Russell Latapy Thread

[asylumseeker]

I not sure if anybody noticin...

but we defence lookin  worse dan ever.

It was done shaky to begin with... but now...it frankomeh disgusting.

We cannot continue to rely on miracle performances from an aging Clayton Ince which is precisely what has been happening since Latas took over.

Our team has little organization, defensive discipline & shape.  Now that may very well be players' fault but modern football is such that once you consistenly give away possession, you're going to pay sooner or later.

Latas has said that we should play in our "traditional style" which might be all well and good for romatics but I tell you this....unless you can be certain that you have the firepower to outscore your opposition....you're going to LOSE.

Look at the games thus far.

Costa Rica in Tobago.  We scored...they scored more.  Everytime they got the ball, they looked ikely to score against us.

Mexico in Mexico.  A miracle performance by Ince combined with toilet bowl finishing from the Mexicans prevented us losing by more than the 1 goal.  We had one chance in that game.  We scored it.

El Salvador in T&T.  Another miracle performance from Ince prevented the El Salvadoreans from earning at least a point.  The team did play decently but defensively, we were still VERY SUSPECT

Honduras in Honduras.  This time no miracles from Ince.  Result?  4 in we pweffen.  Our defence looking hapless.  And by defence...I mean TEAM defence...not just the back 4.

We have regressed defensively under Latas.  For a team that has several weaknesses, that's destructive.  For those who care to remember, cast your minds back to Germany 2006.  THIS is how we would have played if Latas was on the field from the start and these are the kind of results we would have gotten and worse.

Yuh want a "brand" to go forward and say yuh "lookin good" without having the foundation and discipline to handle tings when yuh lose the ball....yuh going to lose BADLY 9 times out of 10.

Until Latas learns how to coach DEFENCE, he and T&T won't be successful.

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

[SUPA]

I may not not agree with everything in your post but one thing i do admire is your tuffness. Yuh not scared tuh talk de thing and buss some shots round here. Nice be u self sah. Who vex loss. Nuff ah dem here doh like people that does stand up dat is why some ah dem dislike d Supa. But me eh care cuz i is a real heavy roller. Cuz most ah dem does put dey tail between dey leg and ride wid de majority. I must say doh that there are a few tuff members here. Just a few nothing more than dat. As meh boi Movado will say talk d thing my yute. Respeck. HIGHLY BLESSED.

[Quags]

I said some really mean things and I feel terrible about it now ,I didnt mean all of it.I was just so upset ahhhh sorry buds.Do yah thing .

[asylumseeker]

I said some really mean things and I feel terrible about it now ,I didnt mean all of it.I was just so upset ahhhh sorry buds.Do yah thing .

Anyway, because yuh hate everybody equally .... he'll be aight.

[palos]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

[just cool]

I said some really mean things and I feel terrible about it now ,I didnt mean all of it.I was just so upset ahhhh sorry buds.Do yah thing .

Sorry iz ah county in england yes!! you could sorry , but i eh sorry ah MDRCNT! latas sabotage the team wid his mad selections, and his wait till last minuite tuh make it known too!

he was on ah power trip, so now, let him eat cake! he had better players than what he picked tuh choose from , and he blatantly refused to use them, so i eh sorry about nutten i said, BC he hurt my feeling , so fork that, i not sorry. he danced to the music, so let him pay the piper now! and ah hope he get fired right after the hex.

[just cool]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

I eh go lie palos, this is ah first, i knew yuh had it in yuh by the way yuh was always goofing off, now this is the kinda feed back that i luv tuh hear, real nice read bro , ah sh! t yuh not!

i remeber stop watching T&T football just before bertille took over the team, we played in the GC and lose to mexico ah think it was, and i was wrath @ the way we got dominated, so i said to meh breddren ole man doggy who love football more than food, "doggy this team beyond redemption , i go stop watching this heartbreak team until they get serious, then months later doggy told me we had ah dutch coach and he real good and he used to coach real madrid, not knowing is beenhakker the man talking bout.

well i was beside mehself with joy, and i started back coming around slowly but surely, and ah notice ah differance from how the other coaches had we playing compared with beenie right away, especially our defence, it was far more organized than i've ever seen it and fellas made less silly mistakes in defence, @ last we had ah disipline midfield and defence.

that's why we were able to hang with england for 80 mins, and they had to resort tuh dirty tricks to win.

ah just hope latas don't stay on as coach after the hex, since that could spell another 3-4 yrs of share misery and disapointment.

[davidephraim]

I said some really mean things and I feel terrible about it now ,I didnt mean all of it.I was just so upset ahhhh sorry buds.Do yah thing .

Sorry iz ah county in england yes!! you could sorry , but i eh sorry ah MDRCNT! latas sabotage the team wid his mad selections, and his wait till last minuite tuh make it known too!

he was on ah power trip, so now, let him eat cake! he had better players than what he picked tuh choose from , and he blatantly refused to use them, so i eh sorry about nutten i said, BC he hurt my feeling , so fork that, i not sorry. he danced to the music, so let him pay the piper now! and ah hope he get fired right after the hex.

Question   Can a fan also be on a power trip? Probably wanting things their way? Pissed off and upset when what they expected didn't occur? Accusations without knowledge?  Nah..Probably not.

[PATRIOT]

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

 

[Trini _2026]

Partnah look at the world cup players latas have.... Dog ..obviously past his prime  ..... tallest past his prime but still decent ....whitley arguably our best midfielder from the 2006 squad injured out and now start back playing with petrotrin ... Yorke retired frm ball period  .... birchy is there but he has injuries and the list goes on ... latas has shadows of what whim had and the younger ones are not stepping up ...imagine our main source of attack relegated to play right back because after all this time we don't have anyone capable of playing it well consistently  ... I ask meh boy today who could we really put in the middle and besides birchy we have no one there who could match birchy work rate defensively far less be an organiser and distributor ... Trent isnt good enough and in fairness to him 33 is a bit old to come in as a rookie and lead this team from the middle when your previous merits is being player of the year in pro league ... trent is a hard working role player he is no play maker  ... our team simply as it is now is not good enough our players are unable to handle it at this level!

A hippo? Wim inherit a team that just went to the world cup but in fairness to him and due to blacklists he was out of his depth
Maturana get the team and the team went to an all time low where he had to call back a 41 yr old latas
who has now become the coach .... in the middle of this failing campaign and I'm a hippo for supporting him
Boy ... boy ... lol

I feel like I on a mutiny ship and I have to protect Latas. All yuh fellas butting allyuh head against the wall  ...we lorse  and we lorse bad  .... men go blame latas
because he is the coach even tho he wasn't on the field  ... men go blame ince because he was the goalie he come off he line all kinda shit......as much as I tired of seeing this team play like that sometimes I even more tired ah hearing allyuh boy rant  ....  This is yuh f**king team wether yuh like it or not support or get the f**k out.
Fact vs fiction!
I think we have things in place  Latas and Yorke is we head and assistant coach ...These two is the best TT has ever had and we damn well owe it to them to support them at least early in this stage...they didn't inherit no bomb squad so who vex vex (I wish it had lil smiley symbols for middle fingers)!

Latas ain't afraid to chop and change  and he has to because men haven't  stepped up and claimed their spots if we had won none of you muf**kas woulda said a damn thing. Let's face it we have been riding on yorke  and latas shirt tails for years we even had to bring them out of retirement for us to qualify for the 2006 world cup so lets not get this shit twisted we had to let them go at some point.

Where does blame lie?  This isn't a blame game it solves nothing ...... but here are a few firm things to assess .... to play at this level requires character above all  ... you don't have to play at Yorke level to play at concacaf level and Latas cyah make you go out there and put in extraordinary effort ... you as the player have to make the choice as to wether you gonna chase the man after the ball go over your head (with conviction) or wait to see if Ince go save yuh again  .... Fellas Honduras just hit Costa Rica 4 that nation extremely passionate about their team ...all yuh really feel they was gonna let we walk in their and take three points?  They plan from start to finish was to go at us and come away with what was left of us after they were done it was up to the players on the field to decide wether they were gonna take a whipping and lie down or fight them like (men should) and make this a game.
I remember a concacaf gold cup game we lose to mexico 4-0 in the us and we run mexico to the ground believe it or not i wasn't mad a scoreline never did such injustice the fellas never gave up .... I remember Ronnie Mauge broke his leg playing for us and he played either div 2 or 3 in england he was not even born in Trini ..... I doh have to say a thing about Birchie.

We goh blame marvin and them (and lord knows he does bother meh eye at times) but the truth is he is a bit past his prime and in his prime he gave 150 % but the alternatives are not there. Men go watch the league a few times and see Peltier score a double against some and all of a sudden men doh understand why he not starting or this that and the other none of alyuh there in the training to see what men capable of.

Every coach is gonna have a favorite so doh use that line capello , beenie , latas all of them for what ever reason so please take that shit elsewhere. This team have to take the responsibility of this loss collectively but we have to continue supporting this our team they are showing that they are not good enough as players they are losing individual battles the midfield have the other midfield walking through the middle effectively changing out system to a 4-0-1. What allyuh want latas to do run out on the field, fall on he knees and beg a man to get up after the man beat yuh and track him down and not stand around and hope for another man to stop him. HE CYAH DO THAT MEN HAVE TO STEP ON THEY OWN WTF YOUR MOTHER DOES STILL HOLD YUH HAND WHEN YUH CROSSING THE STREET?

I know men on the team does read these rants and believe meh I doh wah hurt men feelings but as it stand this team is not good  ...  not good and its not because of talent (or lack there of) its because of desire ...you aren't showing that you want it and nobody can make you want it.

Who to blame? Poor wording ....... who is to resolve the issue ... the eleven players who strut out onto that pitch at any given time have to figure it out collectively don't point fingers step up and do your shift if yuh cyah do it step off !
All who think Darryl Roberts or Julius woulda make a difference allyuh dreaming this is a collective mentality and this is built over time and Latas need time because we don't have the kinda talent we used to.

when we lorse with wim yuh blame wim  with maturana yuh blame him but with latapy nah he is we boy!!! a big hippo

did whim have the world cup players ?? eh well !!!  latapy has them  ent now what he do ? oh shhhhh turn a blind eye to yuh boy

big man them players were black listed when wim was in charge yuh have short memory eh ... but defend latas ...

[CarenageBoy]

Well I see plenty of people that should be saying "ah sorry". T&T newspaper editors are already shamelessly playing the blame game.

That's one thing about my fellow Trinbagonians. They don't know how to support the home team and intimidate the visitors at the stadium. But, they sure know how to beat down our own boys.

[pecan]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

nice insight ..

i recall that when i first joined this forum in 2006, I read many a criticism that was leveled at Beenie for not playing Latapy ... what goes around, comes around ...

[Brownsugar]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

Well done....

[TdotTrini]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

Very good insight Palos. Tried to explain Beenie's defensive approach/philosophy to our game to ah padnah. The man was soo pissed, complaining that is not we style and was disappointed the world did see that we can play attacking style football.

[royal]

Firing Latapy like all de other coaches is just band aid treatment.The next coach unless Beenie like  will be fired too.You'll realise de only man who couldn't careless about Jack or any player but went by his PERSONAL judgement and assessments is the only one to succeed? So tell me who's de real man to fire.

[weary1969]

Firing Latapy like all de other coaches is just band aid treatment.The next coach unless Beenie like  will be fired too.You'll realise de only man who couldn't careless about Jack or any player but went by his PERSONAL judgement and assessments is the only one to succeed? So tell me who's de real man to fire.

COSIGN

[Controversial]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

Very good insight Palos. Tried to explain Beenie's defensive approach/philosophy to our game to ah padnah. The man was soo pissed, complaining that is not we style and was disappointed the world did see that we can play attacking style football.

good point by palos but it goes deeper than strategy in the wc, its politics... our loss to england was political and was inevitable...

[Brownsugar]

Firing Latapy like all de other coaches is just band aid treatment.The next coach unless Beenie like  will be fired too.You'll realise de only man who couldn't careless about Jack or any player but went by his PERSONAL judgement and assessments is the only one to succeed? So tell me who's de real man to fire.

   

[asylumseeker]

Palos, I am in agreement with respect to comments on the defensive posture of the team. However, as to the part in bold, ah charging yuh with elasticity dey ... at least until yuh bring support to defend that assertion. Please explain how Latas being on the field (under a different coaching philosophy) would have stretched to a thorough compromise of our defensive integrity. In responding, please assume I understand his liabilities as a two-way player.

I believe Latas' coaching philosophy is closely aligned to his philosophy as a player.  Attacking, creative football.  Not to regurgitate this for the umpteenth time, but you asked so I'll respond.  I believe the reason why Beenie did not play Latas all that much in WC 2006 is because by him being on the team, he MAY have compromised the defensive integrity of the team.

Make no mistake about it.  Our team was structured in such a manner to try and prevent the opposition from scoring.  To do so, an emphasis on defensive discipline AT ALL TIMES had to be maintained throughout the 90 minutes.  Whatever goalscoring opportunities that would come our way would more than likely come off of a set piece or counter attack.  It wasn't likely to come from any creative source that we had.  To do so would be to expose an already fragile defensive mindset and given the results in our warm up matches against decent european opposition (comprehensive losses to Slovakia and Czech Republic) it was clear our only chance of relative success was to play "anti football" as Arsene Wenger puts it.

When Latas came on against paraguay, we immediately looked a better team going forward.  We were already behind it's true but in so doing, we were increasingly vulnerable to the counter and at that level, you're going to get punished SEVERELY.  The team responds to Latas' presence on the field.  They lift their level of play....but not in the defensive part of the game and our discipline breaks down because men caught up in feeding off of Latas.

This mindset on creative attacking football neglecting the very important aspect of what needs to be done when playing without the ball is what I'm referring to.  We all marvel at Barca and rave about their attacking football.  But watch them when the opposition has the ball and see the discipline. 

I had the pleasure & privilege to sit with some coaches this past weekend watching the Spain vs Belgium game and they pointed out how Spain had 3 men around the ball everytime the opposition had possession.  They said every player buys into the philosophy and the philosophy is simple.  They rather run short hard sprints for 5 - 10 yards than run back 50 yards to catch a player in possession.  And EVERYBODY does it.  From striker to defender.  From Torres to Puyol.  The training is anaerobic.  Short wind sprints.  Sharp, Fast.  Of course, this is harder to do in very hot climates but it's the way the game is played now.  Dem men say Spain play football from a different planet.  Their movement was incredible.  Belgium had NO CHANCE.  And to their credit, they said so before the kickoff.

We don't have anywhere near that level of discipline.

Reasonable response.

Since this exchange has proved to be substantive, indulge me one further ... can you identify a poignant juncture versus Sweden or England at which Beenhakker could have/should have inserted Latas, or versus Paraguay inserted him earlier?

[Father Abraham]

TNT NEEDS A COACH LIKE ENGLAND'S CAPELLO

he would not take any crap from jack warner, he will run the show and he will command trhe respect of the players. yes he strict, he is a different breed but he will get the job done.

the coach has a big part to play to bring out the best from the players and a coach like capello will surely scare the heck out of the players to perform or take the bench. if capello was the coach do u think kj still playing, ha.

i cah say anything about latapy but does he get the respect from the fellas, what is his leadership skills in leading the warriors forward. is he the right coach, i do not think he is of of now, tnt need a more seasoned veteran and latapy can be his understudy. he was given this job prematurely and out of emotion. only the future will tell

[Babalawo]

paging Beenie to groom the 2014 team from today

[weary1969]

paging Beenie to groom the 2014 team from today

U mean a man wit Beenie balls 2 stand up 2 JW?

[dwolfman]

Like many of you I too agree with palos, but here's the thing. I think the problem goes beyong Latapy. His approach mirrors the way we view the game. At the U-21 Pan American Male Hockey tournament played here in T&T I listened to a parent of one of the parents cheer on T&T against Argentina to continue to attack with reckless abandon with no concern as to the rising scoreline (eventually ended 8-1). He was happy to see them attack and didn't care that the 8th goal conceded (on a counterattack from one of the open forays forward) put the team in a must win situation against the US team.

We have a mindset here that is slow to change, fiercely protected and encouraged (even when clearly wrong) and far too often is struggling to reinvent the wheel. "Dem cyah tell we how to play football" or "We have plenty talented players" is often the mantra here while we continue to perform poorly.

Why is it our attackers (from schools football right up to the national team) do not put in any defensive work? We still have the mindset that forwards only job is to score goals despite numerous examples of the best attacking players in the world putting in solid defensive shifts. Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi, Henry and Drogba come to mind easily as guys who either defend well or are typically involved defensively in the game.

As long as we continue to live in the dream world that we have cornered the market on talented players and ignore the game and what the good players and teams do we will continue to have unreasonably high expectatins disappointed time after time.

[noize]

As much as I hate to admit it... Latas is not ready for this job and if it was any other Coach we would be calling for his head...Latas is the most gifted footballer we ever produced but unfortunately he came in late and just dont have the experience to coach at this level after the next game we need to get a coach with experience and a no nonsense approach for us.... Latas could start with the Under 17 team or something or go abroad and get some experience Coaching ....He is simply over his head and having Jack as your boss cannot be helping.

[Daft Trini]

Like many of you I too agree with palos, but here's the thing. I think the problem goes beyong Latapy. His approach mirrors the way we view the game. At the U-21 Pan American Male Hockey tournament played here in T&T I listened to a parent of one of the parents cheer on T&T against Argentina to continue to attack with reckless abandon with no concern as to the rising scoreline (eventually ended 8-1). He was happy to see them attack and didn't care that the 8th goal conceded (on a counterattack from one of the open forays forward) put the team in a must win situation against the US team.

We have a mindset here that is slow to change, fiercely protected and encouraged (even when clearly wrong) and far too often is struggling to reinvent the wheel. "Dem cyah tell we how to play football" or "We have plenty talented players" is often the mantra here while we continue to perform poorly.

Why is it our attackers (from schools football right up to the national team) do not put in any defensive work? We still have the mindset that forwards only job is to score goals despite numerous examples of the best attacking players in the world putting in solid defensive shifts. Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi, Henry and Drogba come to mind easily as guys who either defend well or are typically involved defensively in the game.

As long as we continue to live in the dream world that we have cornered the market on talented players and ignore the game and what the good players and teams do we will continue to have unreasonably high expectatins disappointed time after time.

Thank you 

[Trini _2026]

So wha we still keeping latapy ...

[King Deese]

Maybe, but I have a recommendation for Russell Latapy. If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best forget trying to beat the best, for now.

Latapy, I am shouting from the mountain top. Can you hear me me me me me me. If you don't know what you are doing then you better ask somebody. Call Dunga of Brazil, call Pat Guardiola of Barcelona, call Jose Maurinho of Inter Milan, call Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United, call Franz Beckenbauer of Germany fame, call the current head coach of Spain, call Johan Cruff of Holland fame. Ask somebody, plese pick their brain, but by all means don't call Francisco Maturana, don't call Wim Rijsbergen, don't call Oliver Camps, he is clueless and brain dead, don't call Zoran Vranes, don't call Lincoln Phillips, don't call Jack Warner and by all means don't consult yourself. You may have a clue but the players you have selected so far for your team cannot read clues.

[Spursy]

Maybe, but I have a recommendation for Russell Latapy. If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best forget trying to beat the best, for now.

Latapy, I am shouting from the mountain top. Can you hear me me me me me me. If you don't know what you are doing then you better ask somebody. Call Dunga of Brazil, call Pat Guardiola of Barcelona, call Jose Maurinho of Inter Milan, call Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United, call Franz Beckenbauer of Germany fame, call the current head coach of Spain, call Johan Cruff of Holland fame. Ask somebody, plese pick their brain, but by all means don't call Francisco Maturana, don't call Wim Rijsbergen, don't call Oliver Camps, he is clueless and brain dead, don't call Zoran Vranes, don't call Lincoln Phillips, don't call Jack Warner and by all means don't consult yourself. You may have a clue but the players you have selected so far for your team cannot read clues.

Where is De Lippi? Juve great and current world champ??

I must say it has been a while since TNT have broken down like that in a major game, it was truly not cool.
And for the first time in many years we looked like we can't play this game.
The guys have good reason to be upset in this thread. TNT performance was not good with alot of gleaming eye-openers for instance, after conceding TNT continued to make sloppy mistakes, it was obvious something was going on with Abu Bakr, he should of been taken off at half time.

Also, Thompson was not comfortable in that position he was in clearly..., it showed he expected more from his teamates with constant hard looks "like wow wtf are you guys doing??? LOOKS"  TNT were suppose to be playing for "pride" here but some might have a different meaning to that word like Mr.Latapy. For a young player like Thompson you don't drop him in the fire in hostile community, only a madman would of expected a win in Costa Rica, why start his career with a loss? Why did Dennis Lawrence NOT start??

Maybe I see things differently from others which is why it's better to say less because the message is written within the game itself and it is a reflection of all the games TNT played in the final hex starting with Costa Rica. From Costa Rica game it is clear some of the players shouldn't be allowed to wear the national shirt after some of the things they did on the pitch with the world watching on. All the good past players have done was washed away in 90 minutes as some scrappy backyard side scrambling to defend a 4-0 scoreline 60?? minutes into the game with 10 men.
 Only one team showed up in Costa Rica looking for a result and asked all the questions without a reply.
Some of the Costa Rican fans were feeling sorry for TNT and could bearly look on, hoping their side won't score more to make the the region look easy. We might lose our .5 spot next 4 years!@!!!

Sorry latas you were a good player, bad coach.

[najee]

I feel like I on a mutiny ship and I have to protect Latas. All yuh fellas butting allyuh head against the wall  ...we lorse  and we lorse bad  .... men go blame latas
because he is the coach even tho he wasn't on the field  ... men go blame ince because he was the goalie he come off he line all kinda shit......as much as I tired of seeing this team play like that sometimes I even more tired ah hearing allyuh boy rant  ....  This is yuh f**king team wether yuh like it or not support or get the f**k out.
Fact vs fiction!
I think we have things in place  Latas and Yorke is we head and assistant coach ...These two is the best TT has ever had and we damn well owe it to them to support them at least early in this stage...they didn't inherit no bomb squad so who vex vex (I wish it had lil smiley symbols for middle fingers)!

Latas ain't afraid to chop and change  and he has to because men haven't  stepped up and claimed their spots if we had won none of you muf**kas woulda said a damn thing. Let's face it we have been riding on yorke  and latas shirt tails for years we even had to bring them out of retirement for us to qualify for the 2006 world cup so lets not get this shit twisted we had to let them go at some point.

Where does blame lie?  This isn't a blame game it solves nothing ...... but here are a few firm things to assess .... to play at this level requires character above all  ... you don't have to play at Yorke level to play at concacaf level and Latas cyah make you go out there and put in extraordinary effort ... you as the player have to make the choice as to wether you gonna chase the man after the ball go over your head (with conviction) or wait to see if Ince go save yuh again  .... Fellas Honduras just hit Costa Rica 4 that nation extremely passionate about their team ...all yuh really feel they was gonna let we walk in their and take three points?  They plan from start to finish was to go at us and come away with what was left of us after they were done it was up to the players on the field to decide wether they were gonna take a whipping and lie down or fight them like (men should) and make this a game.
I remember a concacaf gold cup game we lose to mexico 4-0 in the us and we run mexico to the ground believe it or not i wasn't mad a scoreline never did such injustice the fellas never gave up .... I remember Ronnie Mauge broke his leg playing for us and he played either div 2 or 3 in england he was not even born in Trini ..... I doh have to say a thing about Birchie.

We goh blame marvin and them (and lord knows he does bother meh eye at times) but the truth is he is a bit past his prime and in his prime he gave 150 % but the alternatives are not there. Men go watch the league a few times and see Peltier score a double against some and all of a sudden men doh understand why he not starting or this that and the other none of alyuh there in the training to see what men capable of.

Every coach is gonna have a favorite so doh use that line capello , beenie , latas all of them for what ever reason so please take that shit elsewhere. This team have to take the responsibility of this loss collectively but we have to continue supporting this our team they are showing that they are not good enough as players they are losing individual battles the midfield have the other midfield walking through the middle effectively changing out system to a 4-0-1. What allyuh want latas to do run out on the field, fall on he knees and beg a man to get up after the man beat yuh and track him down and not stand around and hope for another man to stop him. HE CYAH DO THAT MEN HAVE TO STEP ON THEY OWN WTF YOUR MOTHER DOES STILL HOLD YUH HAND WHEN YUH CROSSING THE STREET?

I know men on the team does read these rants and believe meh I doh wah hurt men feelings but as it stand this team is not good  ...  not good and its not because of talent (or lack there of) its because of desire ...you aren't showing that you want it and nobody can make you want it.

Who to blame? Poor wording ....... who is to resolve the issue ... the eleven players who strut out onto that pitch at any given time have to figure it out collectively don't point fingers step up and do your shift if yuh cyah do it step off !
All who think Darryl Roberts or Julius woulda make a difference allyuh dreaming this is a collective mentality and this is built over time and Latas need time because we don't have the kinda talent we used to.

Ngozi...bread i read everyone post...and i didn't hate none...i just wanted to read everyone comment...but your....you had me lol..and crying ah used to say the same thing i don't care who coach the team  went you  have  players with no heart and pride...what the outcome going to be...but Trinibago is my team and my country men.... SO ALL I COULD SAY HEAR WE GO AGAIN

[elan]

KEEP LATAPY RITE WHEY HE IS!!!!!!!!

Why!! he bummin!! so if he's ah darling leff he, but if he's ah foreigner(columbain) run him!
allyuh really eh derseve nutten good, that's BC allyuh love mediocrity! leave him even though he's clueless! and allyuh say allyuh love TNT football. look how dem argentinians go call for maradona head tommorrow, iz dem who love they football.

dat is not wat i sayin JC. i jus want ppl to give latas a chance to show wat he cud do. as weary say, maturana got 14 months to coach we team an all he really did was leave us in a big pile of s**t.

allyuh cah expect latas to clean up maturana mess in d space of three months. i agree wid u where his team selection leavin much to be desired but dat eh warrant me callin 4 he head yet.

at d end of d day JC, u have your opinion on dis latas situation and i have mine. 

So tell me something, who clean up sven goran errikson's BIG pile ah sh!t, not javier agguirre??

the man on the job just as long as latas , and he's 3 and i, plus he won the GC against the U.S on U.S. soil by ah huge margin.

that's ah cop out! latas was indeed ah good player , but as the cliche goes, good players seldom make good coaches. i say give him ah GOLD ROLEX and GET RID!

JC I thought that I was the Troll. I guess times changed and so does the song and dance.