It seems strange right now here in RSL BS world. I cannot remember a time when there wasn't a desire to fire a Head Coach, GM or the Owner of the team. It seems that there has always been someone being called out for poor performance. We started with a complete crap show of a GM-Head Coach combo in the early years. That moved immediately into not liking Kries during his early days. There was a gap of a couple of good years after the 2009 MLS Cup win where I think all was happy. But that didn't last as we then had a new owner Hansen who started kicking Kries and Lagerway to the curb, followed up by a desire to have both of their replacements (Waibel and Cassar) ousted as well. Now that Cassar is gone, Waibel has repented (is repenting?) of his Yura sins and Hansen has been dropping more money on this organization than arguably any other MLS owner... there just isn't anyone left to hate, aside from maybe Movsysian who somehow is still hanging around sort of. The addition of the Utah Royals and what appears to be a lot of good decisions by the organization toward them with hiring and infrastructure... I am really excited for 2018. Win or lose, at least everyone in the organization is doing their jobs in a professional and productive way. ***EMBRATSU! for anti Jinx purposes.***
Things are almost.... too good? It's not often that a team in MLS misses the playoffs, with how many teams qualify, and (almost) the entire fanbase is on board with the coaching staff and front office folks. We are breaking into the dawn part of the turnaround, I hope, and things look exciting. I was critical of Waibel before but he's found a groove lately that is really fun to watch. I'm still curious what he negotiated on the Nicky and KB deals, and of course there is the Yura debacle, but he's been more on point lately. Kudos to him. Now is the time to show, though. The grace period of transition is over. This team/staff/organization has had enough time now to not have excuses for poor performances. We are a playoff caliber club. Hell, I'd say we're top 5 in the league. I'm not going to go as far as saying I expect silverware this year, but I expect this team to always be in those discussions. My Hopes/Expectations: 2018 Hope: If this team clicks like it can/has shown it is capable of, they can win silverware. 2018 Expectation: Win RMC, Host a playoff game, Challenge for top spot in West What would it take to can Petke/Waibel/staff: Bottom 5 in the league performance and someone has to lose their job. If we find the small space between the playoffs and the bottom 5, then everyone should be on the hot seat for July 2019.
This honestly feels like 2008 going into 2009. By the end of 2008, you could see things moving in a positive direction, and obviously we know how 2009 turned out. 2010 was a solid year overall, and almost a legendary one. If these next two years are along the same lines, it's going to be one hell of a ride.
EMBRATSU for sure. I'm kinda skeptical at the moment. I really want the end of last year to be start of something great at RSL but if you look at how they finished last season there are reasons to be hopeful. If you're a glass half empty type I could see where caution would be advised. In all honesty RSL had no business missing the playoffs last year. No business. The last 8 games of the season they left half of the points on the table. Especially in July when they picked up 3 out of 9 on a 3 game home stand. RSL made great strides last season but I for one hope that it was more gold than fool. That being said I am more stoked for this season than any I can think of in recent memory. I do expect a slow start with all of the changes and new faces though which would be fine in my mind. The last thing you want to do in MLS is peak in June. Amirite FC Dallas? I think that Petke, Waibel, and especially Dear Leader have earned very long ropes. Let's hope they never need it. Also, for 2018 I am really excited about Damir. I like this signing a lot. He has MLS success written all over him. He's talented and has great size and seems like a player that fans will really love. Lots to like about where RSL is at the moment but at the same time I'm going to not get too crazy to start. Leave a little room to embrace the suckiness.
I think a lot of hard lessons have been learned during this transition. Hopefully Hansen has backed out of identifying or demanding talent (unless somehow we can bag a name-brand player). Hopefully Waibel stops spilling too many beans and making the staff look bad. Hopefully we have a good recruitment and scouting network established. Etc... I'm most surprised about Petke. The jury is still out (a bit), to see if he can continue his success here. I felt his time at Red Bulls was successful in spite of him. RSL has been a great fit. Maybe it wouldn't have gone as well if he had immediately replaced Kreis. One thing is for sure though, his passion is inspirational. He asks a lot of his players (Kreis did/does too). That's really what a small-market team needs.
This is the year the team makes the playoffs and gives all those young guys some experience with winning, consistently, into the postseason. We don't win any hardware this year, but next season I fully expect the team to be competing for the SS and/or MLS Cup if the team comes together like they should this year. Now that Wingert has retired our contingent of players who have had meaningful playoff success is limited to Rimando, Beltran, Beckerman, Plata, and Mulholland. All that youth will cost RSL in the truly meaningful games, but playing all that youth through the season should pay dividends next year.
The question in my mind is how the other teams did between seasons. Did we outpace them in our improvements? Or did many of the others also improve at the same pace?
Consensus on the N&A board is that Orlando, Toronto, and Atlanta have improved, especially Orlando. Colorado, New England, and Columbus are somewhat worse, and Chicago is in serious trouble.
Good thing they're in the other conference. The East being so much better last year was a surprise. It won't be this time. RSL has a great opportunity, with Seattle missing Morris and Dempsey being another year older, LAFC being new, Colorado and LA still sorting themselves out, Dallas standing pat despite last year's meltdown... there's also no team in the West that made a huge step forward that was already a contender, either.
It is pretty interesting how big the swing in winning teams went from the West to the East this past season. Looking at how things have gone this off season, it does appear that the East has a few teams that really stepped up and are trying to keep pace with Toronto. Meanwhile the West has in many ways remained stagnant this past off season. In the East I think Toronto, Atlanta, Columbus, NYCFC and Orlando will all be very good teams. I know Columbus lost a 2 important attacking players. But they have been strong in preseason, and I think their system will still produce goals. In the West you have FC Dallas that CAN be good but who knows if they can bounce back to early 2017 form. LAG CAN be good, but they didn't change much from a disaster of a team last year. Basically leaving you with Seattle's aging core, RSL's young inexperienced core and Portland. The West is currently Portland's to win I feel, but with a coaching and likely style change, it opens the door for Seattle and RSL to step into. LAFC might make a run late in the season, but it will likely take them some time to get their footing.
The other big thing was almost every team, it seems, added a young South American. Nobody knows who will turn into something more.
My biggest offseason surprise is how bad LAFC looks. I really thought Bradley was the guy to build a contending team off the bat, but this is a squad with basically no depth. And there are already injuries to Ciman, Gaber, and Vela. I'm not remotely worried about them. SKC may be a dark horse. It's always risky to rely on newcomers for offensive production, but Croizet, Gutierrez, and Russell could be a potent trio.
The last I saw from KC fans was that they were upset that they hadn't signed a striker yet. Has that changed?
I'd thought Johnny Russell was supposed to be that guy, but I just read that apparently he's seen as more of a wing. I guess it'll be Rubio as the center forward, who I think is about an average MLS starting striker. Russell, Gerso, Gutierrez, and Croizet could still be dangerous with Rubio in the middle. But that's a lot of new blood that likely won't click off the bat. I'm not sure what to make of SKC this year.
The hater in me wants them to fail miserably. The realistic side knows they'll stay in playoff contention like always. That said, I get super ********ing annoyed with the love Tim Melia gets lately. Nothing against him as a person (from what I've gathered he's a really good person) or even him as a player. It more has to do with the fact that Nicky is getting shafted, again. This dude couldn't sniff minutes behind Nicky. Never was a threat at all. And now he's suddenly the greatest ********ing thing? hell no. ********ing MLS writers who simply look at clean sheets and save percentages and think it's the whole story drive me nuts.
This is why I always bite my lip when we make roster moves that appear to make us better. We could be better, but still be a borderline playoff team.
Also, it can be argued in soccer more than probably any other sport that it isn't always the most talented team that wins. But the best team does win, if that makes sense. The sum of the parts of the team has to be the best. But you cannot just add one guy to the group and get his whole potential. Some good players can take away from a teams sum ability, while others magnify it. Case in point, at the start of last season, Yura was a better, more talented forward than Silva. Maybe a better soccer player, though that is arguable. But Yura took away from the team while Silva added to it. It's not about bringing in the best guys that you can, but bringing in the best guys who are also the right guys to blend into your system. (Or that you can tailor a better system too.) /EndConfusingRambling
That's basically the argument for RSL from 2009 through 2013. No true star players, yet the sum of the talent was exceptional.