So what's worse, seeing your awful, non-scoring team seem to get it together and go up 3-0 on the road before collapsing in a particularly ugly way, or simply losing in the 2-0 or 3-0 manner many of us expected anyway?
Who is this mysterious lock down player you are going to bring on? Jeffery?? Pass. Boswell? Pass. Korb, ok but maybe at best. Sorry this falls on the lack of talent in the 26 active players on this roster, not tactics. Who on this 26 man roster can hold the ball? Have you seen these guys pass in a match? They can't string more than 2.5 passes together. By the 3rd pass the ball is turned over. No, sorry tactics were not the problem, this crap roster is.
If Olsen is such a wet rag of a milquetoast that he has no input in who goes on the field then maybe he's also unable to get the team into proper fitness as well. Maybe it explains a lot, he's just not a strong enough personality.
They should send a press release out announcing the captain of the Titanic has been named captain for life at DC United
I know you will go to your grave defending Benny. I get it, he was my favorite player too. Its time for him to go. No team in history has ever blown a 3 goal lead in regulation. Let that sink in. Ever. We are in the 22nd year of MLS and this has never happened. Olsen just doesn't have the tactical chops, and it appears the team has just given up on him. Before you start pissing and moaning about talent, remember Seattle was missing Jordan Morris and Clint Dempsey, so it's not like they were playing with a full deck either.
It is not about loyalty for me. It is logic. As I have said NO COACH could win with this group of youngsters and retreads. Give him a proper roster and if he loses then fine kick him upstairs. Even without Morris and Dempsey Seattle's roster is far better.
From the DC United website -- I'm speechless: United head coach Ben Olsen On the match... “They’re good offensively and put a lot of pressure on us but we couldn’t hold them off. We have to learn how to make the plays that matter in order to get results in this league. Whenever you score three goals, you should be able to come away with something." On another quick turnaround... "We have a quick turnaround with a home game against Houston this Saturday, so we have to lick our wounds quickly. We finally have a home game after this long road stretch and then six of our next eight games are at home. If we take care of those we’ll be in good shape. We’ll build off of this.
Early last season, leaders of the supporters groups were told by the team F.O. that the supporters groups were not a significant contribution to revenues and in terms of ticket sales could be easily replaced. That's the calculus with which they view the supporters groups.
Surely that can't be ticket sales revenue. Average Game day attendance at RFK last year was 17k (inflated stats obviously). Real attendance (butts in seats) was probably more like 13-14k average. Between Barra, Eagles, Ultras, La Norte I would guess average butts in seats (or standing more accurately) attendance was likely 1k or so? Wild guess, maybe more? Thats 7% of the fans at every match. I realize supporters pay less for tickets than most other fans, but that is still a sizeable (and the most reliable) chunk of the fan base.
Nobody believes the the SGs are 1% of *ticket* revenues. OTOH, if by revenues they include the money they get from MLS, including SUM money, I'm surprised it's even that much.
We don't believe that at all, along with the amount of advertising they get from us. But they keep telling us that is what we are. There is no way we are, and we all prolly spend more money at the team store (old logo) than anyone else would.
Especially with the Audi stadium naming rights and shirt sponsor, the SG are most assuredly less than 1% of total revenue. I doubt that is in dispute. I probably didn't make myself clear, but my only point was the SGs still make up a very significant portion of the game day revenue. And without fans in the seats, the naming rights to an empty stadium will not mean much in the long term. I doubt they feel ticket revenue from the SGs doesn't matter, that would be such short sighted thinking that even this ownership group wouldn't screw up.
What naive and short sighted response from this FO??? I can't believe that. No EVERY SEASON TICKET HOLDER is meaningless to this FO. They have shown that time and time again.
Look, we brought on Neagle who we know won't play defense. That was a choice. The goal was to come out with 3. ESPECIALLY recognizing that we are incapable of playing possession soccer, and ESPECIALLY given the readily available empirical evidence that we have no points to give, a minimally adequate coach would adjust. Ben didn't. We're on the road, up 3 and they start to roar back. Put in Deleon or Korb or whatever. Put in 6 defenders if you need to or tell people to go into a fetal shell. Tell everyone to play like their lives depend on winning. If it took laying Chad ********ing Ashton sideways in the middle of the field to stop them running up and down, I would have said do it. Having a set quote sheet for the post-game press conference is not preparation. Having a plan to win -- whether that means coming back or holding a GINORMOUS ********ING LEAD -- is the job of the coach, regardless of the team you're coaching. For years now his plan has been no plan. That's not good enough. ESPECIALLY if you're the guy, Mr. Coach, whose brand is effort and "responsibility". We were up 3 goals. Let that sink in. Consider the situation and where the team needs to go mentally -- even if the playoffs are impossible. Screw the fans, respect the players and the game. We may have a shit roster but we were good enough to go up by 3, so I don't buy that this is all about roster. I'd bet a well coached good college team would have been able to hold that big a lead for 40 minutes. That's on the coach, pure and simple.
what has killed me, and this was really evident in the last Dallas game, was that he just seemed to hesitate on EVERY shot that he was scored on, it was so evident in the replays he just took forever to decide what to do it was baffling...