I have been a big Berthalter fan, but after this week I am on that bandwagon. Time to change. No passion or drive in these players at all. They are going through the motions.
Precourt pays attention to social media so he knows what people are saying. Even on Facebook, less committed/diehard fans are calling for him to go. The hourglass is running out now. Im guessing Precourt is hoping like hell he can at least make it through the season without his hand being forced by the fans but for his sake, our sake, and Greggs sake....he needs to cut him loose soon. I appreciate everything positive Gregg made happen for this team but he just doesn't have the answers now. Might as well get a new coach in with the second half of the season to work with so he can assess the roster he has to work with, attempt to salvage the season, then have a whole offseason to build. I don't trust Anthony to make the call yet though. I don't know if Precourt even knows that Greggs the problem.
Now I'm livin' out here on the beach, but those seagulls are still out of reach Get out of town, get out of town, think I'll get out of town 'Cause the world is turnin', I don't want to see it turn away
I desperately want to like GB and not think 2015 was just all about Kei (and often overlooked Sauro), but GB fails to make changes in-game literally every sinlge week. He keeps playing in a way that doesn't suit our players skills. If we took an Atlanta/SKC high press go go go approach, or a more Dallas/Montreal approach off semi-bunker then explode on the counter, i could be swayed back. We have pace in this team, but GB wants to play slow. It just doesnt make sense. Oh, also subbing out artur and pipa for abu and jahn was just unbelievable sacrilege. Some of GB's early signings were fantastic, however, the past year and a half has been very hit or miss. Spending money on transfer fees for both abu and mensah? Unforgivable. I was glad to see him change formations earlier in the year, but he didn't change the tactics along with it, which kinda misses the point of, ya know, changing things up. Its literally just the same old same old every week. I knew before i turned the game on we would lose, but for some reason i still watched anyway.
We still seem surprised when teams press us in our back 3rd. We better score 3-4 goals per game if our game plan is to concede 1 or more goals off unfortunate turnovers by our back line.
There's room on this bandwagon, right? Count me in. The high points of 2015, combined with guys like Meram, Kamara, and Higuain all having [at the very least, statistically] good years, continually makes me think there's still a chance things can turn around. But when I try to step out of those shoes and see the bigger picture, I see the same problems we've always had. Plenty of people have already said it better than me, but we are tactically inferior to most teams we play. We don't appear to have a plan B, even if we have tried other formations this year. Where in the past Berhalter appeared to be getting the most out of players (Trapp, Tchani, Finlay), we have guys who fail to play up to their potential IMO: Finlay, Trapp, Francis/Raitala, and others. It's also frustrating to see substitutions which don't appear to help, and sometimes even hurt, the team (Abu for Artur, Jahn for Pipa). Sporting director Gregg has also come up short recently. Echoing what others have said, Gregg has found some quality talent (Grana- even if he left so shortly, Afful, Naess, Sauro- regardless of injury, Ola Kamara, and others). But whiffing on guys like Abu and Mensah puts the team in a hole too large to climb out of. I could go on for a while, but I'm really just repeating everyone else's comments. After three and a half seasons, we know what Coach Gregg and Sporting Director Berhalter have brought to the team. It's unfortunate, but the bottom line is that his performance simply isn't good enough and, in my opinion, he should be replaced.
What the ******** has happened? The leadership council is toothless. A season of finlay without confidence has turned into a finlay who just is not good enough. Afful, awful. Kamara looking like Bambi on ice. Higuain charging round the field trying his best but ultimately those around him don't care. The least said about our defensive capabilities the better. No plan b. Seriously. If teams press us from kick off then play it into the channels from the start. Stretch the field for 5-10 mins. Then go back to pissing it around at the back. Show some tactical flexibility. ffs
Berhalter is not going anywhere. He won't be gone until the end of next season. Precourt doesn't have a clue. He doesn't see what you and I see. First he has to realize Berhalter is the problem and I don't expect that to happen until the middle of next year. Then he's going to have to go back and ask Garber and Arena who should be his head coach. I think that we'll get our next head coach between December 2018 and January 2019. I'm guessing it will be Pat Noonan.
I think that all of us want the Crew to be a better team. Not just for a season (but a poll asking "would you like to win the cup for one season and suck for 6 or be consistently good?" would be fun) but to consistently challenge the top of the league. I keep on coming back to the fact that most teams, especially in a Crew-type market, are not consistently good. Pulling the since 2010 there are only four teams that have finished in the top 10 every year, LA, NYRB, Seattle, and SKC. If RSL would not have nosed dived in 2015 they would have been right up there. So why do they win consistently? SKC and NYRB just seem to do a good job of finding niche players to meet their style. But they also have more money to spend on players because they average at least 2000 more fans a game. Well and new stadiums. . .
The draft is always easy to pick--in hindsight. Gressel was not a GA, BTW. He played 4 years at Providence.
How well we do in the draft should be the very last thing on a list of gripes. Maybe even just a footnote or just forget about it and move on
Thanks for that. I was adding it to the list. It isn't just whom he selects. But his constant passing on GAs who would help with the cap situation (there was one at #5 this year) and then taking an international player who doesn't play (Saravia, Abubakar, etc).
My picks were Gressel and Daniel Johnson both of whom were available to us. I was really bummed when we took neither. I thought and still think Lalas will be a bust IMHO.
Midfield Boss Tony Tchani was a no. 2 overall pick--and somewhat of a bust until he came to us. I've crunched the stats a few times on the draft. It's a cr*pshoot. There are a lot of guys still in the league who were high picks--who were drafted by someone else. Some never made it at all. And I'm just talking first rounders. Take the time to look it up for yourself. The trick is that the NCAA brand of soccer, unlike football, is not the best preparation for a pro career. Some guys just top out at the college level and cannot make the transition. It's very hard to predict--much more like the baseball draft, IMHO, than the NFL. One also has to note the impact of the Homegrown program. That dilutes the draft to a fair extent--and we have one starter from that program as well as a second guy (Crognale) who has seen a lot of action.
draw your curve and then plot your data.... You can make the facts say anything you want to that way.
I was more of an Alt bier fan than Kolsh. I could drink Alt bier all day (and did). And yes, it's absurd that the discussion is on the beer and not, well the non beer.