This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Here is a Q&A with FOX Sports analyst Alexi Lalas, who spoke to the Tribune regarding Real Salt Lake's struggles this season, the past and future of the club and accountability for the dip in play and performance in 2015.
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From your perspective, what do you think has led to the decline of the club this season?
Lalas: "It doesn't take a group of experts to see that this club has undergone massive change in the last two years, let's say, on and off the field. The core of the team that we associate with the success has started to either break apart or just naturally age and then the leadership of the team off the field, has basically completely changed, whether it's Garth [Lagerwey] or Jason [Kreis]. That's obvious and that's something that immediately you turn to. The question has to be: Was it inevitable, regardless of who was in charge? Was this going to happen? I think there's certainly an argument to be made that even consistently successful teams in MLS have ebbs and flows. I don't think anybody anticipated it would be a last-place-type of scenario. They've had injuries and they are a better team with [Joao] Plata on the field … then [the injury to] Chris Schuler and these types of things certainly don't help, but all good teams have a way to deal with that and they have not dealt with that. They're playing in a difficult conference, they always have, so there's a bunch of different factors, but I think the interesting debate is going to be: Is it as simple as there's no Jason and Garth? I don't think the answer is yes, but you are responsible for what happens under your watch, regardless of the realities of the situation. That falls on Jeff and Craig and others and I know there's been changes, even in the last week. They have to continue to try and find that right recipe. Maybe it's a different type of recipe going forward, but ultimately, it's certainly not good, and it looks worse because of how good they've had it over the last few years."
Does a club in a smaller-sized market need to avoid the elongated dips more than one in a larger market?
Lalas: "I think that when you're small market, and that's not a fair label to put on it, but let's just call it that — you, in the current world of 2015 MLS, one of the things that small-market teams rest their hat on is while we're not going to spend the amounts that others have, we're going to spend more more wisely and targeted. In MLS in particular, if you do that, you can compete. And also, while we're a small market, we're going to do things in a smart way with regards to our personnel and we are not going to overreact or just be reactive to a situation. Because we're a small market, maybe we can get away with it more with more patience. I think there are still expectation, as there should be, regardless of the sizes of market. Especially because this is MLS, and it's not a situation yet, it's started to add up, where you're just completely out-spent from being competitive … That excuse doesn't exist yet in MLS. It's starting to, but certainly not to the extent that it is in other places."
Do you think RSL needs to establish a new identity?
Lalas: "Regardless of size of market, you have to come in — especially when you're coming in after a successful run and regime — and you have to decide very quickly for yourself if you're going to try to just replicate that in certain ways or you're going to make it completely different. It's hard when you try to straddle those two … while you might want to change, you also don't want to throw out stuff that you recognize is good. It's hard because you're always going to be compared and contrasted with what the team was. In a certain way, if you're not going to do the exact same thing, then you're almost better completely changing and becoming something different, but that also runs counter to what a club theoretically should be, where there should be established style and philosophy, regardless of personnel. I respect that it's a delicate and difficult situation for Craig and Jeff right now, but I think they're caught between two worlds right now. Maybe they have to get out to the other side? I don't know. What they look like on the other side is really the big question."
For RSL to be where it is with seven games to go, people are going to want to point the finger and place blame somewhere. Is there someone or multiple people who need to be held accountable?
Lalas: "It's just like any other place. When I was in charge of teams, I was responsible for the product on the field. When that product wasn't good enough on the field — and there was much less patience on the teams that I was — that was it. You got fired. The leadership is Jeff and Craig. They have to right the ship. They will be given, I think, more time and patience than other clubs would, but ultimately, I think it's disingenuous and almost disrespectful to assert or expect that RSL fans would deserve any less of a winning team than any other set of fans. The expectations and the wonderful expectations of success were established because of the work that the players and Jason and Garth did over those years. Living up to that is part of what being a coach or a GM or a player for that team is about. Ownership is responsible for it in making sure either they live up to it or they find people who can live up to it. I'm sure I'm not telling the players or coaches or the front office staff anything they don't know. This is the business that we're in and being in a small market is no excuse. That's a long way of saying it's the responsibility of the coach, the GM and the players involved. If they are not getting the help from ownership, then yes it's the responsibility of ownership, if there is a dynamic that has changed or a reality on the ground that has changed with regards to how the team is run. If that is inhibiting them from doing what they need to do, and therefore, living up to those expectations, then that's a problem for ownership and a responsibility of ownership. Because if circumstances have changed and there's a correlation between those circumstances changing and the fact that this team is not performing, then you have to look at why those circumstances have changed. It's not that circumstances can't change, but if RSL can't be a successful team because of the decisions that have been made in either personnel or philosophy or structure over there, then that's something that's got to be concerning for ownership and from an external perspective, the RSL faithful."
How would you rate how Jeff Cassar has been as head coach in his time at RSL?
Lalas: "I've said this: It's all relative. Jason Kreis is not Sir Alex Ferguson, but when David Moyes took over for Sir Alex Ferguson, I said, 'You know what? You don't want to be the guy that takes over for the legend. You want to be the guy who takes over for the guy who takes over for the legend.' The same thing applies. He took over at a time when there was change, when a lot of these things were already starting to happen. Then Garth moves on, so he doesn't have that touchstone and that's the reality of the situation. You play the cards you're dealt, you make the most out of it, or you get fired. That's the way it works in sports. Nobody cares about the reality of the situation on the ground and nobody cares about the excuses or injuries or players getting old, figure it out. That's what Jeff's been charged to do. It hasn't worked out. He understands that more than anybody in terms of the responsibilities. It hasn't been good, and it falls on him and it falls on the leadership there for him and Craig. Either they're given the time to come out of it on the other end, or you change. And there's plenty of places where they wouldn't even be around at this point. That's not an indictment or anything. That's just the reality of the situation and the different markets and the way they go about their business. You won't get forever. It's not good enough and it's not good enough for what RSL — and that's just talking from the outside — we have come to expect at RSL. It's not good enough, and it falls on the coach and the GM and the players, by the way."
-Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani