Yes, because Corben Bone lights the league up and plays regularly. Same for Mike Zaher . Just because one guy does well with another team & system doesn't mean they'll work here. Many players from Central America come to MLS and blow because they can't adjust to the style of play and physicality. And are you always so angry?
Actually, I mentioned Corben Bone and Da Silva because there were other posters in this forum who wanted us to draft one or the other of them, in place of Garza. Zaher played well for us. Not really great perhaps, but certainly serviceable. Instead of playing him though, Frank benched Zaher, and played Corrales at left back (while he should have been recovering from injury) and we got skinned. The point of my argument was that had we made different choice, had to gotten different players kept some guys, cut others, made different trades, employed a different formation, our team would have turned out quite differently. And the reason I'm angry is that our team sucks and our brain trust appear to be completely clueless. You should be angry too. go quakes!! - Mark
I don't see the need to get angry over something I can't control. I hold everyone accountable for the production. The coach can layout a game plan but ultimately the players are the ones who have to execute and put the ball in the goal and keep it out. Maybe it would have turned out different, maybe it wouldn't have. If Zaher was a serviceable MLS Player someone would have picked him up when he was waived. Same goes for all the scrap heaps we cut.
How many years and teams later tho? And how nice that it's working our now that he's linked with his original coach.
I notice that some of us blame the coaching staff more, and some of us blame ownership or Doyle more. And I wonder about this. While it's true that Wolff and Fisher could spend more, they've said that they are willing. It seems to me that Doyle signs poor players from overseas, or older players with only a season or three left in them. (I think that we have drafted well since '08.) And then the coaching staff use the players that Doyle gives them poorly. We don't have to play bootball. We don't have to play and empty bucket midfield. We could play more possession, and let's not pretend that the coaches don't have a lot of input on who Doyle gets. It's pretty clearly a group effort. I'm willing to blame a few signings exclusively on Doyle, like Zura and Fabio. But Frank wanted Andre Luiz, and he wanted Hucks, he wanted Lenny, and he wanted Gordon. Hell, Frank wanted Glinton, Kamara, and Glen! And Nick Garcia!! And when Doyle got Geo for us, Frank played him on the wing. (We can probably blame Doyle for Eduardo too, and that he has continued to sign older players since then.) This is a salary capped league. It's not we can just go out and spend a ton of cash on ten or twelve players. We're limited to three DP's. And signing three means that we have less to spread around to the rest of the roster. It's not an abject lack of resources, it's an abject lack of using what we have well. At least, that's my take. go quakes!! - Mark
The fact that our facilities are the worst in the league doesn't help either, so I'm excited for that not to be an excuse anymore.
I doubt it. We're going to be solid contenders for the Wooden Spoon, and it will be clear that that is the case in the near future. We need to win right now, because starting May 17th, our schedule gets a lot harder. Relegation campaigns are only exciting if you're on the cusp. When you have an epically bad season, like DCU or the GoatShaggers last year, it's just depressing out of the gate. go quakes!! - Mark
And if relegation was the "prize" instead of a top draft pick and being first in the allocation order, they might have tried harder to win.
Of course they could! WE had an epically bad season in '09 and again in '11, and we fans knew that those seasons were disasters less than a third of the way in. We are on the doorstep of an awful season. We need to turn this around in the next few weeks, or we're doomed. We play . . . 19Apr14 away to Colorado 26Apr14 home vs Chivas 3May14 away to Whitecraps 7May14 home vs Colorado 10May14 home vs FCKDallass After that, we have a run of really tough games. We need to win at least three of these next five games. So yeah, I can tell right now that we are in for a terrible season. Drink it. go quakes!! Fire JD and MW!! - Mark
Actually, it's worse than that. We need to haul down a little better that 1.5 points per game for the rest of the season. So three of this next five, followed by three of the next six, and three of the next five after that and so on. We might hit a stretch where we win a few in a row, but we'll also hit stretches where we lose more than one or two in a row. We'll keep evaluating this as the season progresses. I may need to eat some vegetarian crow, but more likely, we'll continue to tank. go quakes!! - Mark
1.5 a game is a trivial pace for a decent team to keep up. Both the Rapids and Sounders started 0-3-2 last year. Both actually started 0-3-1. In the next 5, the Sounders hit your imaginary mark, but the Rapids did not. The Revs also failed your 3 wins by game 9 benchmark as well. All were playoff teams Its a long season. We are only 4 games into our season (and our position looks worse because we have played fewer games). There are issues that need to be sorted out, but nobody should be hitting the panic button.
Fair points, but a couple of things that run counter that argument a bit. - One is that's a 0-2-2 start where 3 of those 4 games are home games. It is much harder to win games on the road. The Quakes have already played almost 20% of their home games and have 0 wins to show for it. - Another is that the team will likely be missing three of their best players, including one who scores about half its goals, for some period of time this season (what is it, a month - 4 games?). And we're looking at maybe a Hernandez - Harden center back line - 'nough said. Realistically I think we can only hope that the team treads water during this period. It's very unlikely that they are going to make up ground. So I'm not pushing the panic button yet, but I'm warming up my finger.
Thanks! That soothes my troubled soul, at least a little. I think part of my worry is memories of last season, where I watched our ppg rate inch slowly up the scale. It was painful knowing that we were too far out, and yet knowing that we were on a hot streak. And let's be clear, following our next five games, which are comparatively winnable, the next six games are: 17May away to Flounders 25May home vs DynamoeHumms 31May away to FCKDallass 7Jun away to TFC 28Jun @Stanferd vs the filth 2Jul home vs GoatBangers - which may or may not be a "soft" game. We could lose most of those, easily. So yeah, I'm hitting the panic button after only four matches, because I'm looking at the next eleven games. In the next five games we ought to get some wins, and we'd damn well better, because after that, we are up against really tough competition the next five, maybe six games. Of course, it's possible that some of the teams that look tough today will implode by the time we have to play them. Realistically, we could be out of the playoff hunt by the time we host the GoatBangers. So yeah, I'd prefer to panic now and then be relieved when we do OK, than mindlessly walk into a buzz saw starting May 17th. go quakes!! Fire JD and MW!! - Mark
JJ, I like your analysis, especially about having played about 20% of our home games already. However . . . If you look at the bit of schedule I just posted, you can see that we have no games between June 8th and 27th. That's almost enough time for Team USA to totally flame out of the group round. We might miss our players for one or two matches, Muma possibly for more. In any case, it shouldn't be such a dire hit to our roster as losing three of our best guys for four or five games. I'm pressing the panic button right now, just in case. Besides, it gives me an excuse to smoke two joints! (We need a Rastafarian smilie! I bet Goodsport has one.) go quakes!! Fire JD and MW!! - Mark
USMNT camp will convene sometime around May 19 and their last group game is on June 26 (U.S. could still be in it). Since the U.S. camp will be based at Stanford, it's possible Wondo and Goodson could get released to play the home game on May 25th. If so, they could miss a total of three games (a minimum of two), possibly four. If they don't get released and the USMNT advance out of the group, they could miss four games (a minimum of three), possibly five.
It will be interesting to see how we do without Wondo, Bernardez, and/or Goodson. However, other teams will be missing players during that stretch as well. Just the way it goes in MLS. A counterpoint is that we have already been missing players so far this season. Djalo is just starting to integrate into the team, and I know you are also a Tommy Thompson fan, and based on his twitter comments he should be returning soon. Those two were always the guys I had tagged as our most "creative" players on the roster. Getting them into the fold could prove transformative. As for the start of the season, the only really "bad" result is the New England loss. Home draws against Columbus, a team that looks very good so far this season, and RSL a perennial contender aren't ideal, but those are tough teams to beat home or away. A road loss to SKC given how we do in KC shouldn't have surprised anyone. The New England loss though really bugs me. It was however pretty flukey, in the sense they scored their first goal on a comically bad own goal, and their second as a direct result of us pushing too hard for a winner. I think given our schedule 1-1-2 wouldnt have been a bad start, so, how much weight can we really put on 1 game vs. New England? Thats why I like to think it takes at least 10 games to get a sense of how the season is shaping up. The only "easy" game we had so far was New England, and they were in the playoffs last year. I think our opponents are a combined 9-5-9 so far this year. And over a season sometimes you win ones you shouldnt, and lose ones you should win. How else can you explain us losing to DC on the road, but later beating RSL on the road? There is just a lot of season left. Its just way, way, way too early to talk about must wins, and having to get a result. The game doesnt work that way. The main thing that has me worried, and the main thing I want to see improved is the central midfield play. I feel like if that gets sorted out, we will be ok. If that doesnt, it could be a long season. But if it takes 2 or 3 more games for that to get sorted out, the season isnt going to end. There will be plenty of opportunities to make up points where you may not see us getting them on paper.
Hah, if you are going to play the Tommy Thompson card, I'm dead in the water :--). I haven't been allowing myself to assume that he will start playing any time soon, so as to fend off possible disappointment. I know that he thinks he might be able to start training soon, but I don't know how conservative they are going to be with his knee. He probably can't afford another "come back too soon and re-injure it". But Djalo looks like he will be helpful. And there is also Gorlitz and maybe they will start to integrate JJ Koval into the games more. So there is some reason for optimism. But OTOH I'm not seeing much progression. The 1st half against Columbus was just as bad as the 1st half against NE. Sure the 2nd half got better, but how much of that was Djalo vs. the sort of "get desperate and go for it" kind play that allowed them to get back into the NE game and the RSL game.
We have a road game against Toronto on June 7 and they will be missing Bradley and perhaps Defoe. That's a game we will want to try very hard to win. The upcoming game against Colorado is not a must win but it is a must-play-better. The following game at home against Chivas is probably a must win ... not from a points standpoint but psychologically. And we probably need to win at least one of the two home games against Colorado and Dallas in early May as well. If we don't, it will be very difficult for the team to get its act together mentally and make the playoffs. I don't doubt the team would try but two late season runs in a row is just too much to ask. Let's shoot for early or mid season runs this time. And a good way to start that is to make sure you win at home.
USMNT will convene at Stanford beginning May 14. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-train-stanford-ahead-world-cup