Yes.. But I'm not sure what he is even doing in soccer. He's a basketball guy. But there is no relegation threat in MLS, so no need to fire Oslen as long as the financials are looking good. The team record is irrelevant.
Good point. Relegation is very costly to an EPL team; if MLS had it you would see much more coaching turnover as owners try to protect cash flow.
Given soccer's popularity here, relegation would likely be even costlier to an MLS team. I don't think DCU would still be around if it had been sent down to the lower leagues for even a season or two.
You need to go to Serie A for real drama with managers. https://sports.vice.com/en_us/artic...-has-changed-managers-eight-times-this-season
Oh Zamparini... I think Zamparini sold Palermo, then took it back after the buyer didn't have the cash for it, or something. Regardless, they might be back in Serie A next season.
Having spent some time in Sicily it's not common to see so many management changes without missing persons or weeping widows
Asst. Coach Noah Sheldon was on the bench and actively engaged at Saturday's match. I had not really noticed him before. He is our former Academy Director, has an "A" license, and also has an Elite Formation Coaching License through the French federation, which I've heard is not at all easy to get. Should we hope to see more of him at future matches, or was he just there to encourage former Academy pupil Chris Durkin?
He's been an assistant coach since last year I think. I think he got the French license thing through MLS - MLS and the French Federation had a partnership at one point (not sure if it's still ongoing) and every MLS team sent one representative from their Academy I think over for a month long or 6 week course. Sheldon was the DCU coach who went. He brought some of the concepts back to the Academy and they tried implementing some of them. (I had a son in the Academy program at the time.) The main gist of it (and I"m sure this is a massive oversimplification) was that the French federation had a philosophy that they didn't recruit athletes as much as they wanted the young kids who had the technical skills and, more importantly, the soccer smarts. The training he brought back was a lot of situational drills - you have 2 players, one can go in this area, one can only go there, they have three defenders, how do you get the ball from A to B type of stuff. When they tried to implement some of the drills at the Academy is was amusing to watch as the coaches sometimes struggled to figure out how the drill was supposed to work and they all stood together arguing over it. The French philosophy was definitely interesting. They basically said we can teach the players to be a good enough athlete, but they need the technical skills and, more importantly the tactical understanding. Which seems very opposite of a traditional American philosophy of "you can't put in what God left out" so find amazing/fast athletes and try to teach them skills and how to play the game...
well - I wouldn't call it the "traditional" philosophy - It certainly was what the travel leagues and select team leagues used -hopefully that is being phased out by the promotion of "academies"
That's my understanding as well, and I rather like the idea. After all, as Cruyff so often said, a player has the ball for only a few minutes per match, and it is what he does off the ball that occupies most of his time and is crucial to success. When I get frustrated with DCU it's rarely due to players' physical limitations but more to deficiencies in vision and anticipation, which I think the French Federation emphasizes.
The annual anonymous player survey is out http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...re-promotion-relegation-salaries-more?src=com The tidbit applicable to this thread is from the section called "which MLS coach would you not want to play for" "[Olsen is] a pretty good motivational, but I need someone to give me the tactics and X's and O's." I wonder if this comes from a current DCU player...
Yes. Ben is tied for *2nd place* in this category, making him the *second-worst* coach in the league in the eyes of MLS players. Ouch. It appears that players want more than just a "player's coach".
[ [x In the interest of fair play I wonder what the anonymous coaches survey of MLS players would read like.
So professionals don't want to play for a shitty team with no ambition? Color me shocked. It's always been clear that Olsen's players would (and often do) run into walls for him. I wasn't that high on Olsen as a coach until I saw what he did in 2013. The way that the players continued fighting for each other that season despite being utterly and completely hopeless won my admiration. Ben isn't the problem.
I think it's safe to say that Ben is a "lifer" with DCUnited, but not necessarily as the Head Coach. Even if the ownership changes, which I fervently desire, I think Ben stays on in some capacity. It may just be that he keeps his present title but operates more as the inspirational leader, giving up the tactical aspects of the game to a new "assistant," (who should be well compensated). That's why I was intrigued by Noah Sheldon's prominence at the 'Plex.
I think he would probably be a great color commentator and he could shake hands of the suite holders during matches.
Coaches should only care about winning the next game. The GM should be thinking more-mid term (eg. "Is this player a wise use of GAM?"). I think every club should have a person in a decision-making role who only cares about the long-term health of the club. That way, decisions are made with both the long-term and short-term in mind. (Not my idea, I think it was Simon Kuper's.) Ben would be absolutely perfect for that role, when the time comes.
I saw very little of Ashton and a lot of Sheldon, which is why I got curious. (To be fair, I apparently missed seeing Beasley having a great game, so I may not be a very good observer.)