Kick This!

Say What? Part II

From Goff comes news that, not only has Kevin Payne issued an apology, he has been fined $5,000 by the league for making derogatory comments about other teams.

Here is the mea culpa:

I deeply regret some of the comments I made in an interview published earlier this week. In trying to explain the sometimes unfair expectations on the head coach of D.C. United, I made critical comments of Colorado, New England, Real Salt Lake and the league. Those comments were unprofessional. I have great personal regards and professional respect for my colleagues at those organizations and for their ownership and fans. I have apologized to those teams and individuals privately and now do so publicly.

The apology to the other teams and fans seems sincere enough. The imposition of the fine by the league is typically stupid.

All of this misses the troublesome aspects of Payne's comments from the perspective of a DC United fan, however. Taken as a whole, his comments to Goff smacked of (i) hubris and (ii) a dislocation from reality that was either contrived (bad enough) or actual (terrifying).

One of the things you want to hear as a fan is that the management recognizes problems and is working to solve them. Payne's comments suggested a blindness to the performance of United (and the coach) on the field and a tin ear to the fans' expectations (and DC United fans have very high expectations, particularly in light of Payne's and United's past success).

In other words, DC United has not been playing attractive soccer for quite a while. It also has off-field issues (the stadium and the apparently falling attendance (or at least the drop off in generalized positive buzz)). Therefore, before chest beating based on past glory, it would be helpful to see United stabilize the level of its play to "decent" and show progress toward resolving the big picture items.

I'm sure Kevin Payne wants this too, but his comments appeared, quite shockingly, to miss the boat. The best apology will be assembling a good team for next year. Let them do the talking by beating up on New England, Colorado, and Salt Lake.

Perspective

Maybe I was a just a slight bit harsh in repeatedly calling Kevin Payne a stupid fuckhead.

Steinberg's must-read post about the Redskins banning signs at FedEx field, found here, underscores what the depths of really ugly team ownership looks like. They're hypocrits too, claiming the ban is for "safety" purposes, while passing out their own, sanitized, pro-GEICO signs to customers. Go commerce!

When a team thuggishly forces someone to throw away a sign like this one, something is deeply wrong:

 

PS.  The Post and the internet are full of people expressing surprise at the management style of Snyder and Cerrato. But their behavior is neither surprising nor exceptional. Instead, it is entirely consistent with what I have repeatedly seen in my professional world:

People like Snyder and Cerrato rise to the top and end up calling the shots; people like Zorn and Campbell end up getting screwed over and humiliated. It happens every day in offices all over the country.

The key to survival is learning to please the Snyders and Cerratos while keeping your sanity. Zorn's predicament is similar to that of many middle-managers. His humiliation is much more public, though, while countless others seeth inwardly and, before facing each day, remind themselves of the family and lifestyle they are working to preserve.

Congratulations

Via United's Twitter feed, the winners of the awards at the DC United dinner were:

MVP - Clyde Simms
Fan's Choice - Chris Pontius
Golden Boot - Luciano Emilio
Goal of the Year - Bryan Namoff
Coaches' Award - Rodney Wallace
Defender of the Year - Bryan Namoff
Humanitarian of the Year - Devon McTavish

Good for them. I might quibble with some of the choices, but what would be the point of that?

The defender situation going forward is problematic. People seem to be automatically penciling in Namoff and Jakovic for next year, but I wouldn't so fast. Namoff, because we don't know yet whether he will recover from his concussion issue sufficiently to return. Probably he will, of course, but I'm sure he knows that head injuries are not to be trifled with. He's getting up there in soccer years, and might be looking forward to life after playing, as well.

Jakovic has shown an awful lot of quality. So much so that he might be looking to move up and out before long, maybe not immediately, but who knows.

Kevin Payne has already indicated that United is in the market for a "veteran defender." Hopefully, by "veteran" he means someone with experience who is good, not old busted and cheap. Hopefully, by "defender" he means someone who can actually play defense. Time will tell.

Say What?

Kevin Payne, D.C. United President, sat down with Goff and made some statements that, to put it mildly, left me gobsmacked.

Here they are along with some commentary, in no particular order:

We don't want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play?

There are a lot of games in our league that I can't watch . . . .

I'm not saying that everyone has to play an attacking style, but that is our style and identity, and we have to be honest with ourselves and say there are sometimes liabilities [such as missing the playoffs] that come with it. "We still have a lot more trophies in our case than everybody else, so I think in the long run, it's the right thing to do.

Excuse me? Did he really say that Colorado and New England play unattractive soccer, and that United's desire to play an attacking style leads to liabilities such as missing the playoffs?

He did? Well, okay then . . .

United We Fall

With Seattle defeating Dallas, United's season is officially over. Maybe I'm not completely heartbroken, because the season really ended on September 27, when the Earthquakes beat United at RFK. DC have been dead men walking ever since. Below are some additional comments on the match, plus a look at what some other folks are saying.

Various aspects of DC's performance were consistent with what we've seen all year. For example:

The coach's wonky lineup. It's no surprise that United never developed a rhythm, when you've got different players in different positions week in and week out. Sure the injury situation was bad, but to start Szetela over Olsen, who was rested, in a game of this magnitude, was a crime.

The coach's game management. One of the coach's jobs is to put the team in a position to win. By not sorting out the defense and, indeed, appearing to encourage continued attacking after James netted the go-ahead goal, was unspeakable incompetence.

Disorganized defense. Related to the above, Soehn was a defender, but the hallmarks of his tenure have been disorganized defenses and defenders who cannot keep their concentration for a full ninety minutes.

Nonexistent off-the-ball movement. Concede that United is going to play a possession/slow-build-up game in which penetration and fast movements forward are not emphasized. Fine. Soehn does not appear to understand that, to make this work, players need to make off the ball runs in order to (i) provide passing outlets to allow you to keep possession, and (ii) open up spaces to play the ball.

Attackers don't provide defensive pressure. After a change in possession, United typically concedes at least half of the field before it starts to engage. I don't care if you are an overpaid designated player or a beloved team star--in the modern game you need to apply pressure to disrupt the other side's attack.

What is the point of Gomez? A case can be made that the idea of a central attacking midfielder who runs the whole attack is obsolete in the modern game, outside of certain places in South America. You can read about it in this book. However, if you are going to have Gomez (and are not going to play him as withdrawn forward, where I think he does better anyway), then you need to use Gomez. It is not evident from watching on TV, but in live games it is obvious that Gomez's teammates consistently struggled to see him and find him. Gomez would do some excellent off-the-ball work on occasion, but for nothing. 

Around the DCUniverse . . .

Fullback takes some shots at Soehn. I like his half-joking suggestion to have put in Olsen for Gomez. And, with some venom that I share, he writes: "The game is pass and move, not pass and stand around waiting for the guy with the ball to pull something out of his ass."

The thesis of BDR's write up is that "United isn't good enough to compete for silver as currently constructed and coached." Too true. He makes some provocative comments about MacFarlane as well. I wonder what Chang will do next?

DCUMD disagrees that the game was a microcosm of United's season. He credits DC's effort, even gives poor beleaguered Fred some props, and makes an interesting point about the need for United to change coaches sooner, rather than later.

United Mania's match write up observes that United looked more attentive than Kansas City. I'm not so sure.

Tenorio's player ratings are here:

Cronin 7, James 7, Jakovic 6, Burch 6; Wallace 6, Gomez 6, Szetela 5, Simms 6, Fred 6; Emilio 5, Pontius 5.5. SUBS: Moreno 6, Olsen 6, Khumalo 5.5

I like Cronin and even want to see him return next year. He had three brilliant saves in the second half, but does he really deserve a 7? He whiffs on an awful lot of balls.

Some final thoughts:

• Soehn will probably be around for a little while longer. The DC United award ceremony is Tuesday. He will stay for that, and then there will be a final team meeting before everyone goes their separate ways. Then the death-watch will begin in earnest.

• Lots and lots of questions about where this team is going, both on the field, in the front office, and even where the field itself will be. The offseason will be very interesting.

• If that isn't enough, don't forget that the players' collective bargaining agreement expires this year. This should make things even more interesting.

• This blog is not going anywhere. In addition to following developments about United and soccer in general, we've got a number of projects lined up that should hopefully be worthwhile.

KC 2 - United 2, Oct. 24, 2009

Roller Coaster

It came down to this: Julius James parked up front because he tweaked his hamstring and couldn't move, manages to head-in the must-win goal to save the season.

So, a crippled central defender proves more effective than Emilio!

But the game did not end there. Fred elbowed aside a ball to keep it out of the United net, and then, after the PK, United marched upfield looking like they were going to score--or else kill someone trying (at last! unfettered purposefulness from United in stoppage time of the last game of the season!), and then . . . Wallace hit the post.

And so arguably the most exciting and wrenching game United had played all year ended, with neither the players nor the fans quite believing it was over, leaving as many questions open as it had answered.

Toluca 1 - United 1, Oct. 20, 2009

That Will Do

At 8,800 feet above sea level, with a number of key players left behind, DC United did just fine. Was United lucky? Hell yes. But they were due some luck, and, even with the PK, the result was fair.

Toluca was sharper and more skillful, but DC remained fairly well organized, kept its composure, and, remarkably, did not seem to flag too much from running at altitude.

And--stop the presses--under the circumstances, I cannot fault Soehn for his formation or substitutions. He even had the balls to go without a defensive midfielder toward the end.

Black 1 - Yellow 0, Part II

The aftermath of "Mudbowl I" seems to have brought out a wide variety of reactions, ranging from extreme elation to grudging approval, and worse.

The extreme positive view is represented by Goff's wildly over-inflated player ratings:

Cronin 8; Jakovic 7.5, James 7, Burch 6.5; McTavish 5, Jacobson 5, Simms 5, Gomez 5, Wallace 7; Khumalo 7, Emilio 7. Subs: Moreno 5, Vaughn 6, Szetela 6.

How can this be? These are not ratings but . . . propaganda.

DCUMD continues to maintain a level-headed centrist approach, neither over-optimistic nor mordantly gloomy, and even takes a run at the brain-hurting playoff scenarios.

Fullback takes a rousing tour of the DCUniverse here.

The DCenters picks now, of all times, to return from the dead to post a match reaction.

At the gloomy end of the spectrum, BDR ponders United's declining attendance and concludes that the team's future is not bright. What a spoil-sport!

United 1 - Crew 0, Oct. 17, 2009

Splishy Splashy

United's starting lineup was surprising and inherently mysterious, as if Schroedinger's cat had been placed into Pandora's box. Confounding expectations, and just when the team seemed to be gelling with four in the back, Soehn sent out a 3-5-2. This was particularly alarming given that Columbus has shown superior flank play this season that could--and did--expose United's outside mids.

From the opening whistle Columbus looked quicker and more purposeful. They would continue to be more successful in winning and keeping the ball as the match wore on. But DC United, on the back of a fine performance by a loaner keeper and one inspired connection between Boyzzz and Emilio, got the job done. It was workmanlike and ugly, but the fans finally got to watch a league win at home.

On The Razor's Edge

A waterlogged Saturday! Perfect for hunkering down with beverages of choice to watch soccer on TV and ponder the impending showdown against the Crew.

United must win tonight and next week to have any realistic chance of sneaking into the playoffs. Unfortunately, absent Quaranta, Pontius, Namoff, and Olsen, and with a new-to-the-club keeper between the posts, the stage is set for United's patented punchless offense and shaky defense (Marc Burch, anyone?) to make a hash of things.

Simms and Jakovic are going to have to come up huge. On the other end of the pitch, Emilio, Moreno, and Gomez will likely start. The safe approach, one might think this makes sense because you'd want your veteran skill players to start a game of such magnitude.

One would be wrong.