33 replies to this topic

[metros11]

This is a fun thread to keep as a favorite just so you can pull it out of nowhere again in the middle of July. I think your 'C' and 'B' grades are waaaaaay too high. This 'championship caliber' team still has no depth whatsoever, two unproven keepers, no midfield engine, and is ran by the same braniac who can't figure out how to make a substitution. If the preseason wasn't enough indication on what to expect, then the next three months will leave no doubt as to where this team is headed.

[elf]

Soler gets an A -. I think he assembled a very talented team. RBNY at 100% are the best team in MLS. Only reason i do not give him an A+ is that i dont know how Conde will pan out. If Conde stays healthy then RBNY will win the league.

Backe gets a B. I like his style of play but does not rotate his players enough. i think the funk the team was in during the middle of the season was because the team was exhausted. US Open Cup should also be taken seriously which he did not take. i still think he is a good coach since he managed to straighten out his mistakes.

[JayDelight729]

If the preseason wasn't enough indication on what to expect, then the next three months will leave no doubt as to where this team is headed.

Now we are going to use preseason results? Come on D.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post, but I thought we learned long ago that preseason results are by no means a solid indicator of season success / failure.

[Voice of Reason II]

Not a statistically larger enough pool to bank on it, but a rough tabulation of the 12 posts that gave me enough to assign grades produced a C range for Hans, probably a C+ and a B for Soler (For simplicity sake I gave A's 3 points. 2 for B's, 1 for a C and 0 for D).

Judging by that ,and given that much of Soler's work is done, if I correlate this with expectations, then I think the average opinion is that we will not win the Shield, the two cups, or even the East, and that Backe will be gone by this time next year.

Good, expectations are low (not arguing that's unreasonable).

If they play 500 ball, no one should claim "surprise" unless you individually gave the leadership B+ or higher, because the results are here for all to see (several of the posts had a negative bias but chose not to assign grades, so they were left out even though they confirm the majority view).

Fans believe it will be another disaster year with a coaching change ahead. Ladies and gentleman, fasten your seatbelts.

[elf]

This is a fun thread to keep as a favorite just so you can pull it out of nowhere again in the middle of July. I think your 'C' and 'B' grades are waaaaaay too high. This 'championship caliber' team still has no depth whatsoever, two unproven keepers, no midfield engine, and is ran by the same braniac who can't figure out how to make a substitution. If the preseason wasn't enough indication on what to expect, then the next three months will leave no doubt as to where this team is headed.

you cant judge pre-season. As a metro fan you should know that. Just look at Bora's success in the preseason and then see how that translated to the season.

[metros11]

Who said anything about results.

[onionsack]

Soler gets an A -. I think he assembled a very talented team. RBNY at 100% are the best team in MLS. Only reason i do not give him an A+ is that i dont know how Conde will pan out. If Conde stays healthy then RBNY will win the league.

I simply can not wrap my head around why anyone would think Soler deserves an A for the 2+ years he has been the top guy in this organization. It simply doesn't stand up to the bright lights of scrutiny.

1. Erik Soler's out of league signings are really his only positive attribute he has brought to this team, but lets also remember for every foriegn signing he makes he is also electing to forgo a dometisc option as well. Also, he has had his fair share of signings that didn't pan out.

-Good Foriegn Signings (attributed to Soler): Joel Lindpere, Jan Gunner Solli, Teemu Tainio
-Foriegn Signing Not Good - Ibrahim Salou, Brian Nielsen, Frank Rost

2. Erik's inner league dealings have been on the whole pretty terrible. With trades he traded Kandji for Ballouchy. He gave a 2nd round pick for Carry Talley to DC. He gave a 2nd and 3rd round pick for Albright. He traded away the farm (Tchani, Borman and 1st round pick) to TFC for DeRo only to trade DeRo weeks later to DC for a Dax McCarty and some cap room to sign Rost. Dumped Austin da Luz for a roster spot when he could have just cut Robinson or Nielsen, two players that were not going to play in 2011.

3. His player/personnel decision have been subject to much scrutiny. He cut or released or failed to resign the follwoing players" Juan Pablo Angel, Dave van den Bergh, Mike Petke, John Wolyniec, Matt Kassell, Sacir Hot, Seth Stammler*, Sinisa Upiparapovic. Especially the decision to not resign all time club legend JPA and his dismissal of young academy grads after a season. Lets not also forget he pulled the trigger on the worst persennel move of al by firing Richie and Des righ t before the start of the 2011 season, a firing that absolutely hurt the team that year and exposed Backe's glaring shortcomings.

4. He had zero to do with any signing of Henry or Marquez. Those moves where set in motion before his arrival by people far above his pay grade in Red Bull GmbH's sporting division.

5. None of this year's new additions, Cooper and Conde for Ream's allocation money (most of it) and the big Swede are sure fire signings. Conde is 3 years removed from his good MLS season and coming off nagging injurries, Cooper hasn't been a force in MLS since his last year with FC Dallas and the Swede is an unknown comodity altogether. canthey all work out? Sure, but until they do you have to withold giving him high marks for that.

All in all, he has been a mixed bag but his terrible in season trades and his ridiculous decision to can Des and Richie last year prevent this guy from seeing anything in the A range and arguably in the B or above range.

[MetroFanatic]

Dave van den Bergh

Ahem. No.

[onionsack]

Ahem. No.

You're right, I am thinking of when Soler and company where in charge when DVB made ovatures to resign here in early 2010.

http://www.metrofana...ory.jsp?ID=5318

http://www.metrofana...ory.jsp?ID=5361

[Did I Do That?]

Soler does not get an A if the Tim Ream contract on a bus thing is true. I would find it hard to give him a B or even a C- if it was.

If it isn't true... then I guess I give him a C+ or a B- if he came to office hours. Signings were okay (he's firing at about 1.5 to 1 which is above MLS average save for Arena), drafted Tim Ream, and is open with the media. He loses points for not understanding the league and all that entails.

Backe? Undecided... I still think there is a method to that crazy man's madness. Maybe he truly does have Juan's best interests at heart and sees a kid whose head is getting too big. He made the right decision keeping him off the All-Star roster and Garber swoops in and puts him there. The subbing issues, Luke Rodgers, etc... still... undecided.

[JayDelight729]

Sack,

He did sign Juan Agudelo from the academy and should be given credit for that. We know Richie liked Ream (seemed to like da Luz more), BUT Soler from the onset was a fan of Ream and did ultimately pull the trigger on the Ream draft pick as evidenced by the excellent MLS Draft video put together by JerseyTex and the others at MLSSoccer. Miller has been an above average left back. Not great, but better than people make him out to be.

Of the players that were cut, how many of them have done anything afterwards? Most of them retired. da Luz couldn't even hang with DC. I liked what he did in the Portland game last year and was surprised when he was traded for little, but apparently other teams feel the same way.

As for Cooper, he has proven success in MLS. Even last year he scored 8 goals in MLS. Didn't set the league on fire, but he wasn't awful at the level of Sergio Galvan Rey or someone like that who certainly did not produce.

Clearly, the Angel and DeRosario situations were not handled well. Angel was the team's franchise player and it was poor how that worked out. In regards to the results, Luke Rodgers ended up scoring quite a few goals and combine that with Agudelo's production made up for the goal difference that JPA provided to complement Thierry Henry.

We can all say in hindsight that letting DeRosario go so quickly was a mistake. How would the team have finished the season if he stayed on? No one knows.

I can't speak on the Henry / Marquez situation. Not sure anyone has enough inner insight on these boards to truly know how those deals were brokered... especially the latter.

[Father Ted]

I simply can not wrap my head around why anyone would think Soler deserves an A for the 2+ years he has been the top guy in this organization. It simply doesn't stand up to the bright lights of scrutiny.


All in all, he has been a mixed bag but his terrible in season trades and his ridiculous decision to can Des and Richie last year prevent this guy from seeing anything in the A range and arguably in the B or above range.

Agree pretty much with every thing here.

Also, I like how the organization has found a place for local legends Petke and Wolyniec. Not sure if Soler had a hand in that or if that was Stover/Heck.

[JayDelight729]

Also, I like how the organization has found a place for local legends Petke and Wolyniec. Not sure if Soler had a hand in that or if that was Stover/Heck.

Not sure why Heck / Stover would have any influence in terms of team personnel. Then again, it's Metro.

[Rooney22]

Not sure why Heck / Stover would have any influence in terms of team personnel. Then again, it's Metro.

I think Stover had a hand in talking and keeping in contact with Henry and Barca.

[JayDelight729]

I think Stover had a hand in talking and keeping in contact with Henry and Barca.

Henry happened right around Soler starting with RBNY. I think he may have been more involved in the Marquez higher.

But again, who knows how much influence they truly had vs. that of Austria or Beirsdorfer.