Nowak Arrives, but Etcheverry Is All but Gone :: Goff, W. Post, 1/7

I have a hunch this is the right move. Nowak will urge our midfield to play with the quickness that has been needed for years. I agree with Mike completely about Quaranta...Nowak will probably give him a lot of responsibility, and now's the last chance before we can write him off as failed or not. If he's not going to respond to someone who played like Nowak, who will he respond to? I also think we'll see Brian Carroll and David Stokes given more time. Tom Soehn has the approval of the Fire backline, and they aren't exactly slouches. I can't think of another ex-MLS player more ready to go into coaching and succeed than Nowak, and you can't call him a retread either.

I hope he hits the ground running, obviously. And I think we'd all be wrong if we don't wish Etch good luck in wherever his career takes him. For better or worse, Marco Etcheverry was and is DC United.

 

If you look up trolling in Websters dictionary is this the definition you see?

 

I didn't realize you wrote such bloody awful poetry...

 

If so, would it help if we could combine the Novak press conference with the pending Happy Hour ?

It's pretty sad when DCU could offer to buy a beer for every member of the press who shows up and all they need to do is bring a sixer of Newcastle.

And after Steve Goff and John Haydon arrive, they slide the other four beers down to Ray as a part if his going-away gift . . .

 

The Hudson one was held at ESPNzone and was open to the public (it was great to see our silverware lined up all over the place!). No idea if the fans will be invited to this one.

But, I agree, Chico, that a Meet-the-Coach event after the draft and some of the roster moves have been made would be great.

 

Nowak must have a learned a thing or two from Bradley. A trade to get some more defense would be a first good move by Nowak.

 

I have my reservations only because he hasn't coached before, but that is where my reservations end. I agree with Digital when he said that we have to give him time. I think that Nowak will do fine. I also as most do like the idea of giving the youngens more responsibility. Time to crap or get off the pot Tino.

 

I was been thinking about Shankly yesterday because his successors (Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish) all had success without prior experience (Paisley was the trainer and Dalglish was a player/coach in his first year - in which they won the Double, though Fagan was a longtime assistant who got to the European Cup Final in both of his two years). The difference between their situation and ours, of course, is that Shankly put in place a system that allowed for the excellence to continue long after he left the club.

 

You know Shankley had to be great to have an Everton supporter point to him as a role model some thirty years on.

On Nowak I think we need to support him. There will be style changes in DCU's play but I expect they will be similar to what we've all asked for. that is give the youth a chance to perform and move the offense more quickly through the midfield.

Why do I say support him? Because making these changes may not bring instant success. The early part of the season is likely to be difficult and results may not go our way initially.

 

You corrode my soul.

Lowecifer, you stole my first choice.

To the rest of you, I say if you have an Ignore List, use it.

 

Absolutely hilarious! And ridiculous for anybody to hold any valid opinions of Trask unless you happened to train with him last season. Personally, I liked getting his coaching report emails before each match this past season, and I wish him well in his next coaching job.

speaking frankly,


jk

 

Yes. Totally.

Also, Soehn makes Trask superfluous and it's good that the new regime gets to pick it's assistants.

 

Good to hear we'll officially have a coach by Thursday.

I hope Nowak has alread done his scouting for the draft.

I'm trying to keep an even keel and trying not to make a decsion on whether or not this is good for DCU until Nowak has had some time with the team.

But, with the record of head coaches of pro sports in DC lately, I'd say Nowak has the trend working against him

Goff's article said he worked in the Fire Front Office during the past year. I wonder what his role was and how big a part he played in thier run to the finals?

As for more responsibility for the young-guns. I'm all for it. Maybe a little heat from Nowak will wake Tino out of his funk.

 

He was Soccer and Business Adviser/Director of International Relations. He also brought the orange slices to the games during the finals.

 

Why? Convey got playing time, and not a small amount. That's what I meant about him having responsibility and opportunity. He just didn't do much with it.

Don't forget too his extended vacation in the middle of the season when he was sulking from his British misadventure, either. I don't think that reflected well on him.

 

According to the Fire website he was Soccer and Business Adviser/Director of International Relations, whatever that means. He also worked with the Fire youth team.

 

Thanks for the info.

No doubt the way he sliced those oranges at half-time had everything to do with the Fire's success.

 

Dear Grade B action Hero:

My season was not only disrupted by tremendous professional disappointment, but also by playing under a coach who associated "leadership" with Hristo Stoichkov and Marco Etcheverry. Perhaps you didn't see how hard I was working to keep the team on track in our playoff game when Hristo (instead of responding to obvious advice to chill out) pushed me away. And did any of you understand the tactical system that our coach asked us to play in?

Long before that, my club season was disrupted by national team responsibilities - playing for my country during the Gold Cup and the Confederations Cup.

I also struggled with illness (bronchitis?) during the time period during which you are accusing me of loafing. Yet I still tried to bring my all-around effort on defense and offense when I got back. I know I struggled to make an impact on our team's play - but so did Earnie Stewart. And no one is questioning his effort or professionalism. In fact. I had more points than he did in many fewer games.

There were lost of other "minor" irritations that marred my season - Jay Heaps getting me sent off in ludicrous fashion, thereby causing me to miss what I anticipated to be my home finale. Plus that little love bump that I had with Alecko Eskandarian early in the season on a header (my ear is still ringing a bit from that one).

Maybe you can reserve judgment until after I get the chance to play in my favored position and while not having to torturously bend my game around the eccentricities of DC United's other prominant left-footed players from last season.

Thanks,

Bob Convey

P.S. Did you see how often Stoichkov would drop back into midfield on "my" side when he was nominally a striker? did you see how often I called for the ball and made runs that were ignored? Believe me - I want to have more of an impact. Have you seen my ppg when I have been played in the middle of the field versus my ppg when I am parked out on the wing? Have you seen how much I have worked on defense and improved my physique and all-around game, so that even Ray Hudson - who gave up on Justin Mapp, Santino (effectively) and other young players - was forced to keep me in the lineup whenever I was available, albeit in a sometimes uncomfortable role? Believe me - I am not a whiny prima donna who has to have everything his way. I just want a real chance. And by the way, I love DC United.

 

Ah, that's rich (actually, it is kind of funny).

As I had to go out of town for work, I am just now getting an opportunity to respond to Steve Goff's pissy and defensive post about me, as well as to other things written by BS posters. So let me say my peace.

First, I think Steve Goff does an OK job. He's a fairly reliable reporter on a full-time beat. He breaks some stories, misses others, but generally does a good job. I am glad the Post hired him, and I wish they would let/make him write more.

My point in bringing up the Richard-Gough-as-coach and sale-of-the-club stories wasn't to criticise Goff (though that's how he took it), but to point out to all his fawning, lickspittle admirers that Steve Goff is not infallible.

There is a tendency here to praise Goff to high heavens, to drool with delight while thanking him for delivering us the revealed truths from soccer's Mt. Olympus.

The problem is that it's overwrought and misplaced, as the Gough and Sale examples show.

Now, I am not suggesting that Goff makes anything out of whole cloth, or that he does a bad job. I am not even suggesting he did a bad job on those particular cases I cited. I know it's tough, and that there were inklings of truth in the possibility of Richard Gough coming to DC, or in the club being sold (although, let's be honest, Goff did seem to report that one quiite a few times with nothing coming of it).

Let me repeat, I think he does an OK job. It's a tough one. He has to walk a fine line much of the time.

I am amazed, however, that he got so defensive over what, essentially, is some fairly tepid (though valid) criticism.

So keep in mind, people, that my postings on this point have been directed more to those who swallow Goff's reports as Gospel truth, than to Goff himself.

I urge you all to keep in mind that a little skepticism is a healthy thing when reading the paper -- whether it's the Post or the Times.

And for the record, since I know someone here mentioned Brooke Tunstall, it should be said that he was the finest soccer reporter DC has seen in recent memory. That is no offense to Goff, who's more than adequate. But Tunstall was excellent. I know some people in DC fandom had run-ins with him, and some were happy about the allegations over his departure from the Orioles beat at the WaTimes, but we shouldn't forget that in terms of delivering soccer and DCU news, he was at the top.

 

I'm thinking I agree with something I got in a PM, that you're not Brook's sockpuppet but that you're John Trask's.

 

OK, now I've changed my mind again. You're either Brooke's sockpuppet, or maybe whazzis name, the other guy from the Times, Haydon.

Finest soccer reporter DC has seen in recent memory? Yeah, right.

He was even better reporting on Orioles games.

 

Are you kidding me? Hudson hated Stoichkov! He actually tried to cut him mid-season!

At least, that's what Steve Goff reported.

 

But he kept playing him.

 

Don't swallow too hard or that hook might stay in permanently.

 

MOrrissey is an Arsenal fan, so I've been told...

Frankly, Mr. Lastort, some of us are.