I've been screaming about Dave Kasper all year but he isn't our GM. He's our Technical somebody or other - he and that Trask person are the ones who are supposed to be responsible for getting the talent on the field. I really think Hudson's got a pretty limited role in that department. I'll echo the sentiment of someone who posted a bit earlier and say that Hudson should get another chance, unless by some miracle Dave Sarachan is available and then I'd jump on that with both feet.
Kasper needs to do some better scouting of American talent, or hire someone to do so. Trask is essentially the coach of DC United. Trask had the same role at Indiana University, where Yeagley was the motivativating force. The Indiana connection has apparently been lost on most people, Alavanja was a stud at Indiana. I like Ray, he has a lot of passion, he loves the game and understands the game. He does appear to have certain weaknesses (who doesn't). I still think that he should be given another year to prove himself.
I'm not taking it out on Ray. After all, he has given us a pretty dang good back line. I will wait and give My Man Ray a chance to crack heads in the offseason and bring in some guys who are hungry to win. There is just too much complacency from the mids on up. Either come to play or find another town to play in.
Look, coaches, like players, have their strengths and weaknesses. Many analysts like to put a coach into an either-or category, like motivator or tactician, disciplinarian or players' coach, teacher or leader, etc. Usually one of the two in each category will surface and mold the coaches reputation. It is up to him to build the proper staff of assistants to augment his own individual strengths and make up for his weaknesses. Hudson is a motivator, and he brought Trask to be his tactician. Hudson is a player's coach, so Trask is also the disciplinarian. Both are more leaders than teachers, so hopefully Onalfo fills that role. Hudson recognizes his weaknesses, and that's why he tries to build veteran teams that need more motivation but less teaching. Less disciplining and more psychology. It suits his style. When he inherited United, he built his own defense, and when healthy, it has been a roaring success. The addition of Prideaux was priceless--particularly considering our defensive games missed--and well worth Armstrong IMHO. Dealing Lisi but keeping Nelsen was also a wise move in retrospect. Acquiring Reyes was a no-brainer. Bringing in Richie and Ivan were controversial moves (still are) but they solidified this defense at it's weakest point--midfield. He has had success in his primary goal. Now he needs the horses to produce on offense. He is still learning as a coach, so his big lesson now is to figure out how to deal with untouchables. It's a necessity in coaching, and I think he'll be OK next season. Tactically, he needs to realize some basic things though, like when structure is needed, and that counter-attacking does NOT work unless you have physical speed up top. He'll learn, and United should be solid next season. -Tron
I think Ursula's assesment of Hudson's tactics is spot on. The fact is Hudson did many stupid things. Now back to reality though. The man inherited, and I think inherited is the correct word, a situation that was out of his control. He retooled DC United's defense into one of the stronger groups in MLS this season. That is a fact. In my view he's made 3 major acquisitions. Rimando, Prideaux, and Reyes. Those three players were on the team for the sole reason of improving the defense. If United fans are not pleased with the improved play of the defense, especially on freek kick situations, they have to be kidding me. On the offense, he inherited a lot of players. Olsen was injured. Moreno hasn't been healthy in a long time. Etch is injured. Ritchie in the midfield. Hudson was obligated to keep all of these players. That is a fact. If I was a DC fan, I would feel gratified to see my team running their hearts out. Even Etch tackled the other day. Did he do that all of last year? No. Hudson has brought heart back into the team, which in my view is the biggest step. Next is the offense. I think next year, you guys will do very well for yourselves.
That would be because they're GMs, not coaches. Ray doesn't do what they do, so I think your criticisms are off-base.
Unfortunately, he was here to do his job. And he didn't. The other stuff he did was great, and it was one of the things that made me glad we go him to begin with, but he just didn't measure up. He could only score on the worst defense in the league, and we don't have enough games with the Revs for that to be a roster spot. It's toally bogus to say he was cut because of his chariable works, unless they were what was keeping him from improving his skills or showing up at practice. He got cut because he couldn't play well enough to hold a spot. I would disagree re: Curts, but ATC's probably about on a par with Roy. Both have an awful first touch (ATC's is a little worse); both have no skill at dribbling unless they're in the open field with no markers, and both are mediocre at heading (Roy is worse here). Neither are players I want starting as one of my teams' strikers. But it's not a question of whether we got Roy or ATC. Roy was basically a freebie. And, admittedly, we've gotten what we paid for. He was cut because we needed his salary and his roster spot for someone who could actually play football.
In regards to everyone who says that Ray has drasticlly improved our back line: that is a load of crap. I thought about this last night and Ray has had minimal impact on whether our defense improved or not. Let's look at the back line: Reyes: He was being brought in before RH even knew who he was. Pope: Here long before Hudson was in the league Nelsen: Here is a player that Ray was shopping earlier in the year to get another forward. He was never prepared to give Nelsen a shot. He had to when Pope went to the WC and we were short handed in the back. Nelsen grabbed the opportunity with both hands and would not let go - Nelsen is playing not b/c Hudson made some brilliant tactical decision, but rather b/c Nelsen has played so well it is impossible to take him off the field Prideaux - yes, props to Ray for trading for him. However, Hudson played him out of position for the first half of the year in the middle. Brandon is much better out wide and his weaknesses became apparent when attacking players left him flat-footed numerous times after the first few games. Once he was moved out to the wing due to Nellie not giving up the central D position he has improved. McKinley - Ray's first choice for a left back. Let's face it folks - he would still be there if not for Nellie playing out of his gourd. Nicky - Props to Ray here. So - for eveyone giving Hudson credit for creating this juggernaut of a defense - I say show me. The only two moves he has made that have paid off are the acquisition of Nicky and Brandon. That is 40% of the defense and I mark it down to 30% since he would have continued to play Brandon out of position if not for Nellie.
Good points but the lack of effort by our attack, see Moreno, Etch, Lassiter, ATC....et all should not fall on his shoulders. Especially Etch and Moreno have to shoulder the bulk of the blame for this attack being toothless. I still don't want the "Chinese Fire Drill Defense" that Rotgen tried the last 2 seasons, that some people on this board have suggested bringing back. Tha being said I am still willing to give him one more go at it next year.
I am willing to give it another year as well - but I am tired of hearing people say that Hudson is blameless b/c it is only his first year and it is not his team. People are looking for any positive to attribute to him and defense is where most of these people have taken shelter. But Hudson has very little to do with the defensive success we have enoyed this year.
Not to beat a dead horse but Bruce Arena held exactly the same position as the one Ray holds today. Second, while I understand your point that each of the EPL Managers fill both a coaching and general managemnt role with their clubs, and that they have coachs who support them, on game day they fill the same role that Ray has for DCU. That was my point! Heck, Phil Thompson doesn't have a kick around on game day with Liverpool.
I'd rather have Ray kicking a ball around with the lads than sitting on the bench lighting up a Lucky Strike.
Oh by no means does he live up to my "Bruce Standard" but who does. Ray has made plenty of mistakes. The difference for me is that his mistakes, unlike Rotgen are correctable. When the mistakes are not correctable then he needs to be replaced.
I too was anti-Rongen in 1999. I actually got on the Rongen bandwagon in 2000 after DC United won MLS Cup 1999. At the end of 2000, everyone else realized I was right from the beginning. As for Hudson, I've not given him the business. I'm giving him another 11 games or so before I start screaming for him to leave. Mainly because I can see his errors but believe that he is attempting to correct problems. His solutions aren't always to my liking but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Rongen on the otherhand never seemed to have a real clue what needed to be done and that problems existed. Unfair perhaps but Rongen had done nothing at New England, whereas Hudson at least had some success with Miami.
So his success in Tampa goes for nothing? I'm not going to defend Rongen for his time at DC but didn't NE make the playoffs for the only time in their history with Rongen as coach? And TB had the best record in the league in '96.
Rongen actually has a "Coach of the Year" trophy in his case (from his time in Tampa). Ray doesn't (but came close last year). NE made the playoffs with Clavijo as well...... One more thing. Lots of people think it's impossible to improve a team like DC overnight. How did Yallop do it in SJ? The team he inherited was much less talented then the United team Hudson coaches now. Same with Gansler in KC. It can be done....
You are wrong: THIS IS THE WORST DC UNITED SEASON EVER! It can get slightly better and be tied for one of the worst. However, if it ended today, it would easily be the worst ever. We didn't even have a prayer of beating the Metros. Please someone send me an email when we win a road game. I will stop watching...too damm painful. I'm going to take up knitting. Say, could we start up that knitting club again? Tim
As was I. In fact, I believe I was the first anti-Rongen DCU fan on these boards. [sarcasm] And what appreciation I get for my efforts to enlighten...[/sarcasm] The decline in the team's play was already apparent then. The team only played well in game 3 of the Columbus series and really lucked out in MLS Cup when the Gals handed United the win. I'm giving Ray this offseason and the start of next season to show what he has. I didn't do that with Rongen primarily because I feel like Rongen presided over the team's descent from gold into crap, whereas Ray has been given crap and asked to make gold. In a sense, Yallop was fortunate in that he inherited a team without grossly underachieving and overpaid "stars." As for the talent, he was given Donovan, and Dayak just happened to finally get healthy. Also, Mulrooney was already on the roster. To his credit he got Goose, Ekelund, and DeRosario. He has also turned some journeymen into solid players: Lagos, Barrett, Conrad, Corrales.
Actually it was Hudson (while at Miami) who focused MLS' attention on Reyes initially. When Hudson was scouting Pineda Chacon he saw Reyes and went bonkers. He immediately wanted to acquire Reyes, but it simply wasn't in the cards at the time. From that point on more than a few MLS front office personnel and coaches had their eyes on Reyes. But, Reyes' wife has ties to DC, thus United became the primary destination for him as far as MLS was concerned. Prideaux was undervalued, I've said that since he was in KC. Hudson saw that and made a very shrewd trade, because he HAD to get rid of an SI in a very short period of time. I still believe that the Tally for future considerations thing was an unwritten part of the Prideaux deal. Hudson played Prideaux inside because he was basicly our only good defender at that point. Nelsen hadn't emerged as an organizer or as a defender then. Prideaux's speed allowed him to cover for all of the other backs in the early part of the season, when our back line stunk. Even after we acquired Reyes it took a while for him to get accustomed to MLS refs calling everything. The biggest difference between Rimando and Adin Brown in my eyes is Rimando's durability. Adin is a fine keeper ... when healthy. That's why Ray took Rimando immediately. Ray realizes that we have a very very fragile team. He hasn't added a single player that is injury prone or expensive against the cap. Even McKinley, at his age and lifestyle, hasn't missed too many games from injury. Tendency to be injured and expensive cap-hits cannot be underestimated in this age of the salary cap and small rosters. ATC wasn't cutting it, so he was off the team. At the time Hudson thought he had a deal to bring in a forward but it fell through. The timing could have been better, but keeping ATC certainly wasn't the clearly superior decision. -Tron
You are underestimating Yallop's impact. Yes, Donovan was a blessing, but the Quake's roster when Yallop took over was a disaster. He had three players to build around, Cerritos (who was hurt at the time), Mulrooney and Cannon. That was it, literally. Everyone else got cleaned out. Dayak was in the A-League in 2000. So was DeRosario. Yallop rebuild the Quakes from the ground up. 15 players from the previous year's team were let go.
To be precise, Yallop retained the following 9 players for the start of the 2001 season. He retained 8 of them for the full course of the season: 1. Ronald Cerritos 2. Ian Russell 3. Richard Mulrooney 4. Wade Barrett 5. Scott Bower 6. Jimmy Conrad 7. Joe Cannon 8. Jon Conway 9. Wojtek Krakowiak (didn't last the season)