During the offseason, we heard Jason Kreis and Garth Lagerway pontificate that the team was trying to build a "culture of accountability". In fact part of the justification for bringing in Borchers and Kovalenko was that they were veteran players who would get in the face of the younger players and force them to be accountable. Well where is this accountability?
Who is being held accountable for the personnel?: Matias Cordoba was touted as our most important offseason acquisition. We were promised that Kenny Deuchar was going to score goals. Ian Joy was supposed to be a solid left back who would contribute on the offensive side as well. Our midfield was touted as very deep.
Who is being held accountable for the tactical decisions?: In my book tactical decisions have led to at least 2 and possibly 3 of our road losses. First, the debacle in Toronto which Kreis did own up to. Second, some questionable tactics and personnel against Colorado. Would we have still lost this one? Maybe. Finally the decision tonight to take out a very effective Olave and bring in Mantilla who has shown that he poorly marks opponents in the box, and does not have proper positioning. Meanwhile he does not make a change in the midfield where we have 3 exhausted players: Williams, Morales, and Beckerman. This led us to go from a 1 goal advantage with about 15 minutes left to a 2-1 loss. There is also the acknowledged tactical problem against Dallas at home which was not corrected until late in the first half. Fortunately that did not cost us. Where is the accountability?
How are the players being held accountable?: Dr. Goals: a supposed proven scorer who has not proven that he can score for us. Yet we trot him out there week after week. Is that holding him accountable? Ian Joy has been completely dreadful this season and his red card nearly cost us early on in this one tonight. Yet he gets opportunity after opportunity. Is that accountability? Mantilla was out of position on both goals scored tonight, marking absolutely nobody. Yet he keeps getting an opportunity. Where is the accountability?
When criticism was fired at the club for not demanding the playoffs, I was quick to their defense. When calls were made to fire Kreis last season and then again in the offseason, I was quick to the defense. When criticism was made that for all of the changes to the roster, we still weren't much better than in the past, I was in favor of letting these players prove themselves. When Garth Lagerway was counseling that we need to be patient in the first part of the season as the team needs "time to gel", I was willing to be patient. In fact, if you ask anyone who knows me they will tell you my greatest strength is patience. But patience needs to be balanced with courage. And now is the time to have courage. Now is the time to show that "the culture of accountability" wasn't just lip service. This applies to Checketts, Manning, Lagerway, Kreis and every player.
