It's Neid's style; she depends heavily on her fb's to come up the flanks and become the wingers, thus leaving her own flanks dangerously exposed. In the OG gold medal game, I was surprised that GER was able to use an effective 2 man offsides trap. It's saved the day for them and held their speedy players in check. I was just playing around with Neid's name anyways. But considering how much an advantage the US got over the rest of the world in woso in terms of popularity, size and money, it's quite shocking how bad they did at the Olympics, so why not for once try's a more technical coach?
Sounds like Neid and Ellis read the same book. The coach out of the German program Id love to see get a shot with the US team is Maren Meinert
And this is the perfect description of Jill Ellis. Accidental success. It happened in the WC where she was forced to change what she was doing, and failing at, due to events outside her control. The resulted in all credit that was a pure accident. In the Olympics, no such break occurred and we know the result. Epic fail. On Pugh, she is the best new talent in many, many years and is better than Heath, Dunn and Rapinoe. Was she a result of anything Ellis did? No. Another accidental success. Had Rapinoe not been hurt, would we have seen Pugh? Who knows... maybe in time. Ellis also made the brilliant decision to leave Dunn off the World Cup roster. Brilliant. On Rapinoe - she was one of my favs but now she's an embarrassment and since USSOCCER apparently is afraid to do anything about her.... I at least hope Ellis steps up and loses her phone number. I do not want to see her embarass herself, the team and the United States with her crap. Ellis talked to her once about it, she ignored it. LOSE HER NUMBER until she stops this and I might regain some respect for Ellis. The bottom line is we will continue to muddle along as long as Ellis remains. We are more athletic and have more depth than most we play so we will continue to win. When we face teams of equal talent, we dont look that good and that is the result of poor Ellis coaching. We need somebody else to instill a much better game plan and it will never happen under Ellis
The thing Ellis has going for herself is there isnt a team that is just going to slap the US around. Japan is in rebuild, Germany is in a long down cycle on talent, France cant get over the mental hump. Australia and England now have the coaching and r right on the cusp but both seem to lack the one big player to make a difference. So even without actually doing anything Ellis is always in the mix by default which is good enough for USSF cause they know she wont rock the boat.
But there is one team that Ellis [like Sermanni before her] has proven completely incapable of solving.
Jill Ellis can't even solve Colombia these days. But at least they didn't give up 5 goals. I think if Sermanni coached against Denmark tomorrow, he might be able to win 7-6 with our current roster. He'd probably have Courtney Jones starting at center back as part of his brilliant experiment.
As much as I love both situations for both Portland and Stanford, I believe either of the coaches would be a good fit for the USWNT. Mark Parsons, took a Washington Spirit team and led them to two consecutive Playoff Appearences in 2014 and 15. Also on his plate was drafting Crystal Dunn and working with Harris and Krieger. Parsons eventually took the job as the Thorns coach and took a team nobody thought they would have any sort of chemistry and won the Shield after some hiccups. His player development lacks in places but he knows how to spot true talent. (He had eyes for Emily Menges before leaving Washington. Menges went on to be a brick in the Thorns' backline.) Paul Ratcliffe. One of the greatest college coaches of all time. Recently reached 300 wins for Stanford and carries a .820 win percentage for the Cardinal. Not to mention his player development is one of the best. Ratcliffe's leadership has developed players like Kelley O'Hara, Christen Press (who I believe is undervalued in Jill Ellis' mind), Nicole Barnhart, Rachel Buehler, and the latest, Andi Sullivan and Jane Campbell. Not only does everyone respect Ratcliffe, he's given every player a lot of respect, even if the Cardinal lost. I've got some cases for Pedro Martinez Losa (of Arsenal Ladies) and Gérard Prêcheur (of Lyon Ladies) but I believe that Parsons and Ratcliffe know the American style of play.
Way too much is made of the American style of play. Last time I saw Lyon they were playing a very high tempo style that IMO would fit the USWNT very well. As the US is trying to move toward more positive possession I think Precheur would be a very interesting upgrade. Not nearly as high on Ratcliffe who is a great recruiter. I prefer a coach who finds ways to win with less than one who succeeds with the best hand
Then you should be looking to coaches like Eddie Radwanski. He has really moved the dial at Clemson starting with nothing.
Exactly...look what Sampson did at Bristol Academy. He was always in the mix without big players or a big budget. Now that he has the England job that is all value added to being able to get any player he wants.
After that hazing scandal that happened under his watch, not in a million years would I want him anywhere near the NT.
So I looked that up and what I am going to say is not very PC (in character for me). He was brand new to the program when this incident occurred and I believe the only real indisputable issue was that he gave the kids the keys to the field for what he probably believed was a team bonding exercise. He was so new it cannot be assumed he knew that a hazing ritual was planned. What the complainant seemed more upset about regarding his participation in her Clemson experience, was his allegedly telling her not to come because she didn't fit into his plans (even if true, doesn't that happen all the time when a new coach comes to a program?) and then possibly, though there are not real examples of anything terribly disturbing there- trying to get her to leave. The facts however are: that she was cleared to play "soon after the incident" by the team doctors, did not immediately transfer, played in multiple games, was academically successful and even won a team award. The case settled for a hazing prevention program across all sports. No disciplinary actions were brought against any of the coaches and none of the other kids who was "kidnapped" joined the complaint. The issue, if any, seemed to be long standing Clemson tradition, that long predated Radwanski. I didn't spend enough time looking to see if any cooborating depositions were taken. I don't think its clear that he condoned any of the event leading to this injury. She may have been unfortunately and unintentionally injured during a freshman "hell night" type event, but imagine that...kids do not always display great judgement. There indeed should have been some counseling regarding what is acceptable in team initiation type activities and I think that actually happened because the kids were required to present a power point on hazing after attending a conference. As a familiar to initiations (how many different types of extreme temperature gross things can they put in my underwear?) This event doesn't clearly point to any serious Radwanski wrong doing. Remember, a complaint is by its very nature, of course, one sided. Further, the real extent of the injuries is very unclear. That said I am not pointing to him as the next WNT coach, only pointing out his success in turning around a program quickly and efficiently.