Jloome,
I read the name Mo. and that ruined my day. Thanks.
Marko
Jloome,
I read the name Mo. and that ruined my day. Thanks.
Marko
I'm not sure Armas knows the answer these two paragraphs pose
Pretty sure Poz & Oso do.
Just not sure Armas does.
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/TiotalFootball/status/1404638134718042113
Another tool to judge a coach by
actually, useful no matter what to understand the game as its played
Check out this tweet at https://twitter.com/CarlonCarpenter/status/1405647826537914368
I though WTR had a sharp take on the presser today.
https://www.wakingthered.com/2021/6/17/22538907/no-news-is-good-news-not-in-that-press-conference
I study neuroscience developments as a hobby due to being on two spectrums, and our collective perspective as a race on maturity and intellect is going to change dramatically over the next few decades. (Bare with me on this it gets back to the footie point at hand)
A lot of competitive overachievers fit the pattern of neurological development common to people with mild ADHD. Their emotional arrest or delays in development -- which can be really significant, effectively giving them the emotional depth of children -- are offset by intellectual and hyperfocus gifts.
They overachieve young, but as they age, the limitations of their mindset and a lack of neurochemistry allowing self-protective thoughts and acceptance leads to constantly trying to protect their own egos from criticism.
They build an inability to work with others due to emotional insecurity -- often suppressed by hyper exaggeration and narcissism -- and when they rise to their ultimate incompetency level (the famed 'Peter Principle') they cannot accept blame and instead double down.
A neuroscientist stressed to me it's not just an ADHD issue, although the higher community prevalence of pre-frontal cortex retardation or malformation than we previously understood suggests spectrum conditions are major players. You see the same behavior in wealthy people who ignore their children, leading to arrested development and a repetition of emotional shortcomings the parents already exhibit.
In other words, it's nature and nurture leading to people who are exceptional... to a point, then fall of a cliff. The telling difference is always how they try to cling to their sense of self by clinging to power.
Ask yourself why a guy like Mo Johnston, with all the pedigree, experience and connections in the world, had to behave like such a conniving little weasel for his entire career?
Because he's a bad person? Too easy. I know people who got to know him well in his personal life in Toronto and loved the guy.... outside of his TFC role.
Immature people can be a ton of fun. They're often confident, gregarious. Really, they're mildly anti-social, terrified of being found out as some kind of fraud and lacking the right emotional bonds.
It's as if the neuroplastic brain is trying to overcompensate for suppressed level dopamine, oxcytocin and norepinephrine production, and the subsequent mood effect, by finding one or a handful of things they're very good at and fixating on them.
Eventually, they have to also deal with mental health side effects such as depression and anxiety.
At its most benign, I think you end up with corporate situations like the one we now face. Three former pro players who simply never made the top of their sport despite being top prospects, unable to see that the level they are working at is far beyond their actual level of expertise, unable to make the changes or rely on others unless they're "trustees" tribally, people who will have their backs even when they can't produce evidence it's warranted.
Ali was a MAc Hermann winner, the best college striker in the U.S. He flamed out at MLS as a player and has been, at best, mediocre at every role since. And yet is still there, twenty years later. Ditto with Bill, really. Armas was a better player than both but there's no indication, from his recent parade of excuses and his arrogance towards the media, that he has the emotional maturity for the role.
And I know whereof I speak; I was one of the youngest city editors in the history of Canada's big city papers... but emotionally, I was half my age, at best, in terms of development. Until I got treatment a few years ago, I could be an enormous overachiever and hard worker... but also the most arrogant pain-in-the-ass you ever met, often thinking FAR more of my abilities compared to the broader marketplace than I actually possessed.
I may be wrong, but I"ve been studying ADHD and its impacts for several years now, and I suspect none of these guys is emotionally self-aware enough or mature enough to do these jobs well.
In the pre-season, I took some (perhaps deserved) stick on this board for saying Armas immediately struck me as the wrong temperament for the job. I don't think he has done anything to dissuade us of that.
Some of us aren't meant to be leaders. We have other shit we can offer, but multi-tasking and controlled optimization is not among our skill sets.
I will gladly be proven wrong on this, but if I'm right, none of these guys will be here in two to three years, tops. They just won't have the humility to find the right people to pull out of it. They may go for outside expertise, they may hedge their bets... but they'll pick the Earls and Pauls of the world, people who will stroke their ego, not the most competent professionals.
Rant done.
Interesting jloome...thanks for that.
On another note, I can't stand Nesker - just rubs me the wrong way every single time I try to listen or read what he has said.
I will point out that something like this is highly speculative and sort of unfair … these deficiencies are rampant in the ranks of successful people, most of whom underrate the role of luck in their lives…. but long ago jloome nailed Earl Cochrane with a similar analysis early on in Cochrane's stint here, and I remember thinking later about how bang on that had been
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Yeah, I should clarify that I'm purely speculating on causation; they might just be immature relative to their deficiencies, and that can be entirely based on a perception of never failing.
Reading people is easier when you're autistic because there's little to no emotion in the read, just a reference to the behavior of others. But even if I have the behavior right, there are myriad rationales for why people behave the way they do.
I've met politicians who were as stubborn as anyone with ADHD but were able to admit that ideological belief impacted them in the same way as self-confidence; the assurance they got from familiarity was essential to them.
When Randy White was the Reform Party's federal justice critic, I grilled him about opposing an end to the 'war on drugs', citing the evidence in a 530-odd page senate white paper, which gathered years of evidence.
"I haven't even read it," he admitted. "I probably won't. The fact is, when you hold to a certain view for a long time, you get set in your ways," he said.
And that guy was supposed to be leading the nation.
Often, having clarity about human behavior merely reminds one of one's own fairly massive intellectual limitations, and mine are considerable sometimes.
They have got the Jozy situation horribly wrong and backed themselves into a corner, with no way out save another club rescuing them. They didn’t have to do this - they could, for example, have disciplined him and tried to move him while including him in the team after the discipline. They are not dealing with Gregory Van der Weil (a relatively new player) and an established title winning manager, they are dealing with a club legend and a new manager with a poor record thus far. They needed to leave themselves room to maneuver and didn’t, right from the off. On top of that, Jozy, when fit, is still far and away our best striker. And he is fit.
Here is the bigger thing, I still believe we needed to play more direct and therefor Vanney needed to adapt or we needed a change. With that said, I think if we had no manager we would have had a better record, than we do right now.
We will turn this around, we have too much talent. How much is the coach in this process or how much is that we have the highest payroll.
Infact, I believe this further article posted in The Athletic yesterday, which seems to be quite in depth regarding their issues, will at least answer to some of your points/questions.
Especially in the headers "Style of Play" and "Struggles in Defence"
https://theathletic.com/2660349/2021...c-chris-armas/
As always, subscription required
Also, FWIW - here are the last three paragraphs of this article:
Curtis defended Armas on Monday: “We support Chris. He’s a good coach. He’s an excellent person. He puts everything he has into the team.”
And aside from Altidore, the locker room seems to have Armas’ back. That’s why Pozuelo responded the way he did when asked about the mood in the locker room. And it’s why Morrow praised Armas’s honesty when asked about his manager.
“He’ll always tell it how it is and to your face,” Morrow said. “Those are things that a player loves because they don’t like to be lied to.”
Fair to say that Armas has not lost the room.
Just lost too many games....next 3 games are the test.
Nah, I remember Nelsen - that guy lost the room. Guys seems to be liking Armas & the approach. Confused on how to play it is another matter. I think Armas ain't gonna make it through the season but the room ain't the reason why.
Players have a different lens then we do.
Too early to have lost the room. But players will be questioning things. That’s article is damning about pre season, use of youth, etc etc. Absolutely damning. And in a subtle way he calls out his players. Kinda early for that Chris.
Last edited by MightyDM; 06-19-2021 at 07:54 PM.
Still think players are questioning his decisions. At least his line up was better.
Last edited by Ultra & Proud; 06-19-2021 at 09:39 PM.
We just have the wrong pieces for the system.
He had to play Oso wide to get him and Bradley and Delgado on the field at the same time. If he wants Laryea, Auro, Lawrence and Osorio on the pitch at the same time, someone has to play out of position in the 433.
I mean barring something radical, that’s a problem no matter what formation we play. We know from last season that either Osorio or Bradley is best when paired with Delgado (who was exceptional the other night despite our shit defence) in the middle.
But I think a “players coach” will try and maintain that bond with a “best eleven ,positions don’t matter” approach. What we clearly need is:
a) defensive reinforcements.
b) a clear starting keeper
c) a player rotation system, which allows more positional tactical flexibility anyhow. What’s the point being multi players deep at some positions but not taking advantage of it tactically?
followed by d) only press on deep rcovery. When we lose the ball in their end we press to reestablish control. Any more than that ignores our players’ strengths as a technical team and exacerbates our shortcomings.