Well considering how these have gone this year I'll get this game thread started way early. I know it's still relatively early in the season but sitting on 10 points after 10 games and with how RSL has been playing wins seem paramount. As of today looking at the standings it looks like there could be up to 6 teams, Minnesota, San Jose, RSL, Portland, SKC, and Vancouver fighting for the last two playoff spots. FC Dallas and Houston may change places with a couple of the teams below, say Portland, which will have a boat load of home games to really rocket up the table at the end of the season. I don't think SKC will spend much time behind RSL either. 6 teams 2 spots. It's really early I know but I think RSL is really going to struggle to make the playoffs in the West even with the extra team this year. That being said Colorado could be just what the Doctor ordered. On the other hand if RSL plays like they did against Portland and the CRapids get their first win how hot will Petke's seat get? With this team I have no idea what is going to happen. It's the 11th game and I think RSL needs to turn it up to 11. Or higher.
Must Win Game I don't give a shit where we are in the season. This is a must win game. Period. Anything short of that and people should seriously be questioned for job security (players, coaches, front office, etc).
Not to jinx the team, but.........the Utah Warriors rugby team went to Glendale (Denver) last week and got destroyed 64 to 22. You can draw you rown conclusions. But, since RSL has won a few games and hasn't coughed up as many goals at the Rapids, I would expect RSL to win, maybe a 1-0 or 2-1 victory. However, you never can tell when playing a team that hasn't won yet this year. Like Admiral Akbar sez, "It's a trap".
Yes you can. And I bet you can almost trade for players too. That should be Waibel’s nick name, good ol’ almost. “Did you hear about the players we almost signed?” Their doing amazing things this season. Not here but ...
Speaking of which German Cano is leading his league again with 21 goals in 20 appreances. Almost double the next highest at 13. Not bitter, just sayin...
Anyone know if Conor Casey is all caught up on GOT. If not someone want to give out your HBO account to keep his TV occupied
Great move for NYCFC too. Lewis wasn’t in their plans anyway, plus they get $500K in allocation money.
Does the front office apply this mindset to the fanbase and tickets sold? FO: We almost have the best fanbase in the league, they are almost the loudest with the best chants/songs Analysts: Um...your ticket sales aren't anywhere near the top, and the visitor section has louder fans at your games. No one can hear any chants. FO: Yeah, but we almost sold 3x as many tickets. Our supporters group almost worked together, we almost started a bunch of chants... Can we all be really good at our jobs by almost doing things?
this would have been really good when we consistently came in 2nd place. But, in a way, I guess it makes even more sense now. We're almost a good team. Almost a good franchise. Almost as good as we were. Almost as good as the league average. Almost have a good GM. Almost have a good Coach. Almost have a president worth a damn. Almost use our academy. Almost use our USL team. Almost
He was almost signed. So, in a weird way, expectations were met. Good Job, Craig ! You’re way ahead of us.
Eh, I think I've made my opinion on this well known. I'd rather be really great for a year or two and then bad for a year or three than be consistently good. Utah football comes to mind in this situation. For years they've been a good football team, but never make the jump to great. RSL was that way from 2010-2013. We were right on the cusp of great, but really don't have anything to show for it. And at the end of the day, people don't remember teams that finish second place unless they do so consistently - and then it's not in a flattering fashion. Think of the Buffalo Bills.
To be fair, everyone except the team that wins the shield and the team that wins the cup would be in that "almost good" category. RSL spent a few years punching above their weight and playing the best ball in the league. The fans got used to that, but, other than a couple months in 2017, the fans really haven't had that feeling since. I think what appears to be a rush toward mediocrity with no discernible plan to be better than mediocre is what is causing the problem. Waibel is either poor at his job, being told what to do by those on high or is financially handcuffed; Petke may or may not be poor at his job, but he is handcuffed by the lack of talent compared to any of the top 1/3 teams in the league; and the academy may now be handcuffed by the fact there is a LOT more competition. The academy made its reputation when it was based in Arizona and drawing players from all over the country. Now it is based here and the other MLS teams have their own academies, so it is likely that the talent pool is much shallower. The USL team appears to be an underutilized and ignored asset. All of this simply means that, for RSL to be better than average, somewhere, somehow, in the three listed areas, there needs to be an improvement from average to above average to even great. Of the 3, I have the most confidence in Petke (damning with faint praise), then the academy and last Waibel. Unfortunately, Waibel is the lynch-pin for all the above. So - EMBRATSU!!
A few points in response, not necessarily in rebuttal I'm reminded of the wisdom of Ricky Bobby: If you aint first, you're last. Which, as we know, isn't true. Finishing 2nd is actually pretty damn good. But, again, few people that finish in those spots get remembered. And those that do aren't for reasons you'd like. That's the nature of the sport. Especially in this league/country, where parity is a real thing (or at least it was) there isn't an excuse to stick with a team not trending upwards and fighting to be that special one that wins. I'm not sure we punched above our weight with the talent on the team. Those glory teams were insanely talented and built to be successful. They lacked that killer instinct, though, to be truly special. I'll still love them to death, heck I'm a Minnesota Vikings fan this is life, but the honest truth is they didn't actually come through on what the talent indicated they could/should do. Waibel is very poor at his job. Far too much focus is put on his player acquisition side of the job (which he has shown he's mediocre at best at) and not enough is put on the general managing aspect of things. Instead, there is this weird grey area where all of these faults of the club (Monarchs, Academy, direction, etc) don't get assigned to anyone. Or, worse, get assigned to people that really don't have the knowledge (DLH) or ability (Petke) to pull them off. I don't think the academy is lacking because of the move to SLC. Sebastian Soto, Ricky Ledezma, and Taylor Booth are were in the Herriman facility. The difference with them is that they didn't have a clear path on how to move forward in this club. It doesn't exist.
I'm not a fan of Waibel's at all, but your point here has a VERY large counterpoint. The RSL academy has a great reputation, and is generally considered top 5 in MLS, many have it 3rd. That's Waibel's responsibility. - Facility in Herriman opened last year to finally bring all 3 levels of RSL together with a common training ground, for coaches to build a consistent philosophy, and to build that pathway you are looking for. - Vasquez and Juarez put in place as coaches for Monarchs and RSL, respectively, with the stated purpose of helping players to progress to the next level within the organization. While neither of the last two have led to tangible results, they are all relatively recent moves that seem to be very sound to lay the foundation for player evolution from youth to first team. - IMO, DLH continues to meddle and make mistakes that hamper Waibel, like bringing back Olave, running Kreis out of town, promoting Cassar to head coach (when it was fairly obvious he wasn't the best choice), driving Lagerwey out of town, and bringing back Yura. All of those decisions clearly on DLH's shoulders, if you followed the comments/articles at the time they happened. The JK one arguably was not intentional by DLH while the others were. And that one was probably a case of JK not being able to stand DLH. Again, I'm no fan of Waibel, but the problems with this organization start at the top. And to be clear that's NOT Waibel. At some point, Waibel will need to go, and Petke will need to go. Potentially this season. But I have zero confidence that will fix/improve the situation.