In terms of having a tactical orientation Monday to Sunday, so to say (ie attempts to build a roster around a system, trying to harmonize youth through senior team training approaches, etc), Winter is head and shoulders above any previous coach. In terms of managing the 90 minutes game day (tactical adjustments, subs) I have concerns.
Well, just to play devil's advocate here, he is the only coach in the history of the team given this mandate. And that wasn't even by the team, it was by the consultant they (briefly) hired.Originally Posted by Detroit_TFC
It's too bad he wasn't given the mandate, "Beat other MLS teams."
I feel the same way.
The team looks like a much more professionally run organization than at any point in its history, at least to an outsider (me) with no inside connection to the club. I also think Winter/Mariner have increased the overall level of talent on the roster to the point where it should be able to make the playoffs. Not everyone has worked out but that's part of life. We have reasonably talented players (or very talented, in Frings' case) in most of the starting 11, and our options on the bench don't make me facepalm any more.
Success or failure this year is down to the coaching staff. Saturday was a tactical loss. Winter and De Klerk need to adapt.
The way I see the talent level in the squad right now, is that I think there is definitely enough talent in the squad to make the play-offs - in fact I have no doubt about that. Even our weakest links - Harden, Dunfield, are fairly decent MLS players.
That makes it so much more disappointing when you get a result like Saturday. If we have enough TALENT, then why aren't the team doing better?
If the club don't make the playoffs this season, with the level of players they now have, then there is something seriously wrong!
this seems fair, although if he isn't given the players and unfortunately we have a small MLS roster,.....can he be blamed. MLS is taking on concacaf, yet not expanding the roster, for an extended season this seems unreasonable.
ALL HELL'S BROKEN LOOSEhttp://gfycat.com/SharpKindArrowana
Because talent is only part of the equation. Heart counts for a lot, killer instinct, will to win. We look tentative even when we're good. No heart.
Doesn't mean it wont' come, but we're not going to beat good teams in this league with a 2.5 goal per game back line.
I have serious misgivings about the following combination
1. playing a high defensive line
2. with slow defenders
3. without ball hawks in midfield pressing the hell out of teams
The basics of any sport are to make your opponent uncomfortable, attack their weakness, etc.
But these defensive tactics, right now at least, are doing the opposite.
Think of all the direct, pacy players in this league - and if you think what you saw with Seattle or San Jose is pace just wait till we play teams like Chicago with Oduro - these types of players are all over this league.
You're playing right into their hands - if all they're going to do all game is try and chip your backline and run past you, you're enabling them to play to their strengths (pace, directness, not needing technique).
I worry that the book is out on us and basically teams are just going to look to hit us with pace on long counters and everytime they either go offside or don't maintain possession they will just back off and get everyone behind the ball until they try it again. San Jose did this to us all day.
^ I've been thinking the same thing (about pacey players) and even if Frings comes back, I fear lingering hammy problems limiting his effectiveness. This is where Wynne would come in handy.
Great post. LA was also playing that way, but couldn't catch a break.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
^ i also believe that if youre going to play like that you have to have a group of smart defenders who know how to play the offside trap by a t. even still you run the risk of the linesman blowing one or two calls.
Likely Preki was given this mandate (or maybe "don't lose") but things were too out of control at that point.
Yeah, and this fits in with the discussion about 'pacey' players. We've been told since day one that MLS is a physical, athletic league, not a high skill league. Preki tried what so many hockey coaches do when coming up against teams like that - he tied to slow them down and take away that aspect of their game. It's not pretty but as lots of people said at the time, it's just step one.
Let's hope the style the team is trying to play now works a lot better.
To be honest, I thought Preki had the right idea (to start). A defensive mindset, and build from the back to the front. Winter is doing the opposite. He is building from the front to the back (which is another problem I have had with him).
The problem with Preki is he was an asshole who pissed everyone off (and I mean everyone) from the first day he arrived and lost the lockerroom and the boardroom. An epic feat for 10 months by anyone's standards.
The problem I have with Winter's approach is that we are pretty terrible going forward as well! I wouldn't mind if we were losing games 4-5 or 3-4, but Saturday the attack looked totally blunt!
It's partly my own thing tho - I personally prefer 4-4-2, I've always loved watching a pair of strikers work with each other - so for me the 4-3-3, with one isolated striker, just isn't attractive or effective forward play.
4-4-2s are pretty easily undone these days. Which is why even the United States is trying to move away from it.
I agree with the post up above. They are playing a bad combination of high line with central defenders who don't have the speed to get back and lack of press up field. We were told in the offseason a deep press was coming and I haven't seen it in existence yet.
Also doesn't help that our central midfielders are playing so deep. JDG was indistinguishable from a CB on Saturday. The irony is, by dropping players back to help the defending we are getting worse defending!
I go back and forth between thinking Danny K is out of shape, leading him to be ahead or behind the limited service he is getting and therefore not creating many chances, and Danny K is not getting the right service from the midfield and therefore not creating many chances. I am baffled how we can have this overload of midfield players and end up in 4-2-4 last week (yes, I know why).
I agree with you (and the others), but I am struggling because I don't see how a problem that is so obvious to someone like me could go unresolved by professionals.
I don't think Koev's is necessarily "out of shape" - I think he's perfectly IN shape for a 33 year old 6 ft 3 inch striker - but if you want to compare him to a 25 year old, then YES, Koev's in comparison is out of shape! I personally don't expect anything else from a 33 year old player, in any position in any league in the world! Rarely do you get a 33 plus year old who stays completely fit an injury free. The Beckham's of the footballing world are extremely rare these days!
I disagree! and again your making excuses, Paul scholes, Ryan giggs and Andriy shevchenko all older than koevs and can probably run circles around our whole squad.
Well we've only had four games this season and two were good results so maybe they're not thinking it's as urgent as supporters are. I don't know. I do know our midfield has been a hollowed-out crater for a few weeks now.
Sheva, no. The others you listed are exceptions to the norm
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
you just named 3 out of ten's of thousands. even if you named 1000 out of 10,000, that's an incredibly small number of older players who are fit and can stay fit.
Agreed. It does take a quite exceptional ATHLETE to compete at the highest level way into the mid 30's.
We can already see in Frings that he's clearly lost his pace and especially his pace over the first 5 yards of sprinting.
I don't think its an excuse - I think its a valid point - its only the exceptional athletes who can compete in ANY sport way into their 30's.
Scholes, Giggs, Beckham are all very much exceptional footballers. No disrespect to Koev's, but he's not in ANY of their leagues as far as athleticism or talent is concerned! It would be QUITE normal for a 33 year old 6 ft 3 inch striker to not be as fit as he used to be.
Well, no one was expecting Kouves to compete at the highest level, just at the MLS level. Still, it sometimes seems as if TFC management is still underestimating what that level is.
I think Koev's is well capable of competing at MLS level. I think his problem is going to be playing 40 games in 6 months.
Winter doesn't really have any strength in depth at centre forward right now. When Koev's doesn't play, we only have Johnson - and he's not really a "strong centre forward". We really need another 6ft plus striker at the club so Koev's doesn't have to play every week. We really are lacking depth behind him right now.
Dero, angel and thierry henry
stop trying to disapprove me and lets call a spade a spade.
damn this forum sometimes
but, you're wrong.
30 is over the hill in football terms. Players at their prime in their mid-20s, earlier than a lot of other sports.
Having said that, Koevermans never made his mark by beating people with speed. He does it with intelligent runs and finishing when the chances come. He was fantastic last year. He's not lost it this year. He just needs that first goal to get him going.
Then you pay a million bucks to the exception cases, not the norm. If we are paying Koevs a million bucks per season, I expect him to be one of those exceptions. You don't pay a million bucks to someone who is just like everyone else.
How am I wrong when everyone named is the same age as or older than danny and all in bettershape, how am I wrong please explain.
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