At home! Just pathetic. I'm so tired of mediocrity (and actually, "mediocrity" seems like a stretch goal at this point; we just SUCK).
We have a bad roster. That’s been true of all of Rooney’s tenure. What’s been different the last 2 months is that it is being very poorly coached. He was OK before then, but it’s awful now. Durkin played like he bet on the other team.
To be fair, we are one point from clinching a non-Spoon finish. That has to be acknowledged as improvement, given that by this point last year, we’d all but clinched the Spoon.
But yes, we’re clinging to the last playoff spot by our fingernails, and based on form, can’t be expected to hit our ceiling — which is losing the play-in game.
It almost seems like he wants to be done. Like, the team is not renewing his contract and not even talking about it, so what incentive does he have to finish this season well? He must know the team is pretty crap so his highest hope would be making playoffs. Since that won't keep his job, why should he invest it all in trying to lose the playin match?
There is a powerful argument to make that we don't want the last playoff spot. We'd waste it and lose early foremost. Second, it would mask our shittiness and benefit the ownership.
So you are saying making the playoffs would be like US Soccer's belief that round of 16 is good enough for our Men's team?
The season is on the line at home. We bring in reinforcements like Dajome, Robertha and Asad. That’s a guaranteed zilch. Not clear if Rooney has any interest in the team at all based on his actions during games, and I don’t think he’s a real coach, but his personnel are so far below what’s necessary to be competitive… need a complete reboot, but someone has to lead it and neither coach nor owners seem committed to taking that on. DCU is a perfectly good USL team. Without the ambition, sadly
With a 28% (at best) win percentage at both Derby and DC, Rooney is a man without a plan when it comes to coaching. He should really consider how much more money he needs and think maybe not being a head coach would be good.
Playoffs are a one off tournament for the most part so we could do something crazy like win a match. However, that best of 3 series is likely to kick our ass...
Why would we want a redemption arc after this season? Winning the US Open Cup was one of the worst things to happen to this team in years.
Early in the season, I thought that he had really made Pines an asset, either with the 3 at the back or teaching or both. I liked that he was giving Greene a chance to develop; to succeed in MLS at our level, we need a handful of "competent MLS lifers" to be 2 or so starters and 2 or so key subs, and we could get that from Ted and Greene and now Pines. The commitment to Santos at left wing back was in retrospect an enormous warning sign; at the time I thought it was bad but as time has passed it seems like a good example of how Rooney misevaluates talent.
I only go to a handful of games a season, but I have almost always attended Redbull matches. To me, they are our rival not unlike Redskins Cowboys. Those games have double the importance, to me. When Redbull was good, it was hard to take the losing but they earned it. Now, they aren’t any good and still dominate. It hurts, I’m not gonna lie. It’s dumb of course but it makes me angry I seemingly care more than the team.
I’ve realized I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the game. On one hand, I love how it can surprise me and showcase unique skill sets you don’t get in other sports. The mix of athleticism with the sublime is chef’s kiss. On the other, I’m suspicious of a sport that invites the player with a cheater’s mentality, because so much of soccer is how much can you cheat and get away with it? How can the system be gamed, rather than how can the game occur organically within the system. I’m not being clear, but basically I love/hate the sport at the moment. I just wish all the little side hustles would go away.
At least we came out of the gate bad. The Metrodonkeys really had a lot of early possession and got comfortable. Thanks Coach for prepping your team to take it to a rival from the off!
But sure it was a shitty referee that made bad calls all over the pitch, sometimes for us and sometimes against us, that cost us the win. I'm tired of the excuses. When is Rooney going to take any responsibility? That was rhetorical. He'll go back to the UK and make statements bad mouthing DC, just like Losada did in Belgium, to justify his crappy work.
Don't worry, I'm angry about ownership/operators and the entire management team! However, the operators aren't going to fire themselves and Kasper is too entrenched with compromising pictures to get ousted...