The great Billy Ocean once explained to the world that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Looking at results in the past three seasons, it would appear that when the going gets tough, Martin Rennie's teams collapse like a house of cards.
Vancouver Whitecaps' playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. September is looking likely to be a decisive month but Martin Rennie's recent history at this time of year is not that hope inducing.
Over the past three seasons Rennie has managed the Caps and the RailHawks for eleven matches during September. He has ONE win.
There is a realistic chance that this could read one win in 14 by the time October 1st comes around this year.
It comes across that for all the talk, all the spin and all the expectations, Rennie struggles to get results in the crucial business end of recent seasons.
The old adage of it's not how you start but how you finish is usually what feels key when you have a playoff system of deciding league champions.
In reality, it helps if you perform all season long, but it certainly helps to finish strongly, for momentum and perception reasons if nothing else.
August, September and October are vital months for regular season football. That is when the players, the management and the whole club need to stand up and be counted.
Before the Dallas game, Nigel Reo-Coker <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/Whitecaps+Return+Coker+boosts+chances+make+playoffs/8875706/story.html" target="_blank">told the Province</a> that <i>"As a team, we have to stand up and be counted as men and either say, ‘We’re going to achieve something great,’ or we’re going to let our season crumble."</i> Well it's all gone crumbly over there.
And that must be something that Martin Rennie is getting used to.
Rennie was announced as the new Caps manager on <a href="http://www.aftncanada.blogspot.ca/2011/08/martin-rennie-named-vancouver-whitecaps.html" target="_blank">August 9th 2011</a>. Since that announcement, his end of season run-in stats have been abysmal.
If we looks at Rennie's regular season record during August, September and October for Carolina in 2011 and Vancouver in 2012 and 2013, it makes for interesting, and worrying, reading.
Overall we are looking at played 27, won 6, drawn 6, lost 15. That's a winning record of 22%. Out of the 81 points available to him, Rennie has won 24 (29.6%). That is nowhere near the form that any team should have if they are to be realistic contenders in the postseason.
His teams have failed to score in 13 of those 27 games.
Looking solely at his Whitecaps record for this run-in period, it reads played 17, won 3, drawn 5, lost 9. The Caps have been blanked in 9 of those 17 games.
Vancouver won one of their last ten games under Rennie last season. That saw them limp into the playoffs thanks to their early season form. That won't do it this year.
They currently have one win from their last eight, are winless in four and have seven games left.
When you factor in that Rennie has failed to get the job done in the playoffs, Voyageurs Cup and Cascadia Cup on a consistent basis, you have to really start questioning whether he has what it takes to win the big games.
This does bring up the old debate of who is at fault for losses? The players on the pitch for not performing or the manager who put those players out there? The buck usually stops with the manager, as a long list of managerial casualties each season shows.
You can point fingers at both, but when you look at last night's defeat in Dallas, there has to be some serious questions about Rennie's team selection and substitutions.
Coming in to the game on the back of three games without a win, and some pretty poor performances on the way there, you expect there to be changes. But you expect them to make sense.
The whole Johnny Leveron as DM move I can't argue with too vehemently, apart from the timing of it. We've been calling for it on these very pages for a few weeks, but that was before Gershon Koffie stepped back and made the role his own. You do have to question the sense of making such a move in a vital game, when surely last week against Chivas was the match to experiment in.
As it turned out, the whole experiment didn't really work, with Leveron caught too far forward on too many occasions and not providing the defensive shield and back up coverage we needed and have got from Koffie and Jun Marques Davidson in previous games. This was a game made for Davidson's return.
Playing Nigel Reo-Coker at right back was a risk. He may have played well there earlier this season but English players aren't used to playing in such hot conditions, never mind in a position where you're expected to tear up and down the wing all game long. He looked goosed at times and Dallas saw that as the place to attack.
Most baffling of all though was then bringing Young-Pyo Lee on as a sub but putting him into the midfield and not at right back. That really was the WTF moment of the match.
Rennie's comments this season have indicated that he's not a huge fan of Lee on the road, but he must surely be a bigger fan of him in defence than untried in the middle.
Vancouver went with a team in Texas without width and any real creativity. The plan seemed to be to let Dallas have the wings, buckle down in the middle, hope to clear everything in the air and if they did get a chance to venture forward then that was a bonus to take the pressure off the backline.
The Caps goal was beautifully worked. It was an outstanding move. Shame we never saw anything else like it for the remaining 86 plus minutes. Camilo and Miller both had another stinker, especially the Brazilian. I'd been hoping to see Tommy Heinemann leading the front line with Camilo moving out wide. The least I would have expected was for the Caps striker most in-form right now to get more than just a few minutes in garbage time.
Another mystery was not bringing on Kekuta Manneh, a player used to playing in the Texas heat from his time with Austin. It was all just so baffling.
The problem with the line up was that if the Caps fell behind, there was really no way back from the personnel out on the pitch. They were unlikely to lead wave after wave of attacks to get the game back. The hope had to be that they wouldn't fall behind, or if they did, it was early enough that attacking subs could be brought on. Going behind so late on then made the task impossible.
There were five defenders, six at one point, and two oft defence minded midfielders on the pitch, yet they still conceded three goals to some horrible defending.
Breaking them down, the first goal saw Harvey, Leveron and Koffie all have an opportunity to challenge or at least put a foot in on Castillo. Leveron's lackadaisical jog back was indicative of what he brought all game and was the worst of all three non tackles. When Watson got the ball, Reo-Coker stood off him too much, allowing him to get off the shot and bang, the rest is history. Not sure Ousted should be beaten as easy with not even a hand on it.
The Caps got a warning just before the second goal with a quick breakaway from a Caps corner. The lack of urgency in taking the corner I understand, waste some time. But they all look shattered before it's taken. Vancouver had five men in the box as the corner comes over, all in or around the six yard box with no players at the edge of the box. The ball comes out, Koffie moves forward to try and close down Diaz, who easily knocks the ball past him, Hassli streaks clear but the play is broken up by Lee.
Seconds later Lee is caught up field, a long ball forward is met by Mitchell's head, the ball falls to Hassli and inexplicably, with all the defenders and defence minded players on the pitch for the Caps, it's three on three, as Reo-Coker is gasping to get back to help. With Reo-Coker out of position, Hassli plays a neat ball for Castillo in acres of room where a right back should be (we only had two on the pitch!), he hits byeline and sends over a perfect cross for the unmarked Diaz to volley home.
There are six Caps players in the box and three Dallas players, yet both Diaz and Hassli are unmarked, with Leveron again just jogging back into no man's land. How was nobody tracking back with Diaz?
With the Caps now desperate to try and force the equaliser, Dallas' third goal comes from a break where the unmarked Benitez is allowed to get the ball and run unchallenged from midway in his own half to over the halfway line then lob Ousted who should never be beaten from 50 yards out.
Three great goals but three pieces of horrible defending.
I don't really want to rehash the same ground I've gone over all season long regarding the inability to defend, lack of creativity and non existent midfield depth.
Things need to change, but most of it can only come now in the offseason. We simply don't have the right players in the squad. We've said so since April.
I expect to see Jay DeMerit start in San Jose. What that means for the rest of the team, especially the defence, who knows right now? And that probably also includes Rennie, who is going to have to have his team work on a lot this week in training.
Psychologically having DeMerit in back there might help and if we're talking of such matters then you also have to look at a goalkeeping change to try and stop the rot.
David Ousted should have done better on many of the goals he's let in this year. The team is simply not winning with him between the sticks. It's not necessarily his fault, but, again, there is a psychological element there.
Earlier in the season, Rennie said that the goalkeeping position was Brad Knighton's until the team started losing. Using that rationale, the Caps need to change to start winning.
They need someone in goal who has been there on a winning team. Who has the experience to play big when it matters. It's likely to signal the return of Knighton, but my personal choice would be to put a well rested Joe Cannon back in there.
He knows this would be his last hurrah and you can be sure he'd play out of his skin.
Look at starting Heinemann to outbash the bash brothers whilst we're at it.
The Caps really have nothing to lose now. Roll the dice a little.
You can spin all the reasons for not getting points all you want. Spectacular opposition goals, incredible saves, calls not going your way, hitting the woodwork, injuries, international call ups, a day with a 'y' in it.
It happens to every other team and you make your own luck over the course of a season. Your own play can also negate a lot of those situations arising.
Ultimately, none of that matters. Only the final result does.
When it comes to Vancouver and Martin Rennie, those results don't seem to come in September. With three massive games still to come this month, we now need seven points from them to keep the ever diminishing playoff hopes alive.
History doesn't seem to indicate that it's going to happen. Current form doesn't indicate that it's going to happen.
Wake me up when September ends.
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