We were going to attack, but then (insert meme of your choice; below) A. We took an arrow to the knee B. Our bus was struck by lightning
We are certainly dysfunctional as a team right now. I hope that Jay still has the team and I hope that the Front Office can make something good happen. Jay has a tough road here to plow - he's changing things up, but that means the veteran leadership is not going to be real happy. Who then will step up and lead the team positively to where Jay is taking them? Not Shalrie and I doubt Benny, so who?
Please note that Heaps did not say, "We are going to attack successfully." In all fairness, I think the team has been pretty positive for much of the year... the last five or so games not withstanding.
We are certainly dysfunctional as a team right now. I hope that Jay still has the team and I hope that the Front Office can make something good happen. Jay has a tough road here to plow - he's changing things up, but that means the veteran leadership is not going to be real happy. Who then will step up and lead the team positively to where Jay is taking them? Not Shalrie and I doubt Benny, so who?
This sums it up rather nicely. The more important question to be answered is-- "why? ~almost complete revamping of the roster ~change in philosophy ~the usual issues with adaptability of new players to MLS ~a first year coach ~lack of consistent lineup ~young player mistakes ~etc, etc, etc I felt from the very start of 2012 that we would not be a playoff team but we would show slow steady progress in quality of play over the season as new players were added and the players and coach got on the same page. At this point when I look at the current roster I think the parts are better than the whole ( aka--on field results) and I still think there is a good chance for this roster to come together and gel (drink) into a solid foundation for 2013. We clearly still have slots in need of upgrading but I think we are closer to having a competitive roster than our on field results suggests results.
Fernando Clavijo got a little time to garner some success...if we're in the same spot by April/May of next year, then we probably should be looking for another coach...No? I mean.."I Believe in Heaps" is only going to go so far...Nicol never won an MLS Cup or Supporter's Shield..but put a couple of trophies in the case. The way we're going now..the only trophies Heaps is going to put in the case are Pepe's old jock strap and a Shalrie bobble head..!
I was just thinking about players-turned-coaches in the MLS and what would happen if they were let go by their current team. Surely Kreis would find a coaching job somewhere. Perhaps Olsen. It would be interesting to see what happens to Heaps if he gets let go. I guess he would go back to Morgan Stanley.
Bottom line: Heaps isn't the problem. Doesn't have the players to get it done. Also Burns & Co. totally misfired with Moreno & have yet to replace Shalrie Joseph. At least the Bengtson signing looks somewhat promising. Lastly ownership needs to get more involved with the FO to see where the mistakes are being made & correct them.
Two things: - I think the league has adjusted to our new style and has gotten better at bottling us up. Its now Heaps' turn, to see if he can make some adjustments. - Being a young team w/o much experience with success at this level, we're pretty fragile. KC was able to frustrate us with tactics. One defensive mistake costs us a game. We play well enough to lose or tie close games, but don't show the winning mentality by making the extra plays that get the points or shutting the door when we get a lead. We work hard to score goals, then give them up way too easily. The difference is that the others have had multiple seasons to establish themselves. When Heaps was hired, it seemed pretty obvious that he would need time to grow into the job and figure out how to coach in this league. Half a season later isn't the time to get impatient with him. The current situation is a challenge that he needs to figure out. That's the kind of situation that will grow him as a coach. Or not.
Agreed, Heaps in a sense was set up for failure from the get go. Inherited a team of two or three decent players surrounded misfits plus he has Burns and BB working above him. All that adds up to business as usuall. So far the constant has been the FO. so they will end up this year better than last. That is a start, not to many people actually expected a playoff team. The problem that still remains is that they can't, won't or are just incapable of signing impact players. Moreno, Lechner, Senne, Bengston, Rumstrom, Cardenas, Imbongo, Lozano and White were all brought in to fix the team. Their two big signings along with 2 others are gone and were no help at all. Lechner and Cardenas are subs, Imbongo is a "project". Senne, has show brilliance and also shown why he was still a reserve at 26 for Bayern. Bengston, signed midway thru the season is still untested and is the type of signing that needed to take place in January.
Ok maybe a bit of a stretch with that comment but as of right now even with different players we're basically the same team as last year. However I am somewhat optimistic that things will turn around.
Heaps said at one point that the response to pressure has to be to make the ball move faster. The problem until about three games ago was that even the players with better touches were giving up possession too easily. We did seem to have the ability on occasion to string passes together, and seemed to be able to get a flow going even when the opponents got more physical, fouled more, and broke up the play more often. Lately, it seems that Heaps has given up on the short passing game, and we routinely bypass the midfield. The results would seem to show that that makes the likelihood of getting scoring chances close to zero. Since we don't have players who can put away their chances, we lose by # of defensive mistakes - 0. Seriously - When was the last time we were beaten by a piece of brilliance? We lose, because we are consistently the inferior team. We are worse, IMO, because rte. 1 is not our game, not to mention its surpassing ugliness. For all that, I believe in what I think is the Heaps vision: short passing, attacking play, with every player given the chance to switch off and attack. To get their, though, we are definitely going to need some new personnel: another starting forward, a two-way starting CM, and two wing backs. We will not win a championship with Simms and Sene starting, and they are far from the biggest problems.
That'd be great; but on the list of things Seattle does better than the Revs, this is pretty low on the list