Why the Red Bulls need a regime change now

The usually perceptive Ives Galarcep apparently has a blind spot when it comes to Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Time and again he has defended the coach, for unsatisfactory reasons each time. The CounterAttack wanted Osorio to succeed, to believe that the 2008 Cup final was no fluke. He also seems a genuinely nice man. 

In a recent article, Ives accepts for the first time that Osorio may need to go but still hedges, deflecting attention from the coach towards the rot that has set in Jersey. So let's look at his points and gauge their validity:

1) He asks where Juan Pablo Angel has gone. The answer - he's right there, made invisible by the lack of service that is his game, and by the fact that Osorio has replaced him as the focus of the attack. Yes JPA has missed several gilt-edged chances this season but without being an apologist, he has many more times gotten himself into position, only to be let down by crosses that fail to reach him or passes made to where he was. One has to wonder - what does Osorio have them doing in training. Your best attacking player has to be the focal point, and knowing his preferences is one way to make that happen. Score: Osorio fail for not building tactics around JPA.

2) He says it's tie for a new keeper. Yup. It was clear two years ago that Conway wasn't the answer (playoff game ball through the legs, anyone?), and although Cepero was brilliant in the playoffs last year, the shine wore off a bit in the final. When Cepero has played, he has proven a liability in handling crosses. It's not unique to Danny, it's a problem for most young keepers. It takes years to understand how to handle play. Not sure Bouna Coundoul is the answer but at least he has experience. Score: this falls under the auspices of the GM, so fail to Jeff Agoos. 

3) Mac Kandji is a striker, not a winger or attacking midfielder, says Ives. Yup, again. Interestingly enough, this one is easy to score, as Ives admits that it has taken this long for Osorio to sort out where to play Kandji. He was tried on the wing, tried in a linking role, before being put up front with JPA. Score: fail to Osorio.

4) Ives wants to get rid of Dane Richards. So does CounterAttack, but we've been saying that since the Jamaican has been in a Red Bulls shirt. He's a wonderful kid, and the absolute fastest player the CounterAttack has ever seen on a football pitch...but he has no football talent. But a lot of this has to do with the tactics Osorio has used to get what little is there in the first place. Sitting in our seats on the edge of the penalty area, the CounterAttack has a clear view of how Richards should be used - if he must be in the match at all, then dump the ball beyond Richards and his man-marker, and allow Richards to race onto it. He has yet to lose a foot race for a ball into space. It's just that he can't do much once he gets the ball. So why isn't Richards just spending hour upon hour, crossing balls from the right-side corner, from 18 yards to the touchline, into the penalty area in front of goal? It's obvious he's not because there have been few players this side of Marvell Wynne who have less touch on the ball than Dane. Yes, Dane must go but mostly because he has not progressed as a player. What's the coach been doing? Score: fail to Osorio.

5) Nick Zimmerman and Dilly Duka hailed for their prospective futures. I've lumped them together because they offer the same problem - no reason to believe either will actually do much of anything. Even Ives admits that the sum total of Zimmerman's limited efforts has been a willingness to take shots on goal. Um, ok. As for Duka, the CounterAttack admits not having seen the kid play, but is willing to bet one thing with great confidence: Duka is a far cry from other teenagers at clubs around the world that make the first team. When Jozy Altidore was heralded as Young Savior, it was with reason - the kid was playing well above his age, and as Villareal rued, could have been useful to their efforts to progress v Arsenal in the Champions League. CounterAttack is willing to bet that Duka is not that player. And really, anything less than that is just same old, same old. Score: no blame here but no reason for excitement either.

6) Ives says the RBs should cut dead weight - Khano Smith, Juan Pietravallo, Andrew Boyens. 100% spot on. But who signed those players in the first place? Well, could be Agoos but they were all signed under Osorio's watch. And add Celades and Rojas to that list, although CounterAttack is firmly convinced that they are both good players. It's only that Osorio hasn't worked out how to maximize their talents. Score: fail to Osorio. And Agoos. 

7) Ives reports there are rumblings that Osorio has lost part of the locker room. Enough said. Score: fail to Osorio.

8) While stating that this team is not as bad as the 1999 team that was blisteringly awful, Ives unintentionally highlights Osorio's greatest failing. Yes, this team has been mostly competitive. But take the Seattle match (where the club was just flat out unready to play), the DC home game (where the team came back, only to lose three critical points by giving up two goals in the 90th minute), and the Revs match (where a 45th minute goal effectively ended the match). Those three games alone (let's not even remember the US Open Cup match v DC) show a team unprepared both physically and worse, mentally. That's down to the coach, only. Score: decided fail to Osorio.

Ives sums this up by saying that three months is not enough time to judge a coach that took the club to its first-ever MLS Cup final. Bollocks. The club played poorly last season but managed to get hot at the right time. The 2008 Red Bulls were among the worst team ever to make the finals - a quick check turned up several articles saying that Osorio was not getting it down. He got a pass because it was his first season and, well, he made the final. But nothing has changed. The team has not improved. There is no cohesiveness in the team. The team sold off a key attacking player - Dave van den Bergh - without adequately replacing him. Presumably this is because the coach felt he had the horses to make another run to the Cup. So once again, a fail to Osorio.

One day, the league will find tactically superior coaches. That day is not now at Red Bulls NY. The inadequate player roles, failed tactics, physically unprepared, mentally weak, uninspired play - it's almost as if each player has made it his personal agenda to see Osorio not only bounced out but embarrassed in the process.

And for that, more than anything else, no matter how great a guy he might be, Osorio must go.