Coaching a Great Club

I've been thinking back to our loss to the last place team last Saturday. There's an old sports adage that says that players are responsible for victories while coaches are responsible for losses. Thus, as with any loss, some lay the blame of the RSL loss at the feet of Dom. To his credit, Dom, himself, took complete responsibility for the loss in his post-match interview.

For my part, I'm pretty pleased with the coaching philosophy displayed by Dom on Saturday. Tired though the team was, and playing away at semi-altitude, he still adopted an offensive game. Even in the second half, when a draw looked likely, he made attack-oriented substitutions with Jaqua and Ashe. This attitude is a credit to Dom and to the team. It shows that we are not like the Revolution and other MLS teams that sit back hoping for a counter and pleased with a tie. Too many MLS teams rely on that negative strategy, which may generate results, but it repulses fans; It's not the beautiful game, it's parasitic poaching.

(Read some excellent thoughts along the same vein by an RSL supporter here. "Playing for the win was the act of a true Champion. While it failed to pay off last night...in the long run this attitude is what separates the great clubs from all the rest.")

Yes, the lads were tired (and rightfully so) on Saturday. They've had a front-loaded campaign that began earlier (and with more intensity) than their MLS counterparts due to the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and recent SuperLiga matches have drained the legs further. Everyone (media, coach, and players) have observed the fatigue factor, while also stating that they don't want to use it as an excuse. (But still they mention it.) For this reason, I think that if Dom made a mistake, it wasn't that he kept his usual attacking strategy; that is the mark of a coach for a "great club." If he made a mistake, it was that he didn't go outside his "First XI" on Saturday.

One of the questions about the Dynamo -- the team's depth -- has become one the strengths of the Dynamo, as witnessed by the great run that started with the absence of DeRo, Ching, Clark, and Onstad. Given this fact, Dom could have rested a lot of his starters and relied on the support crew on Saturday. This would give his First 11 the rest that they need, and would provide valuable experience to the backups. If necessary, some of the first teamers could have come in as subs when they'd be able to face tired opponents.

By playing his starting 11, Dom showed his intent to treat every MLS game as meaningful, but he may have missed an opportunity to give his reserves some valuable experience, and may have jeopardized our readiness for Pachuca next week as Dynamo-H continues its quest for a million bucks.

All this is easy to say after the fact, of course. Had Dom played a B-team on Saturday, and had we lost, there'd be questions about his choice to jeopardize our MLS standings. There's also the question of how deep in the Reserves should Dom have gone to give his Starting 11 a rest. The whole team was tired. It's not unusual to see our forwards or middies exhausted by the end of a match, but when our indefatigable defenders are flagging, you know the fatigue is chronic. Do we have enough Reserves to fill all three levels on the field? And how deep should Dom have gone? Should he have given our greenest guys (e.g. Chabala, Hayden, and Ustruck) a shot? We have some good choices for the front line (Dalglish and Wondo) who weren't used, but injuries and DeRo's absence have diminished our options at Midfield. In the back line, the argument could have been made that Ianni should have played more to spell one of the other defenders, but Ianni is actually just as likely to start one of the next few matches as, say, Cochrane, so resting Ianni wouldn't hurt us.

And there's also the fact that we had a Reserve game the next day versus RSL, so anyone who was rested on Saturday would probably have had to play on Sunday anyway. Given this, Dom elected to play his A-team in the match that mattered. At least he rested DeRo for the whole weekend (RSL played Andy Williams for the entirety of the Reserve match).

I guess the only sure thing to say is that Dom showed that he operates with the coaching philosophy of a top-tier manager. While it sure would have been nice if we could have magically rested our players, it seems only the forwards had obvious substitutes waiting in the wings.

And coming up: a match at altitude versus Colorado. This match will have a bigger impact on our readiness for Pachuca. With the SuperLiga semifinals a few days away, how will Dom approach Colorado? Will our desire to avenge the CONCACAF series with Pachuca make Colorado yet another weak team (alongside Chicago, Toronto, and RSL) to get a result against the Orange? These are great questions that we can only see, unfortunately, on HDNet this weekend. I guess I've got to find a sportsbar with HDNet...

Go 'Mo!