SLU Men's Soccer Thread

[cheeseman]

17 hours ago, MusicCityBilliken said:

John will be doing just fine at Arkansas:

 

Not the point

[aj_arete]

Haven't been following this thread that closely, but read an STLToday article touting SLU's recruiting class as being No. 2. While it was a disappointment to not make the NCAA tournament last year, they are certainly hampered by their conference affilation where winning the postseason tournament is so critical.

So let's evaluate Kalish so far on these three areas: recruiting, player development and tactical acumen.

When comparing him to other Div I coaches, how would you grade him in those areas?  As for me, I would say an A means you're in the top 10 percentile of all coaches; B between top 11 - 25 percent; C between top 26-50 percentile; D between 51-75 percentile; F bottom 25 percentile.  I think a SLU coach needs to rate at least a B in two of the three categories or else they need to be replaced and no lower than a C in any of the three categories.

[OkieBilliken]

56 minutes ago, aj_arete said:

Haven't been following this thread that closely, but read an STLToday article touting SLU's recruiting class as being No. 2. While it was a disappointment to not make the NCAA tournament last year, they are certainly hampered by their conference affilation where winning the postseason tournament is so critical.

So let's evaluate Kalish so far on these three areas: recruiting, player development and tactical acumen.

When comparing him to other Div I coaches, how would you grade him in those areas?  As for me, I would say an A means you're in the top 10 percentile of all coaches; B between top 11 - 25 percent; C between top 26-50 percentile; D between 51-75 percentile; F bottom 25 percentile.  I think a SLU coach needs to rate at least a B in two of the three categories or else they need to be replaced and no lower than a C in any of the three categories.

The Atlantic 10 is actually a pretty good conference for mens soccer.  Over half of the teams (SLU was one of them) were in the Top 100 RPI.   We failed last year due to injuries and inexperience.  It wasnt the conference weighing us down.   

[Lord Elrond]

9 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

The Atlantic 10 is actually a pretty good conference for mens soccer.  Over half of the teams (SLU wasnt one of them) were in the Top 100 RPI.   We failed last year due to injuries and inexperience.  It wasnt the conference weighing us down.   

With only 211 D1 Men’s Soccer programs, being in the top 100 for RPI means you’re in the top half of all D1 programs. Being in the top 100 for Men’s basketball (362 programs), means you are in the top 27.6% of all programs. Big difference.

[OkieBilliken]

7 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

With only 211 D1 Men’s Soccer programs, being in the top 100 for RPI means you’re in the top half of all D1 programs. Being in the top 100 for Men’s basketball (362 programs), means you are in the top 27.6% of all programs. Big difference.

Being in a weak conference isn't why we didnt make the tournament.  We could barely score.  The A10 isnt bad.   8 teams in the top half, 4 in the top 50.  Thats not a bad conference.  It could easiy be a 2+ bid league depending on the year.  

[Lord Elrond]

Being unable to score was the entire reason we didn’t make the tournament last year, it had zero to do with what conference we were in.  To make the NCAA as an at large bid in soccer your RPI needs to be around 30-35, we were 42. There was plenty of room for us to do that in our schedule, we just didn’t do it. Turn a couple of those ties into wins, turn a couple of those losses into ties, and we’re in the NCAA tournament. We didn’t score enough when we needed to.

[aj_arete]

10 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Being unable to score was the entire reason we didn’t make the tournament last year, it had zero to do with what conference we were in.  To make the NCAA as an at large bid in soccer your RPI needs to be around 30-35, we were 42. There was plenty of room for us to do that in our schedule, we just didn’t do it. Turn a couple of those ties into wins, turn a couple of those losses into ties, and we’re in the NCAA tournament. We didn’t score enough when we needed to.

Good insight and was unaware that the conference was solid. So it wasn’t the conference that brought them down but just not enough wins. How many at-large bids did the A-10 get last year?

[Lord Elrond]

Dayton got the Automatic bid by winning the conference, there were no at large A10 teams invited. VCU finished ranked #36 in RPI, we were #42. 
With 48 teams in the tournament, and 23 automatic qualifiers from the 23 conference champions, that leaves 25 at large bids. Given that 7 conferences had no one in the top 48 in RPI, that means that roughly the cut off if you didn’t win the conference tournament was somewhere around 41. We were almost there (going solely by RPI) even with our play, but not quite. VCU may have more of a complaint, but didn’t play a tough enough schedule. Generally, you need to be 30-35 in RPI to  guarantee an at large bid, higher than that you are on the bubble. The A10 was a one bid league last year by results. That however, had nothing to do with our not making it in my opinion.

[OkieBilliken]

16 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Dayton got the Automatic bid by winning the conference, there were no at large A10 teams invited. VCU finished ranked #36 in RPI, we were #42. 
With 48 teams in the tournament, and 23 automatic qualifiers from the 23 conference champions, that leaves 25 at large bids. Given that 7 conferences had no one in the top 48 in RPI, that means that roughly the cut off if you didn’t win the conference tournament was somewhere around 41. We were almost there (going solely by RPI) even with our play, but not quite. VCU may have more of a complaint, but didn’t play a tough enough schedule. Generally, you need to be 30-35 in RPI to  guarantee an at large bid, higher than that you are on the bubble. The A10 was a one bid league last year by results. That however, had nothing to do with our not making it in my opinion.

I think that is correct.    This isnt like A10 baseball, where there is almost no chance of an at large. 

[SLUBALLS]

Random post.  I have been reading this book and will tell you it is a very good read for those interested in the evolution of and reasons behind the various changes in tactics within the Premier League since inception:

https://www.amazon.com/Mixer-Story-Premier-League-Tactics-ebook/dp/B01N2QBCOJ

 

[Speyburn]

Simon Becher to City?

St. Louis City Eyes Signing Simon Becher (mlsmultiplex.com)

[Lord Elrond]

4 hours ago, Speyburn said:

Simon Becher to City?

St. Louis City Eyes Signing Simon Becher (mlsmultiplex.com)

This will be interesting to see what happens. Nothing has popped up on transfermarket yet on either the St Louis City incoming rumors or AC Horsens outgoing rumors. Transfermarket does have his value at 1 million euros, for whatever that’s worth. With the incoming players (Teuchert and Hartel) and injury returnees on the attacking side coming back eventually (Pompeo,  Klauss, Alm, Ostrak) plus their long term interest in Caden Glover, is there room for Simon long term? On the other hand, Pompeo’s injury was bad, are we sure he makes it back? No reflection on him, but man, that was a bad injury. 

[Speyburn]

On 7/19/2024 at 7:08 PM, Lord Elrond said:

This will be interesting to see what happens. Nothing has popped up on transfermarket yet on either the St Louis City incoming rumors or AC Horsens outgoing rumors. Transfermarket does have his value at 1 million euros, for whatever that’s worth. With the incoming players (Teuchert and Hartel) and injury returnees on the attacking side coming back eventually (Pompeo,  Klauss, Alm, Ostrak) plus their long term interest in Caden Glover, is there room for Simon long term? On the other hand, Pompeo’s injury was bad, are we sure he makes it back? No reflection on him, but man, that was a bad injury. 

City sign Becher on loan, until the end of the season.

[Speyburn]

St. Louis CITY SC added Kansas native and forward Simon Becher on loan from Danish First Division club AC Horsens through June 2025. CITY SC has a purchase option for Becher to keep him through the end of 2026 with club options in 2027 and 2028.

[courtside]

SLU alum Patrick Schulte is expected to start at goalkeeper today for the United States vs France at the Olympics. 

2pm Central. USA Network and Peacock.

[slufan13]

9 minutes ago, courtside said:

SLU alum Patrick Schulte is expected to start at goalkeeper today for the United States vs France at the Olympics. 

2pm Central. USA Network and Peacock.

Please credit Midtown Madness Podcast who had this and reported this first

[courtside]

33 minutes ago, courtside said:

SLU alum Patrick Schulte is expected to start at goalkeeper today for the United States vs France at the Olympics. 

2pm Central. USA Network and Peacock.

To be clear, Patrick was notified today that he would start the game vs France. Sources are Patrick Schulte and SLU Soccer coaches

[cgeldmacher]

42 minutes ago, courtside said:

To be clear, Patrick was notified today that he would start the game vs France. Sources are Patrick Schulte and SLU Soccer coaches

That same concept is true every time you complain about plagiarism.

[slufan13]

I'm just glad that MMP was once again first to break soccer news to the general public as well as this board. 

[slufan13]

Maybe MMP should make their Twitter private IYKYK

[Lord Elrond]

3-0 loss to France for team USA. I don’t blame Schulte for any of the goals, the French put them in tough spots to defend. US rattled the woodwork on the French goal a few times, but no balls on goal. New Zealand and Guinea up next in group stage, so still a chance to advance past group stage.

Source - my viewing of the game in my basement on Peacock +

[slufanskip]

3 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

3-0 loss to France for team USA. I don’t blame Schulte for any of the goals, the French put them in tough spots to defend. US rattled the woodwork on the French goal a few times, but no balls on goal. New Zealand and Guinea up next in group stage, so still a chance to advance past group stage.

Source - my viewing of the game in my basement on Peacock +

I’d bet he’d like another shot at the 1st one. 

[Pistol]

19 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

I’d bet he’d like another shot at the 1st one. 

Completely agree with this. Long, low, bouncing shot from Lacazette and he reacted late. Not sure if he expected a deflection or what.

Second one actually did take a slight deflection off a twisting defender's arm (held down at his side) and perfectly curled around Schulte's outstretched hands and inside the far post. He probably would've had it without the deflection.

Third one, he was hung out to dry by poor defending off a corner.

[Lord Elrond]

17 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Completely agree with this. Long, low, bouncing shot from Lacazette and he reacted late. Not sure if he expected a deflection or what.

Second one actually did take a slight deflection off a twisting defender's arm (held down at his side) and perfectly curled around Schulte's outstretched hands and inside the far post. He probably would've had it without the deflection.

Third one, he was hung out to dry by poor defending off a corner.

Yeah, that’s a fair summary. It will be curious to see who starts the next game for the US. The game against France in this group was probably always going to be a loss, but New Zealand and Guinea seem to both be winnable games. Need to really put up some goals since goal differential is the first tiebreaker in case New Zealand upsets France, but the US still holds it’s destiny in its own hands.

[Lord Elrond]

Patrick Schulte gets the start, and US wins 4-1 over New Zealand. He got several good saves, the goal given up was late after the US was up 4-0, the NZ attacker split the defenders and made a great shot. Will Patrick get the start in the next group stage game?