It's interesting to see Pedro Santos at a 72, a team best. Fans directed a lot of bad vibes his way due to lack of performance. Some of that deserved, most of it not. If you watch him play, you can see the quality. Vision, positioning, passing, quickness with the ball. He has a lot of good attributes.
Something that will hurt Columbus come summer will be Zack Steffen leaving for England, but his replacement is a solid Joe Bendik (69). I would not be surprised if he got more games as the summer approaches and Columbus decides to keep Steffen healthy.
A couple of other players to keep an eye on in regards to leaving are Wil Trapp (let's say, 30% chance of leaving) and Gyasi Zardes (51% chance). The latest addition to the team this year is Robinho, a mid-20s Brazilian midfielder. I don't have a lot of info on him outside a mediocre FM rating. I'm sure he was brought in to pair with Artur (whose name I misspelled in the graphic! but leaving it) a bit. Not just on the pitch but have a buddy off it.
Another couple notes one what Columbus has going for them: 1. Their bench is strong and filled with MLS experience, and 2. Carry-over minutes from 2018 is a good predictor of success in 2019.
I'm looking for Columbus to be a motivated side this year because of new ownership. While they've lost a good MLS coach, they've gained a stable one in Caleb Porter. I expect Columbus to finish closer to the middle of the Eastern Conference than last year, however.
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