Listen, I feel about SN the same way about Bob Bradley. I don't care for either of them. I think they're uninspiring figures whose teams play boring soccer and who have little appreciation for flair players. But I think the problem in both organizations go far deeper than them. In both cases, sure you can replace the head coach if you want but it's not going to address the deeper problems. I don't object to it but don't delude yourself in what it's going to accomplish. The rot is deeper than the manager's chair.
Careful please when you toss around "no one" like that. I'm pretty sure anyone who follows the US Men's programs had heard of Dempsey, Twellman was coming from Germany (so not technically a rookie here anyway) and Parky was a local kid that had signed a GA contract, so when he was drafted there was a good amount of excitement about it.
Dempsey made one (substitute) appearance in the 2003 U20 World Cup and had 12 caps overall with youth national teams at a time when their matches were pretty much seen by no one other than whomever was in the stadium. Twellman came back as a kid who couldn't cut it with a Bundesliga reserve team. They clearly had potential, which obviously SN/PM saw, but they were hardly the finished article. The point is that SN and PM specialized in taking players who were not veterans or established stars and helping mold them into, at least, solid MLS pros... sometimes more. Obviously, the players in question have a role but players with potential benefit from good coaching. They did not just buy random, over-the-hill Euro stars.
That's very fair. I was more objecting to the "never heard of" part. You're right with your comments though.
I just can't let this factual error go by (even though this does not speak directly to the debate). Twellman was playing and scoring for the reserve team of 1860 and felt he was ready for a step up. The report was that he was told that he would not be ready for first team football until age 23 and he was unwilling to bide his time... he was most certainly not a kid who "couldn't cut it"...
Lest you forget--most of the time since PM left we have been without TNT as well. Losing Paul M may have be an issue but the loss of Twellman without being replaced with an adequate goal scorer has been devastating.
I don't think there have been many teams that have had three players the caliber of Ralston, Twellman and Joseph for an extended run. The only other one that leaps to mind is the DC teams with Pope, Etcheverry and Moreno. It's easier to build a team around anchor players - they mitigate the effects of the weak (or aging) spots on your team (think Wolde Harris, Joe Franchino, Khano Smith). There is no cover of quality on the 2011 Revs. Shalrie (vintage 2011), Benny and Leckic aren't even close. Meanwhile the gap between our remaining starters and the rest of the league widens. Checkmate.
Ultimately, this organization is not going to fire Steve Nicol in the middle of the season. He deserves better, which some of you may disagree with. But I also think his successor would deserve better... I’ve never been a fan of bringing head coaches in mid-season, with someone else’s players, and then judging them harshly when they haven’t had a chance to mold their own team. And I think they’d have trouble attracting a good replacement to a dead franchise walking... err limping... at any point, but especially in mid-season. Whether he gets replaced or leaves after this season is different question. If we miss the playoffs again or barely squeak into the playoffs and flame out early, then I'd say thanks for a great run but it's time to move on.
Besides, you can’t play good soccer regardless of who the coach is on crap turf. The FO knows this and that’s why they imported grass for the Spain match and will no doubt do so for the Man Utd friendly. Our most exciting teams were during Gillette's last two seasons with real grass. The surface doesn't make the good soccer. But it's a prerequisite.
But we ruined the grass, remember? It wasn't the huge stages that left marks, or the thousands of people on the grass during those concerts that killed the grass. It also wasn't the 50+ rosters of heavy football players with heavy equipment...no, it was those scrawny soccer players that killed the grass!
Well another feather is SN's bonnet. From an article on Ives .. this afternoon The New England Revolution's fourth consecutive loss pits the club at No. 17, the lowest it's been all season. Other clubs near the bottom, namely Sporting Kansas City and Chicago, are on the way up after each secured four points this past week to make up some ground on the league leaders.
In a case like this ... do they actually buy the grass or is it some kind of rental? Hard to believe it gets tossed after one or two games
I know a few years ago the sod was donated to Foxboro High School. I wouldn't be surprised if they've done something similar for each subsequent game since.
This has, literally, everything to do with it. Remember, Gillette stadium is home to a throwball team first, second, and third. The rest of the activitities are fourth and lower. I imagine a standard Revs game being, at highest, 7th. When the Pats (and the whole NFL, but that's another thread) were a run-first, Bledsoe-run, smash-mouth kind of a team, the mud was fine. When Brady came in with his 'weapons' (for better or for worse) it became too much of a liability to have the New England Silverpants play on an inconsistant surface.
It had more to do with the NFL telling them they needed a better surface. Brady played from 2001 thru most of 2006 with grass. Also Brady's "weapons" came after they had already installed the turf. In fact the Pats best team I think was 2004 and they played on grass. Belichick would rather have grass I personally think, but Kraft does not want to pay to keep the surface.
Yeah, the reason they installed turf was pressure from the league. The NFL basically forced Kraft to put turf down one season when the field was in especially bad shape.
Pretty much after the Dolts complained because they couldn't just run up and down the field like they had wanted to, and they used the messed up field as an excuse.
I thought it was after the Jets beat us here, 17-14, and Brady slipped in the mud and fumbled on the would-be game-winning drive.
The Jets game was the last on grass. But the Colts had complained about it to the NFL the previous week also.
To state they were a bunch of "so-so" players is ludicrous. Now, we have a group of so-so players. But, apparently Nicol has lost the magic touch.