Teitur Sacking The Right Way To Go

I’m currently heading to California to follow the Caps on their epic three game road trip over the next two weeks.

Before leaving the hotel this morning, I saw the email from the Caps mentioning the important news conference this morning.

My initial reaction was to wonder if they were going to sack Teitur. Some email exchanges with a couple of others and we all thought the same thing.

That said, and checking my email again at a Starbucks in Oregon, the news of Teitur’s departure is still a surprise.

That’s not to say it’s not the right decision. It is. I just didn’t think the Club would take it that quickly and it is of full credit to the Whitecaps that they have taken it so swiftly.

Our season is currently going nowhere. We are adrift at the foot of the Western Conference and as I said in AFTN’s Prost Amerika match report from Saturday’s game, the Caps can’t buy a win at the moment and I didn’t see how that was going to change any time soon.

Things may have now changed.

The next three games are vital as to what kind of season lies ahead for the remaining few months. Three away matches, against Western Conference opponents. Lose them or take very few points from them, and our MLS season is as good as dead and buried.

Teitur is a great guy. A fans favourite. A cult figure to the Southsiders. Hell, we now have a batch of Iceland flags to shift.

His tactics let him down. His tactics were very easy to read. Montreal’s Marc Dos Santos summed it up perfectly when he stated that there was nothing that Teitur would do tactically that would surprise him.

There wasn’t much in Teitur’s tactics that surprised me. Some baffling substitutions and team selections aside.

Teitur seemed to struggle with how to make the necessary alterations to change up the game. His flat 4-4-2 formation was easy to play against and he never seemed to move from it.

Our current plight is not solely at the foot of Teitur. The players need to take a lot of the blame. I could handle where we are at the moment if we had a bad squad. This is, we don’t. We have an excellent core of quality players that should be getting better results.

We’re creating chances but not finishing them. Our set pieces are woeful and our defending at times has left a lot to be desired.

Change is good. I’d rather see it now, when we have a chance of saving our season, than later on when it’s too late and all we’re left to play for are shits and giggles and, of course, pride.

As sad as it is to see Teitur go as a man, the Club need some fresh ideas. I’m not sure that Tommy Soehn is the man for the job long term. He’s here though, knows the players and is the best we can have for the remainder of this season.

Let’s see what he brings to the subbuteo table.

We can’t do much worse results-wise than we have at present.

I’ll be in the fortunate position to see his first three games in charge. Let’s hope that the Caps Soehn-style are going to make it worth all this money in travel.

Finally, a message to Teitur from AFTN.

We truly appreciate what you have done for the Club. Winning the 2008 USL Championship, in my first full season watching the Caps and being in Canada, will live long in my memory.

We wish you well wherever the football gods take you next and you’ll always have a welcome in the Southside.

The Whitecaps now have a chance to rebuild their season. We can still make the Champions League AND the playoffs. The hard work starts Saturday.

We’ve been given the opportunity for a fresh start. Let’s take full advantage of it.

In Tommy We Trust.