D.C. United closing in on a head coach, Rooney no longer a head coach, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Wednesday, January 3rd means it’s my turn to wish the faithful District Press commentariat a happy new year! I spent the last week doing the same thing I did last year: tune into the Premier League for the first time in the season to watch my late-brother’s favorite English team, Arsenal, be utterly disappointing. Meanwhile, may a return to the normal work week mean I may not forget another Freedom Kicks in a while. Something, something, new year’s resolution…. To the kicks!
D.C. United close to naming Troy Lesesne their next head coach: Sources (The Athletic): I generally subscribe to being a petty fan that enjoys the displeasure of the New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls are not happy with Lesesne leaving, so I am happy if he comes here. Should Mr. Lesesne come to D.C., I will also be required to focus on spelling his name right on a regular basis. Lesense… Lesesnesnesnesne….
An aware catch by Brendan Cartwright in yesterday’s Kicks, Lesesne is heading into the 2024 season with an unusual red card, so he may require some assistance coaching the season opener (now in less than two months, February 24 against New England).
A Lesesne hire would be in line with a theory that Ally Mackay is looking to be a high-press team in 2024. *Losada MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE PTSD intesifies*
After just 13 weeks, Rooney’s Birmingham City adventure is already over (Pro Soccer Wire): More from the latest available head coach that probably won’t be hired to fill D.C. United’s vacancy.
Buffon esclusivo: da Marotta a Spalletti, da Giuntoli a Vialli: “Il mio calcio” (Tuttosport.com): Translation: Gigi Buffon has opened the discussion at maybe making goals a little larger. He mentions goals per shots statistics from his day (10 goals per 50 shots) to today (3 goals per 50 shots) and the increasing presence of taller goalies. He didn’t go so far as to endorse larger goals, though that may just be some diplomacy in his interview. Larger goals would do two things: hurt current goalies statistically, thereby cementing my belief that Buffon is the greatest goalie of all time, and give D.C. United a chance to put some shots on target, so I’m not opposed….
For you Redditors out there, even with non-MLS trophy erasure, D.C. United still fares favorably in the xTrophy statistic:
Finally, a call-to-arms for all Marylanders (and any other crab-loving crest aficionados), there is a crest playoffs happening on Twitter X, and the Annapolis Blues are in the running.
That’s all for today. Show me your 2024 kicks in the comments!
My gut says Lesense would be a good hire. The PTSD from Losada is warranted, though. The high press has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, mostly for how it doesn’t work over the course of a whole season.
That being said, I feel like a tactically flexible coach can make it work. Whether Lesense is flexible or more dogmatic (i.e. Losada and Marsch) remains to be seen. Looking forward to DC soccer again!!!!!!!
I have prepared a meme for the duration of Lesesne’s tenure:
Ha ha can you tell I’m not used to it?
Believe me, I had a hard time with it for this Kicks!
My issue with Losada’s “Maximum Overdrive!!!” (and I’ll admit–I was initially a huge supporter of him–even before he was hired), is that he took what the NYRB and other teams play and raised it up from 10 to 11. And then had nothing behind it. Rooney had an astute comment that didn’t directly slam Losada but was still critical. He said when he initially arrived that high pressure is fine but you need to have structure when teams beat the high press (and they will some times). Or to put it another way, all high press systems are not the same. Some (like Maximum Overdrive!!!) say you press from the first second of the match until the final whistle, you always pressure. Some are based on game states (you press early or you press the backline and then retreat and get compact). Some are based on tactics (so you initiate the press when you see the ball played wide on the backline or when a poor pass leads to a bad first touch or when you see no clear triangle for the man with the ball to pass to.
OK, I’ve done some more research on Lesense. And I now feel this was an extremely good , excellent, smart, intelligent, savvy hire.
First, let’s go back to when Chris Armas got fired as NYRB coach. They had an interim coach. And that interim coach did quite well. His name was: Bradley Carnell. Yes, that same Bradley Carnell who did an incredible job with expansion side St. Louis. And NYRB’s braintrust then refused to give him the job and instead went to Europe for Gerhard Struber. I think this is an important prequel because it shows NYRB’s willingness to overlook a good interim because they want “rep.”
So why did interim coach Troy Lesense not get offered the job? The story appears to be that the NYRB braintrust is worried that the fanbase is losing interest, thinking they aren’t investing in the team–just developing youth that they then sell overseas (Miazga, Adams, etc.). So they made a big splash transfer this winter (from RB Austria) and hired another European coach (with their sporting director also being German). Lesense was never given serious consideration for the job–the team felt they needed a “big name” with Euro-chachet.
As for Lesense, what I have read (no first hand experience, only what others have said) is: he turned around a train wreck (a team that was in last place), the players loved playing for him, he showed tactical flexibility, his man management skills were lauded (though in fairness, that may have just been in comparison to what Struber didn’t offer).
A good question now is: who will Lesense bring in as assistants? And someone I’m positive he’ll add is Zach Prince. They were together with the Battery, with New Mexico United (his assistant there), then when Lesense was made interim (and Struber and his handpicked assistant were let go), Lesense brought in Prince. And Prince was fired when Lesense was–he was seen as “Troy’s guy.” Besides being Lesense’s replacement as head coach for New Mexico United and Lesense’s assistant there prior to Lesense leaving, he was also the coach of their academy team.
I like this hire. A lot!
*Taps the sign*
Some good digging and analysis!
I worry that with a new GM and coach with limited MLS experience in those roles, the looming spectre of Dave Kasper sees a chance to wield influence. (This is having me envision him like Palpatine, which is probably unfair.)
Kasper is a decent, polite person, definitely not like Palpatine. He may be stale and out of ideas as an MLS GM but he is a decent person who did his job to the best of his abilities in many challenging years. We should thank him for his service. He is probably ready to recharge his batteries before his next steps.
I second that. I never had a negative interaction with him. He rarely offered excuses to more robust inquisitions by the fanbase. His family is diplomatic and kind. He was visible and available in the club section and elsewhere.
In short, I never got a Palpatine vibe.
I doubt it. They can just drown him in organizational paperwork. Give him other things to do, essentially.
Good analysis, JoeW, and that’s the general vibe I got (not to your detail, of course) talking around about him. Lesesne is a solid risk hire.
I understand that Lesesne would probably be influenced by NYRB in his short time there but he was always a possession guy.
Here is a quote from his NMU days:
“A broad stroke is that we want to take initiative both in and out of possession,” Lesesne said. “We want to have possession, which a lot of teams strive for. We want to get into our positional play and sets to manipulate the opponent and find our pieces that are a little unorthodox. We combine that with the idea of efficiency; we don’t always create the most opportunities, but it results in some kind of ratio like 1.5 goals per six shots.”
I’m sure it will be like other people said and press during certain stages of the game, rather than pressing the whole game. I’d say most likely a high press as soon as the ball is in possession.
One cannot press one’s shirt all the time, it will get burned….
Rather, allow for more subtle wrinkles…..
(Diary of a Laundromat Soccer Junkie, available now on Amazon…)
Let’s assume that quote is still representative of his approach as a coach. Saying “we want to take initiative” usually means: yes, we’ll press to get the ball back. But when we defend we won’t be passive. Instead we’ll look for double-teams. Or we’ll force teams to play the ball away from players they want to have the ball. Or we’ll channel the attackers in to certain areas. When we have the ball we take initiative. When we don’t have possession we’ll dictate to the other team through our defensive tactics.
At least, that’s my take. And good job digging this quote up.
More important: Those two crests are terrific!!!!
Miles Robinson has signed with Cincinnati. Huge get for Cincy, who also has the reigning Defender of the Year in Matt Miazga and a young goalkeeper that’s gotten some USMNT camp invitations in Roman Celantano.
It seemed a very remote possibility that DC would make a play for Robinson, but they need a stud CB, and Ally Mackay came from Nashville, where they signed a domestic CB to a DP deal.
DC has a lot of potential in their center back corps right now in Akinmboni and Tubbs, and I even have some stupidly optimistic views around Lucas Bartlett and Hayden Sargis. But unless they somehow re-sign Donovan Pines, Steve Birnbaum is the only one with any experience. They need at least one Derrick-Williams-or-better signing there.
Donovan Pines is a Barnsley FC player now. They are currently 6th place in League One.
I think that Lesense is a good hire. He is tactically flexible and can adjust according to opponents and injuries. He took a dumpster fire of a Red Bulls team and made them very competitive with no personnel changes. He rolled out presses per Red Bulls philosophy but also had plans for them to regroup in another line if the initial press was broken.
He deserves three years to build something. I’m curious to see how he works with the GM.
I’m glad to see some sort of full rebuild. It’s been a long time since we had one of those.
Lesesne and Mackay are both signed for three years, so unless things go really bad, they’ll have that chance to take the ride together and build what they want to build. Mackay hasn’t been shy of clearing the roster of just about everybody he could. I’d imagine this will continue as contracts like Dajome and Rodriguez, and even Benteke or Klich expire, if he can’t move them faster.
Mackay has also made a couple of significant additions, like Aaron Herrera and most significanly Gabriel Pirani. They still have a third DP to add, and possibly two more U-22s, plus filling out the rest of the roster. Now Lesesne has a chance to have his say about what players he wants. Hopefully those two can work well together, and build something good. Cincinnati is showing just how far we have to go to catch up.
After today, I’ll toss away the spelling police badge.
No please continue.
I have very little to add about the potential new coach, admittedly have not and would not watch the Redbulls hoping to glean tactics or enjoyment. I doubt he’s Losada, I also don’t know if high pressing is as effective as being compact and countering when salary cap is so prominent- injuries and fatigue are common with the playstyle, and salary cap makes true depth hard to achieve. Maybe we’ll see some nuance and counter from deeper at times, only time will tell.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be busy practicing writing Les esne and deleting the middle space to form Lesesne several times.
Colorado has signed Zack Steffen. He’s not a DP. Hugo Lloris was gotten for $350,000. Miles Robinson was seeking a DP-level deal and didn’t get that at Cincinnati.
Front offices around the league are getting good talent at affordable prices. This is the level that Mackay needs to be hitting.
Question is, who CAN be lured to DC for a reasonable, non-DP salary? Cincy were likely able to get Robinson due to their trajectory (and a strange lack of interest from Europe for his services, perhaps?). I maintain DC has been overpaying for the island of misfit toys we currently have. Y’all should know by now I’m all for managing squad balance and depth by hunting value over marginal quality, and maybe Mackay is of the same mind, but I think we need to build a bit of a reputation as something other than an easy fleece in player negotiations
Agreed. Paying fees for Nigel Robertha, Martin Rodriguez, and possibly Gabriel Pirani hasn’t been working out. Mackay had mentioned salary negotiations as being a strength of his background as an agent. We’ll see what we do with the next DP signing and what other kinds of players we get.
Colorado loves getting national team goalkeepers, but if they can still get good talent there without needing to overpay, then we can get them here.
It looks like they’re about to sign Mihailovic too. That’s two huge pieces for them. Great MLS keeper with (for MLS) good distribution, and an excellent attacking player, both currently on the NT fringes.
Mihailovic WILL be a DP, which is a bit of a stretch. Their DP situation is pretty dire. But they need quality.