Some thoughts about Aj’s points yesterday
October 20, 2009 by f4denz.
I questioned using Aj’s comment from yesterday as we are currently in the midst of a bet but since I don’t expect that the conversation will interfere with my winning the bet.
Aj’s comments
Nice post guys. I find myself very torn because I agree with so much of what both of you say.
I think that a coach has much greater responsibility than Denz described above–or maybe better put, I think that it is indeed the responsibility of a coach to motivate.
One frustration I have expressed often is our leaving points on the table. While these current games are do or die, I’m sick of making (or breaking) our season in the final three weeks. Why not play in July and August like you care? Teams that don’t have the “blessing” of end of season excitement have played well all year. And I think it is wrong to disconnect your coach from that. Otherwise a coach is nothing more than a talent scout–something I think Jason does remarkably well.
So here are the points I think we left for one reason or another: (a total of 13)
LAG Tied at home. Lost 2 points.
KCW Lost at home. Lost 3 points.
COL Tied at home. Lost 2 points.
SJE Tied at home. Lost 2 points.
HOU Tied at home. Lost 2 points.
CHI Tied at home. Lost 2 points.
It is probably important to note that two of these teams were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs more than a week ago. In fact, our only home loss on the season was to Kansas City. Whose fault it was for dropping the points (coach or players) doesn’t really matter. The points were dropped and something needs to change.
Denz, you mention losing the old Kyle. Well personally, I’d like the old Jason back too. (Not the one who doesn’t know the nuanced MLS rulebook), but the one who wasn’t afraid to question an officiating decision, or scream and yell on the pitch. I like the Jason that acted like someone pissed in his Gatorade. (*weve seen it a few times over the last few months, but I want that every weekend)
I think our guys fought hard when the coach was more motivating, and I think that motivation comes by expecting and then getting pissed when the performance doesnt match.
So do we get a new coach? To be honest, I completely agree with Denz, a “revolving door coach staff” is a TERRIBLE idea. I don’t know if you could find someone who would take the job, (at least not at the rate Dave would pay him). But I certainly hope there have been some candid discussions about this.
I am not excited about the way this season has wrapped up for our team. Players will leave in the off season, no doubt. Coaches are a part of the team, and I don’t think that our coaching staff should be given a free ride. There is a level of expectation here, and while I think that Jason & Co. did an excellent job on Saturday, I haven’t thought that for the majority of the season. Many, MANY of Jason’s substitutions have been poor. (Even if you reject the motivation part Denz, you cannot deny that a coach does impact each match, intimately, by the quality of subs made.)
So as for coaching, I don’t know. But I agree with Me, just because there is no visible answer for a problem, is not a reason to ignore the problem.
I have many criticisms about this squad, our coaching staff, our FO, the league in general, and occasionally the fans. But right now what frustrates me most is this teams chronic inconsistency. Blame it wherever you will: at the top or on the pitch. Wherever it comes from it needs to be identified, and cured. Yes teams are going to have hiccups during a season but I am SICK of playing for the bottom spots in the playoff system.
Let’s get some excitement at the other end of the season.
My Response
Aj, almost every team makes or breaks over the final month of the season due to the reasons I mentioned, parity caused by salary cap, league control of contracts, and inferior quality officials. The fact that with just a single match left for most teams that with the exception of Columbus teams 2-11 are separated by just 8 points (out of 87- less than a 10% gap) and only two other teams have just a single home loss this year (Columbus 9-1-4 with one to go, and Houston with 8-1-6). When RSL wins on Saturday they will go to 9-1-5 at home and only Columbus (we are hoping they win) could finish with a better home record, no team wins every match at home so thinking that we could is simply a bit idealistic even for you. No matter let’s take a look at the matches you mention because there are some things I think we can find there that will be enlightening:
LA Galaxy 2-2 draw, RSL dominated the match but in the end it came down to several controversial calls (the Johnson handball that lead to Landycakes PK, The Espindola dive which let Will give the lead back to RSL, and then the failure of two RSL players to clear the ball which lead to the Magee goal). The first and only time that 3 goals were scored in stoppage time in a MLS match and that final goal was a clear example of players failing to do the right thing. Could it be that Borchers went down hurt and a cold Horst had to step in? Could it be that had Olave not been shown a soft red card the week before that we never would have been in that situation to begin with? Sorry but for me that one goes directly into the players fault column.
Kansas City 2-0 loss, I can put this one squarely in the middle as RSL had a horrible performance but failed to get one of their 7 shots on goal past Kevin Hartman, but were the tactics right? Well we started Seitz (Rimando was out hurt) Russell (don’t remember why Beltran wasn’t starting), Borchers, Olave, Wingert, Mathis, Beckerman, Morales, Johnson, Findley and Movsisyan. This may have been the last of the 4-4-2 matches if I remember right, but first goal was a clear example of our backline pushing to far forward and letting someone get behind them, which could be player mistake or tactic. The second goal was Borchers missing a pass in his lane and Olave taking out Seitz, this is where Seitz continued to play the final 20 plus minutes hurt and would be out for over a month with the injury cause by Olave. So this one I place directly on the fence, but I tend to think that player breakdowns might outweigh the poor tactical choices.
Colorado 1-1 draw, This one I again place clearly on the players and a large part on Robbie Russell, who shortly after RSL took a lead got his second yellow card and left RSL a man down for the final minutes of the match. RSL again dominated the stats (a sign to me that the tactics are right) with 18 shots to Colorado’s 9, both sides had 3 shots on goal but it was the 88th minute goal from Cummings that evened the match up. It was his ability to turn on Borchers and fire a great shot (a goal of the week winner), that took the points away from RSL. I do think RSL’s move to pull Espindola and insert Wingert in the 83rd minute after the Russell ejection could be questioned but when protecting a lead having 4 defenders in the match was probably the right thing to do.
San Jose 1-1 draw, Being down a goal and then having a player make a childish mistake to get ejected makes this one easy to call for me as well, I actually think we should have lost this match. We played flat and the mistakes we made were many and San Jose simply out fought us, this was a match that we had to deal with both Kyle and Will being gone on national team duties for the Gold Cup and to me was one clear example of why Andy is better off the bench than starting. I blame this one on both Jason and the players with a bit more blame going on the coaching staff. It would have been a great match to put some additional bit in the midfield by moving Beltran up into the midfield with Grabavoy, Morales and Williams, but we didn’t we went with more offensive players and in the end it was San Jose, who turned 9 shots into 5 on goal, while RSL could only manage 4 on goal from 19 shots. This is one match were we had a ton of chances from corner kicks (11 to 2) but failed to get any real quality from the opportunities.
Houston 0-0, draw, When facing one of the best teams in MLS at home or on the road you expect a tough match and it was a tough match but again what can we make of RSL having 16 shots, Houston had 3? RSL had 8 shots on goal, Houston had none, so was it tactics? Well not really it comes down to a couple bad decisions, first was when head official didn’t call the fouls on Robbie Findley in the box. RSL had a man advantage and when Robbie attempted to get a shot off he was fouled once, twice, three times and yet no call as the official was worried about calling for a PK as he had already ejected a Houston player. The next mistake is one that I have defended and still do, but I can see how the actions of Clint Mathis after the above mistake that earned him a yellow card (his second- after a very weak first one in the 4th minute of the match), and thus sent him to the locker room early. The decision left RSL without that man advantage for the second half and in the end could have likely cost RSL the points at home. So do you blame Jason for playing a hot head, or do you blame Clint for being so upset at the lack of a call that he lightly spiked the ball (it didn’t go into the stands, he in fact caught it on the bounce)?
Chicago 1-1, draw, No Beckerman, no Morales in the starting lineup, no Grabavoy against the very best road team in MLS (6-3-6), heck they won more matches on the road than at home and had a +6 road goal differential. Then you lose Clint Mathis in the 15th minute to an injury and here is where some can question the decision by the coaching staff, they brought in Jean Alexandre who would later be taken out for Javier Morales (who was only 30 minutes fit). At home you would expect a more offensive move but the RSL staff took over 10 minutes from the time of the injury to the time of the sub to think about it, but instead of going with Raphael Cox and Rachid El Khalifi the staff went with Alexandre. It wasn’t a bad move as Jean did well and provided some good defensive grit but in the second half being down a goal RSL brought in offensive minded players with their final two subs. I can put this one on the staff, but who anticipates losing a player in the first minutes of a match?
If I were going to point at the one solid area of the season for RSL it would be the 8-1-5 home record (soon to be 9-1-5) with a huge +20 goal differential at home. The issue is that right now only two teams that are sitting in the playoff spots have just two road wins, Colorado and Toronto but 6 of the teams that would make the playoffs have 4 or more road wins. Only New York has a worse road record than RSL, even San Jose with just one win but 5 draws has as many road points as RSL. So why is it a team that can score 31 goals at home only able to get 9 or the road? That is the question that has to be dealt with in the off season, and I can tell you that RSL has already identified it as the top priority.
Both Me and Aj seem to think that changing the coach, despite no real solution in place on who could or would take over, is a good thing. I say that change for the sake of change is pointless and dangerous. How long has it taken the front office to get a clue about running their business, well 5 years and counting (they are far from being their), so ask yourself how long would it take someone to who makes a huge career change (to something they have never done before) to become good at it? The first partial year was about changing an attitude and the roster, year two was about reinforcing a style of play and a way of approaching the game, and this year we have seen moments of excellence but more moments of mediocre play. I think that Jason has made progress in tactics, training, and decision making, but he isn’t the fireball that he was last year and like Aj I am not sure if that is a good thing. It is funny that so many people attacked him for his actions last year and now they attack him for not acting that way.
When it come to motivation, I say if you are lucky enough to get paid to play a game for a living, if you are lucky enough to work just a couple hours a day and make more than many of the people in the stands who work 40-50 hours a week just trying to get by, and you need to be motivated, well when you are let go and have to find a real job you will find out what motivation is all about. I believe the Jim Collins (”good to great” author) when he says “don’t do stupid things to demotivate people, if they aren’t self motivated then they are the wrong people”. I think we have a number of good players who simply are not self motivated and in the end they simply need to be let go and replaced by people who understand that of all the jobs in the world being a professional athlete, doing something you love everyday should be enough to keep you highly motivated at all times. If you need a coach to motivate you, well you need to find another career.
So while I didn’t address all of Aj’s questions, I hope I came close and in looking at what happened in each of those matches maybe, we can see that while it might be easy to point out blame on a coach, in many cases it is the actions of a player and split second decisions that have a far more impactful affect on the outcome of matches. Tomorrow I will look at a couple things, the matches that I think killed the RSL season, what chances RSL actually has left, and some thoughts about the upcoming weekend matches.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
Pray, Win, and Pray some more