Now when the FO read this forum, they will KNOW what this tthread is all about... FIRE JOHN DOYLE AT ONCE !
I still don't think that Mark or any of you guys have really adequately answered my counter-arguments about the RSL loss. Even if FY was not in charge and you had been, and your personnel changes were made, we still would have lost. The guys at fault for the loss to RSL were mostly guys you all would have started - J Her, Opara, Leitch, and RJ. Firing FY wouldn't have changed anything, and won't change anything, if those guys have bad games and let through easy opportunities on goal (J Her, Opara), miss 1v1 opportunities on the goalie (RJ), or get red carded giving up dangerous free kicks around the box (Leitch). Benching/re-arranging our midfield of Convey/AA/ALM/Sanchez/Robles would have changed none of this.
I'm glad you brought up Lew, because I can't help but fear that so long as we are owned by the same people that own the A's, that the Quakes will share the same, non title contending fate. The continued employment of John Doyle, despite his obvious mishandling, is a very strong indicator that we will indeed continue to languish in the cellar. Is it too much to want a new coach, GM and owner?
Wrap your head around not starting a healthy Sanchez instead of a KNOWN to be injured ALM, let's start there.
Since you asked, I don't think your approach is sound logically. All it might take is to play Sanchez in the middle and we slow down their ability to attack through there and they don't end up even with the opportunity because they're forced to ping it around more instead of just run down the middle of middle again and again. No first goal by them, no open door through the middle, and the game is entirely different.
Lew clearly doesn't want to build the stadium unless someone else will pay for it. What does that say about what he's willing to spend on players (and who is gonna sign for us where we currently play?) I'm no Doyle fan. The product we put out on the field on Saturday was epically putrid...but without a bigger commitment from ownership, this franchise doesn't have a chance.
Man, this forum has become a gripe fest. I've done some complaining as well, but it's getting tiresome. We need a game badly.
Clearly, you didn't read my post, or you chose to pretend that I didn't post it. Here is again, at least, the important bits. blah, blah, blah - I WOULD HAVE CHANGED THE TEAM MORE DURING THE OFF SEASON, SO I WOULD HAVE HAD DIFFERENT PLAYERS ON SATURDAY AND THEY'D HAVE BEEN USED TO PLAYING A DIAMOND FORMATION. Sorry about the yelling. Here's the lineup I'd have started: - - - RJ - - - - - AA - - Noonan - - -Jimenez - Robles - - - - - - Sanchez Zaher - NewGuy - Jason - CL - - - - - - TheJoe Oh wait! We don't have Pat Noonan, or Jimenez or some new guy on the backline. No, and that's the point. We gave up 50 goals last season and the only new defenders we signed were rookies. We played with weak to middling center mids, excepting Sanchez, last season. I wanted to sign Jimenez, the attacking mid for Metapan the night they handed Houston their asses. I figured that a guy that could dissect Houston would be handy to have around. But maybe I couldn't afford him. Maybe I have to sign some other attacking mid. The point is, I'd have cut ALM because he's too old in my book, too prone to injury, and I have signed Jimenez or someone like him. I'd have signed Robles or someone like him. I'd have cut or traded Convey, Corrales, and Elliott either right after the end of the season, or as soon as camp opened. Our left back competition would be between Zaher and Morrow, not Corrales and Morrow. I might have traded away one of Arturo or Glen, depending on for whom I could get a better price. Don't pretend that I get the same lousy team that JD and Frank have assembled and that my choices were as limited as theirs. I've been arguing that they should have been sacked last June. I would not have screwed up as badly as these two. I bet you'd have done better too. Go Quakes!! We suck!! - Mark
I'm a lot less worried about the stadium actually being built than I am about making sure we have the right leadership from the GM down. You bring up a good point about location being a deciding factor when it comes to signing players but the greatest stadium built won't matter much if there are no fans to sit in it. To me it looks like the owners honestly don't pay any attention to the results of this team. If they did, and if they had any pride in their product, you'd think that they would have done some rearranging in personnel by now. Of course, I'm cynical and am more likely to believe that the A's and Quakes are just mere vehicles for Lew and company to make money through other avenues.
I just think the negativity is getting too much. Try not to cross the line between fair criticism and being whiny Yankees/ManU/Lakers fans who expect to win every year. FY has done a lot of good for this organization and he's earned better from us. Look at West Ham - they are staring relegation in the face right now, far worse than our situation - and their fans are sticking by their manager:
We gave him the benefit of the doubt for quite awhile, but he continues to do stupid stuff....like not widen the field, start injured players that cost us opening day matches in front of sell out crowds, not coach players with talent out of horrible bad habits so they develop into better players, play with the leagues most useless captain, and tether the center mids to the center circle.
OK I can't take the field size thing anymore. How is Frank to widen the field? Take a look at the KFC corner. It was modified to just fit the corner in. Then walk around to Corona Cove. Notice how close that corner is. So you have opposite corners with very little room. Maybe we can get the MLS to let us get rid of those pesky sign boards and shrink down the runoff just so we don't have to endure anymore complaints about field size. The field size isn't our problem on the pitch in the least. It's player and game management.