Favouritism the Cancer of the Impact

[Grizzly]

The Montreal Impact are currently in disarray and playing as poorly as they ever have in franchise history, in their last game losing to the lowly Minnesota Thunder 3-0. I think it is time to address what I feel is the root problem of this lack of success on the field which is hiring people to run the team based on favouritism and personal relationships instead of merit and track record. While it is certainly admirable to hire people from within the organization and former players it is my strong impression that those being hired are the ones who have a good personal relationship with ownership and management as opposed to those who deserve such a chance. When such people are hired they need to have a long apprenticeship with consistent results as opposed to being given the reigns of the top team prematurely.

The level of the USL and Voyageurs's Cup has improved rapidly over the last several years. As it improves it is necessary that the level of professionalism and ability within the club also improves. While in the past it was adequate to run the team as a minor league, family operation, it is now necessary to run it in a more professional manner similar to teams like the Montreal Canadiens.

Having watched the Impact regularly over several years, I have never been very impressed by the coaching abilities of our current manager, Nick De Santis. I have nothing against him personally and certainly one must respect what he achieved as a player with the Impact. While he did win the USL championship and overall had a good coaching record one has to remember that the level of the USL at this time was very poor and the Impact were one of a small number of teams who dominated the league with far larger budgets than the rest of the teams. Indeed given the budgetary advantage we had over other teams we should have won the championship more often. The defensive style favoured by De Santis and Bob Lilley before him proved effective in the regular season but was not appropriate for a league in which the championship is decided by playoffs and not the regular season results. The style of play that produced 1-0 victories in the regular season was very susceptible to upset results in playoff series. Since 1995 we have won the regular season 5 times yet have only won the championship once.

Moreover, I have never seen evidence that De Santis is a good evaluator of talent. The most glaring example of this is that of Andre Hainault who mostly played as a sub or injury replacement for the Impact. Despite his young age whenever he was on the pitch he always seemed to be our best defender yet was not a starter for the Impact. The following year he signed with a better team, Most, in a better league, the Czech first division, and not only became a starter but was voted the best foreign player in the league. In subsequent years he has played for the renowned team Sparta Prague, become a Canadian national team player and now is a starter for Houston Dynamo, the best team in MLS. This is one of numerous examples where talented players were released by the Impact while less talented players were retained. More recently is the case of Antonio Ribiero who received little playing time on the Impact and was not re-signed this year but has become a starter in the MLS for San Jose. This year we have also seen the signing of several players by De Santis who have not shown they have the ability to play in the USL. Despite our Champions League success we should have been upgrading our team like Puerto Rico did but instead have a weaker team than last year.

As the level of play of the USL improved the deficiencies in Nick De Santis' coaching abilities became more apparent. Last season we started off with a 2 win, 6 losses and 2 ties record under him which led to many calls for his dismissal. Remarkably, instead of being fired he was promoted to manager, a position he was even less qualified to perform than coach. The hiring of John Limniatis turned our season around and we made a remarkable Champions League run to the quarter finals. This was arguably our most successful season ever in team history. Yet after a poor start to this season, Limniatis was inexplicably fired after 5 games by Nick De Santis (the same guy who was allowed 10 games the year before), a move which shocked the entire Canadian soccer community. Despite (or possibly because of) a number of easier teams coming up in the schedule, Limniatis was never given the chance to turn around the team and was fired prematurely. It is my strong suspicion that the reasons for this were not the team record and that was merely the excuse for firing someone who was more competent than other members of management and who didn't always do what these members wanted.

Replacing Limniatis was Marc Dos Santos, a very young and inexperienced coach. Since then we have played quite poorly and are no longer even in a playoff spot despite playing in an 11 team league in which 3 teams are non-competitive. Under Limniatis the team played an organized system while now there is a complete lack of tactics. Moreover, it seems like Dos Santos has lost control of his players and the team suffers from major discipline problems and internal strife. While Dos Santos has studied coaching extensively and may one day be a good coach I do not feel he was at all ready to take over as head coach. Certainly the low point of my following the Impact has to be our 6-1 embarrassment to TFC at home which allowed them to win the Voyageurs Cup in our stadium despite needing to beat us by 4 goals. Dos Santos announced before the game that he was not going to field our best lineup and indeed played a very poor lineup featuring reserve team players. While we had a USL game two days later this is no excuse for humiliating our team and fans. Our president apologized on national tv for this result. Indeed I think this loss has negatively affected our player mentality and is part of the reason for the current poor play. Although he is a likeable guy, as a fan I have a hard time respecting him after this and I can well imagine that many players feel likewise. Nor have his post-game comments where he has insulted fans and sometimes talked about inappropriate subjects such as God improved my opinion. Subsequently we have lost to Portland 4-0 and this week 3-0 to lowly Minnesota who have only won one other game this year.

The game against Minnesota also featured two incidents that reveal what is wrong with the team. After falling behind 2-0 Adam Braz threw a ball at a Minnesota player and received a yellow card followed by Nevio Pizzolitto arguing with the ref so vehemently that he received a red card. However, it is also clear from the video that immediately before this occured Marc Dos Santos was yelling at the ref and was being continually told by the fourth official to calm down and remain in the technical area. I think it was not a coincidence that we had an out of control and indisciplined coach at the same time we had out of control and indisciplined players. The second incident involved an on-field fight between Impact players Sandro Grande and Mauro Biello. Again it is probably not coincidental that at the same time the video shows the fourth official at the Impact bench again because the players are complaining about a reffing decision.

With the team reaction to this incident, one once again has the impression of favouritism. While Sandro Grande's physical assault on Biello obviously deserved a suspension, it seems unjust that Biello has so far not received any penalty. After Grande received a very difficult clearance for him to control he made a desperation pass to Biello which was also difficult for Biello to receive and he lost the ball and a scoring chance ensued. While the pass was difficult to receive it was no excuse for Biello's aggressive and profanity filled yelling at Grande that was not befitting of a team captain and leader (can be heard around minute 57 of the game in the USLlive broadcast). Grande should not have grabbed Biello and deserves the more severe punishment of the two but Biello instigated the incident and also deserves to be punished whether or not he is the captain and long time member of the team and related to Nick De Santis. Failure to do so will once again give the impression of favouritism and one rule for certain team members and another rule for others. I also need to mention that this scoring chance developed very quickly because Minnesota was able to send a long pass into the offensive corner. Since Dos Santos has taken over the team our defenders have played very narrow and not defended this area of the field allowing teams to launch an attack with one or two passes. TFC exploited this weakness continually in their 6-1 victory.

Professional sports is about results not personal relationships. It is time that those people in charge of the Impact's result take responsibility for these results. It is also time that those members of Impact management who hire the manager and coach, do so based on ability not personal relationships. On the one hand Nick De Santis should have done a better job of hiring players who would improve the team's level of play. On the other hand, even with the players we have I am convinced we should be doing better than we are under Marc Dos Santos. While Limniatis was fired prematurely it would probably not be beneficial to bring him back at this point. We need to have a new beginning and we need it as soon as possible in order to save our season and successfully build for a future that will hopefully include MLS. De Santis and the entire coaching staff need to be let go. The Impact need to hire a new manager and coach with no previous ties to the team, that is well qualified and has a consistent record of success. These people then have to be given free reign to manage the team as they want and should be judged on their results not on their personal relationship with team management.

[Keano]

Well said. The Limniatis firing has never looked more suspect and continues to become more and more inexplicable with every horrid performance.

[mtlfan]

You've hit the nail on the head.

NDS and MDS have no future with this team.

Saputo has been very loyal to them but he has to realize they have no future with a club that aspires to join the MLS.

Perhaps after the Bordeaux and River Plate games Saputo will pull the plug.

[Trillium]

I certainly think Limo was a better coach then the current gipper, what is concerning to me is Grande is in my opinion the engine that makes the Impact go.

The coach and GM need to go, new staff brought in and new era to begin.

[Calgary Boomer]

Couldn't have happened to a better team.

Ultimately then, what Grizz is saying is...Joey Saputo is the person responsible. He decided to adopt Nick DeSantis, who would never land a USL job (or lower) otherwise. Nepotism (and let's be honest...it's as good as a family) doesn't work in pro-sports.

At this stage though...with MLS looming...blowing it up now doesn't make sense because they'll want to distinguish the product from its current incarnation in 2011 anyway.

[jimmynow]

they'll have to blow it up for MLS anyways. that notion going around that Montreal could just keep its core and supplement with a few players, is wrong. To be reasonably good in MLS you need to bring in lots of better-than-USL talent. Seattle barely has a hint of the USL on its team. Toronto experimented with some USL players in 2007 and it was a failure. So Montreal better get it in mind that they have to blow it up at some point after the MLS decision comes down.

it's also been shown that coaches and GMs who have no MLS experience don't fare well in MLS, with all its arcane rules.. it's a very different league than the USL in terms of how you assess players and what constitutes "value". Chivas realized that after they went with mostly Mexicans in season 1 and stuck the joint out.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

Good post Grizzly. I imagine it has been brewing for a while, good of you to lay it all out like that though.

All teams get a margin of error, and it is not surprising that they would have this major let down after the intensity of the Concachampions run. They started the season way to early as well, it is hard to get motivation up. There are a lot of factors, but none that could not be managed.

Seems to me that they have to start usual subs and let those not getting time prove themselves, in spite of the V-Cup debacle, as it is the only way to force the veterans to think about things and try to build a positively competitive atmosphere. But if the manager is not up to the challenge, I agree they should change faces.

Whitecaps is a totally different situation. We got rid of a lot of players from last season, we have a lot of youth, the team is just inconsistent. Our results are also mediocre, but at least we beat a crap team like Minnesota. We should get more solid in the next few weeks, but if we don't, a building year thinking about MLS with some teens and rookies out there is fine by me.

[Footpassion]

Don't dream about Limniatis... He was a good U13 coach... That's it!

He never worked for Impact success, he was the one who almost fought with supporters, he was the one who would choke on the bench tactic wise.

Stop dreaming!!!

[Daniel]

The post will also be available on Amazon.ca .

[Mr.Impact]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Good post Grizzly. I imagine it has been brewing for a while, good of you to lay it all out like that though.

All teams get a margin of error, and it is not surprising that they would have this major let down after the intensity of the Concachampions run. They started the season way to early as well, it is hard to get motivation up. There are a lot of factors, but none that could not be managed.

Seems to me that they have to start usual subs and let those not getting time prove themselves, in spite of the V-Cup debacle, as it is the only way to force the veterans to think about things and try to build a positively competitive atmosphere. But if the manager is not up to the challenge, I agree they should change faces.

Whitecaps is a totally different situation. We got rid of a lot of players from last season, we have a lot of youth, the team is just inconsistent. Our results are also mediocre, but at least we beat a crap team like Minnesota. We should get more solid in the next few weeks, but if we don't, a building year thinking about MLS with some teens and rookies out there is fine by me.

Spot on !!!

Dos Santos has announced that he will be benching Veterans such as Matt Jordan, Rocco Placentino, Eddy Sebrango and others for Wednesday match with Ro****ster.

Meanwhile, Sandro Grande hasn't heard from the Impact as to the length of his suspension. It's seems like the club is awaiting the return from vacation of Joey Saputo to finalize the details.

Canadian Press also reports that Sandro Grande believes that the team is suffering from accumulated fatigue from their Concacaf run, and haven't had the time to recuperate given their hectic schedule. He also goes on to mention that it has effected the whole team, and it would be difficult to name an MVP for this team. Every player has played poorly at one time or another during the season. Now if only someone in the orginization could only come up with a solution to this situation.

http://www.rds.ca/impact/chroniques/278471.html

[Cheeta]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Good post Grizzly. I imagine it has been brewing for a while, good of you to lay it all out like that though.

All teams get a margin of error, and it is not surprising that they would have this major let down after the intensity of the Concachampions run. They started the season way to early as well, it is hard to get motivation up. There are a lot of factors, but none that could not be managed.

Seems to me that they have to start usual subs and let those not getting time prove themselves, in spite of the V-Cup debacle, as it is the only way to force the veterans to think about things and try to build a positively competitive atmosphere. But if the manager is not up to the challenge, I agree they should change faces.

Whitecaps is a totally different situation. We got rid of a lot of players from last season, we have a lot of youth, the team is just inconsistent. Our results are also mediocre, but at least we beat a crap team like Minnesota. We should get more solid in the next few weeks, but if we don't, a building year thinking about MLS with some teens and rookies out there is fine by me.

Hmmmm...

Interesting.

[Trident]

quote:Originally posted by jimmynow

they'll have to blow it up for MLS anyways. that notion going around that Montreal could just keep its core and supplement with a few players, is wrong. To be reasonably good in MLS you need to bring in lots of better-than-USL talent. Seattle barely has a hint of the USL on its team. Toronto experimented with some USL players in 2007 and it was a failure. So Montreal better get it in mind that they have to blow it up at some point after the MLS decision comes down.

I don't think TFC is an example of a "promotion" entry to MLS.

All this season makes me doubt whether or not we'd only have to supplement...but DiLo,Pesoli,Jordan(in form),Grande(in form),Zanzan all look like they would do well in MLS.

At the start of this season, I would believe 100% we'd only need to drop the Sakuda's and Biello's, and add some higher quality players, now, I'm only 50% sure.

[redhat]

quote:Originally posted by Mr.Impact

Canadian Press also reports that Sandro Grande believes that the team is suffering from accumulated fatigue from their Concacaf run, and haven't had the time to recuperate given their hectic schedule.

He also goes on to mention that it has effected the whole team, and it would be difficult to name an MVP for this team.

It's been a very disappointing season for Montreal, but I think

Sandro confirmed it all. Since when did a player like Grande

over-react like he did?

It's time for management to make those coaches resign, then

re-evaluate, and rebuild this past-championship team.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Jeffrey S.

Good post Grizzly. I imagine it has been brewing for a while, good of you to lay it all out like that though.

All teams get a margin of error, and it is not surprising that they would have this major let down after the intensity of the Concachampions run. They started the season way to early as well, it is hard to get motivation up. There are a lot of factors, but none that could not be managed.

Seems to me that they have to start usual subs and let those not getting time prove themselves, in spite of the V-Cup debacle, as it is the only way to force the veterans to think about things and try to build a positively competitive atmosphere. But if the manager is not up to the challenge, I agree they should change faces.

Whitecaps is a totally different situation. We got rid of a lot of players from last season, we have a lot of youth, the team is just inconsistent. Our results are also mediocre, but at least we beat a crap team like Minnesota. We should get more solid in the next few weeks, but if we don't, a building year thinking about MLS with some teens and rookies out there is fine by me.

It looks like your friend Djekanovic will have his big chance tomorrow in getting a start over Jordan. However, I have to say he has been one of the most disappointing of our new signings this year. He has played extremely poorly and so far I have not had the impression that he has the talent to play in the USL. He has a terrible time with corners and crosses and seems to have a lot of difficulty holding on to the ball securely. On the other hand Jordan seems to have lost his confidence and had a real stinker of a game on Saturday, being at fault for the first two goals. If Djekanovi#263; is going to prove that he has a future on this team, tomorrow night will be the time to do it. If you are interested you can see for yourself how he does as USLlive.com will carry it and the 7 pm EDT starting time means it starts at a semi-reasonable time in Spain.

[SthMelbRed]

^Didn't he have his big chance on June 18th, a chance he turned into the Voyageurs' Cup on a silver platter for the TFC?

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by SthMelbRed

^Didn't he have his big chance on June 18th, a chance he turned into the Voyageurs' Cup on a silver platter for the TFC?

Yes, you could call the game against TFC his big chance. Possibly this game would be better termed his last chance though as you can see with what I wrote about the Impact, it is really hard to tell when someone has had his last chance with the team. With Limniatis his last chance came far to early while many others have hung on far too long without playing well or getting results.

[Calgary Boomer]

quote:

Dos Santos has announced that he will be benching Veterans such as Matt Jordan, Rocco Placentino, Eddy Sebrango and others for Wednesday match with Ro****ster.

That's the perfect solution. Piss off the most important players you have, get shellacked again, build resentment and apathy.

[Keano]

http://www.rds.ca/impact/chroniques/278463.html

Lotta starters benched, also several still injured. Called up Elkana Mayard.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Keano

http://www.rds.ca/impact/chroniques/278463.html

Lotta starters benched, also several still injured. Called up Elkana Mayard.

You have to love Dos Santos stating that they are trying to take advantage one of the Rhinos best defenders, Brent Sancho, being suspended for this match. I can think of no better way to take advantage of that than sitting your best players especially when two of your best players are suspended.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Keano

http://www.rds.ca/impact/chroniques/278463.html

Lotta starters benched, also several still injured. Called up Elkana Mayard.

You have to love Dos Santos stating that they are trying to take advantage one of the Rhinos best defenders, Brent Sancho, being suspended for this match. I can think of no better way to take advantage of that than sitting your best players especially when two of your best players are suspended.

[Keano]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

You have to love Dos Santos stating that they are trying to take advantage one of the Rhinos best defenders, Brent Sancho, being suspended for this match. I can think of no better way to take advantage of that than sitting your best players especially when two of your best players are suspended.

Yeah not playing Placentino will really worry them back there.

[Guest Jeffery S.]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

It looks like your friend Djekanovic will have his big chance tomorrow in getting a start over Jordan. However, I have to say he has been one of the most disappointing of our new signings this year. He has played extremely poorly and so far I have not had the impression that he has the talent to play in the USL. He has a terrible time with corners and crosses and seems to have a lot of difficulty holding on to the ball securely. On the other hand Jordan seems to have lost his confidence and had a real stinker of a game on Saturday, being at fault for the first two goals. If Djekanovi#263; is going to prove that he has a future on this team, tomorrow night will be the time to do it. If you are interested you can see for yourself how he does as USLlive.com will carry it and the 7 pm EDT starting time means it starts at a semi-reasonable time in Spain.

I'm in Vancouver now, took my kid and his cousins to Ice Age 3D where I got a much deserved nap.

Let's see about Srdjan. Two official league games for the Impact, two shutouts. Two friendlies, one a shutout with 9 shots against, the other a 2-1 win over Syria with the goal against an own goal.

The only bad game was the one we all know, where the whole team fell apart and Serge did not help. But the stats apart from that should not be creating doubts. He still has the best GA stats of any TFC keeper and he was as good statistically as any other Caps keeper when he was there.

So as I see it this crap about perception is meaningless, there are keepers who look cool and seem good but do badly, and others who may not inspire the supposed experts but get the results. I know this as my team in Spain has the most uncool keeper around, not rated by anyone, but with the best stats in the country.

So it depends if Impact want to give him the confidence and whether he will reciprocate the way they need.

[Grizzly]

I am sorry it was a weird game but for me Srdjan is a bad semi-pro keeper. For most of the game he didn't get much action but finally there was an attacker coming in who was fouled outside the box by an Impact player. The ref blew the whistle but everyone kept playing. The attacker came in alone but there was a very easy play to dive for the ball yet Srdjan decided to tackle the player NFL style instead of going for the ball. Normally this should have been a red card and a penalty but the ref had already blown the whistle. Then just when you thought Srdjan was the worst keeper you have ever seen he makes 2 great saves in the last minutes of extra time to save the tie. Nevertheless, I still have doubts whether Srdjan is good enough to play in the USL. He seems to make a lot of bad decisions.

Note to self: Don't post when drunk!

[Daniel]

Wow, Grizz, take off those rose-coloured glasses! [)]

[Free kick]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

I am sorry it was a weird game but for me Srdjan is a bad semi-pro keeper. For most of the game he didn't get much action but finally there was an attacker coming in who was fouled outside the box by an Impact player. The ref blew the whistle but everyone kept playing. The attacker came in alone but there was a very easy play to dive for the ball yet Srdjan decided to tackle the player NFL style instead of going for the ball. Normally this should have been a red card and a penalty but the ref had already blown the whistle. Then just when you thought Srdjan was the worst keeper you have ever seen he makes 2 great saves in the last minutes of extra time to save the tie. Nevertheless, I still have doubts whether Srdjan is good enough to play in the USL. He seems to make a lot of bad decisions.

Note to self: Don't post when drunk!

Problem with him has always been the balls in the air ( ie.: crosses and Corner kicks). But never really noted a major problem in him as a shot stopper.