Bruce definitely should be given the boot. How can he be considered a good GM after failing to land both Messi AND Neymar. What's he been doing all off-season - twiddling his thumbs?
Yes, it's technically pre-season. Yes, it's a Mexican team in Mexico. Yes, this team hasn't had much time to gel. Yes we have "old" guys. But despite all that we're seeing the same problems we've BEEN seeing since 2014. Total Swiss cheese defense. Terrible set-piece defending. Tactical inflexibility and lack of imagination. If anything, 2014 is looking more and more like LD pulling magic out of his ass, which means we've been shite since 2013. Time to ask the question: Can we do better?
It's seems like he's been just pushing it in all season. His interviews are always a bit sarcastic but he's been a bit more not caring for sometime
Bruce has balls - that's never been an issue. But along with "the balls" he also has some significant blind spots. Good luck pointing them out to him.
The team seems so underprepared for their opponents, and just the basic demands of the game, this year. It doesn't seem like Bruce is that into it. We aren't close to a playoff ready team, and we will have a short and ugly run in them. Will Bruce come back next year? I really doubt it. Maybe he'll take a different role. Maybe he hopes to see JK flop around and take a team to the World Cup one last time. Anyway, we aren't likely to get a great coach after Bruce leaves, but it's gonna happen sometime. The team has some good building blocks, and after jettisoning some dead weight (Gerrard!) may be able to rebuild fairly quickly.
I would offer Sigi a deal at the end of the season if Bruce has us crash out of the playoffs or wants a break. We have seriously under-performed this season, and even last season we struggled. It's been a couple of years since we were a powerhouse. Sigi reportedly wants to be back in LA and LAFC was an option. He is a good manager.
Bruce hasn't done a good job this year. Personnel wise his biggest mistake (note I didn't say most costly mistake) was bringing in Kennedy - because that was an easily avoidable blunder. If a keeper is at the bottom of the league in save % for several seasons running you don't bring him in to be a starting keeper. Van Damme was a great pickup and Cole and De Jong seemed reasonable for their prices (although DeJong's performance contract was untenable). Boateng has worked out pretty well also, especially at his cost. Gerrard - I can imagine Bruce thinking he would be more successful. And I don't think he has been as horrible this season as a lot of you think. But definitely a mistake for the $/DP status in retrospect. But I can understand Bruce making this kind of mistake because of his worship of veteran leadership. So I give him a B for his off-season pickups. More worrisome is his tactical training of this team. There is zero reason for this team to be giving up the number of shots and goals they do. Lack of discipline in keeping team shape is understandable early in a season with new players - but not after 7 months of play. All of us saw how hard it is to penetrate a team that knows how to keep its shape in the Dallas game. Our offensive players couldn't get a square foot of free space in Dallas' final third. And Dallas kept their discipline for all 95 minutes. We, otoh, get spread all over the field in 2nd half of every game we play, whether leading or trailing. Defenders don't cover for each other, and midfielders don't help the defenders. We are repeatedly caught in 1 v 1 or 2 v 1 or 3 v 2 situations. Opposing offensive midfielders are given a protected no-touch zone 15 yards out from the top of the box so they can relax and find the perfect through pass to put us in trouble. It just horrible team defending. On the offensive end we don't spread teams out - instead we have players all crowding the same spaces. Not sure Bruce and his coaching staff ever watch tape. If they do I can't figure out what the hell they are doing with the info. The other issue is that Bruce has had 7 months to figure out how to use our weird set of pieces (multiple players needing to play the same role) and he hasn't done so. It's still random from game to game. So I give Bruce a C- for his coaching of the players he has. And that's not like him - he's usually been at least a B coach tactically speaking. I'm not saying he should go because I don't know what the problem is. I'm just saying that he has done a crummy job this season (and the end of last season as well) and that worries me. Is the league passing him by? Has he just gotten by on superior talent in the past? Is he burnt out? I don't know what's wrong but he needs to fix it. Or go.
Well analyzed. Personally I would go with "burned out." But, obviously that's just a guess. Part of my feeling is based on a "been there, done that" experience so I *think* I know burnout when I see it. Even with ups and downs in talent Bruce has shown a record of consistency that is painfully missing this year. It looks like some of our problems are curable, but he's not doing it.
We've seen for a couple games earlier how good we can be without SG on field. I'm pretty sure if we just rid ourselves of that burden, all else will fall into place. No way would I want to lose the Bruce to anyone else.
Even if that is the only problem, and I am not sure it is, that's on Bruce too. Bruce doesn't have to play Gerrard, he chooses to do so.
I'm not ready to say go after one bad season. So we shall see what 2017 brings. I think he will still be here. He still seems to love coaching. I don't know how I tell, just seems to.
I think what's scary is we can out starting XI that imo could win the MLS Cup with only 1 DP on the field, but by forcing all 3 on the field we're only handicapping ourselves. Build the team around Zardes, Dos Santos and Lleget and fill in the gaps with players that fit in the positions we need and we have a very, very good team. Let Gerrard enjoy the game from a TV somewhere far far away and use Keane as a supersub. As for a replacement for Bruce, I'd like someone in the mold of Pareja or Kreis. Young, attack minded, and understands the league. Also wouldn't mind looking outside MLS coach. Ryan Giggs would be an interesting option. Clearly needs to get experience, have to imagine he'd set up his team to attack. His name would also attract attention and most likely extra revenue from around the world simply for his ties to Manchester United. I'd be happy with anyone who hasn't bounced around the league being semi successful.
Well someone decided we should defend corners with zone marking...that's two strikes! Seems like that little experiment should have been abandoned a long time ago.