Bruce Arena - Best Coach in MLS Ever? Or BESTEST COACH EVER??

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Calexico77, May 9, 2010.

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Best??? or BESTEST???

  1. Best, definitely.

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  2. OMG! B3ST3ST!!!! 4R3N4 3 EVAH!!

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  3. Who are you, pc4th?

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  1. Calexico77

    Calexico77 Member

    Sep 19, 2003
    Mid-City LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    At El Jefe's Behest (see here), and the fact that THIS THREAD is now locked, I felt I needed to but the crap out of MLS General with a new thread, wherein, the smug, self-satisfied LA Galaxy fans can come over, and disperse the smug-yet-suddenly-unsure-about-themselves Seattle fans.

    So, The LA Galaxy is doing things to the rest of the league that we haven't seen since there were Florida teams in the league. Unbeaten? Only 2 goals scored against? A player with 9 goals in 8 games?

    Normally, you'd blame it on MLS favoritism with LA. "Oh, well, it's because the league let them have all of those DP's!". Yeah, except we embarrassed Seattle this weekend with a team made up of a rookie, Jovan Kirovski, a 4th choice right-back, and a 47-year old center back who ran as if the Seattle turf was electrified.

    Okay, so maybe it's the system? The training regiment? Who is to praise for this turnaround?


    So, ladies and gentlemen - is Bruce Arena the best coach ever to coach in MLS? Does he perhaps deserve a look by some bigger over-seas team? Now that his harem of UV players are all retiring, should he return to the USMNT?
     
    1 person likes this.
  2. szazzy

    szazzy Member

    Apr 18, 2004
    Kansas City, MO
    You can thank Kei Kamara for his excellent goalkeeping.
     
  3. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm afraid of reverse karma

    so to go along with the legendary thread that is now closed I will instead state that Bruce Arena is now the worst coach in MLS.

    I'd say he makes most any short list...

    I'm hoping that SuperCooper pops by and backs me up.
     
  4. BacteriaEP

    BacteriaEP New Member

    Apr 13, 2009
    Portland
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think it's pretty hard to argue that, at this point in time, Bruce Arena is clearly the best coach in the league. The question is not whether he is the best, it's how long will it be before another coach surpasses him?

    The way a team plays on the field is directly tied to a coach's reputation, and rightly so as the coach largely orchestrates the entire game. Sure, players (star, and regular) have their moments of brilliance bu it takes a strong coach to really get the team working as a single entity. Arena has proven that he has the Galaxy firmly under control and it obviously shows.

    So he is the best right now, like it or not.
     
  5. ElJefe

    ElJefe Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 16, 1999
    Colorful Colorado
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    Excellent.
     
  6. Geneva

    Geneva LA for Life

    Feb 5, 2003
    Southern Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Right now he's getting phenomenal productivity from every single player. Don't forget right mid Chris Klein who couldn't catch up to a through ball the whole game, and was probably the slowest player on the field, including Berhalter.

    The US team? I dunno. I think his time there is done, maybe he could be an emergency coach in case someone else is screwing up royally halfway through a cycle. I used to think Sigi should be the next coach... :D. Maybe it's not fair, but lately he's not crowning himself in glory.
     
  7. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Before Twellman's melon went bad, I thought that he had a very good chance to set an unbreakable (in my lifetime) record for goals scored. My reasoning was that the guy was gonna be an MLS lifer and end his career with well over 150 goals, probably around 200. And I figured that after him, any player good enough to break his record would leave the league. Maybe in 50 years MLS will be able to hold on to even its best players, but I doubt it'll happen in the next 30 years.

    I wonder when an MLS coach will make the jump to Europe and succeed. Paul Mariner really set us back. Anyway, here's my point...if an MLS coach breaks through the Eurobarrier, it may be "never." It may be that any coach as good as Arena won't stay in MLS, he'll go to Europe.
     
  8. majora999

    majora999 Member

    Apr 15, 2010
    WA
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think most of the coaches in the MLS are invested in the league and not just the job. I couldn't ever say there will never be any american coaches that would leave for Europe, but I don't think it's very likely. Coaches like Bruce Arena, Sigi Schmid, Peter Nowak have been around the american scene for a while. I really don't think it's all about the money for them, but doing their part to help their teams, players, and MLS succeed.

    We'll have to see in a few years if MLS starts to pick up if maybe some coaches here may get some good offers from clubs elsewhere, and then see what happens.

    Bruce Arena is definitely a great coach and it's pretty obvious by how fast he's turned around the Galaxy from being a bottom feeders to being the top club in the MLS (currently). He has been shakey at times though (he didn't do so well in NY).
     
  9. diablodelsol

    diablodelsol Member+

    Jan 10, 2001
    New Jersey
    I think the only way this happens is if its a coach that had a strong Euro playing career but started his coaching in MLS.

    Someone like Reyna could do it if his managing proved up to par. Someone like Arena....not a chance. And that's not an indictment of Arena...that's an indictment of the egos he'd be managing.

    Edit - I meant ot quote Dave's post and have no idea how to correct it.
     
  10. supercooper

    supercooper Red Card

    Jun 23, 2008
    OK, I'm game for conversation on this.

    Let's start with the $ spent on each MLS team roster. Anyone have that data?
     
  11. Calexico77

    Calexico77 Member

    Sep 19, 2003
    Mid-City LA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sure. Who do you think is spending more on their starting line up? Put the following teams in order. Then we'll come back and check your work.

    Seattle
    Toronto
    LA
    New York
    Chicago
     
  12. Andy Zilis

    Andy Zilis Member+

    Mar 9, 2005
    Rochelle, IL
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We're not even a third of the way through the season yet. LA's doing incredibly well and I don't see any particular reason for that not to continue, but you only have to look back to Chivas last year to see that a season that gets off to an incredible start can fall apart midseason.

    Losing Donovan and probably Buddle for those 4 games leading into the WC break is going to be a test for the team, and there's the possibility that at least one of them is going to be sold this summer.

    That said, Arena is a great MLS coach, I think his firing by the Red Bulls was the single dumbest move ever made by an MLS team.
     
  13. supercooper

    supercooper Red Card

    Jun 23, 2008
    Suddenly, MLS is a 5 team league? :)

    1) The argument that Bruce was possibly the worst coach was built over several years at several situations (US Men's Nats, Red Bull, start of Galaxy). Galaxy are off to a hot start....ok, so what does that really mean- especially in context to the money they have? They lost in the championship last year. So I'd take Kreis as better at this point. He had less to work with, and winning the championship recently is the ultimate
    test.

    Of the 'non champions', I'd put Steve Nichol on top. He's done more with less for years, not just a few games. I don't think Arena could have matched his record at NE with Nichol's talent.

    As far as turnarounds, Bakke has turned around Red Bull faster than Arena turned around Galaxy, and with less resources.

    If you carefully read the original thread, when it was clear Arena was no longer the worst coach, I admitted it and quit posting.

    Regardless, for quite a while (years) Arena had really lost his way and had a putrid period of poor performance (relative to resources) for several years there. The fact that Galaxy are doing much better doesn't make him the best coach in the league. They have advantages other teams don't have + Bruce really hasn't accomplished enough there yet to even be considered. He had the 2 best players in the league last year and couldn't win a championship. He's got to do better to be considered the best coach in the league. If Galaxy can keep up the current form (with Donovan) than that will be a step in the right direction. Let's see if they can, ok?
     
  14. Sandon Mibut

    Sandon Mibut Member+

    Feb 13, 2001
    I would profer that it was the Red Bulls who gave up too early.

    When Arena took over the Red Bulls in August of 06, they were 3-6-9. The rest of the season they were 6-5-3 then went 0-1-1 in the playoffs.

    Remember that United won the Supporters Shield in 06 and the Red Bulls gave them all they could handle in the playoffs. (A one-goal win and a tie.)

    The next year, they went 12-11-7 and fell in the first round of the playoffs. So in a year and a half he was 18-16-10.

    Hell, by MetroStars/Red Bulls standards, being two games over. 500 is a hell of an accomplishment. Here are the regular season records of their other coaches. Shootout games are counted as ties with the SO results in parenthesis.

    Eddie Firmani: 1-5-2 (2-0)
    Carlos Queiroz: 11-10-3 (1-2)
    Carlos Alberto Parreira: 11-17-4 (2-2)
    Alfonso Mondelo: 12-17-2 (2-0)
    Bora Milutinovic: 4-20-9 (4-5)
    Octavio Zambrano: 41-37-8
    Bob Bradley: 31-30-26
    Mo Johnston: 5-4-8
    Juan Carlos Osorio: 12-27-13
    Richie Williams: 4-4-6

    Only Zambrano is more than two games over .500 and he had twice as many games as Arena to try it.

    More importantly, Arena had the Red Bulls pointed in the right direction when he took over. There were missteps, to be sure. But by the succubus that is the MetroBulls, he did pretty damn well there.
     
  15. supercooper

    supercooper Red Card

    Jun 23, 2008
    (Bruce did well) but in context of resources? Bruce had both Juan Pablo Angel and Claudio Reyna. How much money was that? How much money does Steve Nichol have each year? Any coaching job has to be viewed in context of resources, which is more important than history.

    Osorio got them to a final. That should be worth something. What is the regular season worth, really, if you can't go deep in the playoffs?

    Carlos Queiroz: 11-10-3, Octavio Zambrano: 41-37-8, Bob Bradley: 31-30-26 had regular season records that were just as good as Bruce, and didn't have the same resources (on a relative basis).

    I'd view Bruce's time in NJ as mediocre, personally. He got exactly what he wanted, and made very little progress over Bradley and history. Sandwiched around the flameout at WC 06, and LA Galaxy's miss of '08 playoffs and very slow start in '09...Bruce was in a real rut for a few years (admittedly this has been turned around). Bruce and Edson Buddle have a lot in common in this regard.
     
  16. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kornheiseritis. It's a disease in which one ends up arguing that Buddy Biancalana was a better player than Ernie Banks.

    Look, winning trophies is important, it's what pro sports is about. But when you use it to END arguments about quality, you end up doing stupid stuff. Like saying Kreis is a better coach than Arena due to 2 PK wins in the playoffs.

    Case in point. The reason Nicol is the best non-champ, using your logic, is because they've lost 4 times in MLS Cup. That's all that needs to be said. The next best non-champion must be Osorio, who lost MLS Cup 2009. And any logic that ends up with Osorio being near any kind of good list is stupid logic.
    Landon and...Buddle? Gonzalez? Surely you don't mean Beckham, who was good player last year, but c'mon, #2 in the league????
     
  17. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    That ends up proving Sandon's point. When Reyna couldn't stay healthy, he left a huge hole in NY's salary cap. The rest of the team played reasonably well under the circumstances, and they didn't have the patience to stick around to see what would have happened when they got out from under Arena's one stupid gamble. So one bad bet ends up being the epitaph from his entire career there.
     

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