Pre-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Club Deportivo Chivas USA (Saturday, 4/26) pregame thread

I don't know what your deal is, but swearing at Mark and, I thought, me because you wrote in the plural while accusing us of being emotional, then backtracking even though you addressed your tirade at "you ********ers" and finally falling to the level of snide retorts even though you "don't care about me" is mighty unseemly. I didn't personally attack you when I disagreed with you.

I sure hope the Quakes win on Saturday for your emotional well being because you seem on the road to some sort of breakdown.

 

I swore at Mark because he said something he knows, or should know, I don't believe, that the team has been good. We have been over that too many times in too many threads that he should know I don't think things are A-OK. I actually care about his opinion because I know hes trying to listen, so I got frustrated when he distorted what I was saying to something he should know I dont believe.

And I dont care about your opinion at this stage, because you are convinced we are terrible. And when confronted with evidence that we are not terrible, you dismiss it as not matching the eye test. Why should I care about someones opinion who rejects all information that does not match it?

And that's what is so frustrating about this board in general. When presented with evidence that we may not in fact suck as hard as everybody seems to think, rather then going "Hey, I'm not sure I believe that, but if true, good news," everybody seems to act like what I am saying is some sort of deep sacrilege. Its like people are so invested in the team being bad, that they need John Doyle and Mark Watson to be incompetent, that there can't be any possible ray of hope.

So, I don't know about you, I want this team to win. I would like to think the season isn't necessarily over. So when I find something that, while not super encouraging does point to a silver lining, I would like to know it.

But hey god forbid we might not actually suck. I mean, that would really mess with the collective bitch session wouldn't it?

 

I think you might be assuming too much about my evaluation of the team. The results have been poor. No wins in three home matches is downright awful, even though RSL may be the best team in MLS; Columbus and New England, not so much. I'm not trashing the squad in my comments. I'm only human, but I've watched a lot of soccer over the years so I stand behind my opinion. Last Saturday's match was one of the worst MLS matches I can remember watching, certainly the worst since last year's SJ/DC match. Sub MLS quality from both teams.

Me too.

 

Based on the Merc article this morning we have only two forwards available Wondo and Schuler, which I would love to have Schuler get a chance to start however Watson says he has other options available which I'm afraid might mean the idiot might start Harris at forward.

 

I think that all things considered, I'd rather see Harris up top than in the MF...

 

We should all face the possibility that Gordon may have to sit this match out due to his conduct in Colorado and honestly it would be fitting if he did.

 

the merc article:

http://www.mercurynews.com/earthquakes/ci_25617208/san-jose-earthquakes-forwards-struggling-injuries

djalo also re-injured obviously

 

Wrong

 

"Billy has looked really good and probably hasn't gotten the minutes he deserves," coach Mark Watson said.


Well, whose damn fault is that?!

 

The real question is when are you going to be willing to admit we suck?

 

Lurking, you're better than this. You've responded to some of my posts recently by obtusely trying to misunderstand what I'm saying. We, including you, have been having these arguments for years. I think we know where each other are coming from by now.

You think that we don't suck as badly as it looks. I think that we suck exactly as badly as it looks. We're terrible. I don't see us making any serious improvements without a change in leadership.

Argue as much as you want. I find much of what you say interesting. However, we stink. Our Quakes are deservedly at the bottom of the table. If we manage to climb above one or two teams, that will still be unacceptable to me. If we manage to get close to a playoff spot, like last season, that's an improvement I can appreciate. Then I'd need to look at how we accomplished that, how we played, what strategy and tactics we employed.

For now, your arguments that "we don't suck quite that badly," strike me as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

I hope that you continue to post here. I do get what you're saying, I just think that you're splitting hairs. You're looking for a silver lining, when in fact, the sky is falling.

Go Quakes!!
Go Quakes fans!!

- Mark

 

I know that injuries are a normal part of the game, but we have had more than our fair share since Wat took over. Is it just dumb luck or do we have a training issue. And yes, I realize injuries like Lenny's are just normal game by game injuries, but I'm talking about the sheer number of injuries, especially those that have happened during training.

 

We also have a habit of signing players with an injury history.

 

We suck so badly, we are going to get owned by Chivas, that's how bad we suck. We suck so badly that Shea Salinas is our best play maker. Bottom of the league with no wins. We suck, no one is happy about it but it just happens to be true.

 

Go back and re-read my post, and others of mine in this thread. I didn't say you thought our team was good, but rather less bad than our record suggests. I didn't get emotional, and I didn't call you names.

You're trying to look on the bright side of life, whereas I think our team are being crucified. (Insert silly Monty Python references here.)

I figured that you would know that I know your arguments and that you know mine. What I was trying to get at is that even if we don't suck quite so badly, perhaps we are more like 17th or 16th, rather than 19th, is still not acceptable. Are we super horrible? or only medium horrible? We had a great run at the end of last season, but this season we're starting over as though we learned nothing and made no progress. To me, that suggests not that we are less awful than it might appear, but rather that we are more awful. We have fallen from decent to suck. We can quibble about how serious the suck is, and we can quibble about how far the fall. But I submit to you, that we have taken a tumble.

Can you think of one game we have played this season where we played well enough to win?

Perhaps if Gordon's early header had score against the Crapids we might have pulled that out? They'd have had to attack a lot more, could have opened them up at the back. There's a possible argument there. If the Crapids had gotten a red card in the first half for thumping Gordon in the head that would have been game changing.

Still, the view from my comfy chair was that both teams played poorly, us more poorly than them. The only thing we did well was defend. There! You can take comfort in that! (And you have.) Still, we aren't going to win very many games if everyone plays defense first and we have next to no offense.

On the one hand, I want to believe that we can get better. On the other hand, if we do improve somewhat, and Watson and Doyle keep their jobs, we'll be back on this same theme next season. I want for us to either be a top three or four team in our division, or I want us to fail sufficiently that Kaval sacks Doyle and Watson. Sadly, I'm not sure that even a totally disastrous season will be enough for them to get the sack.

If we don't win a few of our next games, we run into Seattle in Seattle on May 17th. From there, our schedule gets much tougher than it has been. I've posted our upcoming games a couple of times. That's why I'm so worried. We could be in a very, very deep hole by the break in June.

I plan to go wine tasting and smoke two joints. Oh, and I'm going to play guitar while watching the games, because I'm less likely to throw anything or yell at the TV so much that I upset the dog (not to mention my wife).

go quakes!!
we DO suck!!

- Mark

 

It's funny that it shows an image of Bob Marley, because (popular opinion to the contrary) he didn't write or perform it. In fact, that would have been a superhuman effort, considering that when the song was recorded and released (by the Toyes) Nesta Bob had been dead for two years...

 

Wow, thanks for that heads up, I had no idea Bob's hand wasn't in the song. Did he write it before his death perhaps?

PS: It's still a good song and it applies to Mark's post.

 

Mark is so cool, he smokes weed and everything, goes to Portland to, Mark is cool as ********

 

Tell me about Chivas. They have a dangerous striker, no? Dan Kennedy still minds the nets. Up top and at the bottom, they look good. How about in between?

 

their acquisition of mauro rosales was one of the steals of the off-season. he could cause us big problems at a-mid.

 

Atiba the Harris plays wide mid like he's an outside forward in a 4-3-3. So he's almost like a 2nd forward anyway. So how about the 3 d-mid formation! Cronin, Pierazzi, and Koval all running around trying to do the same thing. Salinas on the left, Harris playing like Harris plays, Wondo in the middle. So more like 4-3-3.

 

just noticed this in the team stats:

MLS Fouls Committed: most - Chivas USA (128); least - San Jose Earthquakes (55)

 

We even suck at fouling!

 

And yet SJ has this reputation of being a "dirty" team that just tries to foul and play negative soccer, and Chivas USA probably has a reputation for trying to play "the beautiful game". Go figure...