Pareja's flawed system? Hinchey and Bravo have made it pretty clear that they hired Pareja because they wanted this system. Pareja may have been flawed in implementing it, but I don't see how the system itself is inherently flawed.
Which Rapids fans? I think the folks here who typically have interesting opinions (e.g., JasonMa and Quinn among others) have been very skeptical of a Spencer hiring. I find it curious you think Porter had something to build on after Spencer, whose teams played a lot like the Gary Smith teams you so despise, albeit with far less success. (Nevermind that Smith tried to get the team to play it out of the pack and packed the midfield for this in a 4-5-1 but made the pragmatic switch back to a 4-4-2 when he saw his club was far more comfortable in a 4-4-2 with the results to match.) I'm much more willing to credit Porter for transforming that sorry team, especially in light of the rest of his resume--how his Akron teams played, and that he had the U-23's playing a pretty fair passing game considering it was comprised largely of young MLS players.
Sorry if you got that take. Spencer is only in this discussion because he was mentioned by posters here. Spencer's quality has always been overstated by Rapids fans. In my opinion, he is not fit to grace the Rapids Wall of Honor and certainly not fit to coach the team. I am as amazed at Porter's success & Portland's turnaround as anyone here. I give him lotsa credit. Do you think that having Merritt Paulsen as an owner rather than Kroenke may have helped?
I see. I don't know how much Paulsen helps. He's definitely active in the team's affairs, which can be good and bad. He sprang for Porter, Chara, and Valeri. OTOH with their crowds they probably have the revenue that doing such things is easier to afford. I think he did make the move to push Spencer out and try to get someone like Porter in to change the style of soccer.
Spencer is only mentioned because Ives stated he was an option in his article, and he probably only did that because he was a player here and is currently out of a job. Maybe the Rapids give him an interview just to keep relations with him good so he can show up for any future gallery of honor events, but I really don't think he is a serious candidate.
I know everyone thinks that something needs to be done quickly, but I don't want this hire to be a knee jerk reaction. If someone like Cabrera is their first choice and everyone is confident with that option and he agrees to it then go ahead, but if there is any doubt then they need to go the interim coach route. Here is what I would in that scenario. If Cabrera or Dir are still with the team, name them interim, if not, Bravo becomes interim.* Bravo finds himself in a position where he is responsible for making sure the playing/style identity the Rapids are using stays the same. He therefore heads up the coaching search. Bravo conducts a thorough search and does take the time to see if something like the Dely Valdes' is possible, but also give whoever is interim a fair chance as well. Hinchey's role is to go to KSE and Josh Kroenke to try to get them/him to increase the budget for the Rapids coaching positions so if Bravo finds someone experienced but requires decent pay, we can actually offer it to them.** *In the Bravo as interim scenario, we may need some assistants becasue Cabrera and/or Dir are gone in this scenario, if so the push to hire Mullan/Smith as assistant or player-assistant increases. **Hinchey may very well find himself explaining why he deserves to keep his own job while doing this. Just to throw a name out there. Last time we convinced the US U-17 coach (Cabrera) to come be an assistant, what about considering the current U-20 coach, Tab Ramos? I'm guessing the money would have to be pretty dang good to pry him away from that role, but it could be interesting. He could be a great person for Powers and Rivero to learn from.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...be-named-head-coach-nasls-atlanta-silverbacks I know there hasn't been much chatter on hear about Wynalda -- it's mostly been from "outsiders" who long to see him coach in MLS -- but apparently he is set to become the head coach for the NASL's Atlanta Silverbacks. He is/was a technical advisor and on-time interim coach of the club. I guess there will be a few pissed persons around the league, maybe even some Rapids fans, who think he's being blackballed and can't get an MLS job.
That would work, if this were November. The combine starts next week, training camp opens the week after that. Player contracts need to be signed and players need to be in camp, the coach should have influence on that.
I know everyone has this mental picture of what Pareja's style was...and if I asked people what his style was you would say it was a possession based game that aimed to play the ball on the carpet. I think people forget how we actually scored a lot of goals during his tenure. Out most effective method of attacking in 2012 was almost exclusively a throwback to how this team played under Gary Smith; which was a heavy emphasis on wing play and counter attacks. In 2013, we possessed the ball a lot more effectively. However, the majority of the long spells of possession we had seemed to rarely result in goals. What bore the most fruit instead was catching teams off guard with speed and athleticism (read: counter attacking). Our creativity in moving that ball was pretty spotty to be honest, and it seemed to be very dependent on who the personnel was in the midfield. I actually found that Pareja's team, on a regular basis, had problems linking up to the forwards. "Plan A" in any given game was typically to try and hit teams hard at fast right at the start. If you got up by a goal early, it made the possession game a lot more appealing because it allowed you to control the match. That strategy however, seemed to be problematic if we found ourselves down a goal or running into a team they was physical and defended well. Moreover, when Plan A didn't work out, Plan B tended to be...well...there was no Plan B. The team would just basically freeze up. All creativity moving forward would stop, and you would be left with either the team hoofing long balls down the field, or individual players trying to force everything on their own. I think people like the idea that Pareja wanted a Barca type team that basically passed the ball into the goal, but the way he built the roster and the way it was implemented on the field doesn't seem to match up. Seriously...can any of you give me a good reason why we seemed to always have a disproportionate amount of attacking mid/forwards, but seemed to always struggle mightily with our shot/goal conversion? You can blame individual players all you want, but if you are deep at a position and none of them are delivering...that is all on the coach and his system. Thats sounds flawed if you ask me.
I agree; this is a problem that remains to be solved. Torres was completely isolated at forward and so Pareja had him dropping back, or even out-and-out playing as an a-mid. Brown's speed and ability to fight off defenders when he ran under a ball ended up being a big part of the Rapids season. I wish the OPTA stats would categorize shots by zone the way you can get such things for NBA shots. It would be interesting to see how the Rapids did in 2013 relative to other teams/the league average. Did they get many shots in the box, were they mostly headers, how many shots of thruballs, etc.
i'm so confused how and why the rfo would let this happen if its even true. until its confirmed by the team it self i can't believe this. i liked op and felt we were a few natural wingers and a big man striker and a true box to box cdm away from being a top tier team in the mls. why do we always get screwed with coachs? i think all of the season ticket holders should make these choices for the team. every transaction everything literally goes through the supporters and they meet weekly to determine what goes on with the team
The next coach needs to be someone that has the potential for a long term stay. I'm definitely in favor of hiring an interim coach instead of settling for the people everyone else passed on at this point. I'd rather take time and get it right than just find a stop gap
I liked Quinn's post about what really worked under Pareja. Our possession based 4-3-3 system didn't always yield our best results of 2013. I also recall many of our key wins coming when our team was out-possessed and we relied on a counter-attacking style to win the game. I thought the biggest positive during Pareja's tenure was the young players that we picked up, particularly Klute, O'Neil, Brown, Powers, Torres, Rivero, and Irwin. Maybe even Eloundou can be put into that group eventually. The only older player acquisition I was a fan of was Sanchez. Anyhow... point I'm trying to make is that I didn't think the tactics or strategies of Pareja were big strengths. Sure he wanted to create a certain style of play or identity, but I don't believe that really happened for the team (maybe due to injuries, etc.). So, what I'm trying to say is although I think having OP remain with Rapids would have been positive, I don't think his departure is going to be such a huge loss and I believe our next coach will likely have some success because we do have some decent young talent who likely want to perform at a high level since they are in the early stages of their professional careers and have the desire to make some good money or get national team call ups if they play well week in and week out. I think the motivation of our players should be good regardless of coach and therefore I don't think getting the "perfect coach" is going to make or break the Rapids. I say just go for a coach who is solid, committed, demands good work ethic, and is a type of coach who they players actually will like playing for. I think Fraser or Spencer would do a fine job and just because Spencer coached a certain style at Houston or Portland doesn't meen he can't adapt to the players we have and use different tactics. I think any good coach is willing to change formations and adapt to circumstances as they arise. Anyway... just thoughts, but even though I'd like to see the RFO hire me, I'll likely be content with whoever they end up hiring.
you guy's realize we played 4231 all year and not 433 with a cam and two cms? there almost identical formations but with how far back our wingers played they were right and left mids.... i would like to see someone come in that plans to stay and work with this team but i feel the rfo and the owner is the main reason we cannot keep a coach.
In regards to tactics, it seemed like most teams that beat us effectively followed the same road map; don't let your defenders get out-muscled and out-hustled by our forwards, and also play high pressure in the midfield to force our players into making decisions that were hasty and inaccurate. Changing gears... With consideration to the roster and young players. The Rapids also have a bunch of guys that are in the "negation" phase are aren't officially signed back on with the club for 2014. It's actually about a third of our roster from last year that is still up in the air...which is something that is probably very appealing to a new coach because he can pick and choose the guys in that pool he wants to keep, and/or bring in new players that fit his style better without completely disrupting the good core of young players we already have. With the way our roster is currently built, I don't think this team is as incompatible to a non-Pareja style as a lot of people seem to think.
This is another thing. As much as Pareja wanted a 4-3-3 system, he never seemed to have the ability to make a true 4-3-3 work effectively...and constantly tweaked into different formations as a result.