The Official Chris Leitch Thread

While they are awaiting the coming of our European GM they are trying to hire from a recruiting company........This interview didn't reveal anything fans don't already know.

 

so, same as it ever was.

 

I think John Doyle went to the same places in search of players.....

 

What a bunch of meaningless platitudes.

No offense to Leitch, but it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing...

 

To quote Chris Leitch, "100%" .

The things that he is saying are OK, and not unexpected, but I don't get a "vision" thing from him. It's more tactical / incremental based on what they've kind of always done. He may of course be handcuffed to some extent by his "interim" role, and who is to say that he won't develop a broader vision over time.

Still I got more out of that conversation than I ever got out of Doyle. With Doyle, he always seemed to be talking about the limitations they were working with - i.e. how hard it is to sign a player, etc.

 

Bill Belichick is captivating in expounding on his philosophy of building a champion. I could listen to him for hours.

 

Fair point, though Chris does not strike me as a Belichick personality, and I think as you go up the chain, from player to GM to president, the need to have some kind of polished public persona goes up a bit. I think Leitch is generally fine in this area, and a bit more engaging than Doyle, but I would still at some point like to hear a GM talk the vision thing. Maybe it's not the right time, or the right context...

 

I would have preferred someone from outside the organization... if he's going to succeed hopefully Leitch quickly unlearns anything he may have picked up from being around John Doyle and Dom Kinnear.

 

At this they should widen it immediately just to show a clean break from #DomBall

 

Bernardez, Imperiale and Jungwirth would get torched. Look how often Cato, Lima and Sarkodie have been rounded. Maybe next year with an overhauled defense, but this team is built to play narrow. Quakes central midfield gets over run on the road all the time, imagine that happening at Avaya as well....

 

Best of luck to Chris Leitch in his new role with the Club!

 

They will make some mistakes, but they'll also make some plays and improve. The biggest thing for me will be watching Chris increase their confidence. I swear they were beaten down by Kinnear to the point of playing too timid.

 

I've mentioned it before, but I think TT's little run out Saturday night kind of encapsulated this. TT had been the first wide mid sub for a while and had been doing pretty well, but Dom subbed Salinas in over him, then kept TT on the bench until the "time waste with 3 minutes" sub. He then proceeded to ride TT from the sideline, Tommy may have panicked a bit and made a misplay or two, one of which led to a goal. I knew what was going to come after that. TT doesn't get off the bench for a while and it's one step forward one step back again for TT's development as a player.

I hope to see not only TT but also Jackson and Colvey to see more time on the field. Heck, and Mfeka too.

 

For some insight into Chris' thinking, here is a quote about the Quake's academy from him in a 2015 article.

“For me, it comes down to: what are we doing towards development that’s wrong or what can we do better? For me, it’s been about the culture of how we identify players and how we develop players. We’re trying to develop smart players instead of just physical players. We’re trying to develop players that have a good temperament or have emotional control.”

I would say that Jackson, Tommy and Kip fit the bill of being smart players with emotional control. Lima might be a bit more emotional, but he too is not just an athlete, but a smart player. Chris clearly has an eye towards using those types of players. Guys like Dawkins are probably not going to see much of the field under Leitch.

 

I highly doubt Leitch is going to be the long term coach. I think he was put in there for some political reasons and will be replaced next year. My guess is Covelo, but not completely sure. At any rate, I hope the team starts to implement some serious changes, like, I don't know, playing with a central midfielder for once.

Even if they lose hard, I will be smiling at all the games from now on.

 

Brian Schmetzer last year came in after they fired Sigi and lead the Sounders to an MLS Cup. It was a lateral move but Seattle also inherited a few new players who made them win games. Unless this Vako turns into something real and Urena, and Hoessen play like they did the other night coupled with Simon Dawkins either putting up or leaving altogether , I don’t know how this appointment of Chris Leitch will be successful.

 

You were already smiling when the team was losing. I won't forget.

 

I have a couple of theories on the Leitch "not interim" thing.

1) They feel like he's a guy who is pretty open to input from the technical staff, and possibly in sync with some of the thinking. So they feel like they can work with him, and kind of work with him to mold the club into their view of what it should be.

2) They really wanted him to be "interim" - they are going to do some kind of more "extensive international search" unless Leitch knocks it out of the park the rest of the season. But Leitch said "no more interim", and they said "sure", knowing full well they can just as easily fire a "non-interim" coach after 6 months. It is just a label after all.