Well this is good to know. Colorado Rapids to take "honest assessment" after being eliminated from MLS postseason contention http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...essment-after-being-eliminated-mls-postseason Bet PM already has lined up some meetings with the Dalai lama to Wow us next year in his post games.
For as bad as OP was in his first year he was definitely still better than Pablo. Defense with OP and always looking to win no matter what was a big mistake. He seemed to learn and get better the next year. In my memory the team played much better together and didn't look as lost. In the end when they knew they were not going to make the playoffs I don't remember their heads dropping as much and being so angry with each other on the field. I think they even one a couple of their last games. Hill scoring some goals. There was a lot of finger pointing and squabbles yesterday much of which came from O'Neil. At one point it looked like Powers was trying to rally everyone and Shane just blew him off. Obviously, it is a frustrating time for everyone. Off season can't come soon enough to cool off.
Obviously, it is more on the FO than Pablo for thinking they could let a first ever Coach take the reigns with anything less than a huge failure. Especially, when they mention they were not stepping in and just letting him make his own mistakes.
Couldn't agree more with Quinn 33's first point. And if anything, it is likely that the disparity in salaries and thus talent will increase. There is no sign that KSE will loosen the purse strings, and a several teams appear to be willing to upgrade their rosters. I have a different view on OP. He did a terrific job last year. He got us to the playoffs with a rebuilt team and 5 untested players as starters. PM inherited an intact starting team (except for Thomas) and had Torres and Sanchez from the start. OP had a rep for developing young talent and he proved it. IMO, he also has a knack for creating a system of play and roles that maximize a team's chance of success and the players's ability to succeed. I can only ascribe the decline in play by Powers, Klute, O'Neill and Irwin to the coaching change. I take the point that it took time for OP to achieve success, but I don't think that PM deserves the same time. The decline has been too steep and there is no foundation on which to build. If we going to start over next year, we should have a proven coach.
Imagine where the squad might have been today if we fired Pareja when we should have, and actually spent the time and money to hire a good, experienced, coach in mid/late-2012. We might actually have a real system and a decent pool of players. Instead we had one idiot blow up a playoff caliber team that was less than two years removed from a major trophy...rebuild it into a mediocre team that at best was able to back it's way into 5th place...and then have him skip town so we had to hire another idiot at the last minute to blow up the current squad a rebuild from scratch for the second time in 3 years. When you only put shit in, shit is whats going to come out on the other end.
I'm a bit surprised that most think the same guys who hired last 2 coaches will suddenly improve and get a "good" coach in. I have not given up on PM yet (because I expect the next guy to come out of high school coaching ranks), just wish he had sense to turn down the offer in first place mostly. All his post game comments scream youth academy coach to me and I'm hoping they send him to arsenal the whole offseason to learn to coach better. He could learn a ton from watching how it's done in EPL
I think 2014 feels much worse because now the team is just getting crushed. The 2012 team had similar issues with creating chances and not hitting them, but at least would be in the game. IIRC they dropped a lot of points after going up/being tied. FWIW, after 31 games, the 2012 team had 31 points and a -7 GD. This team has 32 points and an -16 GD through 31 games.
No, unless someone sits all their starters like Houston. That's why I compared them through 31 games, I don't think there's much chance of matching the 37 points from 2012.
Didn't Both TH and PB announce their plan to change our playing style ("from youth to Rapids") when searching for a coach? Completely mis-guided to me to blame OP on that one. This X100 I'm not big on EPL but if being "inside" watching Wenger manage Arsenal can't help PM then nothing will.
20 loses, and signing 80 shitty Latin attacking midfielders, says I can blame him. And the terrible squad we have now, that is going to get blown up this winter, is the fruit of that "labor".
Updating Quinn's list again. It took a lot of losing, but Pablo slipped a spot below Oscar's 2012 and below Houghton on the career list. Season-by-season; Asterisks indicate years we missed the playoffs: 1. 1999 - Mooch - 1.59375 2. 2010 - Smith - 1.5333 3. 2002 - Hankinson - 1.5 3. 2013 - Pareja - 1.5 5. 2011 - Smith - 1.4412 6. 1998 - Mooch - 1.4375 7. 2005 - Clavijo - 1.40625 8. 2004 - Hankinson - 1.367 9. 2009 - Smith - 1.3333* 10. 1997 - Mooch - 1.28125 10. 2006 - Clavijo - 1.28125 12. 2003 - Hankinson - 1.267 12. 2008 - Clavijo/Smith - 1.267* 14. 2000 - Mooch - 1.1875 15. 2007 - Clavijo - 1.167* 16. 2012 - Pareja - 1.08823* 17. 2014 - Mastroeni - 1.0322* (31 games played) 18. 1996 - Houghton/Wegerle - 1.03125* 19. 2001 - Hankinson - 0.923* All-Time Overall: 1. Smith - 104 Games - 1.43 2. Mooch - 128 Games - 1.41 3. Hankinson - 114 Games - 1.29 3. Pareja - 68 Games - 1.29 5. Clavijo - 114 Games - 1.18 6. Houghton - 31 Games - 1.06 7. Mastroeni - 31 Games - 1.03 8. Wegerle - 1 Game - 0.00
We need 4 points in 3 games to avoid tying the 2nd worst season in team history. The worst season has already been surpassed by a point even if we lose out.
Some good news from this breakdown: Many of our past coaches, particularly those that had a lousy first year, had a very good or even great rebound year (Pareja, Hankinson, Smith to a lesser extent). Some bad news: We have had a parade of terrible coaches. I think I've totally almost blocked out the Clavijo years.
One final update: Season-by-season; Asterisks indicate years we missed the playoffs: 1. 1999 - Mooch - 1.59375 2. 2010 - Smith - 1.5333 3. 2002 - Hankinson - 1.5 3. 2013 - Pareja - 1.5 5. 2011 - Smith - 1.4412 6. 1998 - Mooch - 1.4375 7. 2005 - Clavijo - 1.40625 8. 2004 - Hankinson - 1.367 9. 2009 - Smith - 1.3333* 10. 1997 - Mooch - 1.28125 10. 2006 - Clavijo - 1.28125 12. 2003 - Hankinson - 1.267 12. 2008 - Clavijo/Smith - 1.267* 14. 2000 - Mooch - 1.1875 15. 2007 - Clavijo - 1.167* 16. 2012 - Pareja - 1.08823* 17. 1996 - Houghton/Wegerle - 1.03125* 18. 2014 - Mastroeni - 0.941* 19. 2001 - Hankinson - 0.923* All-Time Overall: 1. Smith - 104 Games - 1.43 2. Mooch - 128 Games - 1.41 3. Hankinson - 114 Games - 1.29 3. Pareja - 68 Games - 1.29 5. Clavijo - 114 Games - 1.18 6. Houghton - 31 Games - 1.06 7. Mastroeni - 34 Games - 0.94 8. Wegerle - 1 Game - 0.00
Not to pile on but: Colorado's 2 points in 14 games is the worst single-season run in league history (FSL had 1 point in 15 games over two seasons between 2005 and 2006).
Un intentional jab at Pablo? "The coaches that make it are the coaches that can keep their teams on board through the rough patches. The ones that don't, they lose their locker rooms, they lose their teams and the wheels fall off. You see two losses turn into three, four, five, six and the season's done. That didn't happen to us," Porter said. "I grew from it as well, because it wasn't easy. There were some things, certainly at times that I look back on and say, 'You know, I could've said it a little different, done it a little different.' I'll be better for it from that." http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2014/10/portland_timbers_season_recap.html ...but it would be a bigger mistake not to look at every position and try to get better."
If so, given the resources the Timbers have, "I was better than Pablo" is not the greatest defense of a non-playoff season.
I don't think it was a jab at Pablo, but the message is true just the same. Whenever you see a professional team lose a lot of games, a media story invariably appears, "We haven't lost the team; I'm proud that the boys are still battling." In my too many years of watching sports, I really can't think of a team that just quit playing period; walking instead of running, etc. Rather, it was like the current Rapids team--they still ran hard, but stopped running in a team concept. It was every man for himself and potential next year's job. The Rapids clearly weren't good, but they weren't 14 game winless bad either. Porter's statement is dead on there.
I can't count the number of times Pablo said "someone just needs to step up". I mentioned it at the time and your point backs it up. They lost as a team, not through individual efforts. Pablo may have been good enough to put the team on his back for portions of a game, but the current Rapid players are not. They are better than their last half record, but only if they played as a team.
The 2008 Washington Huskies football team flat out quit on Tyrone Willingham. Not that I blame them completely, that was a train wreck of a team.