I think DC made some improvements in their players this year and with most of those players being young there's some hope for the future even if we don't make huge changes. But Coach Olsen remains a huge question mark for me. I know who Ben Olsen, the player, was, but I'm not totally sure who he is as a coach. I assumed that, based on his playing days, he'd be a coach who demanded effort all over the field and encouraged a high intensity style. His early benchings of Najar and Bronko suggested this might be the case. His late benching of Davies shows that he's not afraid to hold players accountable. Other than that I'm not sure what we have in our coach (who I assume will get at least one more year). We seemed to play a lot of long balls over the top, despite having little success. DeRo has been moved back and forth between forward and mid from game to game. Kitchen's long-term position still is not clear. Our much improved offense might suggest Bennie prefers an attacking style, but we also had games where it looked like we would never score again. Does anyone else have a grip on what the future holds for a team coached by Bennie?
Tactically I think Benny learned as the season progressed. He had more than a few hiccups along the way that made me scratch my head. The biggest thing in my eyes was the late game meltdowns that happened more than once. Giving up leads and settling for ties or flat out defeat should never happen more than once or twice. I think it was those meltdowns that came to define our season. That above all needs to be addressed especially from a coach with Benny's reputation. On the offensive side I will cut him some slack. All you have to do is look at the teams record once Pontius went down. Olsen was relegated to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. As far as the future, well all that depends on the roster he takes to camp. Bosko's health, Pontius's recovery and hopefully some new good additions and more than a few subtractions could point the team in the right direction.
Short answer, no. What do we know? -He's fiery, no surprise there. He's not afraid to get after the refs are yell 'encouragement' to his players while on the sideline. That's all I got. I don't know what the style of play is based on this season. He seems to be a 'there's the ball, go play' kind of coach. I'm a little disappointed, but not discouraged, about his performance this season. With all the time he's spent under Arena, I thought he might have picked up more of the ability to get the result. It may not always be pretty, but Arena knows how to get those 1-0 wins that get the necessary points. I didn't see the urgency to get the results we needed out of this team. Something to work on. It's a results based business.
Tactically he seems to want to recreate DCU's 4-4-2 from the 90s even though he has the wrong personnel for it, especially at defensive midfield and center forward. A more current comparison is Sigi's diamond 4-4-2 in Seattle with conservative fullbacks, the attack mostly generated on the wings, a withdrawn forward and a poacher leading the line. I think DC has about 80% of the ingridients to replicate this style. Simms is no Alonso and therein lies the biggest contrast. Also Fucito and Levesque have more desire in their little pinkies than the whole of Wolff and Davies combined.
I agree with a lot of what Boloni is saying. We need outside backs and a dmid to make it work. Kitchen may be that dmid. We don't have the outside backs. Boskovic, if healthy and fit, looks like he can be our amid with DeRo as our withdrawn striker.
When Bosko played in USOC or reserve matches did he play AM? I have no idea. Is the general consensus, then, that the early injuries to Bosko and the defense, combined with the late injury to Pontius, meant Olsen never really had the chance to put his stamp on the team tactically? My main concern is with Kitchen. Clearly he should be part of the core of the team for years to come. Yet Olsen had him playing all over the place. It's great that he believed in him from day one and gave him a ton of playing time and maybe as a young player getting experience at multiple positions is a positive, but if Kitchen is destined to be a hard-working DM, then it's a little odd he was so rarely used there.
anyone who played Burch unless absolutely necessary should be questioned. some very questionable lineups and substitution decisions all season long. sure growing pains with a new, young coach but he doesn't know how he wants the team to play and until he figures that out he won't know what he needs in terms of players. he could have a team full of talented, committed players but if he doesn't know how to put them on the field it won't be a successful team.
Does the team have the time to wait for the on the job training. DC filled a position with Ben which probably is a bargain among MLS Coaches. Also what about bringing Bryan Namoff out of special projects and move him into coaching the Defense.
He could coach the Fullbacks, but DEFENSE is a total team concept - Where the Forwards go when the opposing team is passing the ball around in a specific pattern - Where the Halfbacks go - How does this change given 1-0 lead or deficit near halftime - How does this change at the 75-80 minute mark - etc The Defense doesn't start with the Fullbacks - It starts with the Forwards and then the Halfbacks
Denis Hamlet is available, since Vancouver cleaned house today to make way for Martin Rennie. Hamlet was a great assistant at Chicago for years.