October 2, 2006

By now everyone has digested the depressing 3-0 loss on Saturday night. After watching the tape (that Bertz offside was really, really close) and mulling it over, here is a few general questions I have today:

How can you remove a forward from the 18 that has played in the least 5 matches (starting in 4 of them) for a guy that hasn't been in the 18 in almost a month? Connally Edozien's last appearance was on September 1st versus Virginia Beach and he is in uniform ahead of Chris Bagley?

I don't get that one.

Shortly after going down 2-0, the subs are to replace your leading scorer (Delicate) and one of the midfielders who wasn't turning the ball over all night long (Menyongar) for a guy who hasn't seen the field in almost a month (Edozien) and a rookie (Ambersley). And you don't take out a defender and push up the attack.

I don't get that one.

Four minutes later, arguably the team's best midfielder all year (Lines) is taken out for a guy that has been up and down all year, at best (Steele). And again, there is no change to three in the back despite being down 2-0.

I don't get that one.

The kicker is that with ten minutes left, the team's best free kick threat (Howes) is subbed out for a defender (Perry)!

I really don't get that one.

And those are just the coaching issues in the championship game.

Those issues pale in comparison to the issues that lead to the attendance at the game being around 9500. Now I know the team doesn't want to admit that attendance has been an issue this season. But, if that poor draw, which was over 3000 fans less than the average of the three previous championship games held in Rochester, isn't a blaring alarm that there are major issues that the organization needs to address pronto, then I don't know what is.

I heard of big name soccer people in Rochester that had tickets to the game and opted not to attend. One sad quote was from a highly respected soccer person in town who said that they would rather watch a high school game as it would be more entertaining.

Add in the loads of complaints about the stadium and it's operation and this offseason will likely be the most important offseason in the history of the Rhinos.

Rhinos roster fan feedback poll

I want to see what the fan base thinks about this year's roster and who they think should be back and who should go.

So, for every player on the team this year, I want people to rate them from a 5 (Has to stay) to 1 (Has to go).

Also, I'd like people to do the same for the coaching staff.

Here is the list:

Bagley
Ball
Kramer
Bolton
Bonseu
Ambersley
Craft
Lines
Martinez
Severs
Steele
Andracki
Hannigan
Vallow
Delicate
Dombrowski
Edozien
Gbeke
Howes
Menyongar
Bertz
Lewis
Palguta
Perry
Sanfilippo
Taylor
Bolanos
Juninho

Coaching Staff

Send your responses to news@soccersam.com

Thanks!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.