How are you so sure nothing will change between now and next March? If you want to ding Frank for our last seven games, you have to credit him for taking us from a pathetic joke to a playoff team in a year and a half. It took Arena a year to rebuild the Galaxy and he had a helluva lot more resources to work with than Frank's had. It took Sigi years to rebuild Columbus but they stuck with him even in the crappy times and they were rewarded with an MLS Cup. OTOH, we've seen in Toronto and New York what happens when a team keeps switching coaches constantly. I want us to be RSL or Sigi's C-bus, not Toronto. Finally, during the first half of the season we had obvious deficiencies and we addressed them - mostly successfully. This gives me hope that we will finally make moves sooner rather than later this off season and (except for keeping Anibaba) that they'll mostly be the right moves.
I don't like they way we have played all season long. Giving up early goals. Letting teams like NEw England and Philadelphia look like Barca with possession. Playing counter attack football with no vision or no apparent system of logical tactics. Sure Klopas should be given credit for helping us get better record wise, but I don't think he is the man to take us to a Championship. Better to cut our losses sooner and rebuild ASAP than to hope and pray he gets better as a tactician and talent evaluator.
Sigi paid his dues with UCLA and the Galaxy. Then finally he became a decent coach. Klopas is not even in his universe yet. He will probably need to leave us in order to win something after many failures.
You may want to actually look at Sigi's record in LA before saying something so incredibly stupid. Sigi took LA to the MLS Cup the first year he was there after taking over five games into the season, took them to another MLS Cup two years later and they were a participant in the CCL twice. After firing Steve Sampson who had just won an MLS Cup for them, the Galaxy too joined the Coach-A-Year Club and won nada until Il Bruce came along and it took him three years to finally win a trophy.
No way I want Nowak anywhere near the technical area. Just look at the disaster he left in Philly, and the near universal disdain that everyone who works for/with him has expressed. Not to mention the numerous allegations of embezzling money from the Union.
They peaked early, sold Pappa for an unforseen downgrade in Flaco and weren't deep enough to overcome an injury to Pardo? You have done nothing to explain your point. No one is saying Klopas is perfect. I think the most people are saying is that he's improving and so is the team. Give him a few more pieces and we'll continue to get better.
The point stands alone. We won't win Championships as long as he is manager. We will probably go down 1-0 like we do almost every game and chase around the ball against teams like New England and Philly.
I have no reason to trust your judgment on this. No one does because one data point doesn't make a graph. You're "talking out of your ass". Some of us are looking at the history of the last year and seeing a positive trajectory. We believe we can continue following that trajectory by adding and replacing a few pieces on the field. Will we peak with a championship win? No one knows, although Klopas has already gotten us to one. So based on history we know we can at least get to a championship. Please use some logic to temper your emotions. It'll make the discussion more interesting.
It would be amazing if a team was always a top competitor and spent most of it's history dominating in MLS. It would also probably spark a whole new set of rules to hold back the league and player development because of it. There are a few pieces missing and a few tweaks needed. Every manager needs the 3 years it takes to build a winning side. After that, you go from there. Sigi won 3 straight cups with Seattle and was there 4 years in a row. Hasn't made the MLS finals yet with them. We were all over the moon to just be at the Cup Final, not because Fire are known for winning it or taking it seriously...well more seriously than NY, but because it was unexpected and we saw the potential there. I'd like to see some deadwood removed, a game changer brought in and some light rotating throughout the season.
No one seems to be talking about this important fact: Frank gives a damn about this club and this city. He's not just biding his time until he can get another coaching spot where he really wants to be/live. He doesn't see Chicago as just another not-LA-or-NY city. He doesn't think MLS is kind of a joke league compared to the "real" leagues.
We started playing better after we took Pause out against Houston. Pause is good in your run of the mill league game.. but when it comes down to do or die playoff games.. He showed is inability to setp it up and bring an extra level to his game... which means that we have nothing better to see from him next year.. only less than this year...He is an older player...and its time to train a replacement that can do the defensive work AND create offensive passes to start counters...Something thats simply a young mans position...
and... almost every team that finished above us this year spent a lot more money on salary than we did. If Frank has Robbie Keane and De Ro we win the league.
I agree... firing Frank is not the answer here...Getting rid of hauptman is or, hauptman better be willing to find that superstar player.. (NOT MACDONALD) he is talking about willing to sign.. Its one or the other... but we cannot have both... he could definitely make Franks job easier and his fan base happier and more willing to re-up season tickets (hint there Andy) if we have a marquee player worth paying money to see week in and week out.
Thats because He comes from a hardnosed disciplines style of Euro soccer, and alot of American kids cant handle it.. thats the issue... Allegations are all they are at this point... I actually believe in innocent until proven guilty... Philly doesnt look like it is entirely innocent in that matter. That being said.. I think Frank should stay and our focus should be on Pushing hauptman to spend money on a Marquee midfielder to replace Pause and Pardo
Positive trajectory does not correspond or correlate with the last month of the season. No matter what excuses you bring up about Pappa or whatever. Even within our wins we gave up early goals and lost the possession battle. The trajectory looks more like an inconsistent zig zagging line that does not seem to be getting better. The other teams and coaches may get better before we do unless we do something about it.
The last month of the season isn't a statistically significant sample size based on how you're applying the data. Taking just a month's sample we could go back to our winning streak and predict that Klopas would coach us to an undefeated season. That would be equally stupid. Qualitative vs. quantitative. That's not always easy to discern with emotionally laden sports.
^^ THIS ^^ is SO key to why Frank is and should remain our guy for the next couple cycles. How many other Chicago based guys with MLS and World Football experience are just laying around waiting to jump into a jet for the Fire to go off to some far flung location in Spain, Germany or South America to talk to some clubs about recruiting some new pieces of the puzzle that also are familiar with Chicago Fire tradition? Unwad yer panties if you are so upset the Fire didn't win it all in Frank's first full year as manager and go jump on the bandwagon of some club that supporting isn't quite so difficult (Man U. or N.Y. Yankees)...