Re: After Soehn leaves ... we all know who KP wants, the question is will Benny take it? (and my guess is yes)
Re: After Soehn leaves ... I'm sure Kevin wants to keep Benny around in some capacity. I doubt it is as head coach. Maybe some day, but let him coach something else smaller first When asled about Marco, Kevin gave a strange answer the last chat that makes me think he isn't in United's immediate coaching plans either, but he could have been hedging on the question for Marco's benefit.
Re: After Soehn leaves ... KP has always said he wants Benny here for as long as he is here, and I took that as coach one day.
Re: After Soehn leaves ... Personally, and I have no information on this, it's just my own, uninformed, opinion - I think we need a much better assistant coach than Chad Ashton. I'm not sure what he brings to the table in the least. He does not seem to be a great tactician. The only thing I have ever seen/heard is that he is a great cusser - which is a valuable skill, but does it help teach the younger players how to act in tactical situations? How to act in a professional setting? Is he the defensive strategist? If so, he needs to go yesterday, our defense is mistake-prone in their positioning. It's not like he lit the NCAA on fire.
Re: After Soehn leaves ... Bring back Nowak would entail stealing him from Philly and all the hurt feelings that would ensue, but eff those guys...eff 'em in the pants
Only because I love a good discussion . . . . - TS won the Supporters' Shield in 2007 - TS won the Open Cup in 2008. - At the moment, DC United is in a comfortable position for the playoffs. - At the moment, DC United is in the Final of Open Cup. - Yes, the team will need a result against L.A. Firpo, and that will be a challenge, but I wasn't overwhelmed by Firpo's performance, particularly because it was against DCUnited's "B Team." I'm not particulary worried about next Tueday. - TS had a hand in building a good foundation for the team's future - Wallace, Pontius, Szetela, Jacobsen, Wicks. If you think about it, you fill one or two positions and this group probably dominates in the league next year. The team has been through a couple of down games. I'm the first person to say that their form is poor. ALL teams go through it. But, firing a successful coach?
Logic!? What sort of logic do you mean? The sort that results in one deciding that Tommy has to go right now, even though almost all of you got off the "fire Soehn" train back in June? One loss in a congested schedule with mostly reserves and he has to go again? Reminds me of some flawless Monty Python logic that does. Some people will never dowse the torches. So is Tommy made of wood?
Yes, and after re-reading my post it is indeed unclear as shit. There won't be any logic to the knee jerk reactions here, the only "logic" is that we lost a game and that people don't like Soehn. Two months ago this conversation essentially ended because we were winning. I think the only anti-Soehn person here with any real logic is Jeremy; at least he never jumped off the anti-Soehn bandwagon. So yeah, put me in the "Soehn haters are full of shit" column. Clear as mud. Someone neg rep me for being incapable of properly using the English language.
With Nowak's team TS missed the MLS playoffs in 2008 Not really, the playoff race is EXTREMELY tight right now. Yippie ki-yay, let's kick the Sounders asses. You think we're going to play our "A" team with the Game of the Century™ against Madrid coming up? Hah! He has had an exceptional year with Wallace and Pontius, we got lucky in that we were next on the list for allocations with Szetela, and I'm not sold on Jacobsen yet. Problem is, the team played like this for a lot of last season. A lot. If it continues, it would be a trend. Happens all the time, look at Vincente del Bosque at Madrid. But even so, 1 SS on the back of someone else's lineup (would anyone consider Rongen a successful coach for his MLS Cup with DC? Yeah, thought so) and 1 USOC do not a successful coach make. YMMV.
I would, but I just don't have the heart to... after all, the first step in healing in understanding that you have a problem I wasn't pleased with the result the other night, either, but United was one botched play in the defensive third (or one failed scoring chance)away from taking the full three points in that match. They looked uncoordinated in the midfield early in the match, but much better once they swapped Szatela and McTavish. Plus, the ref's attempt to calm everyone down by blowing the whistle every 5 seconds in the second half really aided Firpo's intent to kill off the game. I'm not blaming Tommy Soehn for this.
Whew. I thought I was completely misunderstanding what was going on, but in true BigSoccer style, I thought I'd accuse someone else of it first!
Yeah, I'm at a loss as to how you could say that, John. If the playoff race ended now, we'd be the last team in. Toronto's nipping at our heels two points back; the Revs are five points back, but have *three games in hand compared to us*. And the Revs haven't looked like shit for the last two months, and we have.
I think we (not just you, Natty, we all) have allowed ourself to build overly optimistic expectations. Before the season, having gone through what we did last year, and seeing how much we changed AGAIN, I was expecting us to perhaps limp into the playoffs, or perhaps not even do that. I was heartened by the youth movement, but we know what comes with that. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised by how well our young players did to start the year, but now that they've quite predictably hit the wall, we're seeing the cracks in the team that have always been there. My gut feel says that if we make the playoffs we get ushered out in the first round. I also think we lose to Seattle in the USOC final. (I hope I'm wrong in both areas, but this is how I feel at the moment.) For all that, I still have enjoyed - and will continue to enjoy - this season immensely because I LOVE watching young players come in to try and integrate into a team. Don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but we need to be realistic. This doesn't make us lesser fans, but it could certainly help us maintain our composure when we hit the stretches where we're NOT exceeding expectations.
Re: After Soehn leaves ... If Soehn were to go, I would hope our front office would know better than to take a flyer on a player with no coaching experience. Much as we respect Olsen, I don't think we should be handing him his first coaching position as the top dog. He'd make a great assistant in the Ashton role.
If we get a result in Houston, and win at firpo, are we goiing to lay back on the fire Soehn banter again? I'm not going to lie, i am questioning Tommy as a coach right now, but why not let him finish this season?
I too think Soehn has earned the right to stay through the season. But planning ahead isn't the worst idea is it?
Re: After Soehn leaves ... Nowak with Olsen as assistant. I would rest easy knowing that lazybutts on field are getting smashed in locker room
Something weird happened in this thread. A lot of posts at the end of the thread (including one of mine) are gone, but they still return in searches. If you click on the post in the search returns, it just dumps you to the first page of the thread.