Fair point, but Landon and Jermaine have played the modern game. Landon currently coaching at USL level. Might be better as assistants to start, but both bring intense competitiveness and fire to the game.
Sure, Donovan and Jones played the modern game. But that still doesn't make your point valid in any way. John Harkes has done far more at the coaching level than Donovan or Jones have. To say otherwise is demonstrably incorrect.
The only thing the MLS of 2021 will have in common with the MLS of 2006-07 (Kinnear) or 2009 (Kreis) is the name. The level of play and rosters are so much better. What might have been good enough more than a decade ago really isn't relevant now. Both Kinnear and Kreis might be good assistant coaches somewhere, but they have demonstrated more recently that they are mediocre (at best) head coaches in the current MLS.
Unimpressed He's marginally better than Olsen but I think we can afford faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar better to lead DCU even if the FO isn't interested in becoming cup contenders He's a likeable character and his teams were not boring but I'd like somebody who can turn this battered group around...Pablo doesn't seem like the guy
I'm mostly concerned about the philosophy of the coach. How will DC United defend? How will we score goals? Who can improve the fitness levels of our team for the hard MLS season and how? I want attacking soccer based on posession. I want a team that is fit so we can make good decisions and touches in the 80th minute to grab points or hold on to them.
He's had one good season out of his 3 seasons in the league. That one good season, he played negative unattractive soccer. We just left Ben Olsen who pretty much offered the same thing, but more experience.
Jill Ellis is a big no for me. I always felt she only won because she had the best players at the deepest teams. The US women never really played any stand out style. No pattern of play offensively or defensively. If you give another coach with experience the USWNT job, they would have similar success.
I think this team needs an experienced coach for this transition. After this guy comes through and lays foundations, we can get a younger coach with a defined philosophy to build on the foundation. I honestly dont know who that could be, but I know it isnt Wynalda, Harkes, Donovan or anyone like that. I know people want an American guy, but he has to be good. Not just American. Quite frankly there are no American names that stand out that are free agents currently.
The US has always had the best players, but they haven't always won so you really can't say anyone could do it. I thought their style was to play direct, and win the ball back quickly. I thought it was pretty clear and well executed, it's modern football.
I can see to win the ball back quickly. But direct soccer didn't have a pattern. I feel like certain players quality showed. Regardless of what the offensive game plan was. Also this is a random question for you. Why was Lindsey Horan not a regular during the WC. She was in and out of the XI.
She was something like 15-1-1 in the Olympics and World Cups combined. If you enter the tournament with top 5 talent and you win 2 of 3 major tournaments and a host of smaller accolades like Algarve Cup, She Believes Cup, etc. That's a record any coach would envy. That said, coaching tournaments is much different from coaching a 9 month season. You have to manage minutes and squad rotation more, you need to deal with dips in form & injuries more than in tournament play. She's got a great record of winning with talented teams, but she's never going to have top 5 talent from 1-11 here like the USWMNT and she sure wouldn't have the same kind of talent from 12-18 on the roster. Its a totally different kind of season. She's more proven than some of the men coaching at lower levels, but I'll contend that she's not proven enough to command an MLS job.
I agree on almost everything except your last sentence, "I'll contend that she's not proven enough to command an MLS job", she never did before, so we really don't know. Juve gave the head coach job to Pirlo, who has never coached a minute in his life, it's a huge bet, but until they try, they won't know how it's going to be.
I'm hearing a lot who people don't want, but not about the candidate that people DO want. So who do you people want? Sounds like the only options people will accept is Pochettino, Allardyce, Wenger, Mark Hughes, Van Gaal, or Hiddink (now coaching Curacao). I'd take them too, but none of them will come to DC.
I'll bite: Of the names thrown about in no particular order: Wagner, Cherundolo, Harkes, Perez. Need more information on Llamosa, Razov and Noonan. Absolute no are: Kreis, Williams, Armas, Kinnear, Petke, Wynalda. The mentions of Ellis are merely clickbait as is Cirovski at Maryland.
Most of the names I see mentioned are either coaches with decent records or former players of note Speaking of the latter group, why should a great player be a great coach? (Perhaps we should use the European term "manager" here.) In baseball, I remember reading that catchers often made the best managers because their position behind the plate gave them a synoptic vision of the field and all that went on. Might not a soccer reserve or little-used bench player also gain an impressive command of the game through observation even if he's not that expert himself? A soccer goalkeeper has the same opportunity as a baseball catcher to see the way the game unfolds on the pitch. Do keepers have a built-in advantage as future managers/coaches?
Of these, I like Wagner, Llamosa, Razov, or Noonan. I don't see Cherundolo or Harkes being good options at all, very limited coaching experience for both, and neither has immediate knowledge of MLS and its players.
You are aware that Harkes has been an assistant in MLS and has 4 years as head coach at Cincy and Greenville. I don't find that to be "very limited coaching experience" at all.
My choice would be Greg Vanney, who was here very briefly late in his career, but the only reason he would leave Toronto is for a boatload of money and a warmer climate.
To benni... I thought Morgan Brian was chosen ahead of Horan, but eventually Horan got that job back.