This season has a lot of déjà 2012 feel to it. Or 2013. Or 2010. Where we're not good enough, show flashes of brilliance (graded on the MLS curve), but we all had a good time tailgating. Luckily live streams or road telecasts are often not in HD to see how bad the team really is. You can hope for something. Hack canned. They'll trade for striker /CB/LB depth or starting quality player(s). They'll address it in July's window. Sugarman will pony up more money. Whatever. The only hope this team has is this team. The players figure out how to put in 90 minutes of work without brain farts. MLS acts surprised when Hack makes a sub (Ben Olsen "the game changed in the 62' when Hoppenot came on, we weren't ready for it and it won the game for them. Credit to Johns plan there."). Hack channels Klopp. Or Klopas. Can only go up from here. The only real hope is the end of the schedule. They've a bunch of home games in the last 9. If we haven't completely lost the thread by then, other teams fall apart, there will be a chance to storm into the playoffs. Just don't bet on it.
Could be....while I was ok with trading McInerney, it really frustrated me when Hack would sub him off and bring in Hoppenot. I'll bet the house that it frustrated Mac as well. From my experience in the work force, it's not very enjoyable working for someone dumber than yourself.....thats my perception of the Hack/players dynamic....I'm basing that purely on things I've just made up in my own mind..
It has been a joke for awhile now, and I agree that it needs to stop. But, there were no other attacking options on the bench for Wednesday. Looking over our roster, and taking away injuries and guys who are at HCI, I don't see the depth that Hack claims to have. If he wants to take credit for putting this team together, then he deserves to be fired. We are anemic on offense, with no depth at striker at all.
It's the HOPE, that I can't stand.. We had Casey..We had Berry who couldve started and left Wheeler as a available striker..I don't think we needed to start both LeToux and Fernandes, which would've freed up another option.. I don't understand why our strikers can only go 70 min every game but Hack has no problem playing other players every minute every game. The whole role of a manager is to set up the team in a formation to compete as well as give himself some freedom to change the game later on...is it any wonder why the majority of fans question his starting line up and subs all the time? But what do I know....he could be Sir Alex Ferguson II and we're all bat shit crazy!
The Hoppenot sub is Hack saying, "Well, I've got no other options and no other ideas, so let's do the same thing that hasn't worked all season long." Wheeler had been used effectively as a sub for Casey. Same big frame, less miles on the legs. Now that he's a defender, we lost that option. I applaud Hack for bringing in Maidana, Nogueria, and Edu. However, it's clear that he failed to address the defensive issues and in his mind there never was an issue. It became an issue for him because we keep getting exposed in the back, but anyone should have been able to see that playing a converted forward against Henry would result in a goal. Sheannon and Berry (when he plays) are the ONLY people on the defense that play their natural positions. Amobi has done very well at CB, but think about if we could put him next to Edu instead of Carroll?
I don't think I ever looked a Jack and thought he was smarter than Hack, or really many of his teammates. Intelligence doesn't seem to be Hack's weakness. Predictability and a lack of imagination seem, to me, to be the biggest weaknesses. I don't think you need a brilliant manager, or players, anyway. We saw how far soccer IQ can take someone!
To me Jack was not the greatest example to use, but sub in Mondragon (yeah I know he left before Hack took over), maybe Valdes, and for sure Edu and Nogueira. On the inside they must be laughing. To avoid crying.
Hoppenot doesn't even deserve to make the 18 with how he is playing, but who else is on the team to take his spot? Nobody?
I'd like to think Hack has shown he can change things up a bit, so he should be able to see the Hopp sub has been repeatedly used but produced exactly zero all year - well maybe partial culpability for the Portland equalizer, that's all I can think of. Who else? He's got another young striker with promise in the squad, but has made him a CB, and selects him there ahead of 2 experienced CBs brought in this offseason. At this point, it's a matter of saving face that Hack has to keep Wheeler at CB. It's his 'project', the website has puff pieces on it, MLS puts him in team of the week. Hell, even the NY commentators remark on Wheeler as the converted striker. So unless Hack fancies another project to convert Ethan White into a striker, maybe the most likely change is for Le Toux to lose his starting spot and have him be the attacking sub.
In regards to subs, I wish we had Fred on the bench. Also, I have to think Riberio is a better attacking option off the bench than anyone else we have. Why is he in Harrisburg instead of someone like Bone or Hoppe? He should have been on the bench Wednesday. He got a lot of shit on here, but I would rather have seen Keon come on than Hoppe or Lahoud.
I don't usually say things like this..... but if they lose or draw tomorrow I will be leaning more towards the fire hack side.
During his twenty or so minutes on Wednesday, he recorded one touch on the ball in the stat sheet as an attacker for a team trailing. That's interesting.
Maybe, just maybe, he could start he could start an American experiment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Laudrup
That could be interesting, however I think he would lean toward Promotion survival side or championship promotion hopeful
No, but it's the only one where it's been publicly discussed that there was a conflict....Parke could've been another one 'personal reasons'...Mondragon and Valdes could be too, but they had other reasons as well....if Edu and Nogueira suddenly get the ass, then I would suspect that the locker room isn't happy.. Speaking of Edu and Nogueira, I would think they've been around some class managers and will know an imposter when they see one...just saying.
"Sometimes the easiest things in football, a simple pass five or eight yards, can be the most effective. That, everybody can learn."[49] Never come here... I work in Construction and when the crew works for a bad foreman, we basically tell him to just get our time right.....we'll take care of the rest
So, by this analogy, Hackworth is the "bad foreman" and the eleven guys on the field are "the crew" (not the one from Columbus). Who gets the axe if the project doesn't get done right, nor on time? In spite of the manager, it's a shame the Union isn't taking "care of the rest".
John Hackworth's career MLS record with the Union as of April 20, 2014 (65 games, 82 points): Year: W - L - T (PPG) - GF/GA 2012: 8 - 11 - 4 (1.22) - 29/31 2013: 12 - 12 - 10 (1.39) - 42/44 2014: 1 - 2 - 5 (1.00) - 9/10 Total: 21 wins, 25 losses, 19 draws (1.26) - 80/85 You have to wonder if the poor results at the beginning of this season have the front office thinking about a change. Hackworth's PPG average after almost two full seasons in charge would leave us with just under 43 points over a 34-game season. For the sake of comparison, the Union earned 1.16 PPG in 75 games under Peter Nowak (21-30-24).