Ouch. I have SB tickets and going to miss a lot of their games too. Making a weekend trip of soccer so I'll be in MD Sat and jersey Sun. I'm missing the Dash @ SB game so decided to make this trek to make up for it.
Week two gave you a good look at why I picked the Dash bottom three. Waldrum won't get out of his own way. I think the team holds itself accountable for a bad performance, but by the same token are frustrated by more questionable decisions. Putting Campbell in as a starter conceptually is fine, but you look at the overall situation and other decisions and it comes across as one of the poorest coaching decisions in a long time. First, you are coming off of a shutout win, and while Williams didn't have to do anything spectacular, there was no obvious reason to replace her. Then, you have to deal with Van Wyk being out with the flu. You could simply plug Falknor or Privett in at CB such that you are making only one change, or slide Roccaro over and put Falknor in at LB where she has practice a ton this season. But no, you go the two change route and insert a LB that has been with the team for all of two days. With a makeshift backline, all the more reason to use the experienced GK to help with organization, etc. Nope, you make the incomprehensible (to the team as well) decision to start the rookie, thus making 3 changes to the back 5. In midfield, you have Caity Heap who had a strong preseason and is a more natural midfielder. Do you use her to replace Andressa? No, you plug in Falknor who can play the spot, but hasn't done a lot of midfield in a while. Players can see the stupidity in these decisions.
Just read an article saying Waldrum basically acknowledged putting Campbell in after so many other changes was a bad move. On the bright side he admitted making a mistake. I don't think there are a whole lot that think he's learned from it though. On the other side, depending on how Campbell reacts, this might've been the best thing that could've happened to her. The same article noted that she's used to a lot of clean sheets and not a whole lot of goals scored on her. Sometimes a tough outing can put you in the right perspective.
That tends to be less true for keepers than for other positions, especially young ones. The risk of it destroying her confidence is high. One of the many reasons why it was a bad move.
While I agree it's typically less true for keepers than field players, I feel it is very player specific. Some players need a confidence boost. Others need to be brought back to Earth. I don't know in this case, I just know that all players are different.
I've refrained from saying it but just saw your post in the Dynamo side thread. Yeah, I would not be surprised if Waldrum threw Campbell under the bus to get Jill to back off... Too bad that if this is the case, this is supposed to be your future starting keeper and it's a horrible look. If that was his intent, I honestly don't care about how the team does this season as long as he's gone next year.
here's highlights of the Dash surprising win on the Spirit's home base. Looks like they dominated play as well! One big difference is they finally sat Poliana and replaced her with Roccaro, as she was looking weak on defense as of late. hopefully their next game is at home as the Dash tv crew has the best camera angles in the NWSL, which makes it more enjoyable to watch the whole game
They dominated in the first half. They were dominated in the second half and were lucky to come away with a win. Against a bad team that was missing 5 starters due to injury, I wouldn't call it a surprising win. The fact that it was only 1-0 and that they were thoroughly outplayed in the second half was the surprising part.
A win is a win & this one was an important away win, plus keeps them in the winning column. which hopefully continues till Lloyd & Brain come back. Dunno how critical the injuries are for the Spirit. It's more that their dumb ass coach got rid of excellent players like Banini & Oyster, and of course couldn't match the offer that Chelsea gave Dunn.
I take it you don't understand how the allocation system works? Washington didn't pay Dunn, she didn't have a contract with them. They couldn't match Chelsea because they aren't allowed to. She is under contract with US Soccer. They pay her (and the other USWNT members that are under contract) and allocate her to Washington.
Waldrum should go. Every year the Dash end up in the bottom. Too many subs. Ohai is sending great crosses and no one can finish. Melissa Henderson can't score, but he puts her in. PLEASE GET A NEW COACH!
Yeah, I don't get it, on paper, Houston should be better than half the teams out there. I'm a big fan of woso internationals, but in this case it's often hard for them to integrate themselves right away into the much faster paced, American game. Particularly the defenders, Bruna, van Wyk & Poliana along with the mid, Sullivan. Low and behold, Waldrum seemed like he figured this out, and last game, didn't start any of them, yet still got his butt kicked!
Poliana is fast, pace isn't her issue. O'Sullivan has dealt just fine with the pace of NWSL since she came to the league. She struggled this season in games where Beckie played in the midfield as she was asked to play a role that is not her forte as a result. She came in yesterday in her normal attacking midfielder role and had an impact on the game. Van Wyk is not fast, but her positioning and timing are good. I think paired with a quick CB, she'd be fine. Bruna is injured, not been sold on her anyway though.
Janine van Wyk is much better than Rocarro yet Waldrum keep playing the latter. You don't think it's playing favorite? Similar to Melisa Henderson. In several years she has done nothing yet she is still on the roster.
Putting Rachel Daly in the backline should be a crime. One of your best finishers. Losing nine straight to the Reign. On and on ...
BREAKING: Houston Dash have fired head coach Randy Waldrum after 19-39-13 record over 3+ seasons #NWSL— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) May 29, 2017
It's a good move if they bring in a coach with INT/Pro experience. If they r just look at a different college coach I don't think they've accomplished anything but shorten the time span for the search.
The Daly thing was unfathomable to me. Yes her speed and tenacity in the back helps to shut down quality attackers but at what cost? This was a team having trouble scoring goals to begin with. How u could remove one of the few offensive threats they have to deal with a hole at the back? And if it is a hole how was Waldrum surprised. He had Poliana last year and knew what she could and couldn't do. He had two more defensive minded OB in Chapman and Moros and got rid of them. He traded for Levin. He got the players he wanted...why didn't he use them?
Yes, the Dash kept bringing in new players, used them a season then traded them away. You might have thought they had never seen or heard of those players before, what they could and could not do ... I agree that we need a pro coach, no college coaches for me. They are no match for the Laura Harveys of this league .
I don't understand why you need a previous experience coaching women? The French National team switched to a someone who's only coached men's soccer before, and since then they've been destroying everything in sight right FB is the position that Daly played the last few times that she played for England's NT(when Bronze was out)
Having coached boys and girls and having spent a lot of time around pro women's teams, the x's and o's are the same but people management is drastically different. If you went into a women's team with the same approach you do a men's team, it would be a disaster. Managing a national team is dramatically different from managing a club team. You spend more time with a club team in a month than you do a national team in an entire year. I'd point out that Waldrum was good at coaching national teams - the players loved him. He was good at the college level - the players loved him. Hit his limit at the pro level and the biggest issues were in people management. It's just different with a pro club than with a college team or a national team.
I never said you needed previous experience coaching women although Dynamomaniac has a point. I said you need a pro-level coach. I felt like Waldrum's college level X-O did not meet the standard for professional level. He lost 9 times to the Reign and he had not figured out a way to put up a fight yet. His players constantly chased after the ball to exhaustion. If I played a certain way and the opponents kept passing the ball in circle around me, I'd change my way of playing. Why do you keep butting your head against the wall? I did not see Waldrum change anything in the games played against Seattle, did you?
This drove me nuts. There was this constant theme of the Dash players not being fit and they should be better at home given they practice in the heat, blah, blah. However, he never adapted to how you need to play in the heat. Harvey noted after the game that she did not have her team press the way they normally would as it would have tired them out. The Dash pressed in the heat and humidity every year in the exact same way they would in cooler conditions, then it would be a surprise when they were exhausted in the final 30 minutes. You can't do that, it doesn't work.