[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by Stanley Nickels

Vermes really needs to be gone. Questionable roster, no substitutions, poor time management. The goalie NEEDS to be pulled by 90'

I think so too. Maybe keep him as director of growth for the club/organization but get someone else to handle actual coaching. It's clear that he is great at building a team for the regular season. Win a shit ton of low scoring games while playing solid defense. That recipe is an utter failure in the playoffs where it's basically a two game shootout format.

He is not good at preparing his team for two different and important aspects of playoff time. The long lay off. Every time we had one we came out flat the first game back. The team that showed up in Houston was horrible, flat, disorganized and uninspired. You saw some of that last night where there was a real lull before Seth pulled everyone back from the abyss. Vermes' teams have a tendency to under perform in the playoff/clutch situations. USOC was a nice exception but one that was deeply reliant on REFEREE assistance and Seattle's implosion during the PKs. Two things you cannot bank on in big games. We are built for excelling in the regular season.

The second is showing up consistently for a big game. Say what you will about Bruce Arena but his team shows up when they need to and get the job done. He's the anti-Vermes. His teams might play just good enough to get into the playoffs but once there they ratchet up a notch or three and show what expert coaching and high caliber players can do. For all of LAs drama and divadom the experience they have on the field makes for confident, directed, focused, and high level play. They are built for championships. They need only play well enough to get a shot at making the playoffs.

I do think it's interesting and unfortunate for the MLS that BOTH conference champions are out in the first round under similar circumstances. Though SJ imploded at home and laid an egg similar to how SKC played on Sunday. At least SKC won the game last night winning the battle but losing the war. They showed up and played their hearts out and fell just short. Maybe they will take a look at the playoff format. I am not for Americanizing the game but in this instance where your first place finish ends up being a deterrent to getting to the next round is something that will not fly long term.

Hopefully it's not a devastating loss for this young team. They are close. They face losing some key players. I hope that they start looking off the field at the structure of the team to see if there are some changes that need to be made as well. Another era of Marty will be testing and exhausting for a new generation of fans.