I know alot will disagree with this but I don't think the coaching is an issue with the team. Everything stems from the front office not willing to provide a budget to build team and vetoing transfers because they cost too much. When it comes to coaching the players I've seen plenty of improvement from several players to believe that's not much of a problem. The issue is you can only do so much if the players aren't good enough and we have too many who may be able to reach their ceiling but they're ceilings are too low to compete as starters in MLS today. Everytime I look at the lineups we're outgunned for talent and depth.

Shelton has gone from being someone who could play anywhere across the frontline to being a solid RB who did a good job against one of the most electric players in the league (Bouanga) and has gotten a team of the week nod.

Jake Davis seems to show something new every week who could replace Remi. Feeling somewhat comfortable with Remi possibly leaving this year was not something I thought I'd feel going into this season.

Castellanos has gone from being a solid USL center back last year to being someone I'm not afraid of having in there, even in an Open Cup final, though not preferred.

Voloder has shown a good amount of improvement from last year but is still a bit hit or miss. His weaknesses are being ironed out, he just needs to work on his concentration and focus.

Ndenbe went from being a good player and hoping he could become a solid player to being a key player in our run last year and you can already see the difference from when he came back from injury this year. It's night and day when Leibold comes in.

Bassong went from being a shaky 3rd string left back to being a solid rotational midfield when called upon. He brings some pace in there which really helped during the final. I was questioning him starting but he was able to slow down or break up alot of LA's counters down the middle with his pace that our other midfielders don't have.

Memo was a free agent without suitors and he's become a very reliable player in multiple positions and someone who is probably deserving of a few more spots.

Afrifa was talked about preseason doing well in his position change and you've seen progress throughout the season into being a strong backup option.

Agada, while still too wasteful has become a more reliable option and is starting to improve his ability on the ball. When he came in his first touch was dreadful and he couldn't complete a pass. It's still not great but definitely alot of improvement there.

This issue is that the ceilings on most of these players are that of a MLS backup/spot starter. Gone are the days where you build a team by intra-league trades and who can find the best free transfers. The setup where all transfers have to be improved by the owner instead of having a budget to work with has really set this team back because nobody else is trying to build a team under these constraints and that leads to renewing guys you may want to move on from which has left us in this cycle. Getting in younger players with room to grow under good coaching will take money from Illig but can also get the club moving in the right direction because right now we're too old, leaving little room for improvement.

Thommy has also been a bit of a problem this year. He is a very good player but he doesn't make the team better. Announcers have talked about lack of movement of the ball and that has been a problem but alot of it is down to having a #10 that can't pick out those passes and doesn't do well when playing in a strict system. Wingers and forwards are having to drop further back to be playmakers and when he's on the ball the runs aren't happening because he's not going to find them. Instead they're coming short and showing themselves in places where he can get the easy pass. Usually there's been alot of patterns of play used and I could almost predict a lot of the movements and runs but when Thommy plays the 10 they can't really play with those patterns as he likes to roam. It's caused a lot of problems getting the front 3 involved and effective. That's left midfielders and defenders trying to play a bigger part in the attack at times because under possession it becomes bogged down and then getting caught on counters. It would've been nice if Kinda had chosen to resign instead of going to Israel. Attacking counters are OK and we've improved on set pieces at least.

Does anyone know who all is out of contract at the end of the season and who has options that could or could not be picked up by the team?

If this has been discussed lately I apologize in advance.

Mike Burns has been a disaster for this club. If only we'd stayed the course with Brian Bliss, we'd have won the Open Cup.

Don't @ Me.

Besides attending the final home game of the year to say goodbye to some of the guys who probably wont be coming back, what do we look forward to? the season is over and we arent close to competing. tonights final made me salty because we have so far to go to be at the top of the league.

It's our biggest game since 2017! Let's go boys!

Either 3-0 LAFC or 2-1 SKC

This game depends on which LAFC show up. If LAFC show up like they did before their final loss, I don’t see us hanging around. LAFC are in very bad form at the moment and if sporting can play like they did against Colorado, they have a legit chance.

This has been on my mind for a while, and I wanted to share with everyone here. I recently was diagnosed with autism. Growing up, I always felt weird. I always seemed out of place and struggled to make friends. I had issues with “normal” interactions that seemed so simple to most others. I grew frustrated by this as I got older.

It was recently pointed out to me (in a kind and gentle sort of way) that I seem to have autistic tendencies. After going back and forth, I finally decided to get some testing done a few months ago. It turned out that they were right and I am, in fact, autistic. Wish I would have known as a kid, but better late than never.

The reason I’m writing this is because Sporting Kansas City has been so important to me since moving here. As I said, I’ve struggled to fit in most places I go, but when I’m at CMP, I feel like I have 20,000 friends. It’s a truly special feeling. For those two to three hours on a Saturday night, I don’t feel weird or like I’m different. I feel “normal”. I feel just like everyone else. I get to forget about my anxieties, and all the difficult thoughts in my head disappear.

I know it’s been a pretty tough season, but I still look forward to every match. I still get excited to watch our boys. I wanted nothing more than to be in Los Angeles this week to help cheer them on to another US Open Cup, but I’ll be here rooting for them no matter what the experts (and some of you, you know who you are) say about our odds.

So, thank you. Thank you for helping me find a place to fit in. Thank you for helping me feel like I belong somewhere. Even if it’s only a few hours a couple days a month, it makes all the difference to me. I can’t wait to see everyone at the stadium and cheer them on again (unfortunately, I will not be at the game tonight so cheer extra hard for me).

Does anyone remember watching sporting games on 38.1 the spot, now we have to pay 100 bucks just to watch them play. MLS has really improved in the last 15 years.

What was that? A 4-1 win? Who is this team?

How does this make you feel heading to the Open Cup Final Sep 25?

It's official, with 5 games left to play Sporting is up for elimination this evening. They are the only team up for elimination this evening as stL is not playing and San Jose is already eliminated. stL will be up for elimination Saturday.

Kansas City will be eliminated from Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs contention if:

1. Kansas City lose vs. Colorado AND Portland win/draw vs. LA AND Minnesota win vs. Cincinnati or...
2. Kansas City draw vs. Colorado AND Portland win vs. LA AND Minnesota win vs. Cincinnati

Everytime pv is asked at Joaquin playing he has the same bs answer..hes still not ready. He's still got a ways to go before he's ready. There's literally only a month left in our season. Legit question...why even sign someone at the summer window you can't utilize? Why not just be honest and say he won't play til next season more than likely?

So today after seeing our starting line up i was like why do we every start Salloi, russell, pulido. So i went and got every starting lineup, score, goals etc and put it in a sheet. In the end they aren't (any more) terrible (then the rest of us). I didn't want to waste more than 10 min, so no proof reading or double checking.

Edit: I only looked at players who were cited as starting "up top" Thommy has definitely started more but as a pure mid.

https://preview.redd.it/y4naga7x03pd1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=0604546a46690a7052f542784e753cfaa922315f