problem is, he isn't the academy coach, he is a HC relying on youth experience, which means for his purposes we either have the stars in the academy to be found and promote, or not. if the reason the academy gets poor results is poor players, then the cupboard is bare and the senior team HC will just report back, wow, nothing to work with. for this aspect of the exercise to work out positive there need to already be hidden gems in the academy at graduation age groups waiting for the right eye to dig out. otherwise, he isn't going to be doubling up training the academicians, it matters who has that job.
now, you could in theory build around kids, and he might be suited to that, but that strategy would start off with us running dead last and require both U20 YNT types and a working academy. and then as the team improved throw in final, veteran pieces. columbus c. 2006. rsl. astros. but for a while you would suck and no one would want to buy tickets. i don't think we have the guts, owners, bank account for that approach. they want short cuts. there aren't many sustainable short cuts in this league.
Well, on paper what you speak on is what it is Juve. However, what if Coach Ramos can get the Region III youth players that are currently ditching our club to follow Quill to FCD's camp and get that turned around so that they are arriving here in Houston for Ramos's plans. Then, he takes our prospects and starts to churn out not MLS bench type players but MLS starters. All the while he gets in the head of his new players he must now get to know and lead and finds a way to maximize our current talent a la Elis and Manotas and Ramirez to gel even more than they did under Wilmer. Our FO shockingly purchases some defensive cover to pair with Figueroa. Bizama pans out on our back line in 2020 and on and by 2022 our past is the past and a new and certainly improved Dynamo are punching above their weight in MLS league play, perhaps making additional runs in Cup play. Sure this process might take a few seasons but really, where can we go but up! All this is really not out of the realm of possibility nor is it theatre of the imagination as Glenn Davis would suggest!
I've been clear for years that a greatly improved academy was important and probably necessary for improved performance on and off the field. Lets not confuse necessary with sufficient. Look at the four semi-finalist in the MLS Cup that are also the top two points getters in each conference. None of them did it without hitting on ALL the areas. Academies, DPs, Coaching, Scouting. Drafting.
This is an interesting point. I hear Ramos speak about playing "attacking football" and I am suspicious that Matt Jordan and Brener succumbed long ago to the great hubris of club football executives -- the hubris that a club must play "entertaining! attacking!" soccer to be succesful with fans. The only way to get a coaching job with the Dynamo is to promise to be entertaining and attacking! Thus we see the Dynamo for 3 years rob the defense to benefit the offense with disastrous results. We see LAFC insist on their "football ideas" of how "the game should be played" and get thumped when it matters most by a team of hardened veterans who say "F ideas, I'm gonna defend and win." The same thing the ol' Dynamo used to do to clubs including Bob Bradley led Chivas USA in 2006. (Very VERY analogous to last night.) This sick perverted disease has infected so many good people -- yet you can't find me one example where a team won with defensive tactics yet was rejected by their fans. And you can't show me one entertaining! attacking! team that loses where the fans are happy and bountiful.
Holy Shit! I'm listening to the Tab Ramos show the club is hosting and the first question is from a guy telling Ramos that the team has been too careful offensively and afraid to take risks .... What the ********?? What has this caller been watching??
I don't think this can be stated enough. You can't even look at the FCD model anymore of having an outstanding Academy with a low payroll. Like it or not high profile DPs are making an impact.
there'a guy on that Dynamo Fans for Change facebook page that hates Carlos Vela and i have no idea why. i would be willing to allow Carlos Vela to punch me in the nuts before each home game if it would mean we could line him up next to Manotas and Elis on the Dynamos..
Takeaways from 45-minute conference call with head coach Tab Ramos: (a thread)- Club will announce two additions to the technical staff in the next two days (a former MLS head coach and coach with international experience).- 4-3-3 risk taking and high-press formation in 2020.— Foxtrot (@DynamicFoxtrot) October 31, 2019 Shoot me.
Found this over in MLS: Open up that link as there is video imbedded. It apears that Mark Berman met Coach Ramos at IAH baggage claim!
Look everyone, I know we have been burned before but I am more hopeful than when we hired Coyle or Cabrera. I have watched Tab as a player and a coach for many years and he is a smart guy. I pray that he gets involved with the academy and force tangible change and garner more resources similar to what Pareja did at FCD. I am not trying to pump sunshine, I know that coaching is only a part of the whole but I think this is a step up in coaching. Wil he be as good or better than Arena, Smetzer, Savarese etc? Not sure yet - he is unproven but I have hope. We need to keep pressure and criticism of the front office for failing in scouting, academy development, managing contracts etc but I would argue that they did about as well as anyone could in getting someone to come to this underfunded and dysfunctional team.
I think the skepticism for many is rooted in the demonstrated lack of investment in the club under Brener's ownership. Tab Ramos is a better coach than I thought they would be able to get given the current setup and lack of investment and dysfunction. But do you think it will be any different going forward with Ramos? Did he get something contractually about investment? (doubt it) Would you work for Matt Jordan? It looks like about as good as a move as they could have made but is their some stain or issue with Ramos that forced him into taking the Dynamo job, a job that can't be known as a top half job in MLS. But there should be some optimism.
@AcetheTigah 100% agree. Ramos is a serious coaching hire. I actually trust he knows he has to say this Entertaining! And Attacking! Soccer thing but knows the first order of business is to give this team some defensive organization. Everything I’ve heard him say so far has been nothing but marketing BS and I’m allright with that. Like you, I’ve followed Tab since his first days on the USMNT. I think Tab is a great hire. You can only play the game directly in front of you. First game for Brener to play after we all and others made all this ruckus is to make a solid coaching hire. Brener is 1-0 now. Can’t ask for more at this point. I use that analogy very purposefully. It would be unreasonable to expect nothing but wins.
There isn’t a stain or anything weird. More that the demand for Ramos is/was overstated by the US soccer media and the US soccer fanbase. I generally agree he’s up there with the best they could land short of shoveling money at someone. Same time, to hear him talk no one was beating down his door to give him an opportunity before we showed up. I do think anyone who thinks this signals a major culture shift at the team is naive though. There are some things he could immediately do, e.g. be more willing to integrate academy kids, change tactics, and make better in-game adjustments than Cabrera, but he’s not going to solve for the low spending.
New assistant coaches: https://www.houstondynamo.com/post/...-namazi-and-pablo-mastroeni-assistant-coaches Namazi was most recently coaching with the US U20, Iran U23, and in Denmark. Mastroeni was head coach of the Colorado Rapids up to 2017.
I don't believe that Tab was without options. He is too well known and respected, I have heard almost no negatives about him from anyone. To me, he doesn't take this job without some guarantees, what those may be are anyone's guess. Now I dont think we are going to increase the budget ten fold but I also don't think it's going to be business as usual. If the Dynamo wanted that they could have kept Davey. Also, let's not forget that it cost them money to get rid of Wilmer. What I am saying is that these moves signal a shift, how much remains to be seen, the season isn't even over yet so time will tell but I am encouraged. I would have been discouraged if they had kept Davey, to me that would have meant they were staying the course. A new coach means you are changing by it's very nature. Regardless of whether we want to admit it or not but there were some big changes. We have a new ownership partner with a massive name, a new big name ( for MLS) coach and we will have GAM money. Let's see what happens, be happy for the outlook if nothing more.
He said himself that despite all the previous rumors of him going to various places, nobody has ever contacted him. You mention GAM, I'm assuming you probably meant TAM. GAM and TAM are actually incorporated into the CBA which expires end of this year, so can't say for certain how much of each we get. However, if we were heading into the 2019 season we'd get $200k GAM same as every other club, plus $200k GAM for missing the playoffs. So $400k GAM total. That will get used up pretty fast buying down non-DP contracts that are over the DP threshold (although good chance we use TAM to do that). TAM, same deal as GAM. We don't know what rules will be for next season. In 2019, we'd have gotten $1.2 mil mandatory TAM. There is discretionary TAM we could buy as well, but to best of my knowledge we've not done that previously. Should note we have already traded away some 2020 GAM/TAM Marlon Hairston - we dealt $50k GAM Christen Ramirez - we dealt $75k GAM and $75k TAM (which could increase based on performance so no idea what final number is) Niko Hansen - we dealt $75k TAM
Ramos is basically the aggressive end of the inexperienced part of the applicant pool. He is a good choice for that type. But that type is kind of a lazy, cheap choice. Without money we have topped out as a 4 seed, and done so once in several years. You could get the coach right and the talent we can afford clicking and without more payroll or a working academy that's my ceiling estimate. And then if you stand still one offseason - as we often do with success now -- back below the red line. I think we are used to success and looking for a packaged approach that gets this back regularly right side of the red line. If they won't spend money, this may or may not be an outside of the box reward choice, but you're still spending the least in the league, and that's lipstick on a pig.
The cost of cutting Cabrera is their problem. I didn't say let's extend the coach based on the public relations moral victory of winning USOC while otherwise finishing below the red line. Nor did I (willfully?) misread it as some sort of upturn to reward. Wigan AFC once won the FA Cup the same year they got relegated. Birmingham similarly won the secondary League Cup same year they got relegated. Neither team likely took winning a cup while getting relegated as a basis for continuity, and neither team returned their coach. Cabrera got fired for roughly the same points per game that got him extended the previous year.
Tab could probably coach offense but it's interesting to hire two defensive assistants. Namazi sounds like more of a scouting guy. Mastro has more head coaching chops than the assistants we've had around since Spencer.*** ***I briefly entertained the idea he would be an interesting exit option if this doesn't work out, but the reality is he had the one very good Rapids year and then several very bad ones. I do think the team defense first approach is an interesting option we have not pursued. I feel like on a budget the current approach puts you at a systemic disadvantage. Both teams spend their money on offense, the other teams spend more. Neither team focuses on defense. The play will be open and the other team will have better horses running at your defense than you at them. I feel like a team that defended well could negate the opposing strength. I spend my money and effort on defense, you on offense. If I pick the right people maybe I can hold you and negate the offensive payroll spend. Then try to squeak results. When I watch defense-shy LAFC 5 LAG 3 and remember beating them 4-2 also I think there is some room to try the strategy.
Apparently at the press conference today, Matt Jordan when asked about club spending said (paraphrasing): "It will be more of the same based on ownership".
Did anyone watch our new Coach's press conference today? If not, one can pull it up from our club's website, home page. There is some video that our FO put together to honor Coach Ramos but I have yet to see it in this showing.