Using that logic we should hire Andrulis back. No thank you. Just because i may question tactics on occasion, i still do not think he needs to go. Name one coach that does not have someone questioning his tactics. Can you find one? I doubt it.
Most people will agree we need a top level goal-scorer, but you have to realize that goals won't be scored without midfielders putting the ball into scoring positions. Rozenthal certainly has created chances, but he alone can't do the job. There is nothing wrong with wanting to bring in another midfielder who can provide some more leadership, something which Sigi said the team could use more of. I don't even know how to argue this logic. Imagine Thierry Henry finally gets over the fear of playing for such a massive club as Columbus. All the goals he's scored before don't matter at all? Simply because he didn't score them while playing with us?
Since you dared me, I'll say the wheeling and dealing weren't brilliant. Some of the trades may eventually look pretty good. Some already don't. I was opposed to the Henderson-Ward deal and the Buddle-Gaven deal at the time. Not because I'm Buddle's buddy but because we didn't have a replacement striker lined up. When Nee traded Cunningham, he had Razov lined up as a replacement. When we traded Buddle the transfer window had closed and we were deliberately going with two rookie strikers. How well has that worked out? I'm a Bengals fan and have been through years long losing streaks. The Crew FO is sounding more and more like Mike Brown, emphasizing process over results. Sports is a results oriented business and losing doesn't make it worthwhile when you finally have a good year.
MLS and its coaches have changed a lot just since Sigi was at LA. Good coaches are coming into the league with top-flight playing experience who have seen great pro coaching that way. I don't see any reason to give Sigi a lot of future respect on the basis of past accomplishments, and its hard to find even one move he made this year that can go as an unqualified success and be a basis for next year. There's no way Sigi will get fired by the Hunts, but there is also no way Sigi was the best man on the planet (remember the 'global search?')to be picked last year and its looking even more disappointing every day.
What about Duncan? And Frankie once he's healthy? I think those two are born leaders. Throw in Bushie and we'll be chock full of leaders. Plus, I think Seb is trying to step up into a bit more of a leadership role based upon his experience. He was the one who took the armband from Duncan vs redballs after all!
Really? I won't argue the league has grown, but Let's see some of the recent hires by teams since Sigi was let go and see this new blood Arena Yallop Bradley Ellinger Rongen Sampson Yep, they really have brought new blood into the coaching department here.
Brian Bliss is now coaching the Wiz, and Mo Johnston was NY coach and is now the Toronto coach. Both of which were not coaching when Sigi was fired. Edit: You could also argue that Nowak and Clarke had less than a full year at the point Sigi got sacked and have only since his firing emerged. As Bill pointed out a week ago, Nowak really didn't do anything special until the end of the 04 season and it has taken Clarke a little time to start getting results from FCD.
I believe the correct spelling is D _ U _ M _ B _ A _ S _ S And speaking of dumbass, the "MLS has changed a lot since Sigi was fired" meme certainly fits that description. Sigi was fired in August 2004 and was hired by the Crew in November of 2005. To maintain that the league underwent some monumental, sea-change kind of transformation which has left the guy baffled and bewildered, lost in a world which managed to pass him by in 15 months is beyond ridiculous.
Plus, although they started a bit before Sigi was axed, Yallop and Steve Nicol fit the non-collegiate pattern. Even "D-u-m-b-a-s-s" Clavijo (and I don't dispute the designation) has made the professional rounds. Can Sigi really teach Robert W anything? I doubt it.
First: all deals were not gems. In fact, name one that WAS a gem. A trade where we can look back and say, WOW, what a steal for the Crew? Sigi has made some trades, but most have amounted to a wash. Some seemed good, but hardly earthbreaking (Ngwenya and Grabavoy for Martino & Woly; Kotschau). On the down side, Buddle for Gaven looks worse every day (no strikers at all, still). Henderson for Ward is awful for us in the short term (and as Bill pointed out, Henderson wanted to leave). What we need is: 1) A management team that will use all its allocations and salary $$$. 2) At least 2 strikers 3) A pair of wingers who can score 4) A coach that lays off the LSD. What other explanation can there be for praising Ngwenya's first touch? He's obviously hallucinating. Look, I like Joseph as a player, but I think he's more towards the "raw" end of the scale, rather than "polished and technical". The coach also: loves strikers who don't score, wide defenders/midfielders who can't run, and hates creative midfielders that continually present the wingers and forwards with chances they miss, land then continues to love the strikers/wingers and hate the mid. And how long did it take before he straightened out Oughton's situation? Look, I'm not saying sack Sigi (yet). But the bloom is off the proverbial rose. You've had your year, made some moves, not made others. You've stuck with players who don't produce and benched others who've played better. You're starting to say things that don't make a lot of sense, and your substitutions have been baffling at times. Better get us heading in the right direction, and soon. If not this year, then about 10 games into next year, or the axe will (and should) fall.
Huh? Got any examples? This is the first I've heard this complaint, just wondering where you're coming from.
If you would so kindly let Sigi know where the reliable striker store and great scoring winger shop are, i'd bet he'd be first in line. Ward is still young as is Gaven. We both have a much larger upside and potential than Henderson and Buddle(there is actual whining now that he has had his annual hat trick) Check out those guys' ages and ask yourself if a good coach could not still develop something in them. We knew this was going to be a long rebuilding process that was not going to take one year. I just can't believe how quickly everyone expected a cup. I want a good program with developed youth and a coach that doesn't bring in veterans for the sake of bringing them in. I'm done with this thread. What we need? Patience. That is what this club and fans need more than anything right now. Patience.
For all of those on these boards who keep going on about how you need to have been some kind of amazing player in your day to lead a team. Please, please, please fill me in on the spectacular playing careers of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Steve McClaren. That you need to have been a great player to be a succesful coach is one of the dumbest falacies in sports. Often times it is the guys who banged around the particualr league of their sport or who always found the bench that make the best coaches. This whole bit about sacking Sigi is just jibberish and needs to stop now. And personally I think that we should start a push to have every fan become a personal supporter section. "Crew fans a section of one" with all due respect to the Army.
All of the players you listed are/have been leaders. However, I think St. Duncan is the only one who will definitely have an impact next year. Frankie would definitely help this team, and a machine he may be, but we don't know how he will come back from his knee injury. The same goes for Busch. He's played less than 10 games each of the past two seasons due to injuries. Certainly we'd love to see Jon back, but would you feel comfortable with him being our starter next year with just our current [healthy] backups? Finally, I like Rozenthal and I have noticed he's trying more to carry this team, but we as fans can never seem to figure what is going on in Sigi's head regarding him. Maybe he's back next year (I certainly hope so), but maybe he's not.
What we need... 1. Healthy Jon Busch 2. Healthy Frankie Hejduk 3. Duncan Oughton @ d-mid the entire season 4. A left mid 5. A right mid/Jacob Thomas to drink more milk 6. A striker 7. A striker Considering we'll have 2 full allocations in the off-season, there is NO reason we shouldn't be able to address at least 2 of #4-#7. Now, we still need to figure out how to fill the other two, or if we already have those players, and we just need a better surrounding cast (such as "How much better would forward X look if we had better service from the midfield)... The thing I find the most worrisome, though, is that Sigi's list doesn't exactly sound like my list...like he doesn't apparently have #6 or #7 on his list, but he does have one that says "Replacement at a-mid". At some point in time, we need to stop signing defenders and central midfielders, and look at some of the other problems this team has. All that said, I am extremely pessimistic going into this offseason. Maybe the last 2 years have beat any optimism out of me, but... 1. Apparently nobody wants to come to Columbus, which makes the allocations of little value. Maybe we trade them to another MLS team, which may be what we have to do because... 2. There isn't a lot of trade value on our roster. We might have a few guys that would get us a few parts, but nothing substantial. To me, only Szetela, Marshall & Gaven would really get another team's interest, which leads me to... 3. We've basically given up on our youngsters, because of their regression. Between the 2 top picks (Garey & Kamara), Ward, Szetela, Marshall & Gaven, we've seen little if any growth this season, and, for the most part, have seen either stagnation, or backsliding. If we can't develop youth, will we just... 4. Have another draft that yields little if any immediate help. I know, that rookies shouldn't be counted on to be contributors, but we've gotten very little from the rookies this year. Now, perhaps this is all unnecessary worry. Perhaps we sign 2 top-quality players with our allocations (still assuming we miss the playoffs and get another YS, of course)...but if we go into next season and still have those allocations, and we're still using SI spots on "projects", and we're relying on rookies in key spots, I think we get the same results in 2007 as we did in 2006. For those of you speaking of firing Sigi -- who would we get? And what makes you think HSG is suddenly quick on the trigger? I'm pretty sure the last coach proved you have to show you've completely killed and drained every last drop of blood from the franchise before you are anywhere near the hot seat...
Sigi somehow made 3 trades with Colorado this offseason but didn't manage to trade for Jeff Cunningham. The Rapids traded him to RSL for Mathis and some cap relief. We could have offered an allocation for Cunningham who is certainly a proven MLS striker as well as a fan favorite in Columbus and the Crew's all time leading goal scorer. My guess is that Sigi thought he could get a "bigger fish" like Beinlich or Chopra and that Jeff was small potatoes. "Patience" will just get you more of the same.
Patience is exactly what we need. You guys are not looking at the big picture. It's obvious. The Crew are planning on collecting enough allocations to simply buy Chelsea and bring them over here. Big picture people...
Re-read the article on Matchnight. Sigi clearly states a forward as one of his goals, along with a left back and midfielder.
So Edson scores a hat trick and Gaven misses a PK and all of a sudden the Buddle/Gaven trade is worse every day???? Go back and look at the point totals for each prior to the past week. Get a clue. Do you even pay attention to anything Sigi says? Where has Sigi said any of this? If you actually read or listen to his post-game quotes he's as disappointed, if not more so, as you are in the performance of this team. And get over this Sigi hates Seb theory. How many games has Seb started since he actually produced something worthwhile in those two exhibition games? Also, how many points has he produced since? Oh this is great. So it's now Sigi's responsibility to clear up Dunc's green card issues? Which still aren't straightened out by the way. And if you're referring to the fact that he's been healthy, apparently, for some time and not playing, think again. Dunc was injured in Sunday's game, no? The Crew were pursuing another SI in the meantime that would have done more for the team than Dunc, g*d bless him.
The "Get a clue" comment is unwarranted. The biggest problem with the Buddle-Gaven trade is that Gaven has underperformed. He was billed as one of the best right sided midfielders in MLS but has clearly underachieved. If he was good for 7 goals and 10 assists on the season, no one would care what Buddle is doing. I'd like to hear Sigi's thoughts on why 19 year old Gaven is so much worse than 17 year old Gaven. Currently Gaven doesn't seem to have a position. He isn't really a forward, he isn't as good in central midfield as Rozental, and isn't as good on the right as a healthy Thomas. This leaves him fighting Burch, Grabavoy, and maybe Vasquez for the left side. The second biggest problem with the trade is that we haven't had anyone fill Buddle's role. He is a competent forward which seems to be in short supply around here. After nearly trading him at draft time, we waited til the transfer window closed then traded him. And yes, Buddle has 6 goals for the year while our 5 forwards (Garey, Kamara, Ngwenya, Coiner, and Cameron) have combined for 7. Buddle also has 3 assists which would lead the Crew. All our midfielders combined have 7 assists. Sigi said it in the post RSL press conference. He said he'd been waiting all year for someone to step up and seize the forward spots and he like wht Garey and Ngwenya had done. This was the match where our only goal came from Seb on a PK, and our forwards were off side numerous times while missing finishes. Sigi has clearly mismanaged Rozental this year, at least since the first road game at DC. IMO a manager who let's his personal relationship with a player hurt the team isn't doing his job well. Well, Sigi has been complaining for a while about the team needing Dunc's leadership. He shouldn't complain about things he has no control over while not doing things he does have control over to get Duncan on the field. Oughton has been playing with the Crew since late June in reserve and exhibitions.