The official Fire Klopas thread

It's not an argument, that's the point. You haven't made an argument yet. All you've done is expressed a baseless opinion. Those are OK as long as you don't pretend they're actual factual discussion points. Once you do, and you have, you've moved into fantasy land.

 

******** Ruiz for your opinion.

 

I just want to point out that our 57 points would have won the East by 6 points last year, and been third overall. 1.68 ppg would have gotten us 2nd in the East in 2010, the Supporters Shield would have been ours in 2009,

Point totals, for whatever reason, were very high among playoff teams this year. Possibly a fluke, possibly the new schedule, but that's what it is. You can complain that a play-in game loss is little consolation, but the fact that we finished 4th hides the fact that 1-3 did way better than average based on the last few years.

 

While I was reading the last few pages...I couldn't help but hear dueling banjos in the flower fields of my imagination...

There is no doubt in my mind that Frank Klopas wants to bring us to the Cup Final, win it, and be carried off to glory...but in that desire to win hides a coach that is also afraid to look bad, thus the barricade defense and lack of player rotation...the idea we can go into games with a focus to prevent goals, while not being too concerned with scoring goals (until we have to tie it up), is a sobering fact that can't be ignored or put aside just because it's Frankie Klopas...we did not stand a chance this year with the insurmountable task of scoring goals with a limited group of attacking players...and the idea that the right and left back can add to the attack was never an option for us...but the 4-2-3-1 seems to be the flavor of the day, and you can see it everywhere from the college level to the EPL and elsewhere, and that doesn't make it right...and for this squad, it made no sense at all. What we saw this year was a team that was consistently outgunned in the midfield, and a defense that was constantly under siege...we also saw a few bright spots on the field in Nyarko, Rolfe, and MacDonald who worked really hard, but never stood a chance due to their lack of options and time when attacking...when your options are Sega on the left wing, Anibaba or Gargan on the right wing, or a passback to Pause, our field general, you have to be able to see what was happening game after game after game and make the changes needed for us to have a chance of winning and becoming formidable contenders. We were able to come back and win, or even tie games this year, but only when we altered the team by throwing on some attacking players and removing some defensive ones.
We never changed...and this year was neither a success, nor a light showing we've turned a corner and are on our way...we need some big changes in the way we approach games, and it needs to start in 2013...

 

I think or believe that if we get a few more players for depth Klopas will be more dynamic. Right or wrong he didn't seem to trust all 27 players he had. We ultimately ended up with four forwards but the drop off in the midfield from starter to bench warmer was pretty stark.

Another year with the same core, add some depth and hopefully we'll see the next level from the coach and on the field.

 

Good posts by you and Kozy, but to combine his thoughts with yours leaves us wanting a bit in two key areas. We need new outside backs. If Sega and Anibaba ARE OUR DEPTH, then we are in good shape. With a solid central defense and two defensive midfielders, those outside backs have to be a consistent part of the attack. I've said this before, but watch SKC play over the next few weeks. They have Chance Myers and Seth Sinovic as outside backs, and you see them and hear their names all the time in the offensive half. In addition, we need one more starting midfielder. Again, I think Alex is excellent depth, but I don't want to see either him or Flaco starting for us next year.

You are correct that our midfield depth is shockingly shallow. And we have carried some of these guys for quite a while now and they either add nothing or Frank is afraid to let them show that they can add something. Time to clean off the bench in some respects.

Now, if that one starter in midfield would be a huge player like we have discussed in the past, then I think this team goes from competitive to front runner.

 

Well thought out post. Sorry I snipped most of it but what I bolded above is really stands out for me. This is a key issue for us that needs to be addressed next year.

 

This.

The system we play need not be ultra defensive. In 2010, we scored 37 goals and gave up 38 for a differential of -1. 2011 was difficult to assess due to the coaching change midway through the season but I don't anyone here is stupid enough to argue that we were better under DLC than under Frank last year. For the record, though, we scored 46 goals and gave up 45 for a differential of +1. This year we also scored 46 goals but only gave up 41 for a differential of +5 - and this was done as the East was much improved over the past few years.

To solve our defensive problems that kept turning wins into ties last year, Frank brought in Berry and Arne to help our back line and Robayo to provide depth in the middle of the field. Robayo was a bust but Arne and Berry were great and we gave up fewer goals than in 2011, albeit this improvement was muted by Frank's insistence on playing Anibaba at RB. But even that error shows that Frank was also focused on our offense too. We lost Grazzini and Pappa (and Frank is not 100% to blame for those issues) but we brought in Rolfe, Macdonald and El Flaccid. Yeah, Flaccid was a huge bust but any player acquisition is a calculated risk and Rolfe almost single-handedly turned our season around and MacDonald made us even better. Our player acquisition success rate is much higher now than in the past.

The only worries we have about the starting spine of our team are Arne and Pardo. My bet is that both are back next year but Pardo plays less as he can't go another complete season. If so, we just need a few improvements at RB and RM and to add some depth in a few places like at Rolfe's position, at forward and DM for when Pardo sits to rest. That's a much better place than were this time last year.

Coaching wise, I'd like to see Frank develop a Plan B for when Plan A isn't working. I'd also like to see Frank be quicker to make changes when it's obvious that a player isn't working (ie., Anibaba at RB) and I'd like us to actually start scouting opponents before we play them so we don't go into some games looking so utterly unprepared. But so far, I think Frank has earned the right to another season in charge.

 

Nothing like the fire getting Wondo,robbie keanne type players to make frank look like a genius and all this talk of rotation and formations will go away.

 

Our Plan B is to take Pause or Pardo off, switch to a diamond 4-4-2 and start playing more direct.

 

Then we need a better Plan B. Of course, it would also help if there wasn't such a yawning chasm in quality between our starters and our bench...

 

That would mean that Andy would have to spend Keane money and we all know that won't happen.

 

Well San Jose did not spent Keane type of money and they did ok.

 

Yallop is on his fifth year as coach and according to Wikipedia (I couldn't find the annual records) he's had his worst winning percentage as a coach during those five years and still has more losses than wins including 2012. He's been allowed to build a team though, and it's working.

And obviously this is what a lot of people are saying about Klopas. Even Sigi and Arena need some time to build a team. Klopas may or may not ever be as good as those two coaches but we all know no coach is going to have immediate success so we have to give them some time and flexibility.

 

He said he would. Don't tell me he would lie to us?

 

This is basically the same story as Peter Vermes at Sporting KC. He didn't even qualify for the MLS play-offs in his first full year in charge but KC stuck with him and now look at them. Further proof that in MLS, the "New-Coach-A-Year" approach isn't the way to go.

 

To get a 20+ scorer you're going to have to spend Keane type of money.

 

Chris Wondolowski costs Robbie Keane type money?



OK, since you asked....

Here are this year's top goal scorers from MLS.com. How many of these guys cost "Robbie Keane money"? I mean, yeah, there is Robbie Keane himself, of course. But besides him you've got Henry, Donovan, and...?

Chris Wondolowski SJ F-M 32 31 2813 27 7 127 55 11 5/7 13 14 0.86 21.3
Kenny Cooper NY F 33 26 2505 18 3 84 46 7 3/3 11 7 0.65 21.4
Alvaro Saborio RSL F 31 26 2390 17 3 87 40 6 3/3 13 4 0.64 19.5
Robbie Keane LA F 28 28 2519 16 9 94 43 6 1/2 9 7 0.57 17.0
Thierry Henry NY F 25 24 2108 15 12 88 37 3 0/0 10 5 0.64 17.0
Eddie Johnson SEA F 28 24 2120 14 3 72 25 5 0/0 7 7 0.59 19.4
Fredy Montero SEA F 33 28 2576 13 8 126 46 3 0/0 4 9 0.45 10.3
Alan Gordon SJ F 23 13 1297 13 7 43 25 4 0/0 8 5 0.90 30.2
Chris Pontius DC F-M 31 26 2339 12 4 71 29 6 1/1 6 6 0.46 16.9
Will Bruin HOU F 32 31 2510 12 4 78 35 0 0/0 6 6 0.43 15.4
Kei Kamara KC M 33 32 2871 11 8 134 49 4 2/3 6 5 0.34 8.2
Saer Sene NE F 25 23 1934 11 3 75 35 2 1/1 8 3 0.51 14.7
Steven Lenhart SJ F 26 18 1623 10 2 64 33 2 0/0 7 3 0.55 15.6
Landon Donovan LA M-F 26 25 2256 9 14 65 29 3 2/2 4 5 0.36 13.8
Patrice Bernier MTL M 27 25 2194 9 8 32 15 1 6/6 7 2 0.37 28.1
Fabian Espindola RSL F 30 27 2293 9 7 69 30 4 0/0 3 6 0.35 13.0
Jairo Arrieta CLB F 18 18 1534 9 4 41 21 2 0/0 5 4 0.53 22.0
Blas Perez DAL F 20 19 1705 9 4 53 23 0 0/1 3 6 0.48 17.0
Danny Koevermans TOR F 16 12 1186 9 2 39 24 1 0/0 3 6 0.68 23.1
C.J. Sapong KC F 31 24 2210 9 2 61 24 5 0/0 5 4 0.37 14.8

 

Remind me when was the last player that collected "Keane type money" score 20 goals in MLS?

 

The question was a Wondolowski or Keane TYPE of player. Since Wondolowski has scored 61 goals in the last three year to get a player like that it would cost Keane+ money. Read the original question.......