In spite of a personal belief that it contains all the best stuff in the house, I decided "junk drawer" might sound like I was tossing out a bunch of surplus stuff. Yes..."Top 5" sounds so much more impressive...
- News that Chivas USA picked up the two Cuban national team players - Osvaldo Alonso and Lester Mor(e?) - who defected during this year's Gold Cup leaves me wishing that I'd watched more of the Gold Cup. In a side question, will Maykel Galindo ever stop giving to his team?
- All right, um, the rest-of-the-country's media: the Deseret News laid down the gauntlet with their complete history of Real Salt Lake trades. Not only do they name them, they manage to discuss them intelligently. Now, it's your turn...
- Soccer America reports that Chicago will announce their new coach early as next week...or, rather, that GM John Guppy would "like to make an announcement by the end of next week." Based on what's written there, Sunday's home game against the Colorado Rapids could be Denis Hamlett's sole game as Fire head coach. The way it's written makes one think Frank Klopas has as good a crack at the job as anyone.
- Call this 3A: speaking of Chicago Fire coaches, Luis Arroyave wrote a decent, somewhat personal, retrospective on David Sarachan's relationship with his little corner of the media.
- In run-of-the-mill trade news, the Toronto Star reports Mo Johnston finally got his (323rd) man: Collin Samuel has officially signed with Toronto FC. I don't know anything about Samuel and can't say how he'll do in MLS, but something in the Star's report leaves me wondering about the intensity of Mo's courtship: "Samuel, listed at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, scored 14 goals in 115 games with Dundee." Um....
- Finally, yeah, I admit it: I got a warm, fuzzy kick out of the "Futbol Meets Football" video clip featuring David "Show Pony" Beckham and Reggie "No Nickname" Bush. Hat-tip to Laurie at The LA Offside for posting it - and kudos for her bravery in admitting a soft spot for the segment as well.
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Showing posts with label Dave Sarachan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Sarachan. Show all posts
Sarachanned! (cont'd.)
I already posted my immediate reaction to the sacking of "Big" Dave Sarachan, but have come across some good stuff since then...just thought I'd share.
To begin, no commentary could be complete without checking in with The Chicago Fire Offside blog. Naturally, a good post appeared there and you'll find some real gems in the comments.
Elsewhere, Luis Arroyave throws in more quotes from Chris Armas, who was clearly unhappy with Sarachan being "relieved" of his duties. The money line in that collection:
Finally, Ives Galarcep weighed in as well and, I'm bound to admit, he framed the writing on the wall a little better than I did:
When I write about a "lack of sunshine on the horizon" that's what I'm getting at: even with the full squad that started the season, Chicago didn't look like much; they were too old in some places, too young in others.
Knowing Armas will retire after this season, I kind of feel for the guy - not least because he's definitely had his share of shitty luck. Anyway, your swan-song ought to be pretty...as opposed to the sound of the swan beind slowly strangled...
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To begin, no commentary could be complete without checking in with The Chicago Fire Offside blog. Naturally, a good post appeared there and you'll find some real gems in the comments.
Elsewhere, Luis Arroyave throws in more quotes from Chris Armas, who was clearly unhappy with Sarachan being "relieved" of his duties. The money line in that collection:
"Dave believed in the organization. He loved the players," Armas said. "As he goes, Jesse [Marsch] goes, and then we leave--what's left out there? Maybe a whole new team."
Finally, Ives Galarcep weighed in as well and, I'm bound to admit, he framed the writing on the wall a little better than I did:
"Chicago was respectable last season but instead of building on that the Fire has been mediocre and could be in danger of missing the playoffs."
When I write about a "lack of sunshine on the horizon" that's what I'm getting at: even with the full squad that started the season, Chicago didn't look like much; they were too old in some places, too young in others.
Knowing Armas will retire after this season, I kind of feel for the guy - not least because he's definitely had his share of shitty luck. Anyway, your swan-song ought to be pretty...as opposed to the sound of the swan beind slowly strangled...
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Sarachanned!!
Or the least surprising piece of news you will read this month.
In case it's not clear from the pun/title, the Chicago Fire canned Dave Sarachan. For my money, It wasn't so much the horrible current form - though that couldn't have helped - as the lack of sunshine on the horizon.
Speaking for myself - and, it should be emphasized, not as a Fire fan (lordy, I would be pissed if I was one) - I would have let Sarachan hang on through the end of 2007 and undertook the rebuilding in the off-season. I don't know how well, or even how, Chicago will recover over the 18 games remaining, but I wouldn't be optimistic.
UPDATE: Looks like Fire midfielder Chris Armas agrees the firing might have been premature, or, as I see it, potentially counter-productive.
By the way, here's the elephant in the room I missed: who does the Fire hire to replace "Big Dave"?
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In case it's not clear from the pun/title, the Chicago Fire canned Dave Sarachan. For my money, It wasn't so much the horrible current form - though that couldn't have helped - as the lack of sunshine on the horizon.
Speaking for myself - and, it should be emphasized, not as a Fire fan (lordy, I would be pissed if I was one) - I would have let Sarachan hang on through the end of 2007 and undertook the rebuilding in the off-season. I don't know how well, or even how, Chicago will recover over the 18 games remaining, but I wouldn't be optimistic.
UPDATE: Looks like Fire midfielder Chris Armas agrees the firing might have been premature, or, as I see it, potentially counter-productive.
By the way, here's the elephant in the room I missed: who does the Fire hire to replace "Big Dave"?
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Why the Fire Doesn't Fire Sarachan
This is pure gut reaction, but I still thought I'd throw it out there.
In spite of the now four consecutive losses - with the latest coming last night against Red Bull New York - and in spite of being outscored over that period by (and I'm going by memory here) 11-3, firing Chicago Fire head coach Dave Sarachan only makes sense in terms of economics - e.g. having a good enough team that, when Blanco shows up, people won't be so turned-off that they'll come out for something other than the one-time novelty factor.
In terms of on-field performance, I'd say the Fire are better off letting Sarachan continue through the end of the year - the main reason being the team. Check out the line-up against Red Bull:
There's not much left over on the full roster either.
As much as I like many of the players - Mapp, Pickens, Ivan Guerrero, even Jim Curtin - that's about it in terms of names that impress (me, anyway). Armas is a good player, but, I'm taken with an argument by Biz Mark of US Soccer Snob on Chicago's problems:
In blunt terms, the Fire is simply too old up the middle; on one level, I'm a little surprised they're not the team "taking a run" at Shalrie Joseph. Top that off with an offense both relying on one man so far (Chris Rolfe, on whom I'm a bit lukewarm) and waiting on a savior (Blanco), this team has too many holes to fill on the fly and with the resources on hand. Also, if they did make the major - and I'd argue required - changes they'd surrender points during the process of getting everyone on the same page. Under that admittedly shy-of-air-tight logic, I'd say the Fire leaves Sarachan to make the most of what he can with this season and look to the overhaul on the off-season. Best-case, he pulls off another late-season run like he did last year and the Fire still make the playoffs - and, yes, he'd still get canned for anything short of MLS Cup.
The only question, in my mind, is the economic piece. Even if the results don't come, it's possible (even if unlikely) that replacing the coach will a few people back to see what happens. And, as noted above, the Fire sure as hell don't want to suffer an attendance/revenue slump knowing they threw all that money at Blanco. But that, to my mind, is only the counter-argument: if I ran the Fire, I'd take the short-term hit and return to building the franchise later.
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In spite of the now four consecutive losses - with the latest coming last night against Red Bull New York - and in spite of being outscored over that period by (and I'm going by memory here) 11-3, firing Chicago Fire head coach Dave Sarachan only makes sense in terms of economics - e.g. having a good enough team that, when Blanco shows up, people won't be so turned-off that they'll come out for something other than the one-time novelty factor.
In terms of on-field performance, I'd say the Fire are better off letting Sarachan continue through the end of the year - the main reason being the team. Check out the line-up against Red Bull:
Chicago Fire -- Matt Pickens, C.J. Brown, Jim Curtin (Thiago 70), Gonzalo Segares, Logan Pause, Chris Armas, Justin Mapp (William DeOlivera 80), Brian Plotkin (Pascal Bedrossian 63), Ivan Guerrero, Calen Carr, Chad Barrett.
Substitutes Not Used: Jon Busch, Jerson Monteiro, Bakary Soumare, Daniel Woolard
There's not much left over on the full roster either.
As much as I like many of the players - Mapp, Pickens, Ivan Guerrero, even Jim Curtin - that's about it in terms of names that impress (me, anyway). Armas is a good player, but, I'm taken with an argument by Biz Mark of US Soccer Snob on Chicago's problems:
"This match [Fire v. FC Dallas] revealed that the FIRE can no longer afford to play converted defenders such as Gonzalo Segares, Ivan Guererro and Robinson as midfielders and expect them to cover for an aging central defensive tandem of CJ Brown and Chris Armas. Armas in particular looks like he aged ten years in the off season."
In blunt terms, the Fire is simply too old up the middle; on one level, I'm a little surprised they're not the team "taking a run" at Shalrie Joseph. Top that off with an offense both relying on one man so far (Chris Rolfe, on whom I'm a bit lukewarm) and waiting on a savior (Blanco), this team has too many holes to fill on the fly and with the resources on hand. Also, if they did make the major - and I'd argue required - changes they'd surrender points during the process of getting everyone on the same page. Under that admittedly shy-of-air-tight logic, I'd say the Fire leaves Sarachan to make the most of what he can with this season and look to the overhaul on the off-season. Best-case, he pulls off another late-season run like he did last year and the Fire still make the playoffs - and, yes, he'd still get canned for anything short of MLS Cup.
The only question, in my mind, is the economic piece. Even if the results don't come, it's possible (even if unlikely) that replacing the coach will a few people back to see what happens. And, as noted above, the Fire sure as hell don't want to suffer an attendance/revenue slump knowing they threw all that money at Blanco. But that, to my mind, is only the counter-argument: if I ran the Fire, I'd take the short-term hit and return to building the franchise later.
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