PART I: Delirium   PART II: Forwards   PART III: Attacking Mids & Wingers   PART IV: Center Midfielders   PART V: Fullbacks   PART VI: Centerbacks   PART VII: Goalkeepers   PART VIII: Team Overview

For a good rundown of the 2017 NPSL Midwest Playoff format, check out this article on Detroit City’s official website.

A brief summary:

Three Midwest divisions, top two teams from each division qualify for playoffs. Seeding is determined by points-per-game. #3 hosts #6 and #4 hosts #5 on Saturday, July 22^nd. The winners of those two matches advance to play #1 and #2 the following Friday (July 28^th), with the Midwest Championship taking place on Saturday the 29^th. Each of the final four teams can submit bids to host the regional tournament.

Midwest Region – Great Lakes West Conference

To be blunt, City has a tough schedule. There are 14 league matches this season as opposed to 12 in 2016, and the 4 match cluster in the last week of June calls to mind the brutal stretch that the team opened last season with. They are much better equipped this time around, however, and the better roster depth coupled with no Open Cup commitment should result in a much more successful season. It may take some time for the team to gel, so I don’t think they’ll finish first in the table, but I do expect them to qualify for the playoffs.

Talking to fellow blogger Robert Sherman and seeing them beat Milwaukee 3-1 in the first league match of the season, I’m sold on the quality of Ann Arbor’s squad. They’re going to be a scary team to face, and the return of Dario Suarez makes them all the more lethal.

Grand Rapids returns much of the roster that finished first in the division in the 2016 regular season, and newcomers Milwaukee won the provisional Midwest Central last year with a perfect 6-0-0 record. I see them as the other two main competitors for playoff spots.

After the top four, there should be a bit of a drop-off down to the next tier. Kalamazoo outperformed most people’s expectations last season and I think they’ll just edge out Lansing for 5^th place in the table.

Finishing up with the bottom two, Michigan Stars lost their coach (Andy Wagstaff – SVSU) and a bunch of key players, including three who are now on City’s roster (Shawn Lawson, Roddy Green, Dalton Amez). They’ll slip back down to their usual place, but FC Indiana (winless in 2016) will be this year’s divisional punching bag.

Playoffs and Beyond

Last year, City’s focus as a club revolved around beating the Michigan Bucks in the U.S. Open Cup and on Keyworth Stadium and everything surrounding its reopening. With no Open Cup commitment or stadium distraction this year, what’s first and foremost on everyone’s mind is finally winning some trophies.

While I predicted City to finish 2^nd in the regular season, I really think having a more constant roster with less turnover will result in greater cohesion and more late-season success. That being said, with last season still fresh in my mind, I can’t bring myself to predict an NPSL league title. What I will do is pick them to win the Midwest Regional Playoff Tournament and make it to the NPSL league semi-final, aka the national final four.

5 Wild Guesses

(1) City will score at least 28 goals in the regular season (an average of at least 2 per match) and allow fewer than 14 (an average of under 1 per match).

(2) City will not lose a league match at Keyworth Stadium. The toughest tests will be the first two matches – Milwaukee and Grand Rapids, and the last two – Ann Arbor and Lansing.

(3) A new home attendance record will be set, and it will be greater than 8000. The regular season average will be a healthy 6000+.

(4) This prediction didn’t work out last year so I’m taking another crack at it: Three players will score at least 5 goals in competitive matches. No City trio has ever accomplished this, and I’ll go one step further by picking Jeff Adkins, Tom Catalano, and Shawn Lawson to do it.

(5) On that note, Shawn Lawson will lead the team in goals, and Cyrus Saydee will lead in assists.

PART I: Delirium   PART II: Forwards   PART III: Attacking Mids & Wingers   PART IV: Center Midfielders   PART V: Fullbacks   PART VI: Centerbacks   PART VII: Goalkeepers

ROSTER

Detroit City has typically maintained a deep and talented roster from year-to-year. 2016 was an aberration, though. Partly because of player departures and partly because of injuries, the team limped to last season’s finish with several practice squad players seeing significant minutes. This isn’t meant as a criticism of those players, who earned their spots fair and square, but to seriously challenge for a conference title and beyond, you need to put out strong lineups each and every match.

The 2017 roster is a massive improvement from 2016, not just in depth but in overall quality.

A quick rundown of opening day numbers:

Jordan Kalk and Danny Dragoi were also announced as being on the 2016 roster but, except for one friendly appearance by Kalk, neither played with the team. If we take that into account and project that 2 or 3 players on the current roster may never actually appear, that still leaves the total number at 31 or 32, a substantial increase from last year, and one that was absolutely necessary.

Though I’ve mentioned this before, one more point to consider is the complete absence of players from the University of Michigan. While the school has provided City with great talents over the years (Will Mellors-Blair, Latif Alashe, Evan Louro, etc.), the practice of their college coaches pulling them from the team mid-summer was a major obstacle to City’s pursuit of Midwest and National titles.

No Wolverines, plus the word that about 12 out-of-state players are being housed for the summer, as opposed to 3 or 4 in years past, tells me that the coaching staff has built this roster with players who will be with the team from the first match until the very end. Having more players who are full-time commitments should help with team continuity and familiarity, and it’s the strategy that needed to be implemented in order for City to be a serious championship contender. Not only are there more players, most of them are starting-caliber. Ben Pirmann could roll out a starting XI made up solely of backups and I think they would still challenge for a playoff spot.

Starting up top, there are plenty of options at striker. I think Shawn Lawson gets first crack at the job, but he’ll have to fight hard to keep it with half a dozen other guys competing for playing time. The midfield has the chance to be the best City has ever rolled out, with a good mix of veterans and exciting new additions. With Adkins, Catalano, and Saydee orchestrating the attack, the strikers shouldn’t lack for goal scoring opportunities at all.

At the back, there is work to be done to rebound from a disappointing overall performance last season. Luckily, Pirmann has assembled a good group of defenders with which to work. It will take some trial and error to find the right back four, but the process should be made easier by the fact that there will be an elite college goalkeeper (or a very strong, veteran #2) playing behind them.

Continue reading “Season Preview 2017: Team Overview”

PART I: Delirium   PART II: Forwards   PART III: Attacking Mids & Wingers   PART IV: Center Midfielders   PART V: Fullbacks   PART VI: Centerbacks

GOALKEEPER

The most troublesome position for Detroit City in 2016, and the one that most needed to be addressed in the offseason was goalkeeper. Unlike some, I’d argue that last season’s struggles had more to do with player availability issues than lack of quality options.

A Rough Timeline:

Preseason – The basic plan is to have UM’s Evan Louro start the first half of the season and have Cody Lang (Seattle Pacific University) play the second half since he’s not available until classes finish in June.

May – Louro starts the Open Cup match against the Bucks and the regular season opener at Michigan Stars then has to leave the team early due to other commitments. Nate Steinwascher splits time between Oakland County FC and Detroit City, playing well in the Open Cup match at Lousiville. He and Joe Smith rotate for the remainder of May and early June, with mixed results.

June/July – Lang is thrust into the lineup on the road against Grand Rapids (6/10), just hours after a cross-country flight from Washington State. The defense looks discombobulated in a 5-2 defeat. He and Steinwascher rotate for the rest of the season. 8 goals are allowed in the final 7 matches and the defense never truly seems to gel.

The final goalkeeper stats for 2016 look like this:

In past years when City’s been successful, there’s typically been a #1 starter and a solid #2 who’s capable of starting maybe a third of the matches and generally holding his own. Think Clark-Mollon in 2013 or Mollon-Bouillennec in 2015.

Continue reading “Season Preview 2017: Goalkeepers”

PART I: Delirium   PART II: Forwards   PART III: Attacking Mids & Wingers   PART IV: Center Midfielders   PART V: Fullbacks

CENTERBACK

From 2012 to 2015, Josh Rogers was the chief organizer of Detroit City’s defense and was instrumental in holding the back four together. In the wake of his retirement, his absence was evident last year. City allowed the second-most goals of any team in their division (21), only ahead of last-place Dayton (27). That may be more of an indictment on the team as a whole rather than any one position in particular, but centerbacks are the heart of the defense and fixing the problem begins with them. Both of last year’s starters return, but they will have to fight off a group of promising new players if they are to keep their jobs.

Now entering his fourth season with City, Seb Harris is a regular starter who’s taken over from Rogers to become de facto leader of the back four. His height (6’3”) and timing make him one of the best headers of the ball in the league, and he has good speed and athleticism for someone his size. This is never more on display than when he makes runs forward while playing out on the right:

Go ahead and pencil him in at one spot for now, but he’ll have to maintain a high level of play throughout the season in order to stay there.

There was much disappointment amongst supporters when the initial round of roster announcements was made and Omar Sinclair was not included. It all worked out in the end, though, as Sinclair is now officially back with the club for his second season. In 2016 he started 10 matches and led the team in minutes played with 903. Though not as large or imposing as Harris, he showed great recovery speed and looked pretty comfortable when playing the ball out of the back.

He did seem a little overmatched at times last year when going up against bigger, more physical strikers, but for someone coming off of his freshman season at Saginaw Valley, he performed admirably. Having another year of growth and development in college should pay dividends this summer. Just like Seb, he will face much more competition than he did last year thanks to the addition of three experienced newcomers.

Continue reading “Season Preview 2017: Centerbacks”