http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20041117-9999-lz1s17goal1.html Maybe J-league model of 'bad' goalkeeping and Brazillian strikers could prove useful. Or a "random compensation plan" where the players are giving a bonus for winning games. However, they don't know which games until the end of the season. Thus, they will be more all out to win games, EVERY games because there is a chance that it could be the bonus game.
Scoring is bound to be up next year with two expansion teams that everyone will pick on. Compounded that one of those two teams comes with a tradition of not playing physical defense.
I blame it all on Colorado, KC, the Crew, and the Revs. The Galaxy's play was far more exciting, as they pushed forward, but couldn't score in a $5 whoor house.
MLS is sending a mixed message here. They just awarded the Coach of the Year award to Greg Andrulis. I assume the reason was to take some heat off him with the Columbus fans. He, Hankinson, and to a lesser extent Gansler are the models of what Gazidis is complaining about.
One way to encourage attacking play would be to modify the way points are earned for wins/losses/ties. My suggestion: Loss..............................0 pts Tie................................1 pt Win...............................2 pts Goal differential bonus: 1-3 pts A team winning by 1 goal would earn 3 pts (2 pts for the win and a 1 pt goal differential bonus). A team winning by 2 goals would earn 4 pts. And a team winning by 3 or more goals would earn 5 pts.
Well that is incentive... but lets no go back to changing the fundimental rules of the game just for entertainments sake.
I don't see why we need to have ties. How about, if the game is tied at the end of the match, we have a "shootout" where players start 35 yards out and try to score on the goalkeeper? And, you know, I'd be amenable to more stoppages for commercials if it meant the league could make some more money. And, I think it'd be great for excitement if the teams had snazzier names like, say, "Mutiny" or "Clash." Seriously, I think it's a good sign for where MLS is today that we've found an equal balance of people demanding relatively insignificant changes like a single table for the sake of "purity," and other people bemoaning the loss of once hated institutions like the shootout and these weird goal-scoring schemes.
The best way to get better looking soccer is to instruct the CRs to crack down on cynical fouling, back the ones who call it, and stop assigning the ones how don't. MLS already does a great job of not killing attacks with false positive offside calls. Again, I have to ask--did the league office award this to Drooler? Or was it a panel of writers? I'll bet anything it's not the league office. So MLS isn't sending a mixed message, they're sending a different message from what another group sent.
3pts for a win is a "fundamental rule of the game"? Yeah, right. It wasn't that long ago that teams earned 2 pts for a win.
Not all that different than what the A-League was doing a few years back (four points for a win, and a bonus point for scoring at least 3 goals).
Who are the "They" that determines the COY? MLS COY Voting: Ivan Gazidis and Don Garber did not have a vote in the COY polling. Ivan and Don probably would have voted for Sampson and his "exciting" brand of soccer Meanwhile, the reporters, coaches, players and GM's were more impressed with Andrulis' 18-game non-losing streak.
Well, DC did our part, although with only 2 strikers, we wee still damn exciting to watch especially after getting Gomez
We have a winner! There it is, right there. When USSF refs, and I use the term loosely, start forcing defenders to use something other than kicking, hacking, shoving and pulling, then maybe we'll see some decent scoring. MLS keepers are great, but if their defenders had to defend instead of hack the game would flow better, and would be higher quality.
What the hell that supposed to mean? At least J.League games have much faster pace than MLS.... AND they have midfielders/forwards who can shoot on target from midfield every other minute. PLUS it's more enjoyable to watch J.League. Don't take me wrong. I also watch MLS games and like them. But as my friends pointed out the other day... its little slower than we are used to watch in Japan. AND too much build-up...
How much 'lesser' is Gansler? KC set an MLS record for most 1-0 (victories I'm assuming) games in a season. Gansler ball, while it has its exceptions like anything else, won't have the fans coming in droves to watch it unfold. I like the general attitude and idea behind this new MLS "mentality", but it seems absurd to wish teams and coaches into doing it. The monetary bonus idea or reducing the number of post season slots seems like it would be more effective in this area.
When I say these things on bigsoccer I get slammed for it. I get told that all is well. I get showed stats that show MLS is a higher scoring legaue than Serie A.\ Thank god the people in New York don't have their heads up their asses like some here. Now lets see what the hell they do about it.
Thank you. How about just cleaning up the freekin dirty play in this league. Force teams to play football not kickball.
MLS has developed into a defensive league. But as was pointed out earlier a good deal of that is because the backs tend to just play hack-the-attack so as not to give up goals. I think bonus' for total wins by teams would be a step in the right direction. I think you want to avoid a $100-for-each-goal-anyone-scores policy because selfish play would develop and hurt the game even more.
Has anyone ever thought that the reason teams don't win is because there is NO incentive to win? When 8/10(8/12next season) make the playoffs why does any team care about winning in the middle of July?
The simplest approach often works best. Teams get a certain set $$ for winning and reducue the playoff teams to 6. Done. Wishing that Gansler, Hanki and Andrulis would play adventerous, attacking soccer is a waste. You might as well wish for a house call from Jennifer Garner. Its not gonna happen. Coaches paying lip service to it like Steve Sampson isn't going to do it either. Improved reffing might help - but that's like tryng to herd cats. Ooohh. Send them a video or to a Ref conference. It won't amount to crap. The league should not tweak with the rules or points to get what they want - they just need to come up with a way to finanically incent the play they want to see. It will be the fairest, most consistent way to do it and stands the best chance of actually succeeding. I am glad they are aware this is an issue - I just want to see them actually do something tangible about it.
Here is an Idea. How about limiting the teams that makes it to the playoffs and give them substantial playoff bonuses? How is that for an Idea It doesnt tinker with any fundamental rules to change the quality of games throughout the season.
I don't think their is anything tangible you can do, short of ordering teams to line up in 343s. You can't legislate mentality. My guess is that you can indirectly effect this by telling coaches that they'll graded on entertainment as much as wins and losses. So if you do what Andruilis did, he'd get fired for putting half the TV watching audience to sleep every weekend.
that might make teams even MORE conservative. Take a look at some of the Champion's League matches. Pressure does not force teams to play freely