I think Oscar needs to go, or at a minimum it needs to be considered strongly. In 5 seasons and 1 Playoff win that is not good enough. The success in the regular season is largely irrelevant based upon the way the league is set up. The only thing that really matters is the MLS Cup. The supporters shield is probably harder to obtain, but it's given short shrift by many and not considered on the same level as the MLS Cup. At this point Pareja doesn't come close to winning MLS cups and he doesn't develop players so the team can make money off transfers. As much praise as FCD gets for playing youth, they haven't sold a HG player to Europe that I can recall. Add to the fact Oscar's style of soccer doesn't put fans in the seats. Even when they are first in the league for long stretches you still have 12K at the stadium. If you don't win, don't develop players to sell and don't put fans in the seats, the FO should look elsewhere for a new coach. (the fans issue may be a little unfair as there are other reasons for poor attendance, but the style of play has something to do with it). The solution is to put the stadium downtown but that is not going to happen.
I haven’t yet seen this match because I’m currently in Europe for the next week or so, but then, when I do watch it, I don’t really feel like I’m gonna see anything that I haven’t already seen a bit bunch this year. The guys create a bunch of chances and do squat with them and lose to a team that creates less, but shows real quality in finishing their chances. I can buy the notion that Aranguiz could’ve and should’ve been in the 18, but at the same time, when this team’s #1, #2, and #3 problems are an utterly glaring inability to finish — check out the number of shots FCD needs to get a single goal — it seems like complaining about Aranguiz is sort of missing the point. The problem with this team for the last two years is the lack of any real #9. Oh, they’ve got a #9, but outside of a couple of special guest appearances on the scoresheet, he’s been a giant bust. So whenever Maxi ain’t scoring, we gotta hope that today’s the day that Mikey or Lamah or Tesho wakes up and knock in a goal or two. “FCD didn’t have a real #9 two years ago when they won the double.” No, they didn’t. But they had four legitimate scoring threats in Maxi, Mauro, Fab, and Mikey. Throw in the occasional contribution from Tesho and you’ve got back to back 60 point seasons. All that ended when Fab left and Mauro went down with the Achilles. They don’t have two speedy wingers anymore to create space. They don’t have the pre-injury Mauro to take advantage of that space. And they don’t have the legitimate scorers to take the heat off Maxi. The good news is that I don’t think they’re that far off from true greatness. They got 57 points this year, the third best point total in team history, and if they do better than one point out of 12 (!) against San Jose and Colorado, they wouldn’t have been playing on Wednesday night. From the defensive midfield back, they’re solid. (BTW, while we’re crapping on Pareja and Clavijo for their misfires with the attacking end, we should also give them love for signing Reto, bringing along Cannon, and signing Nedyalkov, then Pedroso.) But man, this team really needs some talent infusion up front, and if they get it, they’ll be back at the top. Finally, a word about the young players: I’m willing to trust El Profe on this front. Over the past few years, he’s had a talent for bringing them up to the first team at the right time and no sooner. Certainly that was the case with Fab Castillo, with Victor Ulloa, with Jesse Gonzalez, with Walker Zimmerman, and with Reggie Cannon. (Though I do wonder what happened with Jacori Hayes this year.) If he doesn’t think that Jesus Ferreira and Paxton Pomykal and Pablo Aranguiz are quite there yet, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean, any idiot knows that this team needs more consistent scoring, and I’m sure that if he thought that any of those guys could provide it right now, they’d be seeing more playing time right now. I
BTW, you folks who think that Óscar needs to go make me SMDH. Find a coach in this league's 23 years of existence who has gotten more points in a five-year stretch than he has in his five years in Dallas.
Is the standard points in the regular season or playoff wins and MLS Cup Championships? One play off win in 5 seasons shouldn't cut it.
The standard is silverware, and by my count, FC Dallas has won more silverware in the past five seasons than they had in the previous 18 years. And you can't get the playoff wins unless you get the regular season points first. (And it's two playoff wins, BTW: The first-round win over Vancouver in 2014, and the Western Conference Semifinal win over Seattle in 2015.)
Yeah, ridiculous to even suggest Pareja has to go. This team has been firing managers since the Dave Dir days because they "couldn't take us over that final hurdle to MLS Cup." What have we got since? One magic season with Schellas that we somehow lost in the final to a garbage team. At least with Pareja, we got 2 pieces of silverware and he's made diamonds from coal. He does the best with what he's given. He needs to be given a little more star power for the areas that youth can't fill in.
Thanks, Stand corrected on the playoff wins. I disagree that silverware is all that matters in the MLS. The Open Cup is a nominal event that is largely irrelevant. The supports shield is also an afterthought. The only thing that matters in the MLS is the Cup. I could see maybe giving Oscar one more year but he definitely has to be on the hot seat and let it be known he is coaching for his job. No cup, No big sales of HG players and no fans can't go on forever.
I think putting Oscar on the hot seat is unreasonable, but just my opinion. Out of curiosity I looked through the history books for some numbers. Giving overlap to each coach during mid season transitions, Oscar almost has the most playoff appearance/success out of all the head men FCD have ever had. Only Dave Dir tops him. Both of those two coaches are the only two with hardware. Oscar has the most points for the franchise (although I didn't adjust anything for number of games played). To state that style of play is a reason for poor attendance is in my opinion silly, but I went ahead and included total average attendance during the tenure. Oscar is 1k shy of leading that category. Dave Dir - 1996 - 2000 - 217 pts - 2 conference finals, 3 conference semis - 1 open cup (total attd avg - 25,313) Mike Jefferies - 2001 - 2003 - 101 pts - 2 conference semis - no hardware (total attd avg - 33,602) Collin Clarke - 2003 - 2006 - 159 pts - 2 conference semis - no hardware (total attd avg - 43,165) Steve Morrow - 2006 - 2008 - 132 pts - 2 conference semis - no hardware (total attd avg - 43,151) Marco Ferruzi - doesn't qualify Schellas Hyndman - 2008 - 2013 - 260 pts - 1 cup final, 1 knockout round - no hardware (total attd avg - 78,714) Oscar Pareja - 2014 - present - 277 pts - 1 conference final, 2 conference semis, 1 knockout - 1 open cup, 1 supporters shield (total attd avg - 77,577)
To link the style of play to attendance is laughable. We were lots of fun to watch (and very successful) in 2010 & 2016, yet we were garbage in attendance. The Hunts don't treat this team as a professional sports team, that's why no one takes them seriously and makes the drive to Frisco to watch them except the hardcore base.
I'll give you that on style of play is reason for poor attendance but the style is boring. Way too much defense first and counter-attack.
Agreed and I think Pareja had just made peace with that being our best chance of winning with the current squad. Let's hope another successful offseason coupled with a season free of players getting their head turned by other clubs.
The only surefire way to avoid that last item is by not having players that are worth a damn or have any ambition. Since we want those players, however, the key is to figure out how to manage it and develop their replacements.
You have a fair point - but their style of play isn’t doing anything to help with attendance. It is dreadful to watch, boring at best. No flair, no creativity and no leadership. The manager has to take some responsibility.
I may be in the minority but the MLS Cup is a crapshoot and is NOT the best two teams going at it because there is always an upset (we have already had 3 in 2018) I liked what one of the commentators said in the LAFCvsRSL game. make the playoffs one off games with top season teams getting home field advantage throughout the playoffs. This would make the regular season so much more important and make the shield more important. Here is the last 10 year cup finals and the place in the overall table of each team. It is absolutely a crap shoot, no consistency in who makes it. Winners on the left. 2017 Toronto 1st vs Seattle 7th 2016 Seattle 7th vs Toronto 5th 2015 Portland 5th vs Columbus 4th 2014 LA Galaxy 2nd vs New England 5th 2013 Sporting 2nd vs RSL 4th 2012 LA Galaxy 8th vs Houston 9th 2011 LA Galaxy 1st vs Houston 6th 2010 Colorado 7th vs Dallas 4th 2009 Real SL 8th vs LA Galaxy 3rd 2008 Columbus 1st vs New York RB 8th
I would say that it is mostly a crapshoot, but with ATL, LAFC, and TFC spending crazy money on their teams with DPs and now TAM and GAM, I don't think it will be a crapshoot for much longer.
1) If you think OP is the problem not only do I question your understanding of the game and this league, I wonder what exactly you think this roster has truly been capable of in the last five seasons it failed to achieve, because of Pareja. 2) Playoffs: This is an American sports structure that has worked for ages and also basically a variation on how the World Cup, Champions League and every other non domestic league structure is decided. If MLS Playoffs is a crap shoot, so then are the above. We'd all love to see the Support's Shield be the primary goal, but the unbalanced schedules of the overall league, not to mention the unbalanced schedules within the two conferences, makes it's value questionable. And based on the growth of the league, doubtful they've ever commit to it. My best analogy is it is like deciding the winner of Monopoly based on the number of houses/hotels and not who has the most total money. EX: This year RBNY is a deserving winner, but there's a previous season when they clearly played a much weaker schedule that Dallas but lifted the Shield. 3) Hunts: This team needs to decide what its identity is. If they want to be a team that uses HG to be more of a supportive pipeline, it needs to be willing to invest more, specifically in transfer fees, on the inbound experienced players and not simply on low risk/high reward young SA talent. If it wants to use the academy to be the leading power of the Senior squad it needs to just embrace and market that concept, and accept some fans (I would be one of those) will recalibrate their expectations and some won't. But being a MLS club theme'd and powered with locally grown talent would be a far more compelling story and club to support than what we get now: a solid, but unremarkable group of no-name mid level talent that eventually gets bested by clubs willing to employ real difference makers.
I think some of you misunderstood the point I was making about Oscar. By no means am I suggesting that he's the main problem here or the main person holding us back from MLS Cup glory. There are a lot more pressing concerns than him at this club right now. With that said, the manager is first and foremost responsible for the results on the pitch. The FO handles everything else. For back to back seasons now, we've seen this team falter at the most important stage of the year and fail to meet its targets. We went on a barren run in the second half of 2017 which saw us fall from 1st to 7th and not even make the playoffs. This year we were one of the top 3 teams in the league again for much of the campaign, only to falter several times to inferior teams and end the year on a whimper. I'm not saying that Pareja is totally at fault for that, but are we seriously going to keep him away from any and all criticism every time this team falls apart like this? It's not just about the results, either. What truly makes me believe that he might not be the guy to lead us to the MLS Cup is his stubbornness and one-dimensional tactical approach. Everyone here on this board saw awhile ago that Urruti as a #10 and Badji as our main striker wasn't working yet Oscar didn't, persisted with it, and it got us nowhere. Last season, we were going through a real slump and he hardly changed anything, just kept sending out the same team hoping for the best and it never worked. He hasn't shown that he is capable of adapting when teams figure him out or the flexibility to be able to alter his approach or tweak his selection to bring better results. He only knows one way and I don't think that one way is bringing us the coveted big one and his bad playoff record supports that claim. The most important thing the club needs to do is a little soul searching and figure out what their targets really are. Is it to win trophies? Then invest in players who can help us do that. Is it to develop young players? Then give them more opportunities instead of forcing the same old guys every year. That starts with the FO, of course, but I wouldn't exclude Pareja from any argument that revolves around change because for me his stock has dropped these last 2 years and I feel a lot less convinced that he's the guy who will bring an MLS Cup to DFW now than I did at the start of last year.
I hope they do a combination of the two. Build the team around HG's. Keep them here and play them until they are ready to move on for $$ and fill in gaps with great DP's not speculative ones. Atlanta has the right idea of signing great talents and still selling them for more than you bought them for. Don't keep journeyman that are slightly better than the HG behind them. Move those players on creating space for your own HG's like RBNY does. There was no need to bring in both Aranguiz and Mosquera when Pomykal needs minutes to develop. There was still Barrios, Lamah and Tesho for him to compete with but new expensive signings are hard to beat out as the club wants to show they didn't waste dollars. Where $$ would have made a difference since Blas left was at forward. They keep cheaping out and it's not a good investment. Pay more for quality and sell on for profit not buy cheap and roll the dice and crap out. Next year it appears that Pomykal, Ferreira, Servania and Richards if Bayern don't buy him need real minutes. Will FCD clear a path for them or will they cheap shot them by sticking them at their new 3rd division club the whole year? They also have Reid and Roberts getting close and what to do with Reynolds.
You guys are having a great conversation here about the direction of the club. I have often wondered if Oscar is more comfortable with S. American journeymen than he is with his local Dallas boys. Whoever is coordinating scouting acquisitions needs to have a more targeted approach coordinated with the youth system coaches.
I think most coaches like more veteran players because they make fewer mistakes. Their upside may not be as high and especially once they get to around 26 plus what you see is what you get. The Hunts may need to emphasize that they are spending a lot on HG's and want every possible way for them to be successful and move on so the next wave can take their place. Some will of course stay and they will become the journeyman veterans like Ulloa is right now. However, these kids are watching what's happening with other young Americans in Europe and if they don't see a path forward with FCD why sign? And then it will be why keep spending money developing players fro Euro clubs.
This is exactly why MLS teams should be beating down the door of the Federation alongside the non-MLS Academy teams, with the same lawsuits if necessary. If they can be compensated fairly, the way every other club in the world is, losing a kid to Europe could become an additional source of income instead of a negative that makes you question continued investment in academies.
Of course the goal is to win MLS Cup, but getting into the playoffs 4 of 5 years is pretty damn good. With the parity in MLS, the playoffs are more than a crapshoot than in other US pro sports. Get in and it's a whole new season. With OP, we've been knocked out of the playoffs by Seattle twice and Portland twice. During the same time, Seattle has qualified every year (knocked out by us once). Portland has missed twice. Take a look at the MLS list of top 25 or so goal scorers. Notice all the guys who didn't make the playoffs. I guess what I'm saying is we're not far off winning MLS Cup, certainly not so far off that we should blow the thing up and fire OP or mortgage everything to buy an alleged savior. Maybe we'd get Rooney or Zlatan. Maybe we'd get Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, or Lothar Matthaus. Hell, the guy who broke the MLS single season goal scoring record this year is from Venezuela, whose previous best season was 8 goals in Switzerland. https://us.soccerway.com/players/josef-martinez/146748/ As for OP's effect on attendance, we could clone Barcelona's first team, put them in our shirts with different names on the backs, let them play a full season for us, and we'd still have the same attendance regardless of style or results.