MLS coaches (current and potential) and coaching thread

I'll grant you the former, but I'm not sure I agree with the latter - unless you insert "Ben Olsen to do" between "expect" and "with".

 

In fairness, outside of the first game of the season the Revs have been playing much better so far this season. I know it doesn't fit your narrative, but the Revs are at least passing the eye test so far in the 2018 season.

Yamil Asad was playing alongside Josef Martinez, Villabba, and Almiron last season. That's quite a different setup, not to mention loads more talent then DC United has. Asad wasn't signed by Atlanta to be the star of the show, he was a complimentary piece of the puzzle. In DC he's being asked to be a star player. That's a different role for him.

Olsen certainly deserves criticism. It also shouldn't be downplayed that he's been coaching with a losing hand since he came into the league. Olsen routinely has shown he can get results with a far below average talent wise team then most coaches could be expected to.

This argument happens all the time amongst Union fans in regards to Curtin. Any coach who is charge of the Union, DC United, the Revs, & the Rapids are going to have a tough job to do. These teams simply don't spend the money on players that the other teams in the league are. They don't have the scouting resources that other teams have. These teams are going into gun fights with nothing but their bare knuckles. Curtin has even admitted this multiple times. He routinely says that the Union need to play near perfectly every game to have a chance to win. That's just not realistic.

 

I'll counter with my opinion that I don't think Arriola is that good. Very one-dimensional and not strong enough. He's a better Liga MX player than he is an MLS player.

Asad has 2 goals and an assist in 5 games. That's pretty good.

I'm not trying to make excuses for Ben Olsen. ******** that guy. But D.C. really hasn't given him much to work with, historically.

 

Ben Olsen, somehow, is the 2nd longest tenured coach in MLS. He's been in his job almost a decade. He's gone through dozens, maybe over a hundred, of different players, presumably with some say in who is brought in. Yet his record has been consistently horrendous.

Like Heaps and Mastroeni before him, it is past time for a change. Not that I personally mind DCU being a bad team, of course...

 

Sure, totally agree. I just don't think whoever replaces him will do any better without huge investment in the playing squad. And given that the DC ownership seems to be building up the infrastructure of the club to improve its value in a sale while aggressively neglecting the team itself, I don't expect that to be the case.

Long may the bad D.C. teams reign.

 

Petke's seat getting warmer? Another lifeless performance from the claret and cobalt tonight....

 

Well, the Revs have gotten off to a good start (thanks to playing 2 games against 10-man teams), which is a nice unexpected surprise, but the storm clouds are on the horizon, and it's not going to be rosy for long if he doesn't figure out what to do about Lee Nguyen. Lee is a total bum, since he can't even get into the 18, and Friedel said that Zachary Herivieux (who?) is ahead of him on the depth chart at #10, behind Fagundez.

Nguyen asked fr a trade at the start of 2017 and they have refused to move him. As a fan, I'd hate to see a player like him go, but considering the quality of some guys who moved in the off season (Nagbe, Klejstan, Miram, etc.) the Revs probably could have gotten comparable value had they been willing to move him. Instead, they are turning down offers for $750k, and in the summer window, they will be lucky to get $500k.

But that's why Mikey-Mike Buns is smarter than the average highway bridge support, playing checkers when everyone else is playing 3-D chess and 4-5 steps ahead of everyone else.

 

Rumors of Patrick Vieira to Arsenal getting heavy.

 

Talk about a win-win for me.

 

That's a big debate on the DC forums.

My own belief is that the players are bad, but Olsen is the bigger negative. In particular, I argue that one reason the roster is bad is that Olsen is THE WORST at developing players. Outside of Hamid, who was coached by the GK coaches, Olsen's players make marginal improvements at best. Deleon could be decent, but he isn't. He's no smarter than he was as a rookie, he's just gotten fat and complacent. Birnbaum made some minor improvements his first 2-3 year, but that's it. Pontius never got better.

Chris Korb turned into a very good outside back on the defensive side, but that's about it, at least that I can think of off the top of my head.

In other words, Olsen is, in my opinion, a key reason the roster sucks.

 

The Union are committed to the 4-2-3-1 formation. No one knows if that is Curtin's decision or Earnie Stewart's. Curtin either has no idea how to coach that formation or he can not persuade his players to do what should be done. On the other side, Stewart has been horrible in bringing in players that fit that formation. Fire them both.

 

Doesn't matter, every Philly fan would be pleasantly shocked if Curtin is let go during the season. It's very unlikely to happen. Plus, what coach is going to want to take over this roster? Can't make Filet Mignon with ground up dog shit.

 

Well if Stewart takes the US TD job than the next Union GM will probably can Curtin.