I don't agree. It wasn't a world beater roster, but I seem to recall reading a lot of comments about how it was one of the best young cores in MLS. Irwin, Klute, Brown, Powers, O'Neill were all looking VERY strong and capable. We had a DP in Torres, Sanchez was bringing some experience. Pablo immediately started playing Brown out of position, O'Neill was being put in at right back?!?! He did something to kill Klute - who never looked like the same player under Pablo. People feel that PM was a legend for the club... fine. But he has been a train wreck as coach. He has, and continues, to kill young careers. What does he have against O'Neill who is great when he gets called up for national duty? PM rolls out totally incapable line ups. Greenspan is WAY to slow to be a right back. That move cost us the Orlando game a few weeks ago. If I was a player, I'd be so pissed that the coach can't put a line up together that gives the team the best chance of winning the game. Doyle playing underneath Solignac is a waste that any youth coach could see. Those 100% awful looping corners to back post has poor coaching written all over it. I don't know what he has done recently because I've stopped watching. But I know this team isn't devoid of talent.
I'm reserving judgement on all but a few players until there's a new coach. Right now I don't see anybody as untouchable. At the same time, imt's a danger to say we don't have any talent.
As I posted on this (or another) thread, I feel the Ownership/RFO are 'most' responsible for the last year. I am doubtful that Sir Alex himself would have kept the Rapids afloat in 2014. Now in 2015, without any strikers early and with no integration here in July, it'll be September before we settle in on a 'best 11' and options to sub. Is Pablo a terrible coach? No, not to me. He did OK with the 2014 team thru July last year.....Perhaps a change just needs to be made, accepting we are still mid stream in this team. A angry kick in the pants thing. The alternative, which I like a bit better, is to stay the course, see if the Aug-Sept-Oct Rapids look like a good team, then re-assess in November (not March) so the 2016 Coach & Roster are in place before Christmas. BTW I am happy that we cannot be relegated to the NASL or where ever. R
Sorry, Not buying any of these arguments that PM is a decent coach, hell his WTF post game comments alone are enough to me. A good coach would stress to FO that help is needed ASAP not sell my only Forward, a Rookie (late round pick) will do for the first quarter of season. A good coach doesn't play people out of position or Watts ever. I could go on pretty much forever but I will stop here.
I find it hard to evaluate most of the players in this situation. There are a few like Riley who I'd happily drop, but too many are being played out of position, have mentally tuned out, and seem to be getting little or confused direction from the coaching staff. Does the locker room even have a leader at this point? We seem to change captains as frequently as we do positions. Any player with talent probably wishes they were elsewhere and player development seems to be moving backwards. I think the good run at the beginning of last year was more due to the leftovers of Pareja's system and time for Pablo to find his identity as a coach (not a good one). The longer he is in charge the more damage that will be done. #PabloOut
There are several signs of "over coaching" displayed each game, think it was @Quinn 33 that pointed out the most obvious one of zero interchange with forwards, guys just "running their lines". Plus once again PM is going musical selection which shows a serious lack of experience. It's been years of no clue free kicks and that is all on coaching. PM was a great player but seriously lacking as coach, it's usually the over achiever players who do better as coaches since with less talent they are more observant of the run of play to succeed.
Pablo's midseason report card (through July 3): Pablo's MLS record Record: 1-6-9, 8 GF, 17 GA, 0.75 PPG, last place in West Season Form: 9 game winless streak, win, 6 game winless streak (current) Scoring: 0000111111010100; 0.5 GFPG Defense: 0002311110120122; 1.1 GAPG Pablo's USOC record Record: 0-1 Form: L Scoring: 0; 0.0 GFPG Defense: 1; 1.0 GAPG Pablo's overall 2015 record Record: 1-7-9 Season Form: 9 game winless streak, win, 7 game winless streak (current) Scoring: 00001111110101000, 0.5 GFPG Defense: 00023111101201221, 1.1 GAPG Contrast with Claudio Lopez MLS Record: 1-0-0, 4 GF, 0 GA USOC Record: 1-0, 4 GF, 1 GA
Another way to look at Pablo's midseason report card: Claudio Lopez has twice as many coaching wins as Pablo - in just 2 games compared to Pablo's 17 Claudio's teams have scored as many goals as Pablo's teams - in just 2 games compared to Pablo's 17 Claudio's teams have earned four times as many PPG as Pablo's teams Claudio's teams are scoring eight times as many GFPG as Pablo's teams Claudio's teams are allowing half as many GAPG as Pablo's teams
Does anyone really think Pablo had nothing to do with the two games Claudio coached? I'm 100% sure Pablo set the opening lineups and tactics and neither game was won due to a timely substitution or tactical switch. Particularly the Dallas match where we scored the winning goal in the first 2 minutes.
The Pablo-Claudio comparison doesn't matter that much, but it is interesting. For whatever reason, the players seem to step it up for Claudio. Similarly, for whatever reason, the players aren't responding to Pablo. What is inescapable is "Record: 1-6-9, 8 GF, 17 GA, 0.75 PPG, last place in West." Those are the MLS matches Pablo has coached directly. It wouldn't matter whether Claudio is 2-0 or 0-2, Pablo's record is unimaginably awful. A 0.75 PPG pace is a guaranteed last place finish in just about any league.
I agree with Jason, those are still 'Pablo' teams when Lopez coaches. And as (2) single data points they don't skew the overall failing grade into even a gentleman's 'C' when lumped in with the other results. If Claudio has some 'X' factor impact on the team why doesn't he exercise it all the time, the removal of Pablo from the bench isn't how Lopez gets added -- he's always there.
Valid point. For what it's worth, I'm not advocating Lopez to become the next unsuccessful Rapids coach. This team needs a significant change of direction, with a professional coach with extensive successful experience as a head coach. Those kind of coaches usually can't be found at Wal-Mart, which is at least part of the reason why Kroenke keeps hiring "Who's that" and "Oh yeah, he was a good player" as coaches.
First off no HC with this resume would ever work for KSE, 2nd RFO doesn't want experience because that HC would out them as the clowns they are.
It is obvious now with the savvy tactical 4-3-3 change and the win that Pablo is back on track to being the best coach the Rapids have ever had.
I know you're joking but I ran the numbers. He could essentially tie Smith's career record (best in Rapids coaching history) at 1.43 pts/game if we win out.
Let me tell why this notion that we had a good roster is completely full of shit. There is a big fundamental difference between having young prospects with a ton of upside, and having young guys that exceed expectations because they are good for their age group at the time. A lot of people make the mistake of mixing these two things up. There is no better way to illustrate this example than to compare guys like Brown and Klute to one of their contemporaries; DeAndre Yedlin. In 2013 Brown was better than Yedlin, both statistically and for his overall impact on his team's performance. I also think a lot of Rapids fans in 2013 would have argued that Klute was in the same spot in the pecking order as Yedlin when it came to getting minutes for the national team. In that intervening time Yedlin has since continued to improve, and has now played in a World Cup and signed with one of the bigger EPL sides. Klute meanwhile has only shown that he was one of those flukey one-season wonders, and Brown's game is still stuck at the same level it was when he played his first professional game. Young "cores" don't win shit without depth and veteran leadership...two things the Rapids have often been incredibly short on. 2014 was one of the weakest rosters this club has fielded since I've been watching this team. It was certainly the weakest squad since the Clavijo years. How long have you not been watching? It must have been several years now since you don't remember things like Pareja was deploying Brown as a winger, Torres showing up to preseason last year fat and lazy, or that Sanchez is old and carries a number of nagging injuries? You also don't seem to remember that we've had, maybe, five months worth a decent play across four years and two coaches...or that our roster couldn't cope if more than two guys were out. Our coaching has been pretty damn poor, but it is totally delusional to believe that is the only reason why the Rapids haven't been successful.
As far as Claudio Lopez goes; if he were to replace Pablo I would expect him to be the last chance for Bravo. If a guy in charge of soccer operations ends up supervising three very bad coaching appointments, it's pretty obvious that he would be fired. ...I, of course, base that on the wild assumption that the Rapids and KSE were a competent organization that actually cares about the product they sell. Reality unfortunately doesn't mesh with that very well.
+1 That comes down to scouting and player development, two areas where the Rapids have been weak for many years (forever, maybe). These were problems under AEG, and remain so under KSE. You can see the trouble not only with players who have good starts, but never develop, but also with players that the Rapids deem expendable, only to see them develop solidly on other teams. Consider Kyle Beckerman, who certainly showed solid talent in Colorado. Consider Dan Gargan, who was at least an overachieving workhorse in Colorado, but has had a pretty solid career post-Colorado. Ditto for Nat Borchers. Ditto for Jordan Harvey, who certainly was worth more and exposure to an expansion draft. Reversing this trend requires people in the front office with a keen eye for real talent. Regardless of the head coach, if the front office can't spot talent, the team will languish, absent an exceptional season.
I'll give you Beckerman. Borchers was sold to Odd Grenland (we got allocation money for him) so hard to blame the Rapids on that one. Dan Gargan? Really? If your argument includes Dan Gargan its probably not strong. Jordan Harvey is an interesting case. He hasn't had an amazing career but he was solid. But look at who we protected in that expansion draft: Baudet, Smith, Cummings, Koz (internationals so 3 of them had to be protected) Casey, Clark, Gibbs, LaBrocca, Pablo, Moor, Pickens 8 of those 11 played in MLS Cup 2010, 7 of them started that game. The other 3 were all traded for MLS Cup starters. LaBrocca for Wynne, Clark for Mullan, and Gibbs for Larentowicz. That protected list is literally all the starting lineup of MLS Cup save LB (Wallace). In the place of him we got a MLS Cup sub (Baudet) who also fulfilled our international requirement for the expansion draft. Given that its hard to blame the Rapids for the decision to leave Harvey exposed.
I was at the game and that was no 4-3-3. He was still playing with two dmids. Although Solignac and Sanchez joined the attack when the ball moved forward on occasions, there were times when there was a mile of space between Doyle and everyone else.
Dunno. We sure could have used somebody like a Gargan a couple matches this year. My point on Harvey wasn't that the Rapids let him go. It was that he could have been traded, rather than being exposed to a virtually certain draft. Expansion draft protection sure isn't a problem any more. Most of the current players are so undraftable that the Rapids would have to tie a bone around their necks to get the dog to play with them.
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. 2015 - Mastroeni - 1.200 15. 2000 - Mooch - 1.1875 16. 2007 - Clavijo - 1.167* 17. 2012 - Pareja - 1.08823* 18. 1996 - Houghton/Wegerle - 1.03125* 19. 2014 - Mastroeni - 0.941* 20. 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 - 54 Games - 1.04 8. Wegerle - 1 Game - 0.00 Well this 3 game win streak has probably bought Pablo until the end of the season (realistically he probably had that anyway). It would take a miracle run though for him to deserve being here in 2016.