Originally Posted by
jloome
One thing I find disturbing about the current regime is that I assumed Bob would have solid contacts to bring in new talent.
I also assume he would recognize talent well himself.
But instead, the people making recommendations to him have been a bit of a bust and his own decisions have been a bit baffling.
Jimenez is probably a good player in exactly the right system, but he was cold as ice here. McNaughton is a decent backup but won't be more than that.
Chung wasn't even that.
And when we signed Chung, we could've signed Mohammed Farsi, who was probably the best rated fullback in the CPL at the time (Along with Diyaddine Abzi, who went to Ligue 2).
I realize hindsight is 20/20, but anyone who watched Farsi last weekend for Columbus might be wondering how anyone with decent judgement would recommend Chung over Farsi, as anything other than ego self-gratification (Chung's manager was one of Bob's associates).
The same manager, when he went to MLS NExt, picked up Farsi from Calgary, no one from his own team, Pacific.
Even ineffective against us, it was obvious Abzi at York had more talent than Chung, who had a cup of coffee with the Whitecaps already and was a known entity.
Then there's the deicsion last year to a) switch Petrasso from fullback to winger, and Shaffelburg from winger to fullback,, then b) essentially cut Shaffelburg, despite his success to that point, then c) decide Petrasso wasn't good enough and give him away; he's now Orlando's starting left fullback, having been moved back to his ideal position.
Both baffling, baffling decisions. Like, right out to left field. They may not have been immediate starters, but they were our two best backups.
I'm starting to think he's very, very old fashioned, and thinks everything is down to athleticism and intelligence, that any player can be moved to any position (Edit: The Kosi Thompson effect).
At the current level the game is being played, even in MLS, that is really reductive thinking if it's the case, that in an age with more specific technical training available than ever, what they've learned up to reaching us that is position specific should be just tossed out.
WE see this arrogance from MLS managers from time to time, like Miami moving Brek Shea to central defense, where he was as fucking useless as you'd assume he would be.
I'm not sure if Priso will come good, as he seems pretty inconsistent. But... he's starting in Colorado, as a mostly number six central midfielder. If the talent isn't there yet, Robin Fraser sure seems to think it's going to be. Again, isn't this our natural depth? But we gave him up for... MAK!? Does anyone really believe, at this point, that his judgment about Kaye is not at least part ego. His "discovery" isn't a consistent player, and we paid a MILLION in Gam for him.
Insanity.
It feels somewhat like he has no handle on actual talent and how to find it. He has a tactical and management approach that he believes in, but the actual reality of what we need requires both tactical and personnel flexibility.
We've taken in four players -- Diomande, Chung, McNaughton and Servania -- and three of those are "trust" choices, at least, guys he wanted rather than guys recommended by our allegedly large scouting contingent.
ANd all three are below par so far, quite badly in fact.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt on Diomande, but he looked plagued with a lack of confidence on the weekend, and he's clearly lost a step in terms of avoiding pressure or turning with the ball.
Chung never looked the part. So ... why did we sign him? Trust?
Maybe what we need is a GM. I worry that LAFC's success was less down to Bob and more the players provided to him.
Maybe Servania was a turning point there and the scouting team convinced them he's a good signing. If so, it would be the first since Bob came in that wasn't him picking someone himself.