The thing is that even during the winning streak we played ugly soccer and looked bad at the start of matches, consistently losing and giving up early goals. I cant think of too many matches where we played a complete game and dominated from start to finish. Many other teams can say that they have. Even crappy teams can say that have when they played against us.
I like FK and I value that he is a 'Chicago Guy' who seems to be a supporter of the club as well as the manager and GM. That being said I know there are more dynamic and open- minded coaches out there. Would they want to manage the Fire? Not sure, but I don't think Nowak would fit the bill either.
Okay, I am NOT advocating for the firing of Frank Klopas. I think that would be stupid. However, I do want to answer the question you posed. "Chicago-Based" Guys (loosely listed as people with a connection to the Fire or Chicago Soccer). Basically, I'm a bit bored at work today. Guys with coaching experience: Bob Bradley (if he wants to leave Egypt, and who doesn't?) Piotr Nowak Lubos Kubik Chris Armas (admittedly, limited experience) Hristo Stoitchkov CJ Brown (although he has a job) Pato Margetic Wily Roy Greg Ryan (former Sting player and US Women's coach, where he went 45 wins-9 ties-1 defeat) Guys with a bit of coaching experience: Tony Sanneh (he has limited coaching experience) Zach Thornton (although he has just started coaching college) Pascal Bedrossian (JUST KIDDING!, although he is coaching Klopas' team FC Drive) David Vaudreuil Guys without coaching experience, but could be possibilities: Eric Wynalda Brian McBride Ante Razov
This part bears repeating. I remember some on here giving Pappa hell for years and being glad he was finally being sold and then elated that Flaco was replacing him. Not me. We really missed Pappa the last month of the season. He's worth so much more than El Flaccid and was getting paid far less.
I disagree on the ugliness of the play. For the most part we have played attractive, attacking soccer. I love the style, since it's the same one the Polish NT has used for decades, might not be to everyones liking, you absorb some pressure, make a key takeaway and strike quickly. The fact that we had very few clean sheets doesn't make it ugly soccer, Philly had a ton of clean sheets last year and was playing about as ugly a brand of soccer as can be imagined.
Let's not make it seem like Pappa is Messi. I think we would have lost with him out there too. For every great play he did there was a bone head trip over his feet and let the defenders steal the ball away from him type of play.
Pappa was more consistent and successful than Flacco. Flacco was ultimately a downgrade and that hurt the team in a way that makes you blame Klopas.
That's very insightful! Thanks for all the supporting evidence to help make your case! In reality you're simply working backwards from what you want (Klopas gone) and trying to make everything fit into that viewpoint. You say "Pappa would not have saved us" because if you admit he might have helped us it would undermine your argument about Klopas. You should reverse your thought process and look at facts and let those facts dictate your opinion. You might come to the conclusion that Klopas is great or that he sucks, but at least your opinion would have some integrity.
Sometimes you gotta take the money when its offered though. Pappa was more consistent but I don't think we would have gone much deeper (if at all) in the playoffs because of him, and we (at least supposedly) got significantly more money for letting him go then as opposed to waiting
I think the Fire is better in the long run without both of them. Never was a huge fan of Pappa and as I said he neutralized his good plays with some very bad ones too.
Who cares, he won a championship. There were 12 teams in 1998 and we won the championship, so if Bradley was willing to come back would you say the same thing about him.
No I wouldn't as Bradley was the best coach the Fire have ever had bar none. He's also a pretty good National Team coach too. True Story: Years back (2007) when we played a friendly against Cracovia Krakow I happened to be in the Stadium Club after the game and had my picture taken with Piotr Nowak and Bob Bradley. While chatting with Bob after the picture I told him how much I missed him coaching the Fire. I felt bad after the fact (he had moved beyond coaching club soccer) because he would lead the US over Mexico in the Gold Cup two days later at Soldier Field.
Bradley has had a lot of success since then as well. Nowak's only other accomplishment was leading the U-23s to a third place finish (1-1-1) in the group stages at Beijing. And wrecking a Philly team that played a very good style of soccer
I'm not sure if you read what Philly had to say about him in the court documents. However, not only did he "blow up" that team, some very "not nice" things were said about him. Including and up to embezzlement. This thread is ********ing hilarious. Klopas isn't going anywhere for at least 2 more years.
I find myself somewhere in the middle of this whole discussion. I absolutely don't want to fire Frank and go in a different direction. He has a lot to learn and gets his ass handed to him tactically from time to time, but the players seem to want to run through walls for the guy and THAT is a huge thing that can't be discounted. I believe that Frank will continue to learn and grow as a coach and we should give him that chance. Having said that, I want to pull my hair out when people seem to be so accepting of failure. There is this vibe that, "it's okay. We had a great season where we racked up a lot of points and just look at where we came from!" Sorry, but that drives me nuts. We did have a good season that ended up with a home loss in the play in game. You know what? Supporting Frank as coach and the players AND screaming at the top of our lungs that the end of this season is just not acceptable with any spin put on it are NOT mutually exclusive things. We have done a better job of signing players, but there are still mistakes being made (Flaco). I'm still ultra-suspicious of our front office and I do believe that Andrew tries to do things on the cheap. I do support Frank and the team, but I have not problem saying that the end of this season was a complete flop and unacceptable. We were in a position to seal up home field advantage and have a bye through the playoff round. We couldn't close the deal and then we lose on our home field in the first game of the post-season. For a team that had a club record in points this season, THAT is completely unacceptable. The apologist attitude and the overly critical attitude were best seen in the whole Pappa ordeal. One set of people were talking about how it was a brilliant move to sell him, but to keep a hold of him through the end of the season to try to win a championship because he makes us a better team and we have a shot right now while another group said, "sell him now as he will have one eye on europe the whole time." (and I admit that I was in that group). Then he gets sold, and everyone seemed to flip. The people who said it was brilliant to keep him were now saying it was brilliant to sell him and pocket extra cash. It's okay to say WTF Andrew? We were a better team with him and we would have a better shot by keeping him! I realize there are several people who think I'm too negative, but honestly, I don't think I'm that negative about Frank and the team. That doesn't mean I won't call them out for delivering a shit sandwich like we got at the end of the year. I'm overly negative about Andrew. With the team, however, how many of you said, "oh, you have to give him at least three years" with Denis? How many of you were soft on Sarachan when we had a great year points-wise but didn't win the cup? There has to be a healthy mix of support and criticism. Yes, we missed the playoffs for two years and sunk to an unacceptable place courtesy of our dear leader Andrew and his decision to first hire CDLC and then his refusal (that I think was driven by cash decisions) to fire him after that abortion of a first year when he lost his team in JUNE. But this is MLS where fortunes can turn quickly and where our fortunes DID turn relatively quickly and where we crashed out in game one. Be pissed. It's okay. We can all be pissed off and still support the coach and team.
He also won an mls cup as coach with DC. We don't need a different coach we need better offensive players.