Two things really concern me. First, the Rapids had a chance to win the game against the worst team in the league and get homefield advantage for the first round of the playoffs, and they failed miserably. Second, they have given up a lot of goals in recent games. Neither of these things bodes well for the playoffs.
Don't forget that you lost not just to the worst team in the league, but to the scrubs of the worst team in the league. No Jason Kreis, no Brad Davis, no Ronnie O'brien, no EZ Hendrickson, no Tenywa Bonseau. You lost to essentially the reserves of the worst team in the league. Have fun in the playoffs.
I couldn't agree with you more and I am a Rapids fan. I saw this coming last month. Look at our pathetic record. First 6 games of the season 0-5-1 for 1 pt. Last 6 games of the season 0-3-3 for 3 pts. PATHETIC!!!! CRAP!!!! #$#@#!!!! I will be real suprized if we win the first game of the series against a quality KC team. Second game if we stay within 2 goals I will be suprized. What a farce to even suggest the Mr. Hanki could even be remotely considered for coach of the year. Maybe he should be crowned DUD of the year. Fire the bastard now!!!! any sensible team anywhere in the world except MLS would do do. @!#$@$@#!!!
Why do people always jump all over the goalie when a lot of goals were scored. I just had to look at the lowlights from the MLS show to see the horrific defensive blunders the Rapids were committing. Borchers scores a beauty except for the wrong team. Garlick was well placed. The defense couldn't clear on another goal. Just pathetic. This team is an embarassment to the league and to this city. Pathetic!!!
After seeing the game clips this will be the second loss in a row the can be rested sqaurely on the shoulders of the defense despite our offense scoring so many goals. Specifically Fraser and Borchers. Hard to believe considering they were rock solid throughout the rest of the "good" year. I'm hoping that it means this is all mental and the defense will get their head back into the game. Silver Lining: If our offense as of late can continue to generate 3 or 4 goals per game and the defense can get back to being unstoppable, we ahve a chance of making it look easy. I wonder which team will show up on Tuesday?
Watch the third goal and you'll see that Garlick botched that one. He was hampered by being on the end most affected by the wind. Countess was fighting it the second half and 6 of the 7 goals were scored at that end.
if you can't stand the ups and downs of a team then switch team support to another team. We don't need that kind of fan... Hankinson IMO is the one to blame for this loss if anyone is to blame...He should of let alot of the players rest...since it really didn't matter .... It is still home and away... the burn's coach was letting players play that sat most of the season so they were very energetic.. Our players are winding down and this would of been a great opportunity to rest them and let kingsley, rizo etc play this game... The regulars might of needed a rest from travelling if anything. LOOK at Metros . they lost big to NE but they played alot of bench players... also. some of the starters didn't even travel... why did hankison insisted that this game really meant something???
Who says I can't stand the ups and downs? ( I assume you are writing about my posts. ) And who are you to say what kind of fans this team need. I happen to be a fan who has been to every single game this team has ever played in the state of Colorado since day one. I also support every charity this team has represented. I'll be out there screaming for the Rapids in a blizzard if no one else bothers to show. I CARE!!! THAT IS WHY I AM SO VOCAL ABOUT WHAT I SEE!!! That is a lot more than I can say about 99% of the other season ticket holders. I back MLS 100% and I will always be a Rapids fan. NO ONE... NO, NOT EVEN YOU CAN TAKE THAT AWAY. Anyway I agree 100% that Mr. Hanki is to blame. And just because he didn't shuffle the line-up and the team had a hot streak doesn't make him a good coach. What makes a good coach is a person who can not only motivate (Rate him an F) but can also see what our weaknesses are on the field and work on them in practice (Don't know what to rate since I haven't seen them practice much this year). Also, he needs to be able to make the necessary substitutions in a match when they can be effective (Rate him an F). Making 2 or 3 subs with 5 minutes to play is stupid unless there is an injury. Make tactical subs. He is also responsible for getting the appropriate assistant coaches (Rate him a C). He also has to select the right players (Rate him an A-) I like the player mix of this team lots of wasted potential. Overall I would give him a D. Overall, he doesn't impress me one bit. Look what he did to Tampa. Mediocrity at best. I
As I have said before Hank never had the coaching ability or competency to win a championship. He always makes the wrong decision. This good run we had was more luck than coaching. Like Andrulis they both should go, since they are the weakest coaches in the leaque. We also should be going into the playoffs with Cannon rather than Garlick, but there again is where Hank will make another serious mistake.
My question is: How do you take a team that wins 13 games in 2002 and with essetially the same players, win 11 in 2003? Coach of the year my a$$. Where are all the Hanki defenders now? Good god, Jambon had it right. We play essentially our best 11 (minus Zizi and Crawford) and Dallas plays their scrubs and goes up 4-1 in 20 minutes. Complete crap. And where does Hanki get off sitting CC? He's the Rapids' assist leader (he also got one on Saturday) and Zizi gets the freaking start? Give me a break. I guess this is another one of Hanki's brilliant "play the hot hand" moves. Who cares if Zizi scored goals last week, you play your best 11 all the time. Zizi is not one of the best 11. Great momentum going into the playoffs. KC goes undefeated in their final 5, erasing an 8 point deficit, and grabs second place. While the Rapids go in without a win since September, giving up 13 goals in 6 games. I don't know about you folks, but I'm kinda glad these games weren't televised.
I was willing to give Hankinson credit for a while, but I've also hedged all those statements with caveat of, "how Hankinson will handle the addition of Powell." In the same spirit, you could add to that the return to health of Zizi. The team of late seems to have lost the storyline. While I can't fault Powell or Zizi for this I do think that the team is trying to find itself again. At this point in the season that's not a good thing.
Not to mention, he had two more games in which to accomplish this goal as well. For me it's not so much the number of wins. It's that this team failed to finish with a winning record. Again. Even if you did feel that Zizi is one of your best 11, it makes no sense to sit Carrieri, who is clearly one of the best 11 on the team. Bigger question I have is why bring Mark Crawford in? Was Wes Hart hurt, or does this really hearken back to Hankinson's put-him-in-the-dog-house mentality? I suppose Hankinson will defend his decision for Crawford because he scored a meaningless goal.
Agree that Hankinson is doing a poor job and w/ benching CC. Completely disagree with evaluation of leaving Hart on the bench. Hart was injured and Crawford stepped up and had the best game of any of the defenders. Your characterization of the goal as meaningless manifests your complete ignorance. Have you even seen the goal? Hart has been Hanky's boy all season and continues to dissapoint. Not only is he an average defender at best, he lacks the skill to play decent balls and provides no strength in attacking out of the back. He is consistently beaten in one-on- one situations and Hankinson continues to leave him in the game in the midst of his several "nightmares"
Odd that you don't offer anything to point out just why this goal is anything less than meaningless nor why I am so ignorant. Were you at the game? If so, I'd love to hear what you saw. Please tell me. Those of us in Colorado couldn't watch the game, so it's safe to say that many others besides me would love to hear whatever you say. 1. I never "evaluated" that decision, only questioned it 2. I asked if Hart was injured 3. Where did you hear/read that Hart was injured? Just 10 minutes ago I was told by a member of the Rapids media that his knee was bothering him (and removed as a game-time decision), but if you're privy to inside information that you won't share, drop the attitude, OK? Yes, I've seen the goal. Your point? As far as I'm concerned, he could have whipped out his schlong and scored with it, and I'd still call the goal meaningless. The goal gave the Rapids a 6 minute chance to earn a draw in this game, a result which would have had no effect on the outcome of the standings nor would it have resulted in the Rapids finishing the season with a winning record. At most, Crawford's goal only showed that the Rapids can come back and score a pair against the reserves of one of the worst teams in the history of the league. Crawford's goal was very well taken, a finish that he earned as the result of effort out of the corner and a great move off the ball into a small gap. Unfortunately whatever small glory he earns is equally overshadowed by Crawford being caught ball-watching in his own for a ridiculous amount of time as Deering fought a ball away from Garlick and back-heeled (back-heeled!) the ball into the net. No disagreeing that Hart is an average defender nor your other assessments. However, neither Crawford nor any other player on this team has managed to earn that regular spot away from Hart, and it hasn't been for lack of opportunity. Furthermore, whether you like him or not the bottom line is that Hart started every single game of the Rapids' vaunted mid-season streak. Unless he's injured, to pull him now is silly. Or better yet, a "manifestation of complete ignorance."
I was a Hanki defender .... Now I'm waiting to see what the playoffs bring. I'm not really sure how tatically or lineup wise Hanki was responsible for our latest six game winless streak ... he didn't really make any changes unless his hand was forced (i.e. Frasier's father, Pablo's stupidity, injuries) .... I didn't like seeing Zizi get the start over CC though. While I won't argue that Hanki needs to be evaluated ... I don't see anyone arguing the fact that it's the men on the field that lost the damn game. Specifically our defense. More specifically ... Borchers play for the last month ... and Pablo's continued suspensions. We get it ... everyone hates Hanki .... But hanki isn't knocking balls into his own net or taking yellow after yellow. It totally sucks that we weren't able to see these two games ... because in a 4-3 loss ... you MUST look at the defense and midfield. Yet everyone looks to the bench. Everyone gave the players credit for the turn around ... Hanki had NOTHING to do with it I was told ... but now it's all his fault again despite doing pretty much what was expected considering each game's situations (suspensions, injuires, etc ... ) Centennial's grading evaluation was acutally pretty well done about Hanki btw.
Oh, I'll blame the players all right. Pablo is useless if he can't play every week. But this is an area where Hanki can 'coach'. It's up to coaches to sit players down and get them to understand the consequences of their stupidity. If the player persists, like Pablo has for two years now, then the player should be benched. Period. Many have said all season the Fraser is old and past it. Some have said that the reason Borchers is having the season he is, is because of Fraser. I actually think it's the other way around. As for Borchers scoring an own goal, well, that shite happens. It shouldn't and especially on an important night like Saturday but it does. I'll just say that I also didn't jump all over Hart when he scored an own goal against NE. Just to ward off the hypocrite accusations that might follow. Plus, CC can't help his team from the bench where Hanki put him after 29 games and the team lead in assists. Brilliant coaching there. Credit to CC for coming on and getting another assist. But the biggest reason for blaming Hanki is that this is now a trend. Last year, the Rapids had a chance to get home field advantage in the playoffs and couldn't get the job done. Now, they have done it again. While Hanki doesn't play the games, he is in charge of preparing this team to play and dare I say it, motivating them to perform. And I don't look at removing CC for Zizi or playing Crawford as any form of motivation. Last year we all wanted to have that threat from the bench and Zizi gave the Rapids that for the Chicago game but that doesn't mean he starts the next week for a guy who has played great ALL SEASON LONG just because he's the 'hot hand'. This is so typical of the three year Hanki reign.
The players lost the game against Dallas. Hankinson lost the season. I think you're reading a bit too much into what people are saying regarding the Dallas game and the end of the season. In terms of performance within a single game, I don't blame Hankinson for the Debacle in Dallas. 4 goals in 20 minutes is not something that any coach should be blamed for, short of him starting a 4'9" goalkeeper. And I don't read too many comments that are shouting for Hankinson's head just because of the Dallas game. No, people are screaming for Hankinson's head because all the team needed was one win in its final six games. Irregardless of this silliness about a "home field advantage " in a home-and-home series, the result of ending this season is: - Rapids finish with a losing record - Rapids haven't won in well over a month - Rapids couldn't beat Chicago once despite four opportunities - Rapids have an overall losing record the top 4 teams While I will give credit to the players for their one-loss-in-eleven "streak," I will most certainly criticize and point fingers at said players for the early- and late-season disappointments as well. But when you see such a large number of disappointing performances and results, many coming against opponents that have no business doing anything but losing to the Rapids, there hits a point where you have to wonder just what the hell is going on. That the players did so well in mid-season showed that the team was at least reasonably capable of winning. Coming after a horrible opening to the season and happening in spite of Hankinson's decisions (i.e. he was forced into the lineup that wound up working the best) makes me feel that's a credit to the players. That the team was unable to keep the intensity makes me feel that's a discredit to the coach. That the Rapids have no capable bench players is most certainly a discredit to the coach, especially as he was given a pass in his first year to focus entirely on rebuilding the club. For all the problems that the Rapids had with absent players this season, they're really no different from most any other MLS club. Some teams have managed well despite injuries and absences, some have struggled massively. Hell, New England lost Twellman but still managed to go 7-1-1 in their last nine games. That's a team with a desire to win, a team that seems to have ignored that just because their franchise player is done, their season still isn't. Where is this attitude in the Rapids? As JoeyClams said, it's certainly not coming off the bench. And as we all know, it's certainly not starting with Hankinson. Certainly the players have a heavy burden to carry. But the roster is Hankinson's creation, their mental and physical preparation is Hankinson's responsibility, and a losing season is Hankinson's legacy.