Nice little story about the mentoring role David Horst is playing for many of our younger players, from Maddie Lee at the Trib.
Except the kid isn't under RSL contract, and the more he becomes known, the more likely he is off to Europe before we can sign him, like Brooks and a couple of others...
One thing that Doyle mentioned, that I had brought up here about the Monarchs a few weeks ago. The USL team trying to actually win can be a benefit to developing players. He mentions it under the Ledezma comments, stating that it isn't a surprise that the Redbulls have so many good academy guys now playing on the main team after the team was really successful at the USL level, and he felt Ledezma will benefit from being in a winning USL side as opposed to Carlton in Atlanta or the guys in LAG for example. Young academy kids have to earn their minutes at the USL level, not have them handed to them. Then they have to produce results, rather than have the goal of "develop" regardless of results.
It's a valid point - however a quick glance at the age of the players on NYRB2 and the Monarchs shows a different approach. NYRB2 is largely a roster of 20-23 year old players. The Monarchs are essentially full blown 26+ year old professionals with a few younger guys sprinkled in.
To be fair, it’s a college football board created by former Rivals.com members who got tired of the high percentage of idiots there (and the subsequent bannings for pointing out their idiocy). We have a soccer sub-board that is heavily used, with a MLS thread. I rarely check it out though unless World Cup or other significant tournaments are being played.
I'll just drop this here and back away slowly . . . RSL facing big decision with Waibel - mlssoccer.com
What's the story there? If there is no injury, how is a former La Liga player losing to a rookie? If not injured, why is he only getting 18 minutes in an Open Cup game and no time with the MMonarchs
I can only imagine it all hinges on this summer’s transfer window. Dear Leader can’t possibly be happy wasting $3 million by the pool. Maybe Craig gets a little cover because he couldn’t make the decisions all on his own but Yura and pool boy are pretty big and expensive misses. Baird has to be the only thing keeping his head above water.
I agree that Savarino is an “attacking difference-maker”, but I think my opinion of the difference he makes is opposite of the author’s.
Savarino reminds me of a guy that has read too many positive reviews of his play and totally believes them. RSL was successful at the end of last season not because of the great individual performances rather it was the great way the players played together. Sava, Plata, and everyone else made the extra pass and found their team mate for an easy shot. It's like they all forgot that when they should be going back to more unselfish play. Sava is the biggest culprit with Bofo right behind. How many times have you yelled at the screen or during the game for Sava and others to make the simple pass to a WIDE OPEN team mate instead of trying to launch a ball into orbit, Bofo, or dribble into 4 to 5 defenders, Sava. A couple unselfish plays that lead to easy scores could make quite the difference in how much this team and players trust each other.
The most interesting part of that Waibel article is this part: The sources added that RSL and Waibel have not yet begun negotiating a new deal. Thats... well thats not how these things are typically done, no? I wouldn't lose any sleep over Waibel being shown the door. Maybe he can go get a gig at the University of Washington again given how much he's helped their alumni get jobs here.
I really don't see how Waibel keeps his job. Sure, he's had some good stories with Rusnak and (arguably) Savarino. But his big moves have failed horribly. I want someone really new to the scene, not someone already in the bubble. Someone that will come in and challenge Petke a bit more and not shop the free transfer bin so heavily. I wish I was more educated and could drop some names here but sadly I'm not. Anybody know any good candidates?
That guy that left NYRB that brought in Marsh, and put together a pretty darn good team when the RB's stopped focusing on DPs. I forget his name, but is he still out of work? He did some really good work there. Otherwise, might not be a bad idea to find an executive with a European background. With the rate MLS is expanding, finding an experienced local guy who is actually decent will be really tough. Finding someone in Europe might be the way to go here like a few other teams have done. They would likely have experience in scouting worldwide, so we could still have those South American findings. They might have new ideas and contacts to try in MLS, and they could help develop other people in the organization to run with the position in the future. I wouldn't normally say "Europe" but honestly, I am tired of just throwing some random inexperienced guy in the position and hoping for the best. All of our GM's have been that way so far. Can in work? Yea, it turned out well enough with Lagerway; it is working well in Atlanta... but they also have a crap ton of money to throw at guys who are more obvious hits than misses. The other issue with hiring local talent is that MLS talent can see and understand MLS talent level guys. But the rate that this league is improving on the field, I think guys like Waibel with his playing experience of MLS 1.0 and there abouts don't necessarily have the same ability to see the important small differences in upper talents... or maybe they are tactically naive due to their MLS 1.0 days and bring in a team that is naive. /Rambling... sorry, I am not even 100% sure if what I am saying makes sense, but I would like to see something new done.
I know this will be controversial, but on Grant Wahl podcast, Bruce Arena says he is more interested in a front office job. His ideal destination would be a expansion team with full control to build . . . (Ducks out from incoming tomatoes being thrown)
Cincy already hired a technical director this year as they were building for the inevitable MLS announcement. I agree about Bruce but I do think he has a lot to offer the right team.
Not this team please. Maybe they haven’t started negotiating because there’s nothing to negotiate. For the good he has done in signing a few good ones that $3 mil plus sitting by the pool and recovering from surgery elsewhere has to be the nail in the coffin minus some spectacular signing/s this summer. I think think Dear Leader is looking at what’s happening around the league and I think the job might have our grown Waibel. I put it at 70/30 Craig is replaced.
This. 100%. MLS teams are moving into a completely different era with the advent of academies with attached USL teams and training facilities. You can put together a really good team without breaking the bank as well. Look at a team like Atlanta. It's not the biggest-spending club in the league. ATL went out and got some young DPs and built around them, plus they have a strong academy and USL system starting up in a soccer hotbed. IMO, RSL needs an overall technical director to oversee the senior team and Monarchs (maybe the Royals as well but who knows). RSL also needs someone to do the dirty work of scouting and signing players outside of the TD's role with oversight of course. I'd love to see RSL really step up its outreach and scouting in Latin America and Africa since there's probably some untapped talent looking to come to the US and you're not dealing with the "don't want to move to Utah" problem as much.
Well, given his history of coaching (not including our last World Cup qualifiying debacle), I would think he could be a decent GM. But then, I think I could be a decent GM, so take my opinion for what its worth (not much).