could look at.

CAPOLOGY

Despite investing a 1st round pick in 2023, a 2nd round pick in 2025, a 3rd round pick in 2025, a 1st round pick in 2026, and a 2nd round pick in 2026.... the Chiefs could still focus Day 1 & 2 draft picks on Defensive Linemen.

With the likely end of Travis Kelce's career, KC will also need to find a No.1 target option for Travis Kelce.

Right Tackle is also something the Chiefs will need to address. Depth at Tackle needs to become a priority for Veach and has been a need for years.

Although this could be a turnaround year - the extensions of Jones and Bolton may have prevented KC from locking up McDuffie and Watson. (Bolton receives 15M this year, Jones will be paid 35M).