I'm with you too Lizzie. I haven't seen/heard anything from the players that would suggest that Petke has created a punitive environment. We have seen guys get in Petke's doghouse, and how hard it is to climb out of, but I don't think that is uncommon or unwarranted at all. Maybe some beat reporters can talk about what a tyrant he is? I haven't heard it. I mean, he's miles ahead of Friedel.
Thank you @Lizzie Bee and @rslfanboy for the sanity check. The whole ‘Petke is a tyrant and the players are afraid of him’ narrative was getting out of hand. There has been literally nothing published to indicate that’s the case. As far as the strategy and tactics part of the discussion, I’ve been very happy with Juarez’s substitutions and lineups. Also, the team pretty much controlled the 2nd half last night. This suggests that maybe effective adjustments were made at halftime.
Um, I could use some stock tips! Impressive enough to get one of those predictions right, but BOTH? WOW.
You know what is sad? The lack of coverage/attention this game is getting. This could be season defining and yet the focus, by RSL's own doing, is on the coaching fiasco. I made a comment in the soapbox article about this just barely but it bears repeating here: IMO, the next few games define the season for this team. There is just too much going on, the stakes are too high with players/coaches, and the standings are in a spot that we could make a jump to 2nd or fall out of the playoffs for this to not define the season. Freddy is being given what any coach would dream of if they got hired mid season - a chance to quickly put a stamp on your team and raise the standing of the team in a handful of games. We're not going to touch first in the West, LAFC has that and the SS pretty much on ice, but we could jump to 2nd in a single game. That's absolutely insane. If done right, Freddy can have the narrative change to be in his corner in less than a week. He can get the players bought into whatever changes he wants to make (please, Freddy, use the midfield) and can make a run to end the season that gets him this position permanently. I want the club to succeed and I see no reason to not want Freddy to succeed. These next two games are the biggest ones, IMO, of his career. I hope he gets them right
Goal differential? The last time I looked, LAG is at -5 goal differential and we are at +3. However, I think they would be ahead of us due to the number of wins since they are ahead of us in the standings now. We currently have 11 wins, 9 loses and 4 ties and LAG has 12 wins, 11 loses and 1 tie.
If it favors a team from NY, LA, Seattle, Atlanta, etc., then yes. If not, the Don will find some other tie breaker to favor the aforementioned teams.
maybe it's too early for me to understand, but how are those not the same thing? I would think the argument for more wins instead of goal differential would be that it rewards good play, not that a team was able to bag a bunch of goals in some games.
I'm thinking through some scenarios here and wondering what I'd actually prefer. 2 wins = 6 ties = 6 points ... But if we're assuming as equal number of games played, it's ... 2 wins + 4 losses = 6 ties /or/ 1 win, 3 ties, 2 losses just for an example I'd actually prefer 1 win, 3 ties, 2 losses as a fan. I know I'm being simplistic, but here's one early morning, half asleep interpretation.
That was my thought when I looked into it. Yes, LAG would have one more win, but they would have 3 more losses. I think the 3 losses are worse than the one win is good.
That's why goal differential is better. It shows just how good overall your team actually is. LAG is at 12 wins, 11 losses and 1 tie for 37 points and a -5 GD. RSL is at 11 wins, 9 losses, 4 ties for 37 points and a +3 GD. If you look at winning percentage (wins + 1/2ties), RSL is at 54% but LAG is at 52% so, although LAG has more wins, RSL actually leads on GD and winning percentage.