From Sigi's post-cup article on MLS.com: "Nine championship games and four titles for D.C. United. Congratulations to them and their fans that were an important part of Sunday's match. If I was still with the Galaxy maybe the ... no, I better leave that one alone. Celebrate and enjoy the occasion. Another final with goals and drama -- may that long continue."
Sigi's held on to his dignity and showed some class up to this point. He's entitled to an off-hand jab, but I'm glad he didn't go for the cheap shot.
The fact remains, when Sigi was sacked, LA were first. If the 8 results Sampson had were extrapolated out to the full 30 match season, LA wouldn't have made the playoffs. Yeah, that's a bit simplistic, but those are the results.
I'm in the camp that thinks we were doomed to a poor finish no matter if Sigi stayed. That said, everyone has to be massively disapointed with Sampson's performance. I certainly am. He better work hard in the offseason to develop a plan and a team that can execute his plan. If not, next year will be worse.
Yeah Take that Let's see.... this time last year.... most people were calling for Sigi's head after the San Jose disaster. I know I was. But when Sigi wasn't fired... I moved on. like most did. Sigi got a second chance because the man led us to our only Cup in 8 years to that point after 4 other chances. So Sigi remained and we were in first with several gripes about tactics, and players and sigi himself making this season more difficult than it should have been. The Sigi is fired out of the blue. Not entertaining enough soccer was the reason. and a loss of player confidence in the locker room. but still in first place. Sampson comes on.... nothing entertaining about his brand of soccer. the worst lack in confidence from sampson to players like cobi jones, andreas herzog, ned grabavoy, joseph nqwenya. and confidence in players like sasha victorine, peter vagenas, arturo torres, and paul broome. doesnt it seem the team that sampson style and player make-up should have been the KC Wizards. defensive oriented. single striker mentality. Basically, sigi deserved his chance for past results. Sampson deserves nothing but deportation for tyranny to US Soccer and a healthy mob to run him out of town for past results. and doug hamilton is to blame. "when doug gets his pink slip, we'll give the galaxy our green backs"
Have we figured out what his plan is exactly? I'm praying that the lone striker game plan was only because he felt it was best with the personnel he inherited. Hopefully when he can build his own team (and with 3 SI slots open, he should be able to) it will be a more exciting brand of football. He doesn't have the best track record since the 95 copa america, howeve, so I'm not that confident.
i don't know, with 4 strikers already on the roster he went and signed gordon. why would he sign a 5th just to have 4 guys riding the pine... or 3 if you have kiro as withdrawn/attacking mid. if he really wanted a 4-5-1? especially when we were in dire need (well if you ignore the fact we had grabavoy and herzog) of a creative midfielder.
I don't get it either. I certainly hope he plans on playing at least two full out strikers I feel like we need huge upgrades in the midfield and then we'll probably be ok.
Imagine the tremendous amount of pressure both Doug adn Sampson are going to be under. Obviously a questionable firing of Sigi, Sampson stunk it up but will get another chance. Plenty of spots available to he better do a great job. Chivas coming to share the same stadium, they will bring alot of new fans to MLS and HDC. Most G fans will be very short of patience if Chivas start out with a better record than the G. Heads will roll sooner rather than later next season.
Just to play the devils advocate, it could be said using your "this is the team inherited "agrument that his success at the Copa America can be attributed to the fact that it was still Bora's team that had that good run of form. Once he had the chance to build his own team he; A. Banished his "Captian for Life" B. Benched his leading goal scorer moving to a one foward line up c. Discovered Mike Burns who Sampson hailed as one of the best US defenders D. Nationalised David Regis once he realised it was going to take more than Mike Burns on defense.......Yikes God pray that he doesnt get enough time to make any similar changes to our team. I'm with the "mob needs to drive him out of town before he gets the chance" crowd.
My initial reaction is to agree with you...but this is a funny ol' league, where parity can make a fool of any prediction. Also, I'm undergoing a self-imposed negativity deprogramming course of study, so I'm not allowed to agree with the statement, '2005 is going to suck!', or even comment on the degree of suckiness that we may encounter.