Fully expect Bruce Arena to be named in at least one capacity if not BOTH capacities of GM/Coach for #NERevs this week. Stay tuned. #MLS— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) May 13, 2019
I find myself thinking that Bruce would do better to focus on being General Manager, and continue to let Lapper run the team for now. I think he needs time to think through what is the situation with the Revs and how to construct a team for the future. Day to day managing can both tire him, and distract from what's most important in his hiring..... Anyway, me two pennies.
I am definitely a Bruce guy. However, I do have some concerns. 1) Arena does not have a very good track record of developing young talent. While he should be credited with bringing Landon and DMB into the USMNT when they were young and unproven, his Galaxy teams developed very few players (Zardes?) that impacted their first team despite having one of the first and expensive academies in MLS. He developed a tendency to rely on a core of older veterans rather than integrating young players, both at club and country. 2) Can he be successful without money and resources to back him up? Can he be successful without stars (Echeverry, Moreno, and Diaz Arce early, and Keene, Landon, and Beckham later)? Can anyone be successful on a shoe string budget? Hopefully this is a sign that things are changing, but there have been signs (Jones, Friedel, training center) that have not precipitated other expenditures. Is he going to bring in a full staff for coaching and scouting on par with the elite of MLS? 3) Tactically. (This is my least concerning). We've seen Bruce have great game plans- such as 2002 WC vs Mexico and 2017 away qualifier at Azteca. But TNT debacle does give pause for concern - does he get cocky and not plan appropriately against inferior opponents? At the end of the day, this is a new beginning. Bruce Arena will almost surely be better than Burns/Friedel/Heaps. Hopefully it is better enough to challenge for championships. He should get a least a year and a half before we break out the pitchforks again.
for the most part Bruce has been a success in everything he has done in MLS. International soccer is a whole different game. I will jump for joy if Bruce is hired as GM, coach or both!
Personally not jumping on any Bruce bandwagon yet. And he has a pretty unlikable personality too when dealing with media whether it was Galaxy or US Nats. So that is not an upgrade over Friedel or Burns either. That being said, like Hercules Gomez said in the tweet, Bruce needs this opportunity just as much to salvage his legacy. So maybe he will be a changed man. Plus, this organization need someone to enforce a change and if Bruce is at least that guy to get the ball rolling as a GM then so be it. Agree with others that say make him GM not both.
I don't think he'd tolerate insufficient resources - that's why you bring in someone like that (and why we haven't before now!). He'll demand what he needs.
Agree, I'd rather see him as GM. But, I doubt he needs a whole lot of time to evaluate things - he's probably already been doing that.