The base of the team, is pretty much what it was in 2012, The roster is also deeper than it was in 2012, but Marco Schallibaum who's team was in the running for the SS in early September refused to play his younger players early on, causing either exhaustion or injury. The end result, is why it was inevitable that coaching change would be made. It's a results based industry. Some clubs will keep things stable even after consecutive losing seasons, hoping to win down the line. That doesn't cut it in Montreal.
Heaps played plenty of left back for NE. Friedel Nelsen-Nesta-Petke-Heaps Olsen-Pareja-Klopas-Yallop Kreis-Sigi Only a few holes in that lineup.
MFG, on the one hand you're claiming that the club was successful and accomplished it's goals for its second year of existence. But then on the other you claim that Schallibaum didn't do enough. I'm not sure I really follow here. Were expectations met or not? If they were, why do you fire the guy that accomplished what you wanted and improved the team from the year before.
If you watched Montreal matches, Nesta is always talking, gesturing & sometimes hugging his players and opposing players.
I can conceive of it working but I'm not sure why you risk it unless you have no options. Was Nesta the best option they had or is this based solely on reputation? I'd rather have a manager with some coaching experience. Despite him being a great player and a good person (short one character flaw ), I would never prefer him over someone who is somewhat proven or experienced. Obvious statement but management is tough. Then of course you always have the issue of becoming manager too soon after you stop playing, I remember when Montella took the Roma job on an interim basis he struggled and he'd been out of the game for like 3 years. He obviously is a good manager but that early transition is no joke, even for guys with a few years of coaching under their belt (Montella used to coach the kids).
So what? That was just the team regressing to the mean after ridiculously overachieving in the first half of the season. Essentially you are saying he's being punished for the team doing so well early on. If he started the season with the poor 20 games and then finished with the hot start, he would be hailed as a genius for turning the season around. In the end, the team finished on the upper end of where you'd reasonably expect given the roster. Firing the man that got them there is crazy. IMO, Montreal's coaching carousel is worse than Toronto's. At least with Toronto the results have always been poor so firing the coach is more understandable. Montreal is now 2 for 2 with firing coaches that have met or exceeded reasonable expectations.
^^^ You're not getting a divorce if you've had a couple of bad years with your GF but happily married since. Turn that around, though... 4 wins, 5 draws, 11 losses in the last 20 + playoff disaster. CC we went 1-2-1 and CCL 2-0-2. It showed he had run out of ideas, couldn't get his tactics ready and couldn't manage squad rotation. The games further down the line are more indicative of tactical acumen, player management and general coaching skill than the first games, where players might have bought into the system and maybe took the opponent by surprise. As the season dragged on, the tactics were erractic, the player choices debatable and it seemed like he lost control of the team.
He's completed two courses, and is missing the third one. He was also heavily involved with helping out the younger players in Montreal's youth system. Her is the quote from an italian interview (Bing translator sorta works for those who don't speak italian) http://www.lalaziosiamonoi.it/lazio...-al-top-ha-avuto-meno-infortuni-di-meae-38478
Ahhh ok, well that's a little better. Coverciano is a top notch coach training center, he should probably use his off time to try to finish up his badges. I've known coaches who completed them whilst having a job, I think they make exceptions.
There are people here that are comparing this team to the disaster that is TFC, numbers say otherwise. While I, personally am satisfied with the progression of the team, I could also understand why management would decide to make a coaching change, after the derailment in the last quarter of the season. That derailment could have been avoided with better coaching, thus the coaching change.
You also don't divorce your newly wed wife after your first fight. Soccer isn't chess. As a coach, you don't control every variable. That's why you don't fire a guy for one skid, especially when he put them in the position early in the season that they could slide and still make the playoffs.
Hello Portland ... and Vancouver. Not many changes there after a couple of season ... right. Yet nobody seems to be calling them disasters.
Which one of them performed well in their expansion season, improved to make the playoffs in their second season, and fired their coach both times? You might want to take off your incoherent rambling homer glasses for a few moments to realize what this looks like.
The Impact may have been trying to head off Milan by acting quickly, jeez. Allegri is gonna get canned.
You have selecting reading skills, and a bias towards anything that doesn't fit the cookie cutter mold of most MLS franchises. You've also conveniently omitted answering my question. I'll rephrase the question in simpler terms just for you. Why is Montreal's possible coaching change (hasn't happened yet) considered to be a disastrous move, while the previous two expansion teams have made the same type of move, and no one called that a disaster in the making? With the firing of Jesse Marsch and the hiring of Schallibaum this season, all the so called experts and insiders we're predicting Montreal to finish dead last, and of course they didn't. They actually improved. I think a new coach will be able to fix, what was inherently wrong (did anyone watch the last two games of Montreal's season) and improve on the 2013 totals.
Saputo is going to do what Saputo does. He has had success in the past. It isn't always consistent, but it is entertaining. Especially when his coaches are getting in opposing fans faces on road trips
Wow, and I thought Buddle this year was one of the best examples of an overweight striker that didn't move fast enough...