Houston vs. RSL [R]

[Aerick]

This is pretty much a brand new team. You have to give them some time to show that they can make the Ellinger tactics work. I'm not sure 3 away games and 1 home game is enough of an indicator. That's why I say we give Ellinger at least this season before making hard (or easy) decisions about his future here. This team is obviously more talented than our last. If he can't get us into the playoffs with this team, then I'll start to agree with everyone.

Another thing I've noticed is how different fans look at different players performances differently. One person will say how crappy Williams did on D, and another how well he did. How we sucked at one aspect, but the other will say that we shined during that same phase. I think the only way one could accurately get an effective picture on the play of players, their tactics, execution, etc., is by either having a plethora of experience with the sport (playing, coaching, etc.) or by watching hours of tape on the performance. So, while everyone's analysis of game play is entertaining, I hope people don't mind if I take it with a grain of salt.

[soccerman]

Originally Posted by Aerick

If he can't get us into the playoffs with this team, then I'll start to agree with everyone.

and I'll go ahead and take this with a grain of salt because if we don't make the playoffs this year we'll move some players and they will be oh so much better and they'll just need time to gel next season so of course we can't get rid of ellinger when we lose all our games to start the season and when we don't make the playoffs again next season we shouldn't get rid of him because he almost has the right pieces together and we can't throw it all away and start over and when we suck yet again it will be because of increasing competivness in the league but ellinger will have gained valuable experience and truly understand how to build a winning team and it would be silly to get rid of him then and clearly we can't expect to win many games the year after that because it will be a transitional rebuilding year but if we aren't in the playoffs the year after that then we can probably assume that ellinger will really have this mls thing nailed down and expect to make the playoffs the year after that and if we don't it might be time to take a hard look at thinking about asking ellinger if he would like a few more assistants to help ease his workload because the team will be just about to explode if only we could just get a few calls and some luck on our side


Come on Aerick. You're starting to sound like Gary Crowton.

[keyph]

Wow, tough read without punctuation....but right on the money all-in-all. 🙂 :headbang:

except for the Gary Crowton thing, c'mon give Aerick some credit now.:jawdrop:
LMAO!!

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by Aerick

This is pretty much a brand new team. You have to give them some time to show that they can make the Ellinger tactics work. I'm not sure 3 away games and 1 home game is enough of an indicator. That's why I say we give Ellinger at least this season before making hard (or easy) decisions about his future here. This team is obviously more talented than our last. If he can't get us into the playoffs with this team, then I'll start to agree with everyone.

For those of us that have been waiting over a year for results, this is tough...
We aren't blaming the team or the players. We are blaming the coach because we are seeing a lot of the same results as last season...
I don't want to have to endure a season of poor results again...

[AreliusIV]

The whole idea of this season was that Ellinger was going to do well recruiting in the off-season and things were going to be different. So far, its alot of the same...

[clarette]

Originally Posted by Aerick

You have to give them some time to show that they can make the Ellinger tactics work.

Except for that they don't. Not at this level.

[bordelais7]

I'm not sure what this "3-5-2" is that everyone is talking about. I saw a 5-4-1.

And what is up with putting absolutely no pressure on the ball in the midfield? If that's a coaching decision (which I'm assuming it is), it's a dumb one. Pressure = Possession = Goals.

[I_Believe_In_Kreis]

OK, I'm on board now. I'm officially on the Fire Ellinger bandwagon.....I say fire him as early as this weekend if we don't get at least a point against LAG. My reasons are nothing to do with tactics - here they are:

1. 5 seconds into the match you could tell our energy and work rate weren't there. This is a sign of a coach who can't pregame. A good motivator should have his players feeling like removing the opponents' limbs and eating their flesh.

2. Obviously you don't play a 3-5-2 and hit the long ball all night - Ellinger didn't tell them to do that so I can't blame him. My question is, when they started playing that way, why wasn't he up off the bench yelling at people to settle the ball?

3. On two game-changing occasions we were victimized by our own players waiting for a whistle: When Kreis' free kick hit both posts somebody started celebrating without a goal being signaled, and then Talley waits for a handball call on DeRo that leads to the game winner. These mental mistakes go squarely on the coach. You fix them in practice. I train two comp teams - when we scrimmage I purposely make bad calls and bad no-calls in an effort to teach my kids to play until you hear the whistle and don't argue the call. I guarantee in a game they'll never stop to wait for a handball call - why is a team of pros (that my kids look up to) doing it?

4. There are several other things I won't go into right now that make me think Ellinger needs to go quickly.

Wasn't there an EPL team last year where the coach gave a fan 15 minutes in front of the team to say whatever he wanted? Oh how I'd love just 5 minutes in front of RSL.

[rabble-rabble]

I’ve tried for a long time to be fully supportive of all parts of the organization, but all of the excuses are getting old. Yes, sometimes a bounce of the ball or an official’s call may go the wrong way, but the winless streak is now at 16 matches which is HALF an entire season. When you play that many matches without picking up 3 points, then you simply cannot dismiss it as bad luck, but rather that the team is being dominated by the opposition on a regular basis.

With 5 of the next 6 matches at Rice-Eccles, if we don’t get several wins out of the stretch, I will very likely be one of the ones who feel significant changes in the coaching staff are needed starting at the top.

[bordelais7]

Originally Posted by I_Believe_In_Kreis

2. Obviously you don't play a 3-5-2 and hit the long ball all night - Ellinger didn't tell them to do that so I can't blame him. My question is, when they started playing that way, why wasn't he up off the bench yelling at people to settle the ball?

I wouldn't bet against the possibility that this was the game plan. The line-up was announced as a 3-5-2, and it looked like that's what it was going to be -- for about the first 10 seconds of the game.

Andy was almost never in a forward position during the match. It seemed like he was playing a "roving midfielder/defender" type role. To his credit, despite being only partially effective offensively and playing balls to no one when he actually maintained possession, he hustled pretty well on the defensive end. I'd say that aside from Pope, he was our best defender in the first half. He got burned badly on a cross, but that's beside the point. The point is that he was playing defense the whole half.

The rest of the midfield was never in a position to advance the ball, as they were all playing well behind the ball and allowing Houston to advance up the field with relative ease. Until they reached the last third, at which time our 9-0-1 formation bailed us out with some good clearances.

Which leaves Cunningham alone up top making runs. He's fast, and he proved with his goal that he can capitalize on mistakes and outrun defenders. I honestly believe that Ellinger hoped to exlploit this matchup problem and play long balls to Cunny in the hopes of stealing one.

Despite the 3-5-2 (which I still maintain was really a 5-4-1), which would normally indicate an attempt to control the midfield, I think that Coach E's gameplan was to sit back and defend and hope for a quick 1-man counter-attack.