On Wolves twitter Wolves striker Joe Mason is returning early from his loan spell at @ColoradoRapids. Mason will report to Compton on Friday, 27th July.📰⚽️ pic.twitter.com/6N1Hv1JXzU— Wolves (@Wolves) July 12, 2018
Why was Mason signed in the first place? It was pretty clear early on Hudson didn't want him, but isn't Hudson working with Smith to figure out signings? This tells me either Hudson and Smith aren't working together or Hudson and Smith can't scout players and what they got in Mason wasn't what they expected. Either way, that's a really bad sign for this team.
And now official from the Rapids: https://www.coloradorapids.com/post...-joe-mason-returns-wolverhampton-wanderers-fc
I think that’s what they’re holding out hope on for sure. I think he’s been pretty underwhelming this year but do agree that the injuries make it tough to determine if that underperformance is more attributable to health or ability.
Did we think he was any good? He made little impression on me. In the thick of the world cup I can barely remember him, or the Rapids, to be honest.
The articles I read from the UK on his return were pretty under-whelming. Like 'it's on him to figure out a way to show his value to get any minutes'. I would say the sentiment seems to be more that he isn't going to make it back to the team than anything else. Which implies to me he may not be the best. So, the RFO may have over-paid for him (it was a loan, so not a huge issue). More likely, they over-hyped him. Even more likely is that they over-hyped him and then under-developed/managed him. rod.
Stay the course! Trust the process! *sigh* https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/co...ooks-toward-roster-reinforcement-this-summer/
Hard to "trust the process" when we have been told that so many times. Standard theory dictates that when in this situation you need a series of quick small wins to establish credibility. Then you can ask for trust. In this case, we have a series of small, medium, and large losses en route to the process. Recipe for removal of those in charge.....
Well, OK. Smith releases Mason immediately after the club realizes he's not up to snuff with expectations. Geezus, it's too bad Smith didn't take the same action after realizing the same about Hudson. [Disclaimer: I'm in the camp that Mason actually asked to leave given the career-killing shitshow that Hudson & Co. are conducting here. I wouldn't be surprised if others seek departure. I also wouldn't be surprised if no remotely noteworthy talent comes here for quite a while because of the same. They already ran the club into the ditch... a deep deep ditch.]
IMO I think this is a distinction without a difference. I think its clear that Mason was not going to get much of a chance here and if it was Mason or Smith who started the process of sending him back to Wolves it really doesn't matter. It was a failed signing that wasn't going to improve. I'll credit Smith with this much, unlike past leadership, he's willing to cut bait from his identified failures and move on pretty quickly. That's at least a positive.
Fair point. Now, Padraig, what other bait needs to be cut? Care to buy a vowel? "H_DS_N" [Regardless of coach's contract/salary commitments that tie RFO hands, it would be well-worthwhile to take the loss and move on in new direction IMO... both in terms of club direction, morale, and growth, and in terms of dollars and cents of revenue losses over a couple years.]
They keep trying to sweep the previous few years under the rug like they didn't happen. But in the end we know KSE is not going to eat all these contracts so look forward to seeing 5-6 CB's for rest of season to try to keep the L's from piling up too high.
What are the chances of Pádraig firing the guy he hired and anointed as the one to guide the Rapids out of the wilderness? Even if KSE gives him the money and okay to do so, he would then implicitly be admitting a major mistake. Additionally, he would be in change of making the new hire. If he screwed up with Hudson then what are the odds of him getting it right the second time? Until about two months or so I thought with Pádraig in charge the Rapids finally had a competent soccer leading the way. Not only is his biggest hire - Hudson - a bust but many of the players the two of them brought in are as well. Danny Wilson? Yannick Boli? Now Pádraig is starting it takes 3 to 4 transfer windows to build a team. So that means he and Hudson won't really have their guys until sometime in early 2020? And last but not least, the two rumored targets aren't going to do anything to change the short or long term fortunes of the team on the pitch. I really don't get Barnes. There is no evidence over the last several seasons of him being able to produce goals. What's the point of having him here?
I assume Mason wanted out? It's hard to score without the ball. 0.36 goals/90 on this team isn't bad. If you're getting rid of big salaried guys, it's not like Boli's lighting the world on fire, or Wilson. Edit: hmm, did I suggest that Boli light Wilson on fire? Not a bad idea, subconscious...
Rapids Director of Communications posted an open question on Reddit looking for responses, if any of you are contributors there https://www.reddit.com/r/Rapids/comments/8yf07w/rapids_communications_how_can_we_improve/ I am not, and I'm not going to sign up just for this, but what I'd say in response to his question is that last season they talked about transparency and being accountable, and then we went into a 9 game death spiral and there was nothing out of the Front Office about what went wrong. There still hasn't been anything about what went wrong, just a repeat of what we've heard from the team before, which amounts to give us time. And if they want to be transparent, that also includes acknowledging that they inherited a history of failure and the fans don't reset their feelings about the team when a new leadership takes over. "Same old Rapids" applies until their results aren't the same, regardless of who's leading. Just because this team hasn't asked for patience before doesn't mean the fans can't be frustrated when Rapids leadership is asking for patience, again.
Gotta love this doublespeak: “It’s been very disappointing and very frustrating, to be honest,” Smith said. “I think there’s a lot more talent in this group than the results would necessarily indicate. One of the things we’re looking for is progress. We want to play a more entertaining brand of soccer. I think we’ve seen glimpses of that. I don’t think we’ve seen it consistently enough and that is frustrating.” Seriously? If they are such a great collection of talent, but can't get results, they aren't a great collection of talent. They are castoffs thrown together and told to develop into something. That isn't a plan. It's failure.
Fair assessment. Could be players. OR, maybe we can look at this Smith quote from another angle with some simple if/then statements. IF it’s a good collection of talent as he implies, and IF the results aren’t following despite said talent, THEN Smith is basically admitting that his hand-picked coach/system is failing. Likewise, IF the season is half over and Smith is still saying “One of the things we’re looking for is progress”, THEN Smith is further admitting that his coach is failing. In other words, if you have a decent lot of players to compete, yet you can’t stay afloat in league play, and you can’t beat a USL expansion squad, and you don’t show any sign of improvement, your coach sucks ass. Because I do believe this roster has strengths and depth that far exceed what Pablo, OP, or Gary Smith had to work with, I’d expect Hudson to be doing a hell of a lot better than a guy who parks the bus with 5-6 defenders on every road game... and still manages to lose.
Barnes is pretty decent but won’t fit well with the rapids style of play. He relies on the ball at his feet to be effective and the rapids direct.... strategy won’t do him justice. Hairston has been played out of position since who knows.. he’s a natural holding mid that has had to adapt to the backline. Even so, he’s played well under Pablo. Scored more goals and assist each year. Now look at his stats under Hudson. Makes you wonder. And he’s been healthy for the past three/ four games. Yet hasn’t played.
I can agree that its seems the talent is better than the results, if only because the results are so horrible. This team really seems inflexible, which never seems like a great way to get the most out of a roster. They play a pressing 3-5-2 which is incapable of holding possession and thus relies hugely on a kick and run attack. They are better on the counter attack than Pablo's teams, but that's about the lowest bar possible when it comes to counters, right? Despite having 3 defenders back and a shielding holding mid, they get beaten all the time, losing runners and so on. Then the other formation the team has showed is a weird 5-4-1 that must have been hatched in Football Manager by moving some sort of strategy slider way to one side. They got the deep banks of 5 and 4 and nothing else out of the book on that formation. We laughed when they ran out their non-possession 3-5-2 and talked about attacking football until we saw the 5-4-1 on the road.
And it’s comments like this that prove he doesn’t belong in the position he is in. Love Smith, “the money ball expert,” is finally going to start looking at South & Central America players... everyone who follows even a little bit of soccer, knows that’s were you find inexpensive talent...
Yeah, getting players from the Championship seems like the least moneyball thing ever. That must be the highest paid 2nd division in the world by a lot.
I heard Mixx Diskerud and Freddy Adu are available. Since we're apparently still on a "buying foreign league burnouts" bender...
Freddy and Mix would be a sideshow that I wouldn’t feel bad to pay for watching just because it would be crazy. I am not sure how many more <40% possession home games with 0 shots on goal and 100 50-50 ball “beautiful attacking soccer” games I can take.