Like TommyMack said before, most of the discussions in the Galaxy board lead to a "Fire Sigi" end;and he's tired of it (poor guy!). At some of the more enlightened discussions (like here), they lead to "it's all Bo's fault and Alexi Lalas is the second coming of Christ (for those who believe in christianity). If we only had Alexi in there we'd be scoring so many goals Real Madrid would be envious". Did I say I love Simon Elliott before?
Because I don't think fireing him would solve anything. In fact, it would put us back a bit as the new couch would need time to get things going. In addition, Fire Sigi comments have been coming since the day he was hired. Many fans thought it a mistake (myself at the time included) to get rid of OZ as quickly as they did. Boy was I wrong then. worth more than mine. Lack of depth in the MLS in general. He doesn't have a ton of choices. the best players aren't cutting and the bench isn't good enough or ready. OZ really turned things around in NY. As for Hamilton hiring Hudson, God help us. The draft is a crap shot. Some years you'll get a couple of players you can use, other years you don't. what if this Scot thompson who Sigi drafted this year turns out to be a stud? Is it Sigi's fault that his rookie season was spent injured? Fair enough. Why?
I just dont understand why Sigi did not play Serna in the open Cup. I thought that maybe Serna was not ilegible to play that game.
I'll preface this by saying that I actually do not suspect that our savior is riding on the bench...but... ...on the other side of the coin, how can you be so certain that our bench isn't good enough or ready or doesn't hold a combination of players that might add something to the team when they haven't gotten a substantial number of minutes on the field? The starters haven't met the "good enough or ready" criteria for a good portion of the season, so what's the danger of giving our bench a legitimate shot? We might have a poor season? We're there already. You're making a judgement through lack of evidence, not because of it.
Fair enough. But who's to say that during the week the player who starts does a steller job and the guy who's been on the bench (or coming in off the bench) has looked like crap. There's more to player selection than meets the eye. Chosing a starting XI for a Sunday rec league team is one thing. For a pro team, it's totally different. I don't consider myself enough of an expert to question Sigi.
Why what? Why do I feel ripped off? Because I feel I paid my hard earned for a crappy product and I can't return it.
The question you were responding to was about being pissed off if the G's got hot the last two months of the season.
for the guy who said that if Lalas was playing we would have more goals than Real Madrid... How stupid can you be? I believe that Lalas was the second leading scorer behind Ruiz in last year's championship season. He is a constant threat on every set piece and is probably the best aerial player in MLS. Why is the most recognizeable figure in US soccer on the bench? This league was started because of guys like Lalas. After you come in and win a championship you shouldn't have to deal with losing your spot because we need to get a few more Korean fans!
PZ, you are right! The Galaxy are the best team in the world, managed by the best management in the world, coached by the best coach in the world.
How stupid can I be? I don't know, how do you measure? I love Alexi Lalas! Alexi Lalas for president!!
I'll just say this: Sigi sucks, Lalas sucks, Bo sucks. Hell, the whole team sucks. There, I feel a little better.
My convictions have, once again, been reaffirmed that the Sigi apologist crowd is wrong. Let's just speculate on a hypothetical game: Say the Galaxy score on a team early in the game. Suppose the other team hangs around and hangs around, and finally manages to claw their way back into the game by getting an equalizer. The game goes to the second half and the Galaxy offense in the final third has flattened out. What is the classic Sigi course of action? A) Get some offensive subs in early in the second half to really try to get that go ahead goal. B) Hang on at all costs to your old underperformers like you have the entire season; only surrendering to the necessity of the substitution with less than 15 minutes left in the game. C) Wait until you go down a goal in the dying minutes before trying to inject some offensive creativity. If you answered (A), then you're attributing initiative and evidence of an actual backbone to Sigi. This has a 99.9% chance of improbability. If you answered (B) or (C), then the probability factor goes way up. Answer (B) and (C) actually carry the highest percentage of being correct. Poor coach folks. It's really very obvious. Previous seasons are great for reminiscing, but have nothing to do with 2003 success and beyond. For the record, I was not a "Fire Sigi" person before and felt the blame lay with the players and not the coach for the early season woes. However, we're closing on the end of the season and still we're seeing the same tired, underperforming veterans and the same tired, boring, underwhelming losses and offensive production. This is a coaching problem. A coach benches players that are underperforming. A coach exhausts every possible option to avoid the continuance of the train wreck that has become our season. The 2004 season deserves more than a conservative, uninspired, predictable, indecisive, immutable, out-of-answers coach. Fire Sigi.
cj, which of our subs has performed at all this season? torres scored one goal (an important one admitedly), but other than that nothing. memo hasn't lived up to the hype, martinez has underwhelmed. last night they proved it again, neither memo or torres had any impact on the game. i'm still astounded that sigi has one mediocre season(yes mediocre it's terrible by our standards, but it's nowhere near as bad as every other team has been at one time or another). now since we're in the playoffs i would like to see him start the bench warmers, these last few games aren't going to help us out one way or the other, so start experimenting now to see who stays and who goes in the off season.
I counter with which of our subs has seen meaningful minutes in consecutive games? A game here then bench, or 2 minutes there in the 88th minute, or a series of games getting in past the 75th / 80th minute mark is ridiculous. Meanwhile, the sky's the limit for the underperformers. Here is a "debunking the Sigi myth" observation: Galaxy history, as a whole, has shown the team to be a top tier club in the league. Supposedly they had one bad year in the late 90's (I missed most of the 90's due to my occupation) and, of course, this year. Other than that, they have been one of the best teams in MLS. Sigi inherited this team when he became head coach and simply rode his horses. Now, when his horses (i.e. the individual vets and the team as a whole) aren't performing, or have degraded due to age or loss of competitive edge...whatever the case may be...we are seeing the true Sigi. This season completely illuminates his ineptness as a coach. His willingness to stay with the sick, lame, and lazy combined with his unwillingness to make changes before games, after games, during games, during the course of the worst season in Galaxy history screams "BAD COACH" louder than any words I could say or write. Unless MLS steps in, we're looking at some dire seasons ahead with Sigi at the helm while a dispirited (read bored and depressed) fan base begins to trickle away. No way does this Galaxy style of play make fans. We are arguably the most boring team in MLS. With a team performing at a high level, Sigi looks like a great coach, but when the team falls on tough times, Sigi has no answers, and worse yet, he doesn't make the effort to find answers. And please stop stealing Ruiz's glory in 2002 and bestowing it onto the shoulders of Sigi. He was a spectator as much as the rest of us. p.s. - cl (not cj)
cl (sorry), would you have said the same of manchester united and alex ferguson two seasons ago? no fa cup, no premiership title, no champions league, no worthless cup and their worst finish in premeriship history? ferguson too many many tactical and personel blunders (veron) and the team under-achieving (which is saying a lot with that team). you say you missed the 90's, well you missed one of the great turn arounds of a team, sigi came in to a team, that was again not living up to their potential. brought in roy meyers (who i still think we miss greatly or a player of his type) and simon and we went on the cup final, where thug-united bullied their way to a cup. since then sigi has dealt with FO nonsense that has gutted the team (meyers/mathis/franchino for hernandez), and screwed up chemistry (bo), and in all that time he's done more for our team, or any team bar dc united, than any single coach. i'll say it again, one mediocre season does not warrant a regime change. that's far too much of a knee jerk, modern football reaction. a new manager would not have solved any problems this season. --- as for the subs, hey if you're given 15 minutes to show what you can do, then do it. the argument that they don't see enough playing time would be okay if this were an amateur club that didn't practice everyday, but this is a pro club. you get your chances and you take em, if you don't back to the bench. a bench players role is to come in to the game and change its momentum. only twice this season can i recall a sub coming on and fulfilling the role of a sub (torres and serna). other than that they basically could have stayed on the bench and the end result would have been the same.
As of now I don't think we fire Sigi in the off-season. At the same time the term 'thin ice' comes to mind for the begining of next season. IE there had better be results early and often, or he'll be sacked ala the two before him.
I don't know. Was ManU the lowest scoring team in the league for half the season? Was ManU winless on the road? Did SAF try some personnel changes to try and shore up the losses and dismal season? I would argue that the Galaxy are the second worst team in the league. Right now, I wouldn't even put money against the Burn at a neutral stadium. Was ManU at the bottom of the table for the entire season two seasons ago? This team has consistently been one of the best teams in MLS since year one. Try not to make all the roads lead to Sigi. I don't have much to add or naysay here. It's next season I'm worried about. Without some ringers as offseason acquisitions, the 2003 anguish will stretch into 2004 with Sigi at the helm. --- Yet it's absolutely okay for the current starting 11 to underperform game after game after game....I'll use your phrase: you get your chances (every game all season long in the case of Sigi's favorites) and you take em, if you don't back to the bench.
Two of the worst players the Galaxy has ever had. You really, really miss Roy Meyers? You must be from Costa Rica.
Just noticed that every team in the Western Conference, except Dallas of course, have qualified for the post season because of the atrocity known as the Dallas Burn. No team has qualified at this point (on paper) for the post season in the Eastern Conference. The Galaxy is the last place team in the West to qualify for the post season. Imagine if Dallas wasn't so bad...can you say no post season for LA? Scary.
obviously we're going to have to agree to disagree. it doesn't really matter though, sigi is going nowhere until mid-season next year, and only then if he puts together a string of poor results. let me ask you this. let's say we win MLS cup, hell let's say we make it to the finals and lose. does sigi still go? or what if next year the galazy (dang i keep typing galazy... it must be freudian) come out and put together a 1998-esque performance. does sigi still go then? if we were playing with the same skill level, but getting some late, lucky goals to win games would sigi still be gone?
I know your question is hypothetical, but it's so far fetched to me that I'm having trouble mustering enough resources to put together an explanation of my position in that circumstance. Quite simply, hypothetically, sure; if we win MLS Cup 2003, keep the guy. By the same token, if this becomes the Galaxy's worst season in history, which it looks to be, are you willing to recognize his shortcomings and fire Sigi? Is Sigi at fault for his players' poor performances this season? No. Is he at fault for sticking with them throughout the nose dive? Absolutely. The dividing line for me between Sigi stays and Sigi goes falls along a simple concept: The team goes into every game with the win at all costs attitude, and leaves everything out on the field trying to make it happen. After that, let the chips fall where they may. That's all I ask... This goes for the coaching staff as well. If things are not going well, I expect them to scramble, claw, and exhaust every means and options available to keep a bad stretch of games from becoming a bad season. In my opinion, Sigi has failed unequivocally in this respect and rolled over on his team and fans this season by sticking with a lineup that wasn't getting it done at home or on the road. Had Sigi legitimately made every effort to find better player combinations and been willing to break away from his conservative gameplan as the situation dictated, I would feel good about him as a coach because I could say, "Sigi tried everything until there was nothing left to try." Can anyone honestly tell me that Sigi did this?