Chris Armas | New Staff Member

The United

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Come on thats just mean, we don't know how he is as a coach . Shot manager? Yes . Shit coach? We absolutely don't know.
His records as trainer/coach even when he was the manager according to articles and the players in those clubs and united saying he is shit should imply that he might not be competent for this level.
 

Red the Bear

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Oh my god mean? Oh, no poor guy destroys clubs and people are mean to him.

He’s shit, shit manager and a shit coach. We absolutely do know as I’ve had the players coached by him tell me straight that he is shit. MLS managers are actually just head coaches. So we know exactly how shit of a coach he is.
Okay fair enough, if you have anecdotal evidence , I can't argue with that. But still our players have little rights to argue seeing how they performed.
 

Cheimoon

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Or the guy is just shit? His records probably imply that a bit.

We do have multiple winners in the squad, just not at United. I mean do you think that players playing for United could not tell if coaches are competent or not?

Even in normal work settings, you can with some people above you.
If he's shit, it must be absolutely disastrous if the players know this for sure within 1-2 months of the guy's appointment, in a period punctuated by frequent matches, COVID-19, and the holidays. And if he were that bad that it's that obvious, then this would have been known before he had joined United. Finally, the tweet doesn't even say his drills are poor, but that they focus on the wrong subject (winning the ball back instead of possession), which I would assume is Rangnick's decision, not Armas's.

So yeah, I would put this on the players at this point. I would also be curious which individuals 'the players' refers to. Are we even talking about the majority of the team or key players here?

Or maybe @limerickcitykid is right and Armas has zero redeeming features and that was known already; but then why did Rangnick hire him? Something is definitely off here.
 

mazhar13

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Or maybe @limerickcitykid is right and Armas has zero redeeming features and that was known already; but then why did Rangnick hire him? Something is definitely off here.
From what I've observed and read/heard about Armas, the only thing he knows is how to set up a good press. Even then, he doesn't do a good job of implementing it in the team. In terms of what the team does in possession of the ball, Armas barely focuses on that, and his teams tend to look lost when building up their attacks. That's how it went in Toronto FC, but in NYRB, at least, the team continued on with Marsch's approach.
 

The United

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If he's shit, it must be absolutely disastrous if the players know this for sure within 1-2 months of the guy's appointment, in a period punctuated by frequent matches, COVID-19, and the holidays. And if he were that bad that it's that obvious, then this would have been known before he had joined United. Finally, the tweet doesn't even say his drills are poor, but that they focus on the wrong subject (winning the ball back instead of possession), which I would assume is Rangnick's decision, not Armas's.

So yeah, I would put this on the players at this point. I would also be curious which individuals 'the players' refers to. Are we even talking about the majority of the team or key players here?

Or maybe @limerickcitykid is right and Armas has zero redeeming features and that was known already; but then why did Rangnick hire him? Something is definitely off here.
I am sure you do know that we hired him because we were desperate for assistants at United ONLY for 6 months. Of course in general many good coaches would not leave their good work to join us for that amount of time.

In normal times, I would be very concerned that a reputable manager would hire coaches with records similar to his for United. His so called pressing drills work like a charm for us..... not. Was he even here when we played good in that 30 mins against CP?

In short, the club and RR had no much choice. And it is very possible that he might not even be competent let alone to help raise our level up. Now, I don't put all focus on one coach. That would be stupid. But good coaches certainly would help us play better in parts.
 
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Cheimoon

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I am sure you do know that we hired him because we were desperate for assistants at United ONLY for 6 months. Of course in general many good coaches would not leave their good work to join us for that amount of time.

In normal times, I would be very concerned that a reputable manager would hire coaches with records similar to his for United. His so called pressing drills work like a charm for us..... not. Was he even here when we played good in that 30 mins against CP?

In short, the club and RR had no much choice. And it is very possible that he might not even be competent let alone to raise our level up.
I'm really not convinced there would have been only one guy available anywhere to do this job. Also, again, the complaint from the tweet is not that he's bad, but only does one thing in his drills (and exactly what @mazhar13 says he's good at) - which I would imagine is Rangnick's decision, not Armas's.

But anyway, I'll leave you guys to it.
 

The United

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I'm really not convinced there would have been only one guy available anywhere to do this job. Also, again, the complaint from the tweet is not that he's bad, but only does one thing in his drills (and exactly what @mazhar13 says he's good at) - which I would imagine is Rangnick's decision, not Armas's.

But anyway, I'll leave you guys to it.
The guy was one of the 'students' of RR's philosophy or something? He would look for one of them in general to assist him and this guy was available at that point. I really doubt he did have many other candidates in that sense to choose the best one with at least better records than this guy.

And I thought @mazhar13 meant that even his pressing drills/systems were not properly implemented or good enough for a MLS team. So which means he was not even good at what he was doing?
 
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SER19

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People going for this guy who is part of a coaching team, without a jot of knowledge about what happens at our training, are falling hook, line and sinker for the PR spin of pampered millionaires
 

R'hllor

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Even if he is piss poor coach, he is here because there were certain limits in picking coaches, also he is still better than Carrick and other one, mainly because we can rid of him in few months time, unlike some that managed to stay under different managers.
 

tomaldinho1

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From what I've observed and read/heard about Armas, the only thing he knows is how to set up a good press. Even then, he doesn't do a good job of implementing it in the team. In terms of what the team does in possession of the ball, Armas barely focuses on that, and his teams tend to look lost when building up their attacks. That's how it went in Toronto FC, but in NYRB, at least, the team continued on with Marsch's approach.
That's already +1 on the entire coaching team that came before him.
 

The United

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That's already +1 on the entire coaching team that came before him.
I think he means he didn't know how to implement it even though he wants to play high press. He probably didn't mean a good pressing system in that sense.

I am confused with what he said in that sense. Even if he knows one but can't implement, no point.

Ole said he wanted to play with high energy, work and run harder than the other team. Well, you know how it turned out.
 

mazhar13

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I think he means he didn't know how to implement it even though he wants to play high press. He probably didn't mean a good pressing system in that sense.

I am confused with what he said in that sense. Even if he knows one but can't implement, no point.
He sounds very knowledgeable and is able to read the game quite well. He's tactically astute and does a good job of breaking down the match. He also has some good ideas on how to press the opposition and how to adapt to different situations.

Where he fails is in actually implementing those ideas and trying to convey them to the players. That's why he massively failed as a head coach for Toronto FC even though he did better with NYRB. Under Rangnick, he won't have to worry about conveying new ideas and helping the players to understand them; his job will be to set up the particular drills and execute Rangnick's plan. With that said, he's not the best at helping a team transition into Rangnick's pressing style as we've seen at Toronto FC. United are having similar issues to them, and the players are starting to slowly give up just like the Toronto FC players did.
 

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In the clip that was posted when we were first linked with him he seemed pure cringe and I hate to make any sort of excuse for these players, I do question this appointment.

I thought Ralf was a hands on coach?
 

Rampant Red Rodriguez

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Maybe this guy can organise the situation before passing it onto someone else?. Get the ball rolling/the change started before passing it onto someone better than him?.
 

The United

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He sounds very knowledgeable and is able to read the game quite well. He's tactically astute and does a good job of breaking down the match. He also has some good ideas on how to press the opposition and how to adapt to different situations.

Where he fails is in actually implementing those ideas and trying to convey them to the players. That's why he massively failed as a head coach for Toronto FC even though he did better with NYRB. Under Rangnick, he won't have to worry about conveying new ideas and helping the players to understand them; his job will be to set up the particular drills and execute Rangnick's plan. With that said, he's not the best at helping a team transition into Rangnick's pressing style as we've seen at Toronto FC. United are having similar issues to them, and the players are starting to slowly give up just like the Toronto FC players did.
I think even you could give it a try and would do well at that. We have a lot of youtubers do that too and no doubt a lot of other coaches at that level would. I would expect that much from a coach at that level.

But good plans need to be implemented properly to get a good result. It is why not every manager/coach is successful.
 

mazhar13

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I think even you could give it a try and would do well at that. We have a lot of youtubers do that too. Not exactly a hard thing imo and would expect that much from a coach at that level.

Good plans need to be implemented properly to get a good result. It is why not every manager/coach is successful.
That's right. Still, I'd consider him a better coach than me or many of the YouTubers/social media personalities. After all, he did coach a good NYRB team back when Jesse Marsch was with them. Whether he's good enough to coach United remains to be seen, but the signs aren't looking that good right now.
 

United in sin

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In the clip that was posted when we were first linked with him he seemed pure cringe and I hate to make any sort of excuse for these players, I do question this appointment.

I thought Ralf was a hands on coach?
Come on, even an uber hands on manager like Klopp needs assistants to take sessions and he has Pep Lijnders who's excellent
 

Hansi Fick

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This all sounds like the Munich players undermining Ancelotti and Kovac in short succession. Except they could reasonably point out how they were a world class, trophy-winning team and know what works for them. What pedigree do United's players have to question anything right now?
I'm not going to accept that comparison. Our players gave Ancelotti and even Kovac a good full season each including a Bundesliga title each and in Ancelotti's case a very strong CL run, too.
 

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I'm not going to accept that comparison. Our players gave Ancelotti and even Kovac a good full season each including a Bundesliga title each and in Ancelotti's case a very strong CL run, too.
That was part of my point actually - in my head, anyway.
 

Hansi Fick

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That was part of my point actually - in my head, anyway.
But what is relevant is indeed that it seems to me Ancelotti's downfall at Bayern had a lot to do with the quality of his coaches, especially with the fact that his main assistant Paul Clement, whose training by all accounts is held in high regard by even the top stars of Real, was allowed to leave in mid-season to pursue his own (unsuccessful) managerial endeavour, and Ancelotti replaced him with his fecking son.
In the end, the main theme was that players thought the training wasn't intense enough, with some reportedly trying to train more on their own (another reason why I don't accept your comparison lol).
 

The United

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But what is relevant is indeed that it seems to me Ancelotti's downfall at Bayern had a lot to do with the quality of his coaches, especially with the fact that his main assistant Paul Clement, whose training by all accounts is held in high regard by even the top stars of Real, was allowed to leave in mid-season to pursue his own (unsuccessful) managerial endeavour, and Ancelotti replaced him with his fecking son.
In the end, the main theme was that players thought the training wasn't intense enough, with some reportedly trying to train more on their own (another reason why I don't accept your comparison lol).
Good thing though players were world class enough to see that.
 

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Come on, even an uber hands on manager like Klopp needs assistants to take sessions and he has Pep Lijnders who's excellent
Yeah not saying Ralf can’t have coaches but does this guy have any experience with German gegenpressing style?

He’s an MLS coach who looks to be the super corny motivational type. Just not sure about this specific coach and his experience.
 

lex talionis

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You can't guarantee that he won't. Would it really surprise you after everything we've seen at this poorly run club?
There's no guarantee of anything in life, but looking at the situation as it stands right now the likelihood that Ralf will be named manager seems very low. If we went on an incredible run in the PL and secured fourth and lifted either the CL or FA Cups I could see Ralf being made permanent manager, but I don't see the latter happening for sure. As for fourth, I was confident two weeks ago that it was ours, but my confidence has been shaken. We're taking on water, mate.
 

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I wouldn’t ever be quick to jump on a coach and I defended Oles coaches until the end, especially McKenna. It already doesn’t sound good with this guy at all. I don’t know who else you’d be getting mid season for 6 months… this whole thing is going tits up.
 

United in sin

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Yeah not saying Ralf can’t have coaches but does this guy have any experience with German gegenpressing style?

He’s an MLS coach who looks to be the super corny motivational type. Just not sure about this specific coach and his experience.
His coaching style is modeled on the gegenpress. Armas coached New York Red bull and Rangknick was head of Sport for all the Red bull clubs. All the Red bull clubs play the gegenpress as a philosophy initiated by Rangknick
 
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horsechoker

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Hard to know what Armas is really like but it's a bit shallow to call him Ted Lasso. He was a player at the highest level in the MLS and made many international appearances.

While he isn't on the level of the players at United I think just dismissing him because he's American is stupid.
 

Ali Dia

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I just don’t understand the total lack of self awareness from the players. They are the highest paid players in their respective positions in the league and their performances are top 4 at the very best, far too often it’s much worse than that. If a manager wants to do stuff you don’t enjoy it’s probably so the club can attempt to get their monies worth out of the players? They had the easy road with Ole and they crumbled and started the blame game. It’s just a weak weak group of guys no matter who the manager is or the approach they take
 

GDaly95

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If I was a journalist trying to make some shit up about Chris Armas, a Ted Lasso comparison is almost definitely what I would land on.

Ah who knows what to believe anymore. There's a new story, or new stories, every fecking day.
 

horsechoker

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If I was a journalist trying to make some shit up about Chris Armas, a Ted Lasso comparison is almost definitely what I would land on.

Ah who knows what to believe anymore. There's a new story, or new stories, every fecking day.
How long until they compare Rangnick to a notorious German?
 

RedCurry

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I personally prefer - the great American bald eagle

jokes aside, I have a strong suspicion that these crap leaks to press will stop once Lingard departs the club.
 

GDaly95

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I personally prefer - the great American bald eagle

jokes aside, I have a strong suspicion that these crap leaks to press will stop once Lingard departs the club.
I'd speculate that they'll slow when Henderson leaves too.