You would sub out Jones? And I quote, "Jones is capable of offense (like actually scoring a goal) and rallying a team, at least in the very recent past. He is (or perhaps was) a special player that can be a difference maker." That Jones, for a player who has yet to demonstrate any offensive production for our team this year? Rafa Garcia has more assists that Jack McInerny this season, and they are tied for goals scored. So the player Sigi subbed in actually has better offensive stats that McInerny... So it seems your sub would be taking out an offensive threat for the worst offensive player on the roster...
A few much, much worse playing personnel decisions by Curt, just off the top of my head. In aggregate these bone headed moves almost certainly cost us several points, not to mention much needed confidence: 1. Benching Rowe after one game so he could insert his wildly inconsistent, blunder plagued but still favored Diop. 2. Choosing to start the season with Garcia as our right back, as dumb of an experiment as I've seen. Pretty much everyone on earth not named Onalfo knew this was doomed to failure. While Garcia was getting schooled in his new ill-fitting position natural fullback Diallo was "pining" away on the bench. 3. Pulling Boateng in almost every game he started, regardless of how he was playing at the time and regardless of the score. Often Ema was one of the few players still hustling on both sides of the ball when he was yanked so Gio could stand on the field and watch his teammates play. 4, 5, 6, 7... It would take me a few minutes to remember but there are many more.
Not to mention, a draw is actually a significant increase in our home ppg. Sigi: 1.00 ppg at home Curt: 0.60 ppg at home
Given that missing the playoffs is a real possibility -- how much time do we spend asking why Sigi wasn't hired in the first place? Sigi was interviewed in the off-season and the outcome of that is we were told Onalfo was the best possible option after an extensive search. They pulled the rip-cord pretty quick (Sigi said in his press conference it went down over about 48 hours) but the damage was already done. I'm so confused as to why Onalfo was hired to start with.
It's just what we do. Arena gets hired, appoints: Sarachan (former assistant) Onalfo (former assistant) Kenny (son) Klein (former player) is appointed as president with no prior managerial experience. Vagenas (former Galaxy player) is appointed head of the academy despite no youth development experience Hartman (former Galaxy player) is appointed head of the girl's academy with no youth development experience. Arena leaves and everyone moves up one. Onalfo to Coach Vagenas to GM Munoz to GII Coach There are a few exceptions, but we make no pretense of searching for the best available person, it's just who you know and time-served at the Galaxy.
But remember Sarachan wanted the Galaxy Job, Klein and co went with Onalfo. I wonder how different it would have been with Sarachan.
My interpretation is that the younger staff wanted to assert their own identity once Bruce was gone. But I doubt Sarachan would have been better. I didn't like Curt but he was given a bad hand.
Just as I feared. Not being able to beat Seattle last weekend at home, with what was nearly everything going for us, was the turning point of our season. Too bad Sigi didn't know enough about his line up to give us the best chance to win it. We could have survived a loss to Portland today if we had won last weekend (although a win last weekend might have built up some confidence for the Portland game and could have meant a different result). But now, I think we are likely done. I'm not even saying fire Sigi, because we have to give him some time, but he's blown this season.
Agree that I hope Sigi knows what he's doing, but my opinion of needing to go for the win vs Seattle kind of makes it a horrible sub in my mind. Actually, no "kind of" about it.
Sigi is the one who's blown this season? After two games? You can disagree with his sub but this garbage fire of a season is 0% on Sigi and 100% on Curt, Pete and Klein.
FYP. He was dealt a team needing to find a replacement for Rogers and a team that then we faced a lot of new injuries. But he wasn't dealt his delusions that Garcia would be fine at right back, that Diop was better than Rowe, that subbing BJIV or Lassiter for Boateng improves our team. Don't know about Sarachin. I think at the least he would have insisted on bringing in a starter quality right back before the season started. Hopefully he would have pushed the FO to find a real striker for this season.
0% on Sigi? Really? Boy, that's an easy gig if you can get it. Is it just MLS where you think this kind of mediocracy is OK? Because it sure wouldn't fly in the bigger European leagues. Had you really written off the season two games ago? I think most people, including Sigi and the Galaxy FO still had hope.
If we needed 3 points from Sigi's first two games, then the damage was already done and we didn't sack Curt soon enough. You can't blame Sigi for not turning a team in disastrous form with a limited roster around, in two games. Frankly, if we make the playoffs, the guy deserves a contract extension.
I really don't understand this thinking. You look at leagues around the world, and you change managers to salvage a season (usually to stave off relegation) and the changes seems to inject a bit of life into the team. Happens a lot. One point from the first two games is not really acceptable by competitive standards, I would say. You should expect to get at least 3 points, if not 4. Not saying Sigi is mostly to blame for the overall season at all, but he was brought in to salvage it, I believe, not build for next year. And I'm not even so much criticizing the one point gained. My main comment is that Sigi should have been going for the win at home last weekend vs Seattle, instead of holding on for the 0-0 draw. Winning away in Portland was always going to be unlikely. And what do you mean by "limited roster". Sigi had as close to a full roster as we've had pretty near all season, and way, way better than Curt had most of the year.
Realistic playoff possibilities were close to nil with what Sigi inherited. It's not accepting mediocrity, it's accepting the reality of the mess Sigi has to deal with. If we don't see progress through the back end of this season, then Sigi will earn my ire. But for now it's damage control and building for 2018.
Come on TrickHog - who needs Van Damme and Alessandrini for a road game on turf when you have Steres and McInerny available?
It happens but it's usually a psychological boost to the players and often can't be attributed to the new manager. On that basis alone, you can't put it on the manager. It's often also done with more time to spare than this, or at least with things still pretty salvagable. And my position from day one was that I was skeptical about the roster that Curt and Pete had assembled. That's what I mean by "limited". Not injuries or suspensions.
I don't think he was given a bad hand. He was chosen based off of his time with the second team and the team wanting to try and reap those fruits. He wouldn't have never gotten the hand to play if it wasn't for that. It's was a poorly designed roster but there are good players on the team. He failed to put the team in a better position. This team shouldn't be as bad as it is
Huh? Who are these mystery players I'm not aware of? Lletget? Good, but not our best offensive player, and best defender??
Newsflash. We had those guys at home vs Seattle. You know, the game we HAD to win, but settled for a 0-0 draw.
Psychological boost if the players rate the manager, which gives me another cause for concern, but that's a separate discussion. Although subbing Gio for Garcia when we desperately needed a goal doesn't instill me with confidence in the new manager.
My beef is with Sigi's late subs at home vs. Seattle which were on the defensive side and not going for the win. After the lifeless, demoralizing draw at home to Seattle, where we seemed content with a 0-0 draw, any kind of result in Portland was highly unlikely.