2013 was a crazy year for pre-SC Columbus Crew. Calling it a transition year doesn't quite do it justice. The headline was new ownership and a terminated Crew lifers. Beneath that is the actual play of the players going through it at the time. The season didn't stop for them to re-evaluate things, or, because of MLS rules that restrict player movement more than collegiate players, explore other options with other teams. These guys were stuck.
Hope came in the only form of freedom it could. With Robert Warzycha gone, interim coach Brian Bliss brought in a fresh breath of clean air. Things had gotten so poisonous with Warzycha that, with him gone, you could almost feel the players levitating on the pitch when they took on Houston back in September of 2013.
It was round 27 and early in post-Warzycha days. You could sense the unknowns in the voices and faces of everyone in the organization - part nervousness, part excitement, part gulag gates opening. An absolute storm within the oldest MLS franchise that had settled into MLS comfort after a successful run just a few years earlier.
It was an Higuain-less game. Most everyone expected the Crew to just roll over for the rest of the season. Brian Bliss decided to let the players play. Looking back, maybe there wasn't any other option. At the time it looked like he made it, though. Regardless. Players played like they were 10 feet tall. Maybe there was a hint of a burden being lifted off the fans as well.
The 18 vs. Houston...
Matt Lampson
Chad Barson
Eric Gehrig
Chad Marshall
Tyson Wahl
Ethan Finlay
Wil Trapp
Bernardo Anor
Justin Meram
Ryan Finley
Dominic Oduro
Tony Tchani
Konrad Warzycha
Jairo Arrieta
Shawn Sloan
Daniel Withrow
Ben Speas
Agustin Viana
This was the first time we got to really see what all these Reserve players had. Up to this point we'd only seen glimpses of why they were brought in. It's too easy to say they arrived during this match. They didn't. But fans were able to understand why these guys were on the roster.
Justin Meram, Ethan Finlay, Tony Tchani, Wil Trapp and even Chad Barson and Tyson Wahl all proved themselves. In a weird way, it also might explain why the franchise toppled over. The team was young, inexperienced and not part of the 2008-2010 group where most of the coaches and admin staff made their Crew careers.
Bliss somehow tapped into all of this. We get so many nothing games in MLS, but this game oozed spirit.
We are nearly three years on now, but this game stands out as one of the most important in recent team history. Opta has it rated in the top five Columbus performances since 2013. Remarkable, considering the situation.
I, myself, thought that this team would get run over the remainder of the season. A hole too deep. Too much change. Too young. Too much dark funk to fumigate out of the offices and in the hearts of the players. That's what we've seen over in over, isn't it?
Didn't happen. Credit likely goes to many across the board. Maybe it's one of those "iron sharpens iron" moments we rarely get to see in MLS. Whatever it was, this match stands tall. It's certainly shaped the current roster that fans will see play the Houston Dynamo tonight.
If you happen to attend the game tonight. Skip the damn "craft brew festival," and watch the game. MLS might be missing many (many) things that make this sport so special, but THIS is a wonderful sliver the game. This is why we watch.
Showing posts with label brian bliss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brian bliss. Show all posts
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Friday, December 6, 2013
The 31st Player
Brian Bliss was hired as the Technical Director for the Chicago Fire today and with him goes most of the 'boots on the ground' player knowledge the Columbus Crew had in the midwest region of the US.
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Bliss has his hands all over the 2014 Crew roster.
The most notable moves shaping next year's roster were made right before he was let go when he dropped Aaron Horton and Matias Sanchez from the Crew roster ("Those guys are done," was the quote he gave the press).
On top of that, Bliss also orchestrated the signing of C.S. Herediano left back Waylon Francis.
If that were it, you could probably say it was busy and surprisingly well executed work by Brian Bliss in a very short period of time.
But that wasn't it. In fact, his best work is possibly the one team watchers have just found out about...
MATT WIET, THE 31st PLAYER
Reports have recently surfaced that Bliss parked Matt Wiet with the Dayton Dutch Lions of the USL Pro division last summer with the intention of putting him in a Crew uniform for 2014.
What makes this interesting is that the Crew don't have any formal relationship with Dayton and signing Wiet last summer made him the 31st player on a MLS mandated 30 player roster max.
Adam Jardy, beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch, recently confirmed that Wiet was a summer(ish) Crew signing.
What this suggests is that the Crew/MLS were paying for Wiet (or at least a percentage of salary).
I've spoken with a few folks down in Dayton about this and one anonymous source has echoed the fact that Bliss did place Wiet with the Dutch Lions. I've also been told that after his ACL injury Crew representatives were in the locker room with him.
The Crew were the only team in MLS to not officially make any roster moves all season. They sat at 30 players all year long despite season ending injuries to Eddie Gaven and Glauber.
Matt Wiet signing during the summer represents the 31st roster player on a capped roster size of 30 (again, as mandated by MLS).
WINGING IT
In his recent "State of the League" address, Don Garber admitted that MLS pretty much makes it up as they go along so something like this Wiet situation isn't likely to ruffle to many feathers or make any major news. Hell, Garber's admission that the league is making up important rules and regulations didn't make news.
Why the Crew didn't wait till this offseason to sign him is up to speculation but it is likely that he had some other offer out there and the Crew had to jump on it.
All of this would have been a shrewd bit of business had Bliss not been let go by new owner Anthony Precourt after the season ended.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
There isn't enough information out there to tell me if Matt Wiet is a good enough player to make it in MLS or not. I saw him play during the game he got injured but there wasn't much there to note other than the fact that a Crew target was starting for Dayton. At the time I thought it was Dayton being proactive or Wiet getting impatient with the Crew.
Instead it was Bliss locking down a player for a franchise he is no longer with.
What a tangled web.
Matt Wiet should be back to full training sometime in the the Spring of 2014.
------------
Bliss has his hands all over the 2014 Crew roster.
The most notable moves shaping next year's roster were made right before he was let go when he dropped Aaron Horton and Matias Sanchez from the Crew roster ("Those guys are done," was the quote he gave the press).
On top of that, Bliss also orchestrated the signing of C.S. Herediano left back Waylon Francis.
If that were it, you could probably say it was busy and surprisingly well executed work by Brian Bliss in a very short period of time.
But that wasn't it. In fact, his best work is possibly the one team watchers have just found out about...
MATT WIET, THE 31st PLAYER
Reports have recently surfaced that Bliss parked Matt Wiet with the Dayton Dutch Lions of the USL Pro division last summer with the intention of putting him in a Crew uniform for 2014.
What makes this interesting is that the Crew don't have any formal relationship with Dayton and signing Wiet last summer made him the 31st player on a MLS mandated 30 player roster max.
Adam Jardy, beat writer for the Columbus Dispatch, recently confirmed that Wiet was a summer(ish) Crew signing.
"According to the league, Wiet technically signed with the Crew prior to signing with the Dutch Lions. When Berhalter discussed the signing, he said it was done before he was hired."
What this suggests is that the Crew/MLS were paying for Wiet (or at least a percentage of salary).
I've spoken with a few folks down in Dayton about this and one anonymous source has echoed the fact that Bliss did place Wiet with the Dutch Lions. I've also been told that after his ACL injury Crew representatives were in the locker room with him.
The Crew were the only team in MLS to not officially make any roster moves all season. They sat at 30 players all year long despite season ending injuries to Eddie Gaven and Glauber.
Matt Wiet signing during the summer represents the 31st roster player on a capped roster size of 30 (again, as mandated by MLS).
WINGING IT
In his recent "State of the League" address, Don Garber admitted that MLS pretty much makes it up as they go along so something like this Wiet situation isn't likely to ruffle to many feathers or make any major news. Hell, Garber's admission that the league is making up important rules and regulations didn't make news.
Why the Crew didn't wait till this offseason to sign him is up to speculation but it is likely that he had some other offer out there and the Crew had to jump on it.
All of this would have been a shrewd bit of business had Bliss not been let go by new owner Anthony Precourt after the season ended.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
There isn't enough information out there to tell me if Matt Wiet is a good enough player to make it in MLS or not. I saw him play during the game he got injured but there wasn't much there to note other than the fact that a Crew target was starting for Dayton. At the time I thought it was Dayton being proactive or Wiet getting impatient with the Crew.
Instead it was Bliss locking down a player for a franchise he is no longer with.
What a tangled web.
Matt Wiet should be back to full training sometime in the the Spring of 2014.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Dear Prudence, What to do with Bliss
Unreasonable Expectations
One thing I realized is that it gets real sticky real fast. So so many things need repairing outside of the coaching staff, trainers and players first (General Manager is probably good place to start).
After looking at it I decided that Bliss wasn't given enough time in order to make a solid decision, which is unfortunate because he could have been given enough time and the FO could have made a sound decision.
There really wasn't any reason to not make the move sooner. Instead we got a misguided move based around making an impossible run at the playoffs.
I think I may come off in support of Bliss in that piece and in a way, I am. But it has more to do with circumstance.
The Crew might have sold some tickets on the promise of playoffs (which to me was more like that Bain prison hole in the last Christopher Nolan Batman movie) but they sacrificed a great opportunity to evaluate a potential coach and many players.
Anywho, like I said; Sticky.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Ignorance is Bliss, an Outdoor Cat
Brian Bliss, Technical Director, Columbus Crew (reportedly) was talking today about 'long time' Crew mid-fielders.“For as many years as they’ve been in the league and for the amount of money – not that they’re getting rich, they’re getting paid – there’s got to be a better division of statistics among those three guys, and that’s going back to 2010 as well.”
What? Really? This is our technical director speaking? My goodness.
What the Hell is having a "better division of statistics"? What statistics exactly are they looking at here?
I really hope it isn't goals and assists, as Mr. Craig Merz alludes to in his article today. If it is then he is driving the team off a cliff. Specifically if he is speaking of the Mid-Field. Heck, even if he is speaking on Forwards - he shouldn't.
Major League Soccer is single entity. Meaning the ultimate goal of the league is to make money through parity. It's not hard to generate that parity when talent is fairly negligible in this corner of the hemisphere.
Shake a tree and you'll get a 3 goal 2 assist mid-fielder in MLS. Actually, want to know how many in 2011 achieved that feat? 31 MFs did (that's mids only). It ain't the players the Crew have, it is how they were used. Too many changes. It was like there were trying to pick a lock in Splinter Cell and they never got it.
Bliss is already being linked to other teams around the league now. Most notably the NE Revolution.
I'm really worked up over his comments today. I know I shouldn't be but he has gotten to me. Ignorance shouldn't be tolerated in regards to personnel, though.
If Bliss is interviewing for other positions then he should remove himself from making comments on the future makeup of the Columbus Crew.
Instead (among other posturing comments earlier this month) we get this:
“[Kevin] Burns played some significant minutes, too. He’s a core guy. He’s been around for four years. Maybe you expect a little more out of that whole area of the field.”
Burns was one of the winningest players on the team (if not THE winningest).
Leave the technical decisions to someone more capable. If none more capable are available then keep your paws off the carpet and don't eat all the food in the bowl. psst!
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On a note; The Crew are worth less than most of the companies readers stumbling here might work for. Heck, most fans of MLS might manage more people and larger budgets (accounts) than the entire Crew franchise. I understand this. There are good people working hard in the Crew franchise. Even better supporters holding the team up. It's just frustrating when there seems to be 'change for change sake' (with Burns) at the moment.
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