Hey...just curious about going down in your neck of the league. Is there any rumors or rumblings that Ray is in any kind of danger of losing his job as coach? I know you guys have had a miserable year and now with the Gazza thing falling apart, etc., etc. Seems like a hose-job if Ray gets sacked any time soon. He seems like a pretty great coach, he just hasn't gotten anywhere near the performance he needs or deserves. But who knows? What do you United-ites think?
i think Ray has done an OK job given the awful state of the team, although there have certainly been a few questionable draft and personnel decisions. i'd say (and i think this is the general consensus of the board) that he'll have a fair shot well into next season - but if we absolutely stink again in 2003, i can't see him staying around much longer.
I don't think most of the personnel can be laid entirely at his feet. While his schtick is starting to wear on me, I think the man deserves another year. What's really got me upset is that thought that maybe the airplane was wrong and it really wasn't the coach. But Kevin Payne is still stupid.
What has Ray done? 1) He's taken a team that leaked goals like a sieve trying to stop the ocean and turned it into a cracked glass under a dripping faucet... Sure the opposition scores goals but we have 5 count them 5 shut outs (more than 2001 and 2000 combined and only a couple short of adding 1999 into that total). 2) He's given us amusing speaches about young salmon and fists et al. Too many to recollect here. Basically, he's raised the bar for after game speeches and actually get's quoted in the paper. 3) He's never been satisfied with the way our team was playing. While so far his offensive moves have not panned out, at least people are coming in to try. The last two seasons there has been little movement during the season, and I recall a posters comment about trying to turn a corner in a round room... 4) He has failed miserably with his "free form" offensive strategy. He actually admitted it as well. While I'm not convinced that he has changed strategy completely, he does seem to be trying new things (ITT at DMid). My point is that Ray has had some success this year and if we could find a striker that can actually hit the target, this will be a good team!
I say that no matter what happens this season Ray deserves a full off-season to make personnel moves (as he did in Miami) before it would be fair to sack him.
What he said. The most impressive part to me is that DC United was broke and he tinkered with it, and is still tinkering with it to get it right. He has succeeded with the defense. He is still tinkering with the offense (he has just acquired Quintanilla). Ray Hudson is trying to make it work. I have faith in him.
As much faith as I have in Ray to coach is tempered by the absolute crap personnel moves this franchise has made over the past few years. 1. Bringing back RDA 2. Bringing back Lassiter 3. The flirt with Gazza 4. McKinley and Lazo from the dispersal draft 5. Mapp and Kante in the Superdraft. 6. Trading Perez for nothing. 7. Bringing back Ritchie Williams. Frankly, the front office needs to take its head out of its arse. I don't know whether its Kasper or Hudson or Payne or a combination of the 3 pulling the strings but they have been the reason (more than Wrongen or Hudson) that this team has sucked. I swear to God right now, if we trade the #1 pick in the SuperDraft (yes, I'm conceding we will finish last) next year I will swear off my allegiance to DC. Cancel season tickets and not attend games. There is only so much crap, no matter how die hard of a fan you are, before you just give up. [/rant]
I'm up for another seasopn of the crazy uncle, but no one will be surprised by that. I'm actually glad that the Gazza deal didn't go through, if for no other reason (and there were *many* other reasons) than that it would have meant Ray unequivocally putting his nuts in front of a steamroller as far as the league was concerned. I'm sorry Gazza fans, but there is no way I can be persuaded that that would have been a good bet. Even if PG stayed squeaky clean and just failed as a footballer, that might have been it for Ray. So here's a big bottle of Broon raised high to 2003 under Geordie guidance. Maybe he and the management can get their drafting act together, make some *good* choices about who to keep and who to cut, and find the players we need to rise up next year and fight again ('cause this year is a goner...)
I said it before: It took Rongen more than one season to ruin DC, it's going to take Hudson more than one season to turn us around.
352 Well I think Hudson is still learning as a coach. He is good at what he does, but what he doesn't do he needs good assistants to do the rest. IMHO, Hudson isn't quite aware of how much trust to put into his assistants, so the only one he trusts besides himself is Trask, and sometimes he trusts Trask too much. Curt Onalfo could orchestrate a beautiful offense, but was never given the chance. Ray understands the 352 fantastically, and is good at employing it. Unfortunately, we didn't really have the best personnel for it. Now, we may actually be able to do it, but it would require all of our defenders healthy and gamefit for 90 minutes every game. -------Moreno-------------Santino/Eliseo/Washington------- -----------------------Etch------------------ Convey---------------------------------Reyes -------------Williams--------Olsen------------ -------Prideaux----Nelsen------Pope--------- With Reyes and Convey flying up and down the wings and a developing Nelsen organizing the back line and a healthy and here Pope, we can do it. It also gives Olsen the opportunity to freelance. -Tron
We gave TR three years. That's the minimum I think Ray deserves. I trust Ray is on the right track. TS.
At the Fusion, Ray didn't/couldn't do too much in the first year, as he was basically playing with what he inherited. However, at the end of his first season, he had the opportunity of signing/drafting his own players. He made excellent choices by bringing in Bishop, Chacon and Preki and then had a great season. At first, I imagined that he'd have a great season with DC, but that was before I looked at last season's stats. DC were that bad that I don't believe it would be possible for anyone to turn it around so quickly. I trust Ray and am disappointed that the Gazza deal appears to have fallen through. If that is the case, then I hope it was Ray's decision: it was his "over the hill" signings that managed to turn the Fusion around and I'm sure he'll do it again.
I wonder if the Williams bashers out there have noticed that he is a huge reason why our defense is actually professional this year for the first time since... Richie left???
First of all,he got a very bad team, the very last in the league.The defense was awfull and it lost a lot of games.RH did concentrate on the defense and did improve it in time. The midfield was organised around Ech.This player is way "over the hill" and RH understood that.His alternative was to bring new midfielders.His choices were wrong,neither Williams nor Villegas are the solution for this crap midfield,the worse in the league.The younger midfielders : Convey,Allegria,Alavanija,Namof etc. are not competitive players they belong in the A-league at best. The forwards situation is a true disaster! Besides Moreno, there are no reliable forwards what so ever.Tino is a talented player but,he is unexperienced and prone to injuries. He does not have the physical preparenesse for a stricker. Anyway, on the ofense side RH's choices were pathetic, RDA and Lassiter were big mistakes. He is to be blamed for bringing mediocre players and mostly,IMHO, for keeping the entire bunch of submediocre midfielders. But,the bigest blame is in the training area. A good coach has to be able to imprint a certain soccer playing style to the team. Even with mediocre players,the audience has to be able to see combinations,moves,strategy that proves the team was practicing and worked hard to achive performance.I have not seen any prepared combinations,the team didn't glue, in time,to become a professional team. On the other hand,I blame him and the coaching team for the total lack of discipline.He let the players to come to the games stright from their homes.How can a professional coach to trust a 20 years old player not to spend the night before the game with a woman?? This is the major reason for such an uneven performance by the players. Also,he tolerates all kind of misbehavior on the field. Ech,Reyes,Nelsen,Ivan are among the worse offenders. To conclude,I think RH deserves a warning , if the team will perform the same at the begining of next season he should be fired.If we will lose 5-6 games in the first 8 games he should go!!
Don't forget he's been somewhat limited by the financial situation. He can't rebuild the team from the ground up in the middle of the season. I'm willing to give Kaspar and Hudson an off-season to play. Hopefully, they can replicate Ray's success in Miami. If next April and May roll around and DC is still playing the same crap football, then I'll be in favor of complete turnover in the United staff.
Well, if you guys don't want him, we here at the Metros will take him. We deal with a coach who constantly blames his players, and constantly fcuks with the roster. We haven't had a stable roster, ever. Zambrano completely changed the roster in the offseason, and he did it again during the midseason. Now, he says the team needs major changes. Hudson is a standup guy. He says when it's his fault, and that is more then comendable. He cares for the team, and loves the fans. I wish he was my team's coach. Give him the offseason, and I bet you guys will kill our useless team next year.
Not to get off topic, but I haven't noticed that at all. I see Curtis making more tackles than Williams. I'd think Prideaux, Reyes, the improvement of Nelsen, and Rimando could all be given far more credit for a passable defense than Williams. And even if we do grant Richie some credit for our defensive improvement I'd grant him an equal portion of blame for our offensive deterioration. Though I don't know who is in the draft next year, if Ray trades the first round pick because the draft is weak and he wants a discovery slot so he can sign a post-30 year old European who is "absolute class on the ball" my patience will officially start to wear thin. Not that we necessarily need another young American on the roster but I think the value of a high draft pick is far greater than it was a few years ago.
Rimando is an upgrade in GK Reyes is an upgrade Prideaux is an upgrade Williams is an upgrade at d-mid Even Villegas is an upgrade to whatever we had at right wing last year. Name me any other team that improved at four/five positions like that through trades and I'm not even bringing in Q2. People here are forgetting how bad a team we were last year. It's easy to look at the standings, see us in last place, and think that we are trading water, that we are bad just like last year. Wrong. We are much better this year. We still have a long way to go to the championship but still we've made huge progress.
Rimando is an upgrade over an injured Ammann, but not that much over a healthy Ammann, and not that much over the Adin Brown we could have had and still used the allocation on somebody else. Reyes, no argument. Williams, I disagree. I still think he stinks. Villegas is all kinds of ugly.