Well that was a solid win by the Monarchs. Only 1-0, but they could've had 4 if not for some great saves. Also saved a PK at the end of the first half to preserve the shutout. OC rarely threatened, but they did get a few good chances in the game. At least we have one team worth watching. If by 'we' you mean the Monarchs, then yes!
Petke's fire seems useful. We're close to or at rock bottom on many levels. This season is not salvageable. Sure there's *a chance* but come on, it's over. Move on. In the NBA you tank for draft picks. In soccer, you improve in other ways. We should have been developing our youth with serious playing time 2 years ago, we should have been doing it last year. We should be doing it this year. Instead we played 35 year olds into the ground. The front office inability to add strength to the D is laughable at this point. So from a player acquisition standpoint it's time to start over and rebuild. Scouts, GM, the works. Especially the DLH in-laws.
This defense is historically bad - on pace to concede 74 goals which would shatter the league record. Waibel should be fired immediately and a replacement identified to start rebuilding this team for 2018.
To be fair, we're only 5 points out of a playoff spot. IF, and that's a massive IF, we actually improve via summer trades. (need at least a CB and a forward, possibly an outside back/midfielder) we could have a shot. With the team we have now, I have a 0% chance we make the playoffs. If Weibel/Andy actually makes a few moves in the summer window we have a slim chance. While I don't think we do anything this year, all we realistically need is a playoff spot. If we make the right moves in this window and trend upwards, we could have ourselves a season like 2009. I don't see it happening, but I'll try and not judge until we've made some moves.
Question: who would you want to see brought in as GM? Inside/Outside organization? An AGM somewhere? Former player? Former coach? Former scout? You know who I'd be interested in talking to...even if only getting more knowledgeable about who the ideal candidate is...but, none other than Don Ovan. Hear me out a sec. He was supposed to be our "missing piece" in pre-season. We were the only team offering him 2 years. Why did he back out? What did he see that made him decide "thanks, but no thanks"? He has played on some highly dysfunctional teams...and he has played on some teams where everything clicked and they mixed superstars with competent role players. He was once a young up and comer, and opted to stick in MLS versus chasing Europe. Knows MLS, knows International. Has seen all types of coaches.. The dude has all sorts of experience--from the low depths to the highest peaks. He'd be an interesting guy to talk with (assuming we have capable execs who realize soccer is not their game....)
Um, a former player as GM? I dunno. Former players don't always make good coaches but I'm not sure about former players as GMs.
Donovan is working to be in the ownership group of San Diego now, I doubt he wants to GM a team. He also didn't sign with us reportedly because MLS wouldn't let us pay him his demands dispite our willingness as it would have broken a rule in the CBA and opened doors to players the league likely doesn't want opened. I.E. allowing for huge salary increases year over year.
During the off-season Waibel said he was confident in the progress we had seen in the defense and he confident we'd be set for the season. If this doesn't make everyone question his ability to judge talent and make the right deals for the team, I don't know what will. If you keep bringing in USL quality talent; Schuler, Horst, VanOekel, Maund, Wingert, Phillips, Mulholland, Barrett, we should keep expecting USL quality defense and outcomes. This has gone beyond rebuilding, we are breaking records for how bad we are playing, this isn't part of some plan, management doesn't know what they're doing. Well managed teams don't implode and get routed sequentially and have players on the team as bad as our current defense.
Uhhhh, no. He was a company guy and didn't publicly complain about the lack of talent. I do think he made a tactical error his first year by continually complimenting the efforts of the players. Notice that stopped early last season.
In a way, yes! We are the only team to give up 5 goals in the first half of a MLS game (as you posted earlier), and we are tied with one other team for the most goals in the second half of a MLS game (6, 2005). We setting records, baby!
This is the third season that this has been painfully obvious, as least as far as building the Senior team is concerned.
Glad is coming back. So there's that. What did I learn from the last two days? Some people can organize defenses, some people cannot. Maund and Schuler cannot organize a back line. So I see some people complaining that some people always need to point fingers. someone always has to be at fault, instead of the whole team. Maybe its the team. Its not the whole team. the center backs should never ever look like they did yesterday. Either one can apparently "get by" with someone smarter holding their hands. but schu and maund cannot hold each other's hands.
That is true. It is also true that our defensive midfielders are pushing much higher under Petke than under Cassar, so there is less cover. I didn't pay as much attention during the Dallas game, but there were several occasions when all Beckerman and Sunny were both with Rusnak in and around Houston's 18, with one of the outside backs pushing up as well. That leaves precious little cover for a team like Houston which is so fast and so skilled on the break.
I'm a huge fan of Donovan. Greatest American player ever. But not a fan of giving a GM without any front office experience a piece of the team. That's crazy talk.
Based on pictures I've seen (and can't un-see), at least he would make sure we had enough drinking fountains installed at the stadium...
I would think the coach would have some level of input on the players brought in. Now it's entirely possible Cassar wanted different players and Weibel either didn't want to, or wasn't able to bring them in. It's also possible that Cassar wanted those guys and Weibel brought them in without issue. Realistically it's probably somewhere in the middle, but in the end it wasn't good enough. I do think we need to get rid of Weibel as well, and it sounds like we might need a scout that knows how to find defenders. We seem to be doing ok on finding offensive pieces, but the defensive side has been terrible.
I had errands to run on Saturday and had so little faith in RSL that I planned them be right during the game. I mean, I could have asked the wife to move things around, but I didn't see the point. This team is the shits. I still love the crest, but this current iteration of the team needs a ********ing enema. To that point, I completely agree that Waibel needs to go. And, to logically put together the last page of posts, the guy I would replace him with (in the interim) is none other than Mike Petke. Why the hell not? I'm sick of the "these aren't his guys" excuses for head coaches. Make Petke the guy who runs it both. Let him decide if he needs someone else with him to do it (quite literally let him say I want person so and so to help me) and get the ******** out of the way. Then, come 2018, we can't say "well Petke needs more time". Give him the wheel and move out the way. Right now, I fail to see how this could be any worse.