All of that stuff is going to be irrelevant if Oscar Pareja doesn't improve as a manager in his second season.
Now, we have seen some evolution in his ability to manage. Paul Bravo said at one point that Pareja now understood that playing for a tie was actually an all right strategy sometimes. (Not that Pareja is going to turn into Gary Smith, but you get the idea.) In preseason, we've seen a slight change to the 4-3-3 that has a lot more linking in the midfield instead of the 'two attackers, one defender' 4-3-3 of last season.
We're going to have to see if that promise turns into results. This is a talented squad, and they don't necessarily need a brilliant manager to get them through. They simply a manager that doesn't hamper things like Pareja did last season.
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Matt Pollard 