End of Season Report Card

Now that the season is done and dusted (and hopefully consigned to the dustbin¹That’s trashcan for those who don’t know Britspeak. of history, it’s time to start evaluating what was done this year. We are going to start off by grading each player’s personal contributions to the team over the 34 games.

We are only going to look at players still on the roster at year end, so the various part-time goalies we had will not appear, and also only those who recorded minutes this year. We are also assuming that Mohamed Buya Turay is no longer a Legion player, so his 63 minutes way back won’t count either.

Here’s a strange thing though: looking at the grades we are handing out, one might conclude that the team did fairly well this year. Obviously, that’s not the case. Missing out on the playoffs would suggest a C at best, and more likely an F. However, a team is not 11 individuals, it’s a cohesive group of 11. Or supposed to be. There were several factors that had an effect on that. Injuries constantly causing lineup and formation changes would certainly be one. Lack of players in key positions is another (a #10, ahem). Communication breakdowns one more. Exhaustion also came into play, I am sure. And who knows what else. But bear in mind too that the team was in position for a possible home playoff spot just a few weeks ago before the wheels fell off late.

Does that mean the Legion should keep all these players? No. There are a few with pretty good grades who I think should not be returning next year. That’s in addition to loanees who will go back to their contracted clubs and a few very likely retirements. I fully expect the roster to look considerably different in 2025.

All that being said, let’s kick off with the goalkeepers (and, thankfully, only two of them):

Grading keepers is tough, as a fair amount of the negative stuff that happens to them is not their fault. And they were frequently put into difficult situations by defensive errors. Still, they were not exactly great.

Matt and Trevor have been stalwarts for this club, both of them being OGs. They had a difficult year, all told. Trevor was without a clean sheet until the very last game (in which he faced just one shot on target, but it was a good one). They only got 7 between them (the Legion had just 9 overall). MVO is, as far as I can tell, the oldest active player in the league. His retirement and transfer to the coaching ranks full time is very much on the cards. Trevor is no spring chicken either. although at 33 he is not over the hill by goalie standards.

On to the defenders:

Defenders are the busiest group on the soccer field, so they get far more categories for evaluation. I would also note that the only full A grads we assigned all went to members of this group. On top of that, we have included Jake Rufe here, although he was a jack of all trades for the Legion. And partly for that reason he is one of the players going home to Mommy and Daddy with a nice shiny A. Alex gets a C+; we originally were going to give him a B- in light of his goal contributions but he also gives up a ton of fouls, often in dangerous positions.

Derek was a very welcome addition to the roster this year, as was AJ. They missed a goodly number of games combined; fully first and playing a complete season next year is something we really need from this pair. Ramiz is still very young but has already proven himself capable of standing up to grown men. He will be a player to watch in 2025. Phanny was his usual reliable self and Moses was an important contributor off the bench. Or as a starter when needed.

And the biggest group, forwards and midfielders:

To deal with the two loanees first: Miguel Perez (sorry, St. Louis fans who follow us) was a disappointment. He completely failed to impress. I doubt he will be invited back. Rida was also headed down that same road before he started firing on all cylinders and scored a couple of real bangers. He could become a useful player but I suspect he will not be back either.

Finn gets an incomplete. I was tempted to leave him off the list entirely, but that seemed unfair. Will he get more minutes next year? Yeah, probably.

Is Enzo retiring? Man, I hope not. He is the heart and soul of this team. Not to mention being a serious iron man. He missed just 7 minutes of the entire season, and 2 of those were for the ridiculous red card he got in the dying moments of the final game. Even the Oakland commentary team thought it was dumb. His 12 goal contributions led the team and his 6 goals were second only to Stefano’s 10. Could he have done more? Maybe, but he was also shunted around the lineup a lot.

Stefano was the major scoring threat, although that was never the intended plan. He stepped up though, and well done. He’s another player on the brink of retirement, however, at 33 years old. Kobe was, after Enzo and Jake, the best player on the team this year. And arguably the best overall. He was the attacking pivot and the best distributor the Three Sparks had (of regular starters, only Phanny was more accurate, and his passes were largely in the backfield). 2 goals and 4 assists from his position aren’t bad either.

Dawson was another good addition to the team. Not a Jonny Dean speedster, of course (who is?), but his ability to outfox fullbacks and send in crosses was a great new tool in the box. Darwin was a late newcomer. He didn’t get that many minutes but man was he good when he did. He’s on a contract through 2025, so it’s a certainty we’ll see a lot more of him next season.

Tyler did as much as he could but was plagued with injuries all year. When he was on the field the Legion was a very different team. The same can be said for Preston, who really needs to be starting more games. Prosper’s field time is declining and it doesn’t help that Tommy keeps playing the lefty on the wrong side.

Diba also had injury issues for much of the year but shone brightly when he was healthy. He’s probably a year or so away from being a very valuable asset though. Talking of which, that brings us to Matthew. His preseason injury was a major hiccup for the team. If he had been fit, he likely would have been gone in the summer transfer window. He was able to get some time late in the season, and that will possibly be enough to see him sold over the winter. And hopefully for a ton of cash.

And that’s it. Some good, some not so good and some bad. Time for some remedial classes, I think.