Statement: Mariner's not completely terrible record in his first 10 games happened to coincide with Koevermans breaking out of his slump.
Under Winter this season Koevermans scored one goal in the first eight games (all losses). Then he scored in the record-breaking loss to DC and again in the next game (a win!) against Philly.
At this point Mariner took over. TFC went 3-2-4 and Koevermans had six goals and two assists in those nine games before getting injured. It was a glorious era. Since then TFC is 1-5-2.
Those were the facts, now allow me to introduce some personal analysis. You can look at the above say two things: 1) Mariner knew how to use Koevermans more effectively explaining the better results, or 2) Koevermans returning to form was a bigger factor than the coaching change during that period of "success".
I don't think there's much to 1) because we've seen Koevermans perform at a high level under Winter last year. His career strike rate proves that he performs his role very well wherever he's played.
2) is what I think a lot of people believe. Koevermans missed a lot of chances during that 9 game losing streak. It's natural for a striker to have a scoring slump but unfortunately for us no one picked up the slack. He was starting to figure it out and scored in the last two games with Winter in charge (including the game-winner for the first win of the season). Mariner came in, rode the hot striker, and fell back to the familiar futility after he got injured.
All people are trying to say is that Koevermans, not Mariner, deserves the lion's share of the credit for that brief spurt of mediocrity. Those eight or nine games are sometimes cited as an indication that Mariner is the right coach for TFC and he just needs more time. In reality, it's the same shit repackaged.