I'd be happy with a draw @ LAG tonight. Very pleased. Unless it was a win choked up late. I listened to Glenn Davis' interview with Wade Barrett. How refreshing Barrett is over Coyle. I love what I hear form Barrett and what I see on the field. That doesn't mean there are not decisions that I don't fully understand. I have those with every coach including Dom. But the Dynamo are harder to play against now. More organized. And a shared purpose to their play is starting to gel. I think it is unreasonable to expect any more so far. It will take some time and I would hate to see the Dynamo abandon this new, for the first time in years positive, path. Davis was kinda funny. He pushed Barrett on more playing time for Barnes up front as a striker, for Cubo Torres, and for Mauro Manotas. There is something wrong with that picture of course. All three of those folks are competing for the same minutes unless of course you go to a 442. Glenn needs to be upfront that he is pushing for that as well.... Barrett said something really really interesting regarding Cubo. He said "you know, it has to be earned." That is a startlingly frank statement implying that Cubo is not earning game minutes with his work rate and/or performance in training. MLS coaches that don't require game minutes to be earned, and do so reasonable objectively, lose their locker room. I'm one who sees interesting things in Cubo and want to see more of him and want him to succeed. But I can't ignore that the person in the best spot to judge says he is not earning it -- and he is the third club coach in a row to come to the same conclusion on Cubo. Those opinions can't be ignored. Lets hope Cubo returns from the Olympics invigorated and re-committed and fulfills all the hopes we all have had for him. Sorry for the long post. I've not enjoyed coach interviews since Dom left. Barrett is the best yet for listening to. Very straightforward, honest, and thoughtful. Nothing like Coyle's PC-coach-speak-rah-rah-here-are-my-excuses-say-what-people-want-to-hear speak.
You have be on ignore so I don't really care what you think - but the whole "earn it" thing gets a bit old after a while when you trot out a bunch of guys who can't score. Jason Garey earned his playing time back in 2010 and he sucked. In understand setting standards and the like but if you keep sending out stiffs because Cubo didn't run thru a fence in a drill then what's the point?
As a coach I have a very high standard for training. I tell my boys over the decades once simple fact. You practice all week how you wanna play, thus come kickoff you'll play like you practiced. So I expect a lot of hustle and grit even in intra-squad practices and the drills all week. However, as a very practical man, someone who gives towels as wedding gifts and kids for birthdays compact bow n arrows cuz you know one might need to hunt for their food one day, the practical side of me sez I must get a forward like Cubo on the field and get him the time to be scoring goals! I mean he can't get on some scoring streak sitting on my bench. And certainly he cannot deliver any ROI from what the boss paid for the man. If anyone knows their soccer, goal scorers, a coach can never have enough of them around. Defenders chew up the game, goal scorers win the game. Find a way to have Cubo find some chemistry with Maidana or Barnes or the like over consistently starting Will Bruin.
I've seen Barnes loaf around enough during games that I can't imagine he's that much more of a worker in practice
And yet he "earned" the Captain's armband from Coyle. To which now he has been literally stripped of said armband by Barrett! So the onus is very much on him at the moment to see how his ego responds inside the team effort. Does he go all in a prove why he was our Houston Captain once, prove to a former Houston Captain that he is still full joy for what ever is required from him??? Or does he loaf around even more, which I agree he did a lot of last season after the Gold Cup and even more early this season in 2016. Does Barnes show that most Limey of English traits, a stiff upper lip and turn on the hustle and pace throttle. If anything, does a Cubo give Barnes a different strike partner to link up with unlike the donkey that is Will Bruin? We won't know on either player if Barrett does not get them on the same field together. That is what I want. Different pairings up top in a 4-4-2 sans Bruin and find the one that will best defeat FC Southern Oklahoma next Wednesday. The regular season is a wash considering the table here at the half way point of the season and that we are in the West.
After a full year here, with Cubo you play him unless he is so flat lazy in practice it makes you puke if for no other reason than to showcase him to trade him. They are figuratively devaluing him on the trade market every week they don't play him when available
I like the 442 as well. It is far simpler. 5 pairs need to form a partnership and take care of their business.... I think it is especially suited for MLS. And if it is good enough for Bruce Arena its good enough for me. But so many in the league are fearful of getting run over in midfield. THey want that 451 (which they call a 433 for marketing reasons) to make the numbers in MF. I'm sympathetic to Wade on this point and willing to trust his knowledge. You know -- he is the one fighting to keep this job and not have to look for a new job, sell his house, move his family, etc. He deserves our support in that. I don't see Barrett playing for ties. Last few games he has been making offensive substitutions and has the team pressing for winners.
Or... We could get a forward that works hard and scores goals... Just a thought, but I'm pretty sure if we had one of those then we would be set to win games (so long as we keep the same type of defensive approach). Wade is improving the squad, but is only halfway there in recent games.
Sure I get it and I'm totally sympathetic to Wade's situation. I like the guy, BUT why would you start some of the guys that have gotten the last 2 managers ran off/fired?
A. Because good management practice is to make incremental changes and give each change some time to take before you introduce more change; and B. He might be choosing the best option from limited options. The easy thing to do is come in and change everything to mollify those who are demanding instant gratification. The right and hard thing to do is come in and implement a steady plan of continuous DIGESTIBLE improvement.
Plus -- my point was about the 442 v 451. I just can't get myself to voice a desire for Barrett to go with my preference. He is the guy who will have to move his family if it doesn't work.
Don - I disagree on A. Wade's been on that bench as an asst coach observing and taking notes for the past 5 ½ years. How much more time does he need to make a decision on certain players? I can be convinced on B, maybe.
To be fair, there is a difference between theory and hands-on. As you point out, he's had a long time to learn a lot of things but now it's all on his shoulders. The season is (practically) over and he's been on the job for 6 weeks and only lost once. So far so good (kinda). Lets see what he can do with all the roster space he created and the rest of the striker corps to score some goals.
He has already shown me plenty. I won't hold him responsible for results for several seasons -- and I hope he gets those seasons. Teams in MLS that put the coaching position on a revolving door don't succeed. I don't know how anyone watches this league and doesn't see that pattern. You have to be willing to give a coach and a plan a few years. It really is Canetti who is responsible for results. He created this dual headed monster system with a coach that doesn't control his GM who controls the roster. My biggest worry is that we are in for a cycle of ever changing coaches as Jordan/Canetti blame the coach of the day for everything that goes wrong in order to avoid accountability.
WB only needs to keep doing what he has been doing, and the results will come. As long as he has the locker room, he will improve the team. The Dynamo have scuffed too many shots recently, but the stats are positive. Give me an organized, hard to break down, warrior-mentality team similar to Cholo Simeone's, and I'll be happy.
No Bruin as lone forward tonight! \o/ Barnes as lone forward. /o\ Single forward system and three of our subs are forwards. Makes total sense to me.
according to Dynamo twitter, Deric suffered a left ab strain in training yesterday. return TBD. thus Willis starting and Brown backup.