If that is his official page, that's cool. There's also a link on his page that says we've signed him to a 4 year deal.
I don't know what formation Watson is planning on playing, but if it's a 442 then expect more Yallop ball. Because this guy is a defensive midfielder & so is Cronin, so we will have to defensive guys in the middle, all our attcks will come from the wings as per ussual.
doyle is a broken record, he loves signing players for starting positions we already have filled while ignoring filling in players for positions that are open. the guy loves a bargain and will pick up whatever he can get and try to make it work versus working hard to make deals which bring us players we need. total joke of a g.m.
Agree. Doyle is a lazy GM. Let's keep Cronin, he always gives 110% Mr. Pierazz, welcome to the Earthquakes.
I tend to agree. Cronin is more of a two-way mid / Can we get the thread title changed, so people don't get the idea that his name is "Pierazz".? It's "Pierazzi". Anyway, even though I worry that there is not going to be enough under the cap to sign some impactful offensive players, I like the signing (if it happens). This guy will give the midfield defensive bite that it just hasn't had with Cronin, is not too old, and, from what we've heard, is a hard-worker and bleeds for his club. I don't think Cronin is really a d-mid. He's more of a two-way guy, and as such certainly still has value with the Quakes. No need to get rid of him. There are many ways it could play out. Maybe they go Cronin - Pierazzi in a more defensive posture, and Pierazzi - attackingMidToBeNamedLater in a more offensive posture. Maybe they use some kind of 5-man midfield, maybe Cronin has to fight Pierazzi for a spot and gets better as a result, etc. None of those scenarios are bad IMO.
Confirmed today that they have "agreed to terms": http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...rms-veteran-midfielder-jean-baptiste-pierazzi
By itself, it looks like a signing that doesn't make a lot of sense, but, perhaps it is just the first piece of something new and better that we are trying to build. We trade away Baca. We are about to sign Pierazzi. If we are going to play a true CAM, especially in a 4-4-2, Baca doesn't have a place. If we are going to play a 4-4-2 with a true CAM we need someone more defensively dominating in the midfield than Cronin is, so we get Pierazzi. I think our next move will be for a CAM.
Almost no way Cronin goes to the bench. Look for Cronin and Pierazzi to play together. So far, an upgrade for Baca, but certainly way more expensive. A downgrade at right back if Beitashour really leaves. No Morrow for versatility or depth. Probably no Chavez. The rest is the same. An aging Wondo who is a bit of a long shot for the World Cup. Duplication and too much salary tied up with Lenhart and Gordon. Who plays CB when Goodson and Bernardez miss at least a month? Hernandez and ?. More moves needed for sure to improve the club from the middling part of the conference hierarchy.
First, I hope like hell that you are right about building something new. Second, we did not trade away Baca, MLS did that for us. This is one of the few really bad elements of single entity. The league can sell our players whether we want to sell them or not. Third, if we are going to start both Cronin and Pierazzi, then we are going to play either a 3-5-2 (I hope, but won't hold my breath), or we're going to play a 4-3-3 (I fear and expect total failure). Or, in a completely nightmare scenario, we try a 4-5-1 and suck so hard we give the GoatBangers hope! I drank a lot over the holidays, so I need to dial it back for a while, because I expect to need a lot of alcohol to get through the coming season. GO QUAKES!! - Mark
I think you got it pretty much right. Not sure we'd play a flat 4-4-2 though with a "true CAM" (i.e. one that doesn't defend ... it would be suicidal) but it should work with Cronin and Pierazzi (he is an upgrade on Baca but hopefully this is not the default formation for 2014). Moreover, Pierazzi probably is not the defensive mid for a diamond 4-4-2 where you might use a true CAM ... he doesn't really have the range and variety of passing to pull it off (the diamond 4-4-2 works a lot better for RSL with Beckerman than for Seattle with Alonso). I would say the main thing with Pierazzi is that he gives the team more tactical options, particulary his experience in playing 4-3-3 his entire career and being team captain the last 3 seasons in a Ligue 1 club.
my guess is we play the same formation as last year with pierazzai as our DM and cronin as our CAM. cue an FO pr puff piece on how cronin can play CAM is forth coming. according to robert jonas... john doyle believes sam cronin is the future attacking mid for the quakes, "he's shown he can pass, he's shown he can score, he's the team mvp and now he has a new challenge 2014"... i just threw up a little in my mouth.
Lew Wolff is the problem. I tried talking to him about Cato and he had no idea who he was. Lew doesn't give a sh*t about this team. We have never had more than 1 dp at a time. Is that Doyles fault?? No
I'm not sure it's as dictatorial as that (the player needs to actually want to move) ... the league does negotiate any transfer fee though and part of that goes to the transferred player's team. In Baca's case, I hope it was enough to pay a large portion of Pierazzi's salary for 2014.
I guess I am going on the assumption that we will still be playing a combo of Wondo and Lenhart/Gordon up top. If Pierazzi and Cronin both start in the middle than our biggest need will be another good outside player.
If we could add a McCourt type on the wing and somehow retain Beita, i think we would be better than last year. Everyone saw how much the team improved with Goodson and Stewart, imagine having them the whole season. Jean-Baptiste would be an improvement over Baca. And McCourt would be an improvement over Cato. We would be adding offense and defense.
I think it depends on how good the new attacking players will be. Pierazzi is a solid pickup for the defensive side of a 4-3-3 system. We probably need to add 3 quality attacking players to make it work (a CAM, a forward and an outside mid). As you say for a flat 4-4-2 we probably just need a good winger to replace Chavez. That would be the easy/lazy solution.