I prefer the term "head tennis" to describe the aimless heading of the ball back and forth. Much more elegant than "ping pong".
I guess both tennis and ping pong imply some sort of planned directionality. The beach ball at a concert is a more apt analogy.
No, but if you sit quietly in the back seat and don't bother your sister, you can have a sno-cone at the next rest stop.
I've tended to be on the side of keeping Olsen until the current ownership team changes. With the skinflint economy practices currently in place, nobody out there who is willing to take the job would be able to do much better than Olsen. With the skinflint economy practices currently in place, the best we supporters can hope for year in and year out is a team that will compete for the playoffs and, if they make the playoffs, maybe win a playoff game or two. That being said, I am worried about the development of young players and the use of skilled veterans under Olsen/Ashton. The attrition rate seems to be unnecessarily high here but, then again, the attrition rate is pretty high in all professional sports. Even so, Branko Boskovic (who was injured a lot) was misused during his tenure with the team and now, I'm afraid, Olsen is repeating the problem with Julian Gressel. Either Gressel isn't as good as Dave Kasper thought he was (and, remember, he was cushioned by playing with MLS-caliber great players in Atlanta) or Olsen/Ashton is misusing him. I hate seeing this pattern repeat. And, I still can't get over Olsen/Ashton's decision to repeatedly start Pajoy over Salihi. This is stuff we've all seen with our own eyes and it is crazy-making.
While I believe Gressel is overrated, the larger problem is that Olsen/Ashton favor the hardworking "gritty" player. Neither Salihi nor Bosko were great about tracking back. Pajoy was the classic Olsen "defensive forward." The same mindset runs out Segura as forward in a game where you need to get a result. It will never change -- that is the current coaching staff's view of what they want in players.
Even when this team spends it does so incompetently. We got Wayne Rooney who didn't realize what a shit show this is and dumped us like a prom date with a chastity belt. Instead of Rooney we could have afforded two or even three Diego Valeri's. Fans were responsible for cheering this move on, because hell, why not, it's Wayne Rooney, but in the long run we now have a team whose best players are, uh, Brillant? Kamara? Yikes.
Swansea has thier 2nd playoff game tomorrow. They currently lead 1-0. I hope they lose so he won't spend money on them and even feels pressure to sell them. I'm not sure if my logic works. Maybe if they get promoted they are all excited again and sell DCU... Decisions.
Fulham have been good to and for Americans generally, so I hope they lose too. But I'm not sure that'll make things better for us. If Swansea don't go up they'll lose another $30M in parachute payments next season. If they go up they'll receive more than that again. I can't imagine having to cushion the shock will help us out. If we're ever in charge of creating a pro-rel system, remind me that I want to just split the common revenues more evenly among the leagues and do away with parachute payments. It's asinine that PL teams get payouts of 100-150 million pounds, Championship teams get around 7 million while League One teams get 1.5 million. At least that last one's a realistic gap to jump. Can you imagine how much more competition and turnover there would be up and down the league structure if you'd just distribute that 81 / 27 / 9 / 3 ...?
So, the hope is that if Swansea loses Levien, et.al,. will sell out and - what? Invest the proceeds in DCU? Isn't it just as likely - or more so - that he would increase his support for Swansea because the payoff from promotion is so high? Given that MLS doesn't have promotion/relegation, the best way to increase the value of the franchise is to invest in better players and better coaching. But I'm not sure even that would make much difference in the bottom line. Audi drew quite decent crowds and television revenue (I think) with an underperforming team. How much better could a new owner expect to do? Perhaps we need an owner - a very rich owner - who regards the team more as an expensive hobby. Jeff Bezos, or some minor league sheik. Or MacKenzie Bezos
Huh. A few minutes in and I already like Orlando's plan. Press and counter with Mueller being primary outlet.It's insane the improvement a coach can do.#ORLvLAFC #MLSisBack— Tutul Rahman (@tutulismyname) July 31, 2020
I think the knockout rounds of the tournament have been a real indictment of Olsen's coaching. Three of the four semi-finalists were teams that have been bad for a long time, and none of the four are among the really big-spending clubs in MLS. Seeing how Pareja, Curtin, and Heath have turned things around at Orlando, Philly, and Minnesota is a real counter-argument to the notion that Olsen can't do any better with the resources he has. I know the current roster has a lot of problems, but dammit after a decade he should have a better idea how to get the most out of what he's got.
Portland and Orlando? Really? They support your argument? Wow the tactical acumen around here is amazing, just amazing.
I didn't say any of the semi-finalists were playing dazzling soccer. Three of the four were long-term dumpster fires that managed to turn around and grind out results, in a tournament where conditions were favorable to teams able to do that. The "big clubs" underperformed. If there was ever a time when grit, hustle, and style-points-be-damned Bennie Ball was going to shine, it would have been in Orlando.
Well since the "Fire Olsen" side has yet to make a valid point aside from we want him out what is the difference. I have made my side of this argument with facts and data may times. No one wants to listen. So I will stick with the you guys are wrong argument.
Your argument is "random people online don't have a better option" followed by you trolling anytime a legit option is given. No facts nor data. That's how bad Ben Olsen is, when the only item in the pro column is nobody else can do better.
Oh thanks for confirming you dont read. You tried to blame the front office but posters have shown you more successful MLS teams who spend less than us. Postets have complained about his tactics. Playing with 3 defensive midfielders. Playing without a striker when we needed a win. Posters have complained sbout his lack of faith in youth. Moses Nyeman would have been playing in Dortmund by now if not for work permit/passport issues. Yet Ben Olsen doesnt think he's good enough for one of the worst teams in MLS.
That was kinda my point. If there was ever a time & place when a commitment to Bennyball was gonna pay off, it was the past few weeks in Orlando. Tactics and high-level soccer and international coaching experience mattered less in this tournament than grit and tenacity.
Ben Olsen hasn't shown any growth as a coach in the 10 years he has been here. The fact that he is trying to play out of the back with Hamid as the goalie suggests that he might even be regressing. You can read any game thread in the past decade and see the same stuff people were complaining about is the same stuff Olsen is still screwing up now.
Legit option, you mean when people throw out some random coaches name who would never come here and claim he could turn around the Titanic and miss the iceberg. The facts I have brought YOU time and again are the names of the crappy players he has had to put on the field. Those are facts so who is not reading now?