The Official Sam Cronin thread

Although I like this player and am glad we snapped him up from Toronto and think he has a great future, I do wonder if the reason Preki didn't rate him was his lack of tackling. That's where I think he really needs to improve if he wants to be a fixture in the Quakes' midfield for years to come.

 

Totally agree - he does seem to be very good at anticipating passing lanes and winning the ball that way, but as far as direct tackling and either winning the ball or at least slowing down the other player, he hasn't shown as much skill. Will be interesting to see if that part of his game develops or not.

 

IIRC that concern was brought up on this forum right about the time the Quakes acquired him, and it's turned out to be a valid concern I think. I'm sure there were many more, but the only Cronin tackle that stands out in my mind from last year was a mis-timed one that earned him a red card.

 

• From Coast to Coast Sam Cronin Cruises

 

Bump.

Sam has been playing well for us. He still doesn't tackle the ball much, but he wins it fairly often with a toe poke or intercepting a pass. He's clever that way. The last couple of games, Sam and Brad Ring have really owned the center of the pitch. I think that this bodes well for us for the future.

We only have Dawkins for this season (which means that this should be the year we make a serious run at the cup). While I prefer to see Dawkins at a-mid and Ring at d-mid right now, Sam is capable of starting in this league, and he and Brad form a nice partnership.

GO QUAKES!!!!!
$%&@ el-lay!!!! <- Just because

- Mark

 

I hope our plans are to make a serious run at the Cup every year.

 

Sure, but what I'm getting at is that unlike many US sports where you build a team over several years, and you expect the core to stay together for several years, in MLS that timeline is very compressed. You get some players for just a year or two. Your quality young guys bail out for Europe and a big pay day.

I think that Dawkins is worth several points this season. He's a game changer. He's so good that he opens the field for other players. So, this would be a good and likely year for us to win the Cup. (One of the reasons that my patience with Yallop is so short.)

I expect that Dawkins will be gone after this season, and that next season, Sam and Brad will lead the charge for us.

GO QUAKES!!!!!!

- Mark

 

Im truly mortified we lose one of Ring or Cronin in the expansion draft.

And hopefully Tottenham is ever so kind enough to let us borrow one of their younger left backs

 

"Bring out you left backs!"

 

Discussion about who to expose and who to protect in another thread. And yes, exposing Ring or Cronin would be a disaster, we'd lose them for certain. Center mids are hard to come by in this or any league. The fact that these two are good and play well together is a tremendous asset for our team.

And I have to say, I was unimpressed when I heard that we had signed Cronin. But once he got here and I saw him play for us, I changed my mind. Sam's a good player.

GO QUAKES!!!!!!

- Mark

 

I am concerned that with all of our guys either out of contract or in their option years, that we might lose some.

I am especially worried about losing Sam and Brad. They aren't world beaters yet, but both are young players with lots of upside.

I could see one or both of them leading a powerful midfield for years to come.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

GO QUAKES!
FIRE FRANK!

- Mark

 

Cronin's on a pattern of good game - bad game - good game - bad game - good game. For the Quakes sake, he better break the pattern in Seattle.

 

What game did you think he played poorly in? And we've only had three games, so you're two matches too many in your list. If you're thinking that he didn't play well again Houston, I disagree. We dominanted them, we just didn't finish, and they got a PK that other refs might not have called.

I think that Sam has been getting better match by match, thus he's on an upward tragectory. Which means he'll have his best game yet against the stinking Flounders! (Also, this sounds really positive and hopeful, so you should go with it.)

GOOOOOO QUAAAAAAAKES!!!!!
GO SAM!!

- Mark

 

The preseason games up in Portland were shown on the internet.

 

Are you saying that you think Cronin played poorly against Houston? I thought he did well, and his stats seem to back that up. 41 successful passes, only 7 unsuccessful, and lots of defensive plays. Cronin contributed a lot offensively against Toronto, but I thought he could have done more defensively - but it's hard to tell if that was his fault or Moreno's and the rest of the midfield and defense.

Anyway, I would say that so far this year Cronin is doing well, so I don't get your alternating game performance theory.

 

Not that it matters, but I'm fully on the Croninja bandwagon.