I’ve changed my mind on Martin Rennie over the past week. I was, in the not so distant past, a staunch advocate of the Whitecaps’ Scottish manager and a believer that he was young and intelligent enough to change his ways. A second straight late-summer Vancouver collapse (Rennie’s third in a row if you count his Carolina Railhawks tanking in 2011) and a series of bizarre decisions and comments have led me to think the club should exercise its rumoured out clause on the gaffer’s contract this winter.

More after the jump.

This past Saturday, Vancouver lost 3-1 in Dallas. It was a score line that flattered the visitors and all but extinguished the Whitecaps’ playoff hopes. Daigo Kobayashi put the Caps up 1-0 early, and the team never looked likely to score after that, eventually conceding two late goals that put the game out of reach. Many of the coach’s decisions confused fans.

YP Lee, who only in the most optimistic scenario has more than ten games left in his career, started on the bench, presumably to rest him for a game that matters more than a conference matchup against a team you’re battling for a playoff spot. Since Rennie has yet to find another capable right back for this team, Nigel Reo-Coker was asked to play out of position in Lee’s spot. That didn’t go well. NRC allowed too much space to the shooter on the tying goal and was nowhere to be found when his mark crossed to Jair Benitez for the game winner.

Further confusing things, Lee was brought on as a second-half substitute. In the midfield. Rennie apparently didn’t want to disturb the back line that went on to concede three goals, so he continued to play the club’s best midfielder out of position at right back while our best right back (a guy who already converted from left back) went into the midfield where he has (to my knowledge) never played before.

Kekuta Manneh sat on the bench for this one. He’s already scored against Dallas this year, and assisted on another goal in a 2-2 draw at BC Place, but that apparently counted for nothing. He sat so Erik Hurtado (who I understand is considering a legal name change to Erik Hurtado Is A Little Heavy With His First Touch) could repeatedly have the ball carom off his club foot to the opposing keeper. Joining Manneh on the bench was Jay DeMerit. The captain is not fully recovered from his torn Achilles, and wasn’t going to play, but apparently Rennie doesn’t have 18 players on this team that he trusts to play on any given night so he brought Jay along to provide “leadership”.

Vancouver conceded 60% of the possession, turned the ball over endlessly and rarely looked at all threatening after they scored the opener. After the game, Rennie told the media it was a good performance. Then he looked at the tape and changed his mind, saying it was one of the worst performances by any of his teams ever. Good for him for coming clean, I guess, but there is no way this looks anything but bad. Either he misread the game so badly at the time that he shouldn’t be trusted to make tactical substitutions, he tried to play us all for suckers and hope we wouldn’t notice how bad the game was, or he felt the heat and tried to deflect it onto the players. Not good.

In the grander scheme, Rennie’s performance is mixed. He appears to have assembled one of the better starting elevens in the league, based on individual talent. It probably needs a good attacking midfielder, but the core of the team is quite good. After that starting eleven, the quality falls off immensely. Rennie knows this, which is why injured players sometimes take up spots in the game day roster even when they have no hope of playing. (Camilo was on the bench for the most recent game against LA despite a groin injury.) After two seasons in charge, this is an inexcusable situation. It’s one thing to have a bad team. It borders on incompetence to have a 30-man roster where more than a third of them are not qualified to play at the MLS level.

RSL’s Jason Kreis has been floated as a guy who may be out of contract after this year. Kreis would likely be excellent, if Vancouver can land him. If a coach of that calibre can be brought in, I will not be terribly upset to see Martin Rennie go.

Whoever has the reins next year will have his work cut out for him. Two right backs will be needed, one good enough to start consistently. Several midfielders will be needed, including at least one who can score with some regularity. The formation will need to be examined, as there doesn’t seem to be room right now for all of Camilo, Kenny Miller and Non-Existent Guy Who Can Actually Play The Wing. Above all, whoever is in charge next year will need to find a way for this club to play consistently and bring playoff soccer to Vancouver. It’s looking less and less likely that Vancouver will be making a return trip to the post-season this year.