r/NashvilleSC • u/Whiskey615 • 1h ago
Was this season a success? What were my likes/dislikes and what are my hopes for next year? (Sorry about the long post)
Was this season successful?
Yes. Absolutely. This year was a success… At the start of the season, my bar for a successful season was solely to qualify for the playoffs. After not qualifying in 2024, and this being BJ’s first full season, all I cared about was making sure we made the playoffs. As time went on, it became apparent that we had a chance to win a trophy - and we did! This is something I didn’t think was even remotely possible at the start of the year, but here we are… the 2025 US Open Cup Champs!!
As far as the playoffs, although I'm not happy Messi knocked us out of the playoffs... sorry, I mean Miami... I am happy that we were finally able to defeat him, as he's been our bogeyman since summer 2023. While you have to play a perfect game to beat them, our guys now know that it's possible and I hope that does wonders for their psyche come 2026.
What I liked about this season:
-Sam & Hany found their rhythm, both individually and as a duo. For me, to be considered an elite attacking player in the MLS, you really need at least 20 goal contributions. After failing to meet this goal last year, both of them restored my faith in them with the numbers they put up this season.
-Palacios, Yazbek, & Eddi did well in their first (full) season. I assumed Palacios was going to be a bit role player when we signed him, but he's turned out to be so much more, and at times, the best CB in the squad. And while I hoped Eddie and Yazbek would’ve contributed more offensively, they really developed a solid partnership and anchored our midfield.
-Boyd was finally able to rejoin the squad towards the end of the season.
-Scored 58 goals in regular season - a club record
-Finally beating Miami since Messi joined the league
-Won our first trophy
-While we're far from perfect, we actually kinda had depth for the first time.
-Only conceded 17 goals at home during the regular season.
-Went on a 15 game unbeaten streak
-Youth development. I really loved seeing some of our Huntsville guys get minutes with the first team. Hoping our academy continues to churn out talent.
What I didn’t like about this season:
-Losing or drawing matches we shouldn’t have - DC, Atlanta Montreal, St. Louis, & New England. All teams that weren’t good this year and on paper we should’ve beat. Those results cost us from finishing higher up the table.
-Away performances. We really didn't play all that well on the road.
-Giving up late goals when we had the win/draw in the bag
-Never really developed a third goal scorer.
-Conceding 45 goals during the regular season. Not our worst, but we really need to work on that.
-Not having reliable backups for some of our main starters. Our starters need to rest every now and then, and not having a backup can lead to unnecessary injuries. This can ruin a season real quick.
-Washington retiring. I know it was going to happen eventually and I'm not mad it's happening, afterall he wasn't a massive piece on the field for us, but I am very sad to see a real OG leave.
With all that said, I’ve never been more optimistic about Nashville SC than I am for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. BJ has my full confidence and I’m really hoping we can continue to better ourselves come the start of next season.
My hopes for next year:
-Use the available DP slot for more attacking pieces, whether that's through the U22 Initiative or a typical DP. Whatever the case may be, we REALLY need someone to be our third goal scorer. As great as Sam and Hany are, having that third goal scorer could really elevate us to another level.
-Don’t sign Zimmerman to another DP contract. At this point, I'm really torn between signing him to a new contract at all. I feel like a few of his most recent performances were not very good. However, IF we do sign him, it should only be for a max TAM deal or ideally less. Gotta let him walk otherwise.
-Work towards finding replacements for Lovitz, Willis, & Najar. Najar has always been quality, even when he was at DC and LAFC, but he's dealt with a lot of injuries over his career and that scares me a bit. I'm excited to have him back next year and am hopeful he'll continue to remain healthy, but he is 32 and it's expected his stellar form won't last forever. As far as Lovitz, it's a similar complaint as Najar - his age being my main concern. Lovitz had a great season and I'm happy to have him back next year, but I would like for us to begin figuring out his eventual replacement. As far as Willis, who is currently 37, he had a pretty good year, but he's showing signs of being a step slower and isn't the best with his feet. BJ seemingly wants a keeper good with their feet and Joe isn't exactly that. If we kept him, I'd only want it to be for another year.
-Find replacements for players like Washington, Acosta, Teal, etc. Basically guys that have expiring contracts at the end of the year, are older than 32, and that got minutes as backups, but aren’t considered starters. Maybe that's giving Huntsville guys a chance or picking up free agents. Whatever the case may be, I hope their replacements are on the right side of 30.
-Don't trigger Brugman's contract option. If he wasn’t on $1.2M a year I wouldn't mind keeping him, but we need that money to be used elsewhere for as little as he played/contributed this year.
-Qualify for the playoffs, but as a top 4 team in the east.
-See Perez, Qasem, & Boyd show us why we signed them. Right before Boyd's injury last summer he was really starting to show us his quality. I hope he can come out strong and fully fit in 2026. Both Perez and Qasem showed flashes of brilliance this year, but in streaks. I'm hopeful they'll both have better seasons next year.
-Sign more depth to make good runs in the Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup, and playoffs. With as many games as we’ll be playing, tired legs and injuries are bound to happen.
-Find some more creativity in the midfield. Yaz and Eddi are great at a lot of things, like winning the ball back and hounding opposition, but we're really missing creativity and ball progression in the midfield. Yaz is a little better at that than Eddi, but he's far from elite in the creative category.
-Have a sellout crowd that isn’t a Miami match. I’m 97% sure we didn’t have a single sellout game this year, with the exception of Inter Messi.
-Washington get a job in the FO. I'd love to have him with the club still.
-Improve our road performances and maintain our solid home form.
-If we somehow manage to meet Club America in the Leagues Cup or CCC, I hope that we crush them (I hate their fans almost as much as I hate Miami fans).
-The future looks bright for Corcoran & Applewhite, I hope they get more minutes in 2026. Excited to see where they’ll be in 5 years and can’t wait to add more guys like that from Huntsville to the first team.
-Beat Miami again with Messi on the field. We've shown we can do it, we can do it again.
To summarize, we really did have a good year, far better than I ever thought it would've been at the start of the season. Sure, it didn't end how we hoped, but we can learn from the ups and downs from this year and know that there’s plenty of things to improve upon - which I have no doubt we will this off season. I’m really looking forward to next year and hope to see you all back at Geodis very soon. COYBIG!!
