DIVIDE & CONQUER - THE STRATEGY FOR CHAOS
Austin FC has had a shocker of a third season. Sadly, that can’t be taken in a good sense. The team is currently with 2 wins, 3 ties, 4 loses and stands 11th out of 14th in the west conference, 2 spots away from a recently extended playoff position. After a dreamed second season improvement, after seeing the quality of our should-have-been MVP, the miraculous saves of the meant-to-be back up goalkeeper, the exponential growth of 2021 1st draft pick, and adaptability of the multi-position irishman, makes no sense that Austin FC would find themselves in this position after 9 games. This situation has fans divided and in a daily argument over the club, the coach, players and opinions. Fans don’t agree with each other and players don’t agree with fans & media while the storm refuses to pass. So, let’s all take a breath and talk a little about everything.
Rigoni, Good or Bad?
A major talk point in the Austin FC community is the DP Emiliano Rigoni. It is possibly the subject that divides the community the most so let’s talk about it first. Emi came to the club in the summer of 2022 and fans had several reasons to be excited about it. He came as a player that would extend the South American connection and as a known friend and ex-teammate of the club’s best player. Also, Emi holds a profile with exciting qualities to help the team, such as being able to win 1v1s and use both legs in either of the wings, something that Austin lacked.
That being said, and something that fans possibly overlooked, is that despite his qualities and good influence in his previous teams, Emi doesn’t hold a record for consistent goal-scoring at any time in his career. In addition, the last coach he was under at Sao Paulo lost confidence in him and Rigoni didn’t gain minutes until he came to Austin.
Belgrano
08 goals
76 games
Independiente
17 goals
56 games
Zenit
12 goals
65 games
Atalanta
03 goals
12 games
Sampdoria
00 goals
9 games
Elche
02 goals
25 games
Sao Paulo FC
13 goals
70 games
It was more than expected for Emi not to be able to contribute much in 2022 as he had to gain competitive rhythm and adapt to a new club, country, league and style of play. Remember that not even Driussi was able to do much coming in the summer of 2021.
Taking that into account, it is not realistic to expect 15+ goals from him. Does that mean he’s bad for the club? I don’t think so. While he hasn’t performed at what people consider DP level (and I agree with that), he has been quite influential. He mainly had good opportunities for goals and assists in the first 3 and the last 2 games of this season. He did drop quality in the 4 games in between where he did virtually nothing all game, but so did everyone in the offense.
I understand, that’s the job of a DP, that’s why he’s getting paid big money and despite having 16 chances created according to Austin FC Communications, he had multiple clear chances for goal that he messed up. He’s underperforming and he’s not looking like a DP because none of those 16 chances (except his only goal) ends with the ball in the back of the net. But then I ask, if he has created around 7 clear and perfectly placed crosses and center passes that neither Maxi, Zardes, Driussi, Finlay or Fagundez have managed to score, is he the big problem?
Austin FC is going through an identity crisis right now, where players (mostly offensive) aren’t finding themselves on the field, don’t know what to do, clash with each other, and things don’t go their way. Coach Wolff is not doing things well either with game plans or tactics. It is really hard to judge a player for bad performances in a system that by itself is bad. And that goes not only for Emi, but every player including Driussi. It is such a hostile and dark environment that not even the 2022 MVP runner up has managed to feel comfortable and score more than 2 goals in 9 games, and I highly doubt anyone could question Driussi’s quality. So, how can we expect Rigoni to score in every game?
The way I see it: he hasn’t performed at a DP level, we definitely should expect him to finish the easy chances he has gotten, hold him accountable for the misses and expect more from him. However, he also deserves recognition for the chances created that players like Maxi, Zardes, Driussi, Fagu and Finlay haven’t finished and we should hold them equally accountable. While Rigoni fairly gets more criticism for being a DP, he’s not the only DP not producing the way he should. Not everything falls on Emi’s shoulders. It also falls on Wolff’s tactics but that’s another conversation.
Rigoni celebration drama
Quickly touching on this, some people got mad and irritated at Rigoni for celebrating his first goal with both palms facing up and standing still. Some people took it as a “what else do you want” which seems pretty insulting considering it is your first goal in 9 games as a DP. However, those people need to know that the celebration is far from that meaning as that is his standard celebration. What better way to celebrate that you finally scored after struggling for so long in front of your fans in the way that you’ve always done it? Nothing but call back to the good scoring days. The sad part is that that happiness is quickly taken away by fans being mad at you. We could now have a player even more frustrated knowing that it didn’t matter that you finally scored, some fans still don’t support you. So where’s the incentive? He’s already earning the money regardless until his contract runs out, so if not for the fans where’s the motivation? That’s not a way to support someone that you want to do well for himself and for the team that you support.
Driussi & the Media
Let’s talk about our captain. Driussi was the source of our happiness for the entirety of the 2022 season. He’s our golden boy, he’s our MVP. However, it seems that the dark times have affected him as well. He went from being happy, excited and caring to feeling attacked by the fans and media. As a captain he wants to defend his teammates, not only Rigoni but everyone, as he should. He wants to succeed and win, and only he knows how hard they try in practice and on the field. But failure never sits well with anyone and sadly, they have been failing. With failure comes criticism, and after being praised so highly it looks like he’s not managing the criticism too well. Granted, some people don’t criticize constructively, but destructively, but as a professional sportsman you’ve got to know how to filter those people. As I previously said, the reasons for this failure are multiple, it’s not only the players underperforming. I’m sure they want to win as much as we do and feel as bad as we do, reason why both fans and players should be on the same side.
It doesn’t help to criticize and insult players without purpose, out of pure emotion, but it also doesn’t help to say that you’re doing almost everything right while remaining winless or during a scoreless streak. Both fans and players need to understand that we want the same things. Fans are there to support you and see you succeed, because your success means our success, but they are also there to expect results from you and tell you whether you’re doing things right or wrong. It is the healthy and necessary feedback that you need, but with the certainty that they’re there to support you every game. Players have a responsibility towards the fans that pay to see them play, and fans have a responsibility towards the players that work hard and play for their club and the fans themselves.
Optimism Vs Pessimism Vs Realism
In all of this entanglement, how should the Austin FC community manage the storm? Well, some people prefer to see only the good things and hang tight to hope for better games, let the time pass since this will not last forever and they would be right. Others focus mostly on the bad things and demand results right away, want everything fixed and see immediate improvement every week, and they would also be right to do so. Lastly, there’s a third group, the people that look at the good stuff, that do applaud the good performances but also do criticize the bad ones and continue to demand for improvement. Those who believe that we can achieve the same success as last year this very season with the current roster but are unhappy and expect and ask for the necessary changes to achieve it. Those who think change is absolutely necessary, but that you can’t sell & buy 23 players and that a new coach in mid-season is unlikely to win silverware.
Fans can find themselves in any group, army or team, it doesn’t matter, as long as they remember that all of them want the same thing right next to the players. Unnecessary comments from fans AND players only hurt the club that both cheer for. They all want to succeed, no fan is better than a player, no player is bigger than the club, and no club is big without their fans.
WRITTEN BY : ALEX SANABRIA
