Update: I’m only expecting 8 pts the rest of the season. 10 at most. If correct, a team that was 2nd not that long ago won’t make the playoffs. Do Fall and Pablo survive if this happens.
Cincy already got the obvious guys from Philly. Maybe you can bring in the current GM as President or some major promotion? Garth hired Waibel, do we bring him back? Who's the assistant at LAFC, that might not be a bad choice.
Salt Lake has a semi-competitive pro soccer team with an interested and committed ownership group. We'll win in time. Ryan refers to the Jazz as his 'expensive hobby'. He doesn't play to lose.
That's probably the best attitude to have as an RSL fan. The LA clubs, Seattle and some of the other guys feel so entitled that they expect to win the cup every year. We're never going to get a Gareth Bale or David Beckham to sign with us, so the best we can hope for is an RSL team that gels the way they did 2009 - 2013. We've got a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces right now but nobody seems to be able to figure out how to put them together. Seems like it comes from a number of different directions - management, coaching, the players, the fanbase. Too early to tell with our new management. I don't think anyone is ready to toss Pablo aside. We've got some new additions and some key players who are injured, so I don't see us making a run this year. I could be wrong, but I think one of the key ingredients to the 2009 - 2013 team was Kyle, and while he was gruff and physical, he was also a huge force in the locker room, welcoming new players, working with everyone to try and create a positive atmosphere (The Javi and Kyle Show, for example), and he was a great midfield manager. Damir tries, but there's not much he can do right now. As to the fans, it was interesting watching the Everton v Chelsea game last weekend. The Everton fans didn't sing or get any chants going, but you could tell they were all watching the game very closely, encouraging their team every time they played well. We'll probably never get any effective chants going so long as we've got the drums in the supporters' section, we're not the most soccer-savvy crowd and we have to be tricked into getting everyone into their seats by the start of the game. The atmosphere at a Sounders game is night-and-day to what it is at the RioT. But maybe we can figure something out that works, even if it's not the same way everyone else does it. So I'm still supporting the team but lowering my expectations for a year or two. Or ten. The LAFC game was so tough to watch, probably because I was expecting us to be able to put up a fight. And we can't do that right now, certainly not against those guys, and I don't see that changing this year.
I agree with a lot of your thoughts here 2nd Mouse. But I do think that RSL could attract players like Beckham or Bale but in a very different way. And an incredibly more difficult way but I believe it would be doable. Winning. If RSL was still owned by Uncle Dave and things had continued to progress under him then I believe that this club would have continued to win and create enough of a winning atmosphere and culture that you could attract very high quality players. It should go without saying that all of the talent needed from the owner to the GM and almost every other FO role was all there to make this club the model in all of MLS and maybe even North, South, & Central America. Dave, Garth, Bill, Jason, and it just goes on and on and on. You'll never get some players because Salt Lake will never be LA, Miami, or NY but winning, team culture, consistency, could all play a part in making a small market team, like RSL, more than attractive to the right players. Admittedly RSL is a very, very, very, long way away from attracting a Bale or Beckham but it's not impossible. Improbable perhaps but not impossible. If the Blitzer/Smith team are actually worth their salt it's more than possible. Whether they are that type of ownership is still very much up in the air. I also can't agree more that this team needs a Kyle. Badly. Very badly. I think the most glaring weakness on the team is that killer CDM. I was very surprised and really disappointed that RSL couldn't find that player even though Spencer Warne told them exactly were to find one during the this last window. If only the clubs were related in some way? Hmm. I have very much lowered my expectations for this team this year. I only expected them to barely make the playoffs, and if that, and now if they make the playoffs I will be amazed. And Elliott is also FALLING in my estimation. See what I did there. We will see how it goes through the end of the year but I wonder how hot some of the seats will get if RSL keeps up this very poor run of form. Going from 2nd in the Supporter Shield on points on June 25th to not making the playoffs is one pretty impressive feat, if they are able to pull it off. This has been probably one of the most enjoyable seasons I have had watching RSL in a very long time. It's been great for a lot of reasons and I'm looking forward to see if they can beat my expectations. If not, great. I get to be right for a change.
Anyone see Pablo's comments from his interview yesterday? I believe he said Musovski is a couple/3 weeks out, but I wasn't sure if he meant being able to fully train or being game ready. I think he said Oviedo is 3-4 weeks from joining the club. No mention of Ojeda's arrival.
At least all 3 of these guys will be well rested when they arrive. Thankfully none of them has had to worry much recently about pesky things like "playing competitive soccer games".
The way he described Musovski’s situation is pretty typical. They avoid specific times because injury recovery time isn’t definite. I typically choose to consider it the “game ready” date, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Oviedo & Oneida both have to get through the visa process.
This is a pretty interesting interview with Thomas Warren from the RSL Team Store. Lots of great information and it's really more than just a team store. https://open.spotify.com/episode/48ubuNhbbbseH9J3BRalUL?si=3cf2386f53724197
The odd writing style doesn’t help. He should have simply titled it ‘FO Delivers Disappointing Summer Transfer Window Results’. At the beginning he did a good job of listing the failures. The follow-up doesn’t flow well and, imo, he tried too hard to be nice. For example his statement that Brody’s two assists “support” Pablo’s decision to play him over Kabloom. The fact that used a single stand alone stat that made me say “Huh? What? That’s it?” and that he didn’t use “justifies” instead of “support” conveys to me that he maybe doesn’t think it was a good decision…but he tip toes around it. Also, some deeper analysis of that decision would be potentially interesting.
I get that it is hard to sign players, and there are lots of moving parts. But as I posted in a reply to that article, MLS Commissioner Garber was on the MLS All-Star Game halftime show touting this as the best and biggest and most successful transfer window in MLS history: total signing, caliber of signings, money changing hands. And those other teams face the same challenges as us.
I agree. The only acceptable excuse is they are evaluating FO, staff and players prior to making big moves in the next cycle. We’ll see. If, in a year from now we are in the same funk on this board for similar reasons, it won’t bode well for the 23-28 seasons on the field. I think home game attendance will noticeably drop.
I don’t feel like RSL participated in these festivities At just under $250m, MLS spent the 8th most amount of money of any league in the world since last summer. The league was 26th in this stat in 2014-15. Insane growth.MLS is the only non-European league in the top 10.Expect MLS to be at least 6th within a couple of years.— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) August 14, 2022
That spend is only going up with 2026 World Cup Top 3 is realistic… especially if Barcelona can’t keep pulling magic levers I expect rsl (and mls) to be very active this winter after the World Cup
RSL now enters a stretch of 7 games in 27 days. This will really test our non-existent depth. At least we should see more of Luna.
And when exactly are the injured players coming back? Do we expect anything other than time wasting sub appearances by the new international players?
Kreilach was on The RSL Show last week. He didn't sound very optimistic about returning this season when pressed about it. With it being a back injury and nerve injury it's pretty much an unknown. Given that, I seriously doubt he's even close to fitness. No idea on Wood.
I just listened to Friday's interview with Pablo. Sounds like Wood might be right behind Musovski with returning to the field. They said Damir is behind Wood, but they don't have a timeframe on him. Still hoping they can get him some minutes before the playoffs start. That being said, those players' return is right in the middle of those 6 games in 20ish days. We should not be relying on them to make big contributions in that time. The international break will be vital to knowing who will be available for the last two matches plus any potential playoff game(s).
So the Galaxy's newest player got his visa and is available for their marquee matchup on Friday night (ESPN). If his signing was announced the same day as RSL's 2 international signings, why is one being done so much faster?