The first year and a half of Kreis was laughing at all the ridiculous shit he was getting fined and suspended for. I believe at one time the team got fined for not bringing the correct uniforms on a road trip. It was stupid shit like that which seemed more prominent with Kreis than the actual tactical and on the field stuff going on. Once he started bringing his guys (especially Borchers, Russell, Beckerman, Olave, and Morales that second season) things became much more clear as to the tactical direction of the team. Don't forget, we made the western conference finals Kreis' second season and we're about a half dozen shots off the woodwork away from going to MLS Cup 2008, we probably would have lost to that great Crew team, but the team did have success in year 2 of Kreis and we're taking clear steps toward a positive direction. There has been none of that under Cassar, lots of stupid decisions on his part. Even with his players in place and his formation in place for 2+ years it was obvious to anyone that could understand soccer on a technical level that there has been zero improvement or movement in a positive direction. There was no clear cut, defined tactical strategy, no development of an on-field philosophy, not like under Kreis.
Which makes the decision to give him 3 games into this season all the more confusing. Unless they had (stupidly) put an ironclad clause in his contract that guaranteed him an extension upon making the playoffs, he should have been let go before Halloween. You're a good guy, and had your chance, but it's just not working, have some candy corn on your way out.
It was a home game. He chose to wear the white kits at home without getting approval first. That was one of the more bizarre fines I'd ever seen.
When Kreis hired Cassar there were issues regarding that, too. From a recent article: Club faced tampering charge in 2007 after Cassar hire
At the end of this Kamrani article, he cites a report that Chris Armas was approached about the job: There isn't any more real information in there, but some interesting thoughts from Petke about what it's like to be fired.
Its not just "today's MLS", though that is part of it. Kreis took over an aweful team that wasn't going anywhere. It takes time to improve that. Cassar took over a pretty good team and drove them back.
Cassar's best season was keeping the team together and sticking with Kreis' tactics. When he started to implement his vision the following year, I was more than willing to have a rough season as long as things appeared to be improving by the end of the season. Sadly, none of that ever materialized. By the second year of his vision, he should've had more than enough players he wanted and a full prior year of coaching to at least have the basic parts of his vision working. Outside of a hot start where we punched above our level, we were never good. Always sucks to fire someone, but with sports, there's always the chance that you'll be cut, whether you're a player or coach.
Matt Doyle on extratime radio mentioned Gio Savarese as a target for head coach, I think this would be a solid choice (as has been mentioned here), he's got decent experience both as a player and a coach, but prying him away from the Cosmos seems to be the biggest problem.
So I heard from someone decently connected that it's Petke but they're waiting for NYRB. I've seen the same rumor on twitter, so maybe he's parroting, but he was insistent.
If it really is default Petke, then today should be the day it's announced to give him several days prep for the Minnesota game.
I'll root for Petke if that's the choice, but it will be disappointing to find out that we didn't offer up the job to anyone else. I would like to know who RSL interviewed and how they felt about the interviews they had. This is information they don't have to disclose but it sure would be nice to know that the FO is searching extensively while leaving no stone unturned.
Judging by DLH's comments in the Kamrani interview, it seems like RSL will be focusing the search on coaches that have played or had experience in MLS. He brought up the stat that a good number of foreign coaches have been unsuccessful during their MLS stint if they had no previous exposure to the league.
Gerardo Martino isn't doing too bad with Atlanta so far. I know it's early, but I wouldn't say MLS experience is a requirement to have a successful MLS coach. Just the right coach.
I agree. NYCFC have done fine with a foreign coach as well. I do think it is more about having a coach who doesn't think he knows everything, and will have local support to help him out at first. MLS is a bit different from other leagues. Most leagues can say that. From common style of play to travel to amount of games in a season. Foreign coaches can increase the pool from which you hire someone, but it likely will lead to a longer development curve in the role than an experienced MLS coach. At the end of the day, there is more potential upside, but more potential risk and a higher need for patience. Reading what Hansen said recently in his interview, I get the feeling he doesn't have the patience, and I am completely OK with that. It just narrows down the options we have available to us by quite a bit.
Tata is a different animal. According to Dunny during last week's On Frame, Tata came into the job with binders of notes on each team's playing style, players, etc. His resume also speaks for itself. Aside from him, Viera, Backe, and Nicol, there isn't really a long list of foreign coaches with great success in MLS.
http://www.rslsoapbox.com/2017/3/28/15103028/rsl-new-coach-announcement Well, I'm glad they took the time to do a thorough search.