wait, wait, I am sensing a theme here but I just can't put my finger on it...………...give me a minute I will get it...…………. I promise...……………..
Those are his first games with a real roster. Ben has never had options. I would have fired him at many many points over the years. Now is definitely not the time to do it.
It’s just not unreasonable to want every element of the team to be upgraded at any given time, including coaching and management. Coaches are sacked in Britain with 50-60% win percentages. Coaches in the MLS have been sacked after winning the supporters shield. If we can dump a midfielder and get Rooney or dump a keeper when we’re winning and get Hamid then why not look at the coach as something for future improvement? For what it’s worth, the roster we had in early 2012 relative to our opposition was good and fun and Olsen and company went out of their way to destroy it by seasons end.
That's fair. I just don't think we have any idea what Ben can do with a good roster. We know what Ousted and Mattocks are... and that's definitely room for an upgrade. We didn't dump a keeper while we were winning. Ousted was average at *best*. If you can tell me a really good coach... one of the top in MLS that we could get for 100% certain, I'd be okay with dumping Olsen. That's what we got with Rooney and Hamid. I'd argue they're best 11 for the 2nd half of the season. You and I both know that DCUnited haven't been that kind of team to dump a coach after a supporter's shield run. Those teams have been ones with lots of money, deep rosters, and very very lofty expectations. In Britain, you are constantly worried about relegation. If that was an issue we'd have been relegated long long ago. For better or worse (and I'm not trying to open up the pro/rel argument here) that's not a concern in MLS.
Sure.. it was good and fun. But it's not in the same league as having Canouse/Acosta/Rooney. And that's just the spine of the team. I have to say I don't remember the specifics about what Olsen and company did to destroy that roster though. Remind me... if it's relevant to this discussion... if you really think that team was comparable to the team we have now.
Well to be fair one of the teams that dumped a SS winning coach was San Jose and they are stingier than us. I think pre-Rooney and pre-playoff capital funds, where spending was an issue, the “we can’t afford a good coach” line of thought was still valid. We spend millions now and presumably can spend millions more. Rooney also exposes a problem with train of thought: (1) that we ended up getting a surprise player better than expected in pedigree and spent more for him than expected and (2) he ended up being far better for us than anticipated. Logically, the same can be true at coach. We have a taste for winning and beyond the transfer market you can bring it proven and talented winning coaches. Olsen holds the worst record of any DC United coach, still, despite a weak conference and middling league. If we can find a good coach, Olsen should easily be replaced, but if the replacement is some MLS shitbird, then forget it. In the meantime we can improve the roster and let things go the way they do when teams spend money (they generally make the playoffs regardless of all other factors).
Count me as one who does not think Olsen is a first-class manager. However, replacing him strikes me as a lower priority issue than continuing to upgrade the roster. The team as currently constituted is playing good, exciting soccer. A good roster can make even a middling manager look good. I would put replacing Benny a lower priority than securing more impact players to make his game-day lineup decisions more difficult than they are now. Besides, Rooney seems to be the on-field manager while the game is in progress.
Sure. If you can guarantee me that the coach will be top 5 in the league, dump Olsen in a second and bring in the new guy. The problem is finding and hiring that guy But if you wanna spend a couple million, upgrade the damn roster. Get a TAM level CB and take the million were paying steiber, dump him and get a better 12th man. Then buy a good young striker that can be a Rooney sub and replace him as the starter in 2 years.
I agree 100% with Boloni's post. I'll add that Asad looked done by about the 30th minute. He had a few flashes of okay play, but he looked like he was lost out there and hasn't really looked good for a while now. I got in late due to a horribly slow line, but someone said he took a ball to the face in the first few minutes. He looked dazed, drunk, concussed perhaps. Ben was horribly late on subs last night as he has been for weeks. I coach (admittedly not anywhere near his level), but I've made that mistake of sticking with players hoping that they somehow overcome exhaustion or poor form. You've seen them at their best and you just hope they can regain it. Overall, Ben did a really good job with this group, but he rode the same guys too hard given the schedule. Credit also to Berhalter and Columbus last night. They got a little help from the ref in that he let them play very very physically and that got us out of our game. But they defended well all game with the exception of Steffen's mistake on the first goal.
Coming out of halftime he mentioned that he wanted to do a better job of getting behind the Crew defense. I thought that meant we might see Mattocks early. We did not. I think we should have seen Mattocks early.
Or at least Arriola higher on the pitch. We hamstrung him, possibly literally, with defensive responsibility in this one.
The thing is he admitted to mismanaging Brilliant's minutes but he still went ahead and did this with others.
As many have noted, rotation is not Ben's strength. Now he was in the "win every game from now on" mode just to make the playoffs, so I can understand not tinkering with what seems to be working. He's got one year left on his contract, a better team (and hopefully improved team in the off-season) and a "normal" schedule next year. If he still muffs rotation next year and burns out key players and fails to implement a Plan B midgame when the other coach sussed out DCU's preferred style -- then he should go because the old "his roster is crap" excuse will be dead and buried. This year in key games Olsen was outcoached by Berhalter and Curtin. Beerholder apparently will be the next USMNT coach, so no disgrace there. Getting outcoached by Curtin? That's not good. There are very successful coaches in MLS -- Smetzer, Vermes, Berhalter, Petke, Vanney and Armas. Olsen isn't in that class -- yet. (I'm intentionally leaving Martino out because until he wins anything he's just a poser to me. I'm also leaving Bradley out because -- well Cheatin' Bob, because I still remember.)
The weird thing is that Olsen *used to* be great at rotating players and making the right sub at the right time.
Not doing much subbing worked well enough the last few months. For some reason he didn't realize that he should have been subbing more.
Olsen reminds me of how I play Football Manager. I try guys at different positions and in different formations until I find some success and then I stick with that new lineup and formation for as long as it works until the AI adjusts and it falls apart. Then I start searching for another new formation. DC played basically the exact same way against NYRB, Atlanta, NYCFC, and Portland during our long home stretch. Admittedly we played very well during all those games but those are four very different opponents. I love that we finally seemed to have a style of play we were trying to impose, but our talent level isn't such that we can just force other teams to adapt to us. Olsen makes like for like subs or adds Mattocks when we fall behind. Not bad subs, but hardly evidence of any creativity or nuance. Even the Arriola to RB experiment that allowed us to get another good midfielder on the field was only due to injury. I was excited to see Durkin get so much trust to start the season, but once Moreno and Canouse clicked together Durkin disappeared. I don't see any proactive moves by Olsen, just reactions. Surprisingly, the first time a team made a clear adjustment to our style was a Columbus team that hadn't actually played against Rooney before, but if we had won the PKs this was pretty much what I expected Red Bull to do to us. Ironically, it was this period of sustained success that confirmed my feelings that Ben isn't up to the task long term. He did his job, which was basically to avoid a San Jose style meltdown while the team had no budget. I can't imagine the front office will fire him after all the positive attention this run of form has garnered, but barring a significant increase in talent, I expect the rest of the league will adjust, Ben won't, and we will waste whatever years Rooney has left in his legs.
One old English retread worked pretty good for us last year - but what are the odds of two actually working out well
Technically, he's a Portuguese retread. Not-so-technically, I'd rather have a paper cut on my eyeball than him managing a team I care about.
Does the rest of England not consider scousers English? From their actions, I know they often don't consider them human.