San Jose Earthquakes solidify attack after big day brings aboard Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Atiba Harris In a day of bookend moves for the San Jose Earthquakes, the club bid farewell to their most creative individual player from 2012 – Marvin Chávez – while welcoming the man they hope will spark their offense in 2014: French midfielder Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi. By confirming Tuesday the widely reported signing of Pierazzi, the Quakes added a 28-year-old they feel can be an attacking force in the center of midfield, even though he played in a far more defensive role for AC Ajaccio, his hometown club. In 179 appearances with Ajaccio in France’s top two divisions, Pierazzi has scored two goals. The Quakes hope Pierazzi will help to replace the wizardry of Chávez, whose clear desire to play elsewhere was fulfilled when San Jose dealt him to Colorado in exchange for speedy attacker Atiba Harris. “[Pierazzi] strikes a great ball, he can spread the ball from side to side and has a great work rate,” Quakes general manager John Doyle told MLSsoccer.com by phone. “He was asked to play very defensively in France. We’ll be excited to turn him loose.” READ: Quakes cite cap conerns with the departure of Justin Morrow Pierazzi will likely step into the role vacated by Rafael Baca, who was sold last month to Mexican side Cruz Azul, and could team alongside Sam Cronin as a pair of box-to-box central midfielders. Previously, Cronin was tasked with providing more defensive cover and Baca often cycled the ball out to the wings to initiate San Jose’s attack through Cordell Cato, Chávez’s replacement, or Shea Salinas. “He can be someone that goes forward more, for sure,” San Jose head coach Mark Watson told MLSsoccer.com by phone of Pierazzi. “There’s different ways to produce attacking soccer and get guys in those positions to move the ball around, and he can definitely be a part of that. … I think one of his best qualities is that he’s very versatile and can play at both ends of the field.” As for Chávez, his departure seemed a foregone conclusion despite a career-best 13 assists in 2012. Injuries, international duties with Honduras and a fall from favor with Watson limited Chávez to just 15 league appearances last year. While saying that he still likes Chávez personally, Doyle was unstinting in laying the blame for a business relationship gone sour. Get the latest Earthquakes news at SJEarthquakes.com “Marvin broke up with us,” Doyle said. “We tried to salvage it a few times, and it just wasn’t salvageable. And I don’t think it was salvageable within the team. It’s a thing where everybody in the team has to want to be in the team. And I know it’s a cliché, but they have to be selfless and the team has to come first. An individual player can’t come first. I think from Mark Watson, the players, my standpoint, it’s nice to have closure.” Harris provides an interesting option for the Quakes as they try to revamp their attack, which slid from a team-record 72 goals in 2012 to just 35 last season. At 6-foot-3, the St. Kitts and Nevis international won more aerial battles (148) than any other player in MLS last season, according to Opta, and he can play either as a forward or along the right wing, where he was most often used by the Rapids last year. “You can go at it a bunch of different ways,” Watson said of Harris’ positioning. “He’s very comfortable with the ball at his feet, and we’ll look to use that. He’s very comfortable getting the ball behind. But he’s also a big body that a lot of fullbacks, just size-wise, will have a difficult time with.” The Quakes also received allocation funds as part of the deal, which were used to provide “substantial” relief from Harris’ hit on the salary cap, according to Doyle, who is still targeting a handful of midfielders and forwards with hopes of landing at least one more impact player this winter. “We wanted to clear salary space and get some allocation money and we were able to do that ...,” Doyle said. “We’re in a good place in [terms of] the cap. We’re definitely not rich, but we’re in a much better place than we were a year ago with the cap.” 17 Comments Sort Subscribe Kalliste from France (less than a minute ago) : JB PIERAZZI est un très bon milieu défensif avec un état d'esprit formidable; vous ne serez pas déçus ! Cela fait 16 ans que je supporte l'ACA, et JB est le meilleur milieu défensif que j'ai vu dans cette équipe, le plus régulier aussi (Ce n'est pas pour rien que JB est dans L'EQUIPE-TYPE DE L'ACA DES 20 DERNIERES ANNEES). JB est quelqu'un qui se donne toujours à fond pour le club pour lequel il joue. Il a joué 8 ans à l'ACA, tous les ans il avait des propositions d'autres clubs, et dès sa 2nde saison des clubs de PREMIER LEAGUE anglaise l'ont demandé, mais il a toujours voulu rester à Ajaccio, pour aider sa ville d'origine à monter en LIGUE 1 (objectif réussi) puis pour l'aider à se maintenir (2 maintiens obtenus également). Maintenant il répond "oui" à l'offre des San Jose Earthkaques parce que les USA ont toujours été un rêve pour lui, il adore votre pays, et d'ailleurs il venait souvent en vacances aux USA l'été. Vous pouvez être sûr qu'il va tout donner pour votre club; d'ailleurs il disait depuis longtemps à ses coéquipiers de l'ACA qu'il rêvait de venir jouer en MLS. Depuis juin 2013 le RAYO VALLECANO voulait le recruter, ils ont encore essayé cet hiver, de même qu'un club grec qui proposait un très gros contrat à JB ... mais le choix du Coeur l'a emporté, il a signé chez vous, aux USA, aux San Jose Earthkaques. CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOU ! Reply Share Kalliste from France (less than a minute ago): Hello, I'm French and I don't speak english very well, but I can say you JB PIERAZZI is a very good player. Je connais très bien JB PIERAZZI car je suis supporter de l'AC Ajaccio depuis 1997 et j'ai rencontré JB en 2007. Je l'ai vu jouer à de nombreuses reprises, et je peux vous dire que c'est un très bon milieu défensif et qui a aussi un état d'esprit exceptionnel : A Ajaccio, les gens disent que c'est un Guerrier, et il a une devise qui est "ne jamais rien lâcher" ! JB fait partie de l'équipe-type de l'AC Ajaccio des 20 dernières années (élection faîte par des journalistes sportifs corses). Il fait aussi partie de la SELECTION CORSE et a joué tous les matchs de sa sélection depuis qu'il est professionnel (la SELECTION CORSE regroupe tous les meilleurs joueurs corses en activité). Cette saison 2013/ 2014, JB a été élu meilleur joueur de champ de l'équipe ajaccienne au mois d'août par les supporters ainsi que par des journalistes et des membres du club. JB a été l'un des joueurs principaux de la montée de l'ACA en Ligue 1 en 2011, avec 33 matchs joués / 38. De même, en étant Capitaine, il a énormément contribué au maintien en L1 l'année suivante, avec 34 matchs joués / 38. Lors de ces 2 saisons, ont a pu constater que les résultats de l'équipe étaient bien meilleurs lorsque JB était titulaire (les statistiques de la Ligue de Football Professionnel l'approuvent). La saison dernière, JB a moins joué, et le club a failli descendre en L2, alors que les joueurs recrutés laissaient penser que l'ACA allait jouer au moins le milieu de tableau. Reply Share Josh Mondle (1 day ago) : My worse suspicion may have been confirmed that this is the "CAM" we are signing. I know I have not seen this guy play so I could be wrong, but this doesn't seem make sense. I hope he can be an attacking force. Reply Share John Farr (1 day ago) : We never had a CAM last year and it still kinda worked, we just missed the playoffs on a tie breaker. This guy Pirazzi is obviously better than Baca, so logically it would mean we should be a playoff team. Also having Stewart and Goodson the entire season is good too. Hopefully we add a winger to replace Cato, and i Believe we are better than last year. Reply Share Josh Mondle (20 hours ago) : Well I'm more basing my thoughts on the fact that we are supposed to be looking for an attacking midfielder and a speedy forward. If Harris and this guy is all we bring in, I will be upset. Plus we are losing a lot of defenders and not many are being brought in. I hope the defender we go in the last draft is good to go. Reply Share Sabas Segovia (1 day ago) : We don't play a CAM/CDM diamond. We play a flat box to box center mid. Our wings do most of the pushing upfield Reply Share Bradley Brown (1 day ago) : I'd feel better about that if our best winger didn't just leave the team. Reply Share Zeke Cole (1 day ago) : Right, but the major flaw in our awful attack was that it was a one-dimensional, predictable "kick the ball to the flanks" approach. Meaning that our wingers were required to do most of the advancing down the field. Reply Share Josh Mondle (20 hours ago) : But my understanding of this off season was to bring in players so that we aren't so one dimensional and only go up the wings. Reply Share http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ttack-after-big-day-brings-aboard-jean-baptis
I like this guy but it's a bit of a risk assuming that he can play higher up the field as a #8 CM. Hope it works
I'm going out on s limb (i.e., on record), .. I don't like how MLS & SJE are presenting this signing. Also, this player does not have a good track record for being a creative attacking midfielder. His reactive to scoring a goal is way "over to top". SJE, the MLS dumping ground for international discovery players.
Who's ready to launch the Bring Back Rams campaign? We could be the only club in MLS whose players' average age is higher than the fans'.
My French is pretty poor, but doesn't this article say that the signing is only for 2 years, not 4 years? bTW, I'm still really bored if I'm trying to read a posting that's in French... It'll be nice when there's really something to talk about re: the quakes
But, you are probably fine with MLS and Toronto paying Michael Bradley 6x what he was making for Roma. And not to mention the huge transfer fee. What a joke.
TFC would probably be better off if the cap was higher and they could sign 6 players on 1mil/year each, instead of 1 player on 6mil/year. But then small teams like us would be really screwed.
That's the good part of the DP system, teams can only have so many good players compared to other teams at this point. Instead of paying a $10 million transfer fee for Bradley, the league should have paid 10 $1million dollar transfer fees and sprinkled those players around the league.
I agree with you. I would prefer more of the huge DP $$ moving to the salary cap. Plus, Single-entity bites.
I really don't understand how people are convinced this guy is going to help our attack in ANY way. He hasn't contributed a goal or assist on offense in over 3 seasons. If my research is correct, he has 2 goals and 2 assists over the span of his 6+ year professional career, both of which came in the French Second Division. His team finished in last place last season with a 12 game losing streak and he wasn't even a permanent fixture in the first team. His Scouting Characteristics are: Blocking the Ball - Very Strong Ball Interception - Strong Passing - Weak Discipline - Weak Yeah, that's exactly what we need. Another guy that plays in the middle who can't score, can't pass, has no history of creating goals and/or scoring chances and has discipline issues. Bravo Doyle. Bravo.
I wouldnt say his passing is weak. But what Doyle said was that his old club asked him to play a defensive role the whole time he was there.. Doyle thinks that he can contribute offensively now that we are gonna use him as a box to box midfielder. I'm only going off of what Doyle said. IMO Im gonna wait to see him play before i trip out about it. But he looks better than Baca at all aspects in the game. (Which isnt saying much) But its still better none the less.
I have the same concerns about putting too much expectation on this guy to contribute on offense. Maybe he can, but I wouldn't count on it at all. Hopefully Doyle is just pointing out that he is capable of supporting an attack because he is a mobile destroyer with a good work rate. As for weak discipline, pretty sure that doesn't refer to "discipline issues" but rather his tendency to maintain shape (which for a box-to-box player is going to be "weak" by definition).
He was pretty much a box-to-box midfielder already but was primarily tasked with destroying buildups and counterattacks (from wherever they started). I don't know why we wouldn't use him in a similar capacity except that maybe he won't have to deal with as much two-way traffic down the middle in MLS and therefore could perhaps linger closer to the opposite box once in a while. But certainly it would be foolish to expect more attacking bite out of him than Baca.
He wasn't a box to box midfielder in France. Watch the game highlights and you dont see him once in attack. http://www.ligue1.com/club/ac-ajaccio