I know this is a little early but RSL has played their last regular season game and needs all the Karma they can get to make the playoffs and by that I mean Houston. There definitely needs to be changes in the off season. I mean upcoming off season. Here are some thoughts. New GM. Waibel needs to go. He had some pretty good signings that really pale in comparison to his misses. That includes Rusnak. Finding a consistent scorer up top. At least consistently dangerous with something resembling speed. This team could use a few more relatively experienced players to balance out the really young guys and the really, really old guys. Nick and Kyle. Especially Kyle. Hindsight being 20/20 not having Luke all season was really detrimental. He's not an all star but what he brings is so important and definitely missing from this team most of the time this season. For whatever reason the chemistry on this team is lacking. Especially in games that matter. It was so disappointing to see RSL come out flat game after game. Bofo needs to go or at the very least there needs to be more players that can keep him where he belongs, on the bench or on the Monarchs. Curious to see what happens regardless.
We need a team. There a couple pieces we can keep but this season our defense leaked goals, midfield could not move and pass the ball, and we had no forwards to finish it. But yes it would be nice to have a real striker
If we get a new coach (who knows) then we need whatever pieces they need for their system to work. We have decent enough CB's for our style, but do we have the CB's to play a 3 man backline? We have a really promising group of young attacking players, but what if a new coach wants to play counter attacking soccer? Does our talent translate to that? etc etc
The league has moved beyond us. RSL has entered a phase of existence in which it is at least 1 year behind the current state of the art in a rapidly developing league. Skipping a year of development is darned near impossible... it may be a while before the league slows down so we can catch up.
Why include our 3rd best CB in that? I admit there’s no promising future with M. Silva because he misses too many games. But I don’t see a hopeful future with Glad as a starting CB either, for different reasons.
And if the league doesn't slow down? Where does that leave us? We will basically become the Utah Jazz of MLS. A team in a small market that some years makes the playoffs, some years doesn't. Sometimes we will have a player that shines, but most years we are just kind of there.
Depends on how the league ultimately develops. If it takes the model of the NBA, then yes, we'll be lucky to ever be competitive again. However, with the cap restrictions and such it could also go the way of the NFL. There are some dynasties there where teams are truly ran well, but the league as a whole has quite a bit of parity. This brings me back to the identity of RSL. I really don't think the way for this club to be successful is to try and keep on on the spending front. Trying to get names to come here through money. Instead, the way to be successful is to develop our own talent and then profit from them once they become a hot commodity. The fans in this area will struggle with this, but I think with the right explanation/advertisement it could work really really well. Again, be Southampton. They cycle through having some really talented teams and then growing again. However, they don't lose a sense of who they are and what their club's goal is. PSV is another club that comes to mind. My personal dream, as a coach of youth soccer in the area, is to be able to point out on the field of 11 players and say where each of them (or at least a majority of them) grew up in the area. And, until the club gets smart about having a better youth academy, pointing out which youth club helped groom them at a young age. This is one of the reasons I give Bofo a break where I might not give it to others. The kid is from Park City. He grew up playing with other people that attended/still attend these games. That's special. That's a club.
The last 2 paragraphs hit me. I appreciate your sharing that. On to the other issue. SKC and Portland are small market teams that are having success and look to continue into the future. I don’t think the future is bleak for small market organizations as long as the franchise has excellent leadership.
Hey, it worked! I’m taking full credit for getting RSL into the playoffs. Why not? It’s a better explanation than LA losing to Houston at home.