I’ve been wanting to start a thread on Managers and their effectiveness. While there are some managers that don’t get results (Olsen), or are in over their heads (Formerly Jay Heaps), they also don’t have the best infrastructure support from their owner/FO to make things happen; however every manager should have their day in the sun being picked over, and Olsen is no exception, but he shouldn’t kick this off. Therefore, the first manager really should be Sigi Schmid at LAG.
Sigi was a great college coach, and as such was in high demand from MLS since there werent a glut of professional coaches, willing to do MLS, to choose from. He has a lot of success at both LAG and Seattle, when one was the undisputed MLS darling and the other was an expansion “IT” club with generous owners and cache among the supporters. However, his first stint at LAG was ages ago and he over time soured at Seattle, and he found himself semi-retired until again taking over LAG.
I wondered if he lost the script at Seattle because the game had passed him by and without having a squad monumentally better than the competition (parity?), he just wasn’t getting results. It seemed like he was an MLS 1.0/1.5 coach with the league teetering on hitting MLS 2.5/3.0.
Now that he’s at LAG, it’s becoming more apparent that the league has likely passed him by, at least the elite part of the league. The LAG are still the proverbial MLS commissioner favorite, with possibly a half dozen new league rules on the table because their owners AEG once floated the entire league on the edge of the abyss, and they have a severely talented front 6 (when healthy) and reportedly the most expensive back 4, but they just aren’t very good on a consistent level.
And with that, I’d venture Sigi is to blame. Are his tactics bad (quite possibly) and/or is the team just not listening to him and absorbing his leadership??? I have no idea what his personality is like, I remember reading he had a difficult time at the end with Seattle’s locker room, many of whom were very excited when the leadership switch was made, and LAG has a host of huge personalities with ridiculous CV’s, so it’s very possible he’s not respected. I don’t think a lack of respect for the manager and the manager’s tactics are mutually exclusive. And frankly, Sigi/LAG should be accomplishing more than they have - they’re quickly becoming also-rans to LAFC and in the long term could prove disastrous if STH start to decline/jump.
Sigi.... a version 1.0/1.5 star left looking back at fonder times when the competition wasn’t in a position to compete.
Sigi was a great college coach, and as such was in high demand from MLS since there werent a glut of professional coaches, willing to do MLS, to choose from. He has a lot of success at both LAG and Seattle, when one was the undisputed MLS darling and the other was an expansion “IT” club with generous owners and cache among the supporters. However, his first stint at LAG was ages ago and he over time soured at Seattle, and he found himself semi-retired until again taking over LAG.
I wondered if he lost the script at Seattle because the game had passed him by and without having a squad monumentally better than the competition (parity?), he just wasn’t getting results. It seemed like he was an MLS 1.0/1.5 coach with the league teetering on hitting MLS 2.5/3.0.
Now that he’s at LAG, it’s becoming more apparent that the league has likely passed him by, at least the elite part of the league. The LAG are still the proverbial MLS commissioner favorite, with possibly a half dozen new league rules on the table because their owners AEG once floated the entire league on the edge of the abyss, and they have a severely talented front 6 (when healthy) and reportedly the most expensive back 4, but they just aren’t very good on a consistent level.
And with that, I’d venture Sigi is to blame. Are his tactics bad (quite possibly) and/or is the team just not listening to him and absorbing his leadership??? I have no idea what his personality is like, I remember reading he had a difficult time at the end with Seattle’s locker room, many of whom were very excited when the leadership switch was made, and LAG has a host of huge personalities with ridiculous CV’s, so it’s very possible he’s not respected. I don’t think a lack of respect for the manager and the manager’s tactics are mutually exclusive. And frankly, Sigi/LAG should be accomplishing more than they have - they’re quickly becoming also-rans to LAFC and in the long term could prove disastrous if STH start to decline/jump.
Sigi.... a version 1.0/1.5 star left looking back at fonder times when the competition wasn’t in a position to compete.
