Yes, its been a combo of a schedule featuring 95% home matches, a rejuvenated wayne rooney, and an actual tactical shift from ben olsen. He changed from a really stagnant 4-2-3-1 to a high energy 4-1-4-1, and when rooney came in a mix of that with the previos 4-2-3-1, but with pressing and energy. All three things have contributed.
DC and Philly have been playing playoff soccer for 2 months while we've been playing like Colorado East FC. We never really looked like we were threatening Orlando yesterday. That is about the most damning sentence I've ever typed. A free kick goal and eleventy corners. Our striker and two wingers never had a threatening play in the box. Santos might never have set foot in there. So glad for the news in the other thread. Sunday would be so sad otherwise because it's the last we'll see of the team this year. Sort of glad to not have to work a game into Trick or Treat plans with the family this year. No way they win a road knockout game playing like this. So Sunday is it.
I could not have said my thoughts from yesterday any better. Colorado East FC. Haha. Now that is both sad and funny. Yesterday I said the bold part to my husband almost word for word.
We’re 5 seasons into the Berhalter era. He has a cumulative goal differential of plus 8. This isn’t about distractions, this is just what this team is under Gregg’s leadership.
We all agree that this will be the last season for Gregg either through the LAG or the USMNT job. I bet either way he is not the coach on January 1st 2019. I hope it is the LAG job because I don't like him for the USMNT job.
The team has appeared listless - even in the first game after the SavedTheCrew(???) announcement - and is playing with no sense of urgency. Yesterday was very disappointing and absolutely unaccepatable. Also - Opoku; nice guy, awful soccer player; fast, but cannot dribble. I’ve beat the Zardes is not a lone striker kind of player to death, but there he is, every game.
And why is Santos even in the 18? He played for Braga and scored a decent amount of goals?!?!? I just do not know how that is possible based upon what we have seen.
First off, MOD EDIT: imagine puttputt's opinion about US soccer media here. Second, how the hell would this year's playoff run affect the hiring? There is a five year body of work and there is no way these few weeks are the deciding factor. If there is any year where missing the playoffs is acceptable it is this year. The fact we are barely looking outside the league is a disgrace. Does Italy's coaching search hang on who qualifies for Serie C promotion? When the move was announced, Ggg spoke about how it was proof of PSV's ambition. I'm sure it's the right thing to say as a company man but wouldn't that be a bigger distraction over the course of a season than a USMNT link? Stu's just regurgitating whatever crap was fed to him. Him and Lalas should snuggle together and OD on their delusions of self importance.
But these are just questions that are not answers. Twellmen gives the answer to his own question. And the answer to all Stu's questions is recency bias. People put more weight on things that happened recently than in the past. But the thought is if he does fail to make the playoff's maybe this is a strong indicator he is not ready to be the USMNT coach. I am not saying Gregg is a good choice for USMNT, in fact I can think of 5 people I would rather have (whether they would want it is another question). And if the ultimate choice is Gregg, they could and should have made that decision a year or 6 months ago.
Which is a moronic thought and I understand you are offering an explanation not necessarily an opinion. It puts a ton of weight on one tumultuous year and keeps the MLS to USMNT pipeline. Our fed should be thinking bigger. This times one million. Ggg has been a decent fit for a low budget MLS team. Not sure how that translates into the Nats job but he is levels above Sarachan.
Holden did publicly question Austin as a viable MLS city. Re: the next coach of the Crew, am I right that it breaks down this way: It really is GBS or bust. Guille is the only candidate that everyone really wants, and the only reasonably viable (as opposed to, say, Cherundolo) top shelf name we can come up with. I haven't seen a negative comments about him. No other candidate that's been suggested comes remotely close to him. Sigi has a great resume, but his last two stints haven't ended well, and he strikes some posters as MLS 1.0 personified. Porter has Ohio roots and won an MLS Cup, but others point out that he's an asshole, whose stats as a head coach fell off in his last two years in Portland. And if he really were a standout coach, why's he been unemployed for a year? Wolff is presented as some as low-risk choice, but others note that he's never been a head coach before, and he's currently strikers coach for a team that can't score goals. Plus, it's possible that he could follow Berhalter to his next gig. There's a whole pool of summarily rejected "MLS retreads." Who am I missing? Looks like Thomas Dooley is available.
I have zero interest in Wolff. I dont want a coach hired without a GM being hired first. Who the hell would hire the GM though? If we can't get GBS (who I would take without a GM first) then I don't really think I want a former MLS head coach, and no Wolff. None of them really strike my fancy.
It has to be so frustrating to the other wingers and maybe even himself. He has to know that he's been shit, you'd have to be really self-unaware (un-self-aware?), screw it, really deluded to think otherwise. "I'm playing like garbage, but the coach keeps sending me out there. I have absolutely no confidence but I'm going to try really hard to make up for it." Then go out and suck again.
Well, now that Gigi has presumably coached his final regular season match for the Crew, here's his record: I'll post his playoffs record after we've won MLS Cup.