Before the season began, the Riverhounds produced a line of T-shirts featuring a picture of Dave Brandt, with the words ‘Talk is Cheap’ printed on the front of the shirt, illustrating the coach’s no-nonsense approach.
As we reach August, in the midst of Brandt’s first full season with the team, the Hounds are reaching a critical juncture. July wasn’t very kind to Brandt’s squad, as they stumbled through six games without a win, including four consecutive draws booked-ended by a pair of one-sided losses.
After the latest defeat — 2-0 at Tampa Bay on Saturday – Brandt gave a number reasons why his team continues to come up short, and a step behind in the USL’s Eastern Conference playoff race.
“We’re in Step 2 in a three-step process,” Brandt explained after the game. “I’ve been here a year, and I came here and this team was really struggling. We’ve had a lot of draws and been on edge of a lot of results, except for two – here and Louisville City — as we were more out of those games than we would like. Otherwise, we have to watch the mistakes in the back, and put in the chances we have.”