I was at the game, and it's pretty clear to me now that other than Onalfo's complete ineptitude as a tactician, our biggest issue is zero team cohesion brought on in large part by Jermaine Jones and his f*cking mouth. The Van Damme sub was totally unnecessary, he isn't the problem. Yeah he can get a little hot but you also clearly see he cares and tries to motivate the "lesser" players, not belittle them. Once Jones left injured, all they had to play for was themselves, and it worked. Gio stepped up, both in his effort and as captain rallying the team, but shockingly it was more apparent with Husidic and especially Joao Pedro. For the first time this season he looked like a serviceable player. And like many have already noted, he wasn't playing as a DM, he was much more central while Husidic was more of a 6. It was really interesting to watch in person though. I gave this analogy to my family about why this happens psychologically: imagine you're playing pickup basketball and one of your teammates thinks he's super good, tries to do everything, yells at the rest of the team, but you don't win. The rest of the team will not be inspired to give a good effort, cause f*ck that guy. That's Jermaine Jones. On the other hand, yes you can have the same kind of a$$hole on your team that does all those same things, but guess what he actually backs it up and you win. Even though you may dislike this guy, you're gonna show up and play hard because if you do, more often than not you're gonna win. That's someone like Robbie Keane. What happened last night was when Jones left the game, the guys finally had freedom to play for one another and not have that douche constantly in their ear for what he perceives to be inferior play. I applaud the team for their play in the second half, but I still am rooting for Onalfo to find a way to f*ck it up on the road so we don't have to see him at a home game ever again. Lastly, our next coach better have the bona fides and the BALLS to put players in check (Jones and to a lesser degree JVD) when necessary, and play good consistent soccer dammit!
Gyadi getting chances (and missing them) is actually a good sign. Anyway Onalfo has tough decisions to make in regards to Jobes and the midfield. Jones is not the same player he was in New England. If he is not going to play as dedicated DM he needs to sit.
What a strange team we have. There is way too much talent for us to be this bad. That first half was an abomination. As everyone has noted, Onalfo has no tactical understanding of the game. I have never seen such a lack of understanding between players. Apart from Alessandrini (I will attack) there was no sense of purpose, no idea what to do. Clearly Jones cannot play the midfield, he tries hard, but he is out of position way too much. He is a headless chicken. Van Damme, to me, appears to be trying to win the game from the back. Gotta believe there is a lack of direction from the coach as to what people's roles are. Gio cares, and got better as the game went on. I thought Joao Pedro looked a completely different player in the 2nd half - good, not great, but the kid is probably in shock at the lack of organization on this team. Zardes needs to get better fast. Our right side defense is like an open door. Trade for a decent defender now! How crazy is it that we are a better team without Jones and Van Damme on the field? It's like Onalfo can only handle players whose game is 'straightforward'. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
I don't give Onalfo credit for that second half. The team still seemed to be playing with the organization of a pick-up team. What made the difference is that they seemed to realize that their backs were against the wall and just went all out to make something happen. Boateng was excellent after coming on and I'll again hand it to Gio - any fears that he doesn't care have been allayed by his attitude in the past few games. He's almost been playing like a quarterback in recent weeks, which although pointing to a lack of tactical shape and instruction, shows that he is trying to make a difference in the game. Ashley Cole was another player that looked like he was grabbing the bull by the horns. To the people who tried to tell me in the "Fire Curt" thread, that I was somehow wrong about Jones and it's all Joao Pedro, I feel vindicated by this game. There was a point in the first half, when our players were stuck in possession, trapped by a pressing Chicago forward line and where was Jermaine Jones? Literally so far forward that he was in line with the opposing defence and our forwards. Then when he went off, we actually looked freer. I'm not sure if as some have suggested here, the absence of his repeated rollickings helped morale, but I certainly feel that minus his headless-chicken act, Pedro and Husidic made for a more sensible midfield display. I've never been as high on some as Gyasi and his erratic finishing actually cost us two points on the night. I stand by my ongoing assessment that the guy reads the game well and gets in excellent positions but that his technically ability is very erratic. I was hoping that JVD was going off because he tweaked something, because his substitution otherwise makes little sense. It's a colossal slap in the face for any player (least of all your captain and reigning MVP) to be pulled halfway through the first half. Especially given that our options at the back are more limited than an anteater's diet.
I don't dislike Jones; it's just clear his presence is a disruptive force on team tactics and morale. Even if you think Jones is in the right, you can't replace 10 other guys and he's the outsider. @ProudNatRN talked about it: the effect on the team's spirit when Jones left the field was tangible. Players were bolder, more willing to show for the ball and express themselves/try shit, which tells me they'd subconsciously been holding back when Jones was on the field, probably because they don't want to be criticized. You can't play interesting or effective soccer if you're second-guessing yourself. If Jones is going to be a good leader, he has to realize that just because he is an emotionless tackling machine, his teammates aren't.
Highlight Time Folks The game that saved Curt's job for another week or so. Why are we delaying the inevitable? Put this man out of his misery now before the season gets away from us.
Curt not mincing words, btw: for him JVD at fault for both goals and pulled specifically for that reason. Not only that -- he thinks it worked! On his decision to substitute Dave Romney for Jelle Van Damme in the first half: “I expect our players to be right from minute one. I’m the leader of the team and if guys aren’t…I’m the leader of the team and I have to make substitutions to get our group to where it needs to be. I brought in Dave and he did a solid job and we didn’t concede anymore and it ended up creating a lot of chances.” On what was off about Jelle Van Damme’s performance: “We conceded two goals early on and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen moving forward.” Steres seems to get what his coach doesn't: [Daniel Steres] On the substitution of Dave Romney for Jelle Van Damme: “It’s the coach’s decision. He’s the one making the subs and making the decisions. I don’t know if it sparks energy because you don’t want to see your captain go off whether it’s for a bad game or anything else.” Boy talk about awkward plane ride!
I feel sorry for the team. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody wants to play so badly it hurts your standing elsewhere (nation team, transfers, etc) but I'm sure they realize if they play well enough to win Curt sticks around when it's clear Curt is out of his depth and the team knows it. Why else would Curt make it a point to declare in an interview that "I'm the leader of the team"......amateurs who ain't in charge of anything have to make that statement.
In my experience people who feel the need to assert they’re leaders more often than not, aren’t. They’re usually people who are in over their head and mistake responsibility for authority and authority for leadership.
and as weird as it was to say it, he repeated it. "I’m the leader of the team and if guys aren’t…I’m the leader of the team and I have to make substitutions to get our group to where it needs to be."
This also says that he is struggling for power with another great presence in the locker room. His authority is being undermined. He doesn't know how to handle egos and strong wills. This team can't go from Bruce Arena to one of his boys unless said coach could command respect.
Damn it it's Monday did he get sacked yet? What's the hold up? He's lost the locker room I'm sure of it but just in case I'm praying for it too.
Seems unlikely he would be fired after a couple of tie games. Disappointing, to be sure, but you've got to believe they want him to make it through the season or at least a little longer. Remember, it makes Klein look bad to his bosses if he pulls the plug this quickly. As long as the club is limping along, he can tell AEG that they need to be patient and it's a process etc. My guess is that they want to give Onalfo the next 4 away games to right the ship. That would put them in mid-June, a few weeks before the secondary transfer window opens up. If the team needs significant re-tooling, it could happen then and a new manager could participate in that process. Plus, during that stretch of away games I know the upper deck bench seating will be replaced with individual seating and possibly other changes will be made to ready the stadium for the Chargers. Thus, there will be an opportunity for a mini-grand re-opening of sorts and they will want to generate some excitement for that. If the team is on a 4 game losing skid, a new manager and a new signing would help.
Sigi got fired after a nil-nil draw vs Columbus while the team was in first place at 9-6-7 after a 5 game winless streak. Curt is winless in 4, no need to wait for another game without three points. FWIW Sigi’s 5 game winless streak was 3 away draws, 1 away loss and 1 home draw (to the Eastern Conference champs that year).
Seattle had a much more experienced GM with a mandate and he had not hired Sigi, so terminating Sigi was not an indictment of the GM. Plus, Sigi had been there quite a long time, so no worry about a quick trigger being perceived as a lack of patience. Plus, Seattle did exactly what I'm suggesting, which is bring in the new players after firing the manager. It's one of the advantages to a summer coaching change if you're going to do one at all. I'm not advocating we wait because I think that's the right thing to do. I'm just predicting we'll wait at least until then.
Amazing blind spot when it comes to "his guys" - like Diallo who was beaten twice like a red headed stepchild* on that play. Of course this is the guy who thought Garcia was our answer at right back. Honestly there isn't a competent coach in the country who would primarily blame those goals on VD. And then he compounds it by finger pointing in the press. I thought my opinion of Onalfo couldn't go lower. I was wrong. I want him gone now. *Sorry couldn't think of a more PC phrase.
I was actually referencing when LA fired Sigi back in 2004. I agree though the front office will likely wait because I think they believe firing Curt at this point would reflect poorly on them given their effusive praise which at the time seemed ridiculous and in hindsight seems reckless. I tend to hold the opposite view, an early, well early-ish, sacking and admission of mistakes being made would give me a degree of confidence Pete & Chris might have the necessary tools to right the ship. Each game that passes and they fall in to the “wait until summer” pattern will push the needle to they’re only emulating being President and GM, much like Curt is emulating a coach.
Ahhh. You got me there. Of course, even Hamilton was a bit more experienced than Klein given that Arena was likely making most of the real decisions before this one. It was also a summer firing and Sigi was not a new coach. I still think that the big problem was that the coach hire was not coordinated with the personnel or even the personnel hire (Pete). If you're going to promote your GII coach and go youth movement, you don't sign Jones. You plan to play Lletget in that CM spot and when he gets injured you give Mendiola or someone like that a shot. It's like when the Cavs hired David Blatt to coach a bunch of rookies and then all of sudden they got back LeBron James and signed his veteran buddies. They needed an entirely different coach skill-set with that personnel. Problem here was that the Jones trade was set in motion by Arena and Chris/Pete didn't think to factor the coaching search into it.
By emulate I mean he's doing the superficial things one would pick up about being a coach. I don't think he really has a deep understanding of what a soccer coach is and is more playing a role.
I knew exactly what you meant. I was just making a (lame) joke about his actions even resembling what a coach would do. It's a slow day at work.
I think our FO is in too deep to fire Onalfo unless we absolutely have to. They went with the risky appointment, and then they made some silly trades. The FO would have to admit they were wrong. I could see Onalfo having the job till July if results like this continue.
My 2 cents on the game: Diallo seems to be taking most of the blame for the goals on here, but Gyasi has to take some of the blame for the first goal, it was his bad pass that started the sequence that lead to the pk. The second goal was also the result of a bad pass, this time it was JVD's long ball to no one that started the Chicago counter. Second half was better but Chicago was terrible defending both corners. Steres had an uncontested header on the first one, the second Gio was totally unmarked on the far post. Question: what's up with ACB? I haven't been to a game since the home opener but watching on TV the last couple of games the ACB section looked pretty subdued. Did I miss something? Is it just a reflection of the product on the field?
Well I agree about Curt, but otherwise l couldn't disagree more. Comment all you want about Pedro's play, but he was brought in as a defensive mid. And this wasn't just the Galaxy putting a square peg in a round hole, Pedro had no record of being attacking mid or even a mildly effective box to box mid at any point in his career. And unfortunately Pedro sucks as a Dmid. Curt has compounded this by continuing to start Pedro; in fact he has played every minute of every game except when he got subbed at the 61st minute of the Montreal game which the Galaxy won. I also missed the bloom in Husdic's play, especially after Chicago started the second half playing bunker ball. FWIW, in your explanation to your family, you completely disregarded the well known multi sport phenomenon where a player goes out and the rest of the team kicks it into overdrive for the reminder of that game. As has also been observed that behavior seldom lasts as the rest of the players return to their mean in subsequent games. Note, this has nothing to do with whether the player is liked or not. So we will see with Jones being out.