2013 San Jose Earthquakes preseason thread [R]

We may have been better defensively with the Salinas/Chavez midfield we started the year with.

 

Right. It's tough to say just going from memory. We all know how reliable those are. That's why I'm just floating it out there as a possibility. But the volume of possibilities makes it very difficult to determine causes. The amount of minutes played and facing the same opponents several times a year brings with it shifting tactics and personnel. The Quakes still ended the season with one of the fewer goals against tallies, so it's not that they were bad defensively. They just weren't rock solid the way say, Kansas City was.

Remember, the defensive unit early on also consisted of a Bernardez-Morrow center back pairing (which I still think was superior to the Hernandez-Bernardez or Opara-Bernardez pairing). Of course, Corrales couldn't play the amount of minutes necessary for a starting left back so the shift needed to take place. Hopefully going in with Hernandez and Bernardez from the get go will bring with it even more familiarity and cohesiveness.

 

First question is, is Muller an upgrade? Second question is, we are still likely to sign a 4th CB, who will that be?

 

Ty Harden was in camp according to the Mercury article.

 

I'm not a big Hernandez fan, and prefer a quick / athletic type to pair with Bernardez (no, I don't think Hernandez is quick and athletic). So I think Muller is intriguing, but we'll see. I doubt that Frank would begin the year with him starting, but could happen before the end of the year. And then of course there's who ever else they might acquire, and Harden.

 

Wonder how many players they will invite back from this open tryout?

 

Morrow and Beita started in the All Star game and got called up to the USMNT. Obviously they are good, otherwise they wouldn't be getting those nods.

We scored 72 goals last season ( ), an amazing amount, but you're right about our defense. Hernandez was the weakest link in 2012 and that's the one place where if we find an improvement our team will be instantly better. I'm hoping Bernardez' Honduran buddy CB will be coming our way. To your point, check out the goals for/against for us and the second place team KC last year. Two very different roads to winning clearly laid out. SJ relied on scoring an incredible amount of goals, while allowing a pretty average 43 goals against last year. KC on the other hand, scored only 42 goals, but allowed a league-lowest 27 goals. They relied on their defense to win games, we relied on our offense, and finished 3 points apart for the SS.

I'd credit Cronin with great defense in front of our CBs, but not Baca. Everyone harped about Baca's "possession" play and more "defensive minded" play, but I think they are confusing conservative, reactionary play with those traits. I was probably his biggest critic on these forums, and still think we need someone else playing a true attacking mid position. After Hernandez, Baca's spot is the next in line for improvement.

 

Not sure that I agree anyway, but the difference between those two guys is that Hernandez is past his prime - he's not getting any better, only going to get worse. Baca, OTOH, just completed his first full year in MLS, is only something like 23, and will likely continue to improve, possibly significantly.

I look at d-mid - Cronin's position as more in need of an upgrade than Baca's position. But not by a lot.

 

I agree with Falvo. It was gratifying, fantastic (and surreal) to see us snatch so many victories and ties from defeat, but to think that we can sustain that trend is as ridiculous as expecting the 49ers defense to continue to dominate in the turn over game (or expect David Akers to keep making such a high percentage of field goals). And before anyone sneers and looks down their nose at "pointy ball" the logic (and the odds) bears out no matter what sport you are talking about. (I doubt the As will have as many walk off wins this season.) Not to dwell in the past, but in our early championship years, we simply overwhelmed the opposing defenses with numbers. When they pressed up, we won the ball, and went at them. Very few games were decided in the final minutes. (The Rodrigo Faria game was a anamoly - The Cup Final against Chicago was more in line with how we got things done under Frank and then Dom...) Championship teams (and dynasties) are founded upon dominance from the starting whistle to stoppage time. Expecting to continue at last year's remarkable pace of heart stopping finishes is not likely to equal the same level of success.

 

Well, we should be realistic. We face more downside risk then we do upside opportunities. Thats to be expected when you score 72 goals and have the best record and goal differential in the league. Right now I think the two guys I'm most interested in seeing how they do this preseason are Garza and Muller. Garza I think has a lot of upside. Muller I like what I've found out about him, its more can he translate his games to the next level, and if so can he be an upgrade in the weakest starting position on the field (2nd CB). Delgado, Hustedt and Pizarro could always surprise too.

Of last years key players, Cronin, Salinas and Lenhart are in the early part of the "prime" years, Beita and Morrow (and Dawkins if he returns) are just going to be entering their "prime" years, while Baca is definitely pre-prime. Any of these players could be better, with Baca having the most growth potential based on typical career patterns. Wondo, Bernardez, Ballouchy and Hernandez are safely in the later part of their prime years and should probably maintain something similar to last years level. Gordon is at the edge of his prime and is more of a risk to decline. Then Corrales, Busch and Stephenson are also at the latter stages of their career. So in terms of age, we seem to be in good shap.

That said, a lot of guys last year had career years, which may be the result of them all playing together, but we need to watch out for some regression to the mean.

In short, unless we have a young guy breaks out and becomes a dominant force in the league, realisticly we arent going to be improving on last years regular season. We should still be a top team and a playoff team, but its going to be more about managing the season and improving our playoff performance over last last year.

 

I think to improve on Baca, and go to a more attacking central midfielder, we would also need a more dominating d-mid than what Cronin provides, something in the mold of a Nigel De Jong or Michael Essien.

 

You mean out of the 22 they invite back?

 

I really mean did they find anyone out of the entire group?

 

The next round of tryouts for the 22 players will be this weekend.

 

This is what we did in all of those comebacks last season. Once it got to around the 75th minute if we still needed a goal, Yallop went to his ace in the hole - the Chimaera, the three headed monster. Wondo/Gordon/Lenny all up top. It was too much for opposing defenses to deal with and overwhelmed them leading to many late goals. It was no fluke.

I don't think we will get as many comebacks this season but there was a good reason why it kept happening over and over again last year.

 

It seems unlikely to me that Yallop and his staff would look to replace Baca or Cronin as starters at this point. I do think they are looking for a different type of option, which may include a more straight forward central midfielder, but I don't know that I'd call it an improvement, necessarily. The Cronin-Baca pairing is about side by side movement and position covering. The ball is collected in the middle of the field and then quickly moved to the outside in order to set up the forwards.

To go to a more diamond-like midfield could perhaps change the point of attack through the middle, but I wouldn't expect that to be the starting formation very often. I'd honestly prefer to see a shift to a 3-4-3, with Beitashour moving into the midfield when pressing is needed, but I don't see that happening, either. Four defenders is pretty much the constant of any Yallop system.

 

The Quakes have won two MLS Cups. The first in 2001 was won in sudden death overtime, following an overtime goal to carry the team to the championship round. The second in 2003 involved two sudden death overtime wins out of three playoff victories overall.

 

I think that's right. Baca and Cronin kind of go together in that between the two of them, they provide good defensive cover but do not attack much. So you are essentially playing 2 box2box guys vs. having more differentiated roles for the two central mids - a real destroyer type of d-mid and a real attacking mid. Quakes just haven't had that kind of central midfield traditionally, so not sure that I would expect to see it.

 

You are likely right. Plus, really good d-mids and really good a-mids are few and far between.

 

We do have a really good a-mid: Simon Dawkins. (Assuming we can get him to return)... Unfortunately, Frank tried to mold him into a winger out of necessity last year.

 

Dawkins is not an a-mid he needs more time on the ball to pick it up, turn and face the defender. He is not good at sensing pressure behind him when his back is to the goal. The "inverted winger" is his best position. He likes spending a lot of time on the ball but can't handle extremely quick pressure that hits him before he receives the ball.

 

Are you kidding me? Not an a-mid? He's not good at situational awareness? Not quick to turn? But Baca is at all these things? ::rolls eyes::