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Tattica: Giving Klopas a shot the right way to go in Montreal
With the recent news that Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo has dismissed Sporting Director Nick De Santis from his duties, it signaled the first move made by Saputo towards the path of restoring things for an embarrassed franchise.
Pressure from outside the organization had been building since the end of 2013 campaign, with many asking for the head of De Santis, indicated as the man responsible for the team’s disarray via the 1-6-1 end of the 2013 regular season and for the 3-12-5 start of the 2014 season.
In a highly surprising follow-up move for many, Saputo confirmed manager Frank Klopas through the 2015 season, also awarding him with the role of director of player personnel.
The Impact enter the All-Star game week with the fewest points overall in Major League Soccer. De Santis paid for having been unable to make the right offseason changes. However, to charge the now former sporting director with all of the blame is unfair.
Klopas deserves some criticism too.
The Montreal Impact have played poorly, as their manager stuck mostly with a 4-2-3-1 shape that didn’t work, with all the turmoil coming from the indecision to pair Marco Di Vaio and Jack McInerney up top while sacrificing the extra midfielder. Yes, the season to date can generally be described as an awful season and it should be said that Klopas’ starting lineups and in game substitutions have been a big part of that disappointment.
However, to confirm Klopas through the next season is far from an astonishing decision. In fact, despite all the woes the Impact faced in 2014, Klopas still deserves another season in charge in Canada.
One of the main synergies at a club, and often a main reason for a club’s failure, is the disconnect that sometimes occurs between general manager and coach. That’s certainly happened in Montreal this season. De Santis failed to provide Klopas with the players required to address the weaknesses on defence and in the midfield that the team suffered with under the previous coach.
Without the players appropriately suited to implement his soccer philosophy, Klopas faced a difficult challenge in terms of generating results. Key players from last season (Jeb Brovsky, Collen Warner and Sanna Nyassi) left the team and De Santis was unable to replace them with the right performers for the system that Klopas plays.
By dumping his sporting director, Saputo has sent a clear message to the locker room: Klopas is the man calling the shots. Now, Klopas will have full roster control and will decide who to bring in and who will be traded. In many ways, this is exactly the kind of power many coaches are usually looking for. Furthermore, this is the traditional way in which EPL clubs are run.
The 47-year old Klopas does have experience managing via both roles, as he found himself in a similar situation with the Chicago Fire.
Klopas now has to move ahead quickly. With just 13 regular season games left to play, and with no playoff hopes remaining, the Impact’s season is virtually over. Klopas must find the players who will be tasked with kickstarting the next campaign. He is also expected to start building the right system to accommodate the recently signed DP, Argentine midfielder Ignacio Piatti.
Montreal should look to DC United as example. Heading into the 2014, United was coming off their worst season ever. Despite that, the ownership stayed faithful to coach Ben Olsen in the hope to overcome last year's woeful results. This move paid off as Olsen has led an impressive turnaround putting DC United in the race for this year Supporters’ Shield.
How did DC United do it? Ownership stayed calm and supported the head coach. They then adequately mixed veterans and young blood. With center back Jeff Parke out, they put faith on rookie Steve Birnbaum but also added some proven MLS footballers in players like Bobby Boswell and Davy Arnaud. In fact, after a tough start, they seem to have resurrected Eddie Johnson’s MLS legacy. Ultimately, they didn’t throw out the baby with the bath water, as the team was built based on many of previous season’s blocks of players, starting with the goalkeeper Bill Hamid.
They also did well to utilize the final part of last season, including the surprising Open Cup success, as a springboard for the following campaign.
Above all, they gave Olsen the time to turn things around. They waited one more season to judge their manager.
That’s the path Montreal should follow with Klopas.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
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