Err, I was rounding up! Actually I was mistakenly thinking of his career total, which is at over 3 dozen I think.
I think so. He's on loan from Tottenham at Derby, and getting minutes in a team that's a promotion candidate. Unless he stops getting minutes, I would think the chances of getting him back are slim to none. I wish that were not the case.
So Freddy Adu was released by Bahia today. Just want to preemptively get in front of anybody on here who thinks the Quakes should bring him in. I've got one word for you!
If the Quakes could get Mattocks, I think it would be a reasonable risk. Even if he's as difficult as Convey was, Convey did have one great year . Sacrificing Gordon and a draft pick or something to that effect would be worth it. I don't think there's much point in keeping Lenhart, Gordon and Jahn on the same roster if the Quakes are serious about changing playing philosophies a bit. Getting a guy like Mattocks lets Wondolowski move even closer to goal where he belongs and then you can play up the center from deep, move the ball wide, and take some shots from outside as well with the leagues best poacher constantly sitting around the box.
I think Wondo is better getting into a good position on the second (or followup) run. I would like to see a very fast (and preferably big) man that can play right on the line of the defense to keep them stretched. The kind of guy that will force both center backs to play back a bit (one to cover him and the other to over his speed a little deeper). That might be Mattocks. Let Wondo play underneath in the seam (ala Keane) and us Wondo as the target man since he should have a little more time. Wondo is good at holding and distributing... he can then hit the wing or go through the big man and follow the play up for the second ball. With the right front man, I don't think we need an official CM... I think Cronin could do the job just fine and then we might be able to dig up a proper enforcer.
my choice for midfield/striker depth and development are these two, though our only real hope may be landing Joya: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...face-competition-santos-laguna-youths-benji-j
they'd have to go through the superdraft or weighted lottery... tough for us to get either of them unless few clubs are interested in them. they are cracking prospects but not sure they have what it takes to be a starter at the MLS level yet. if we want someone to really push Baca for the CM spot right away maybe best to try to trade for a veteran like feilhaber or lindpere... problem is those guys may not have the legs/engine or tackling/marking ability to play CM in our 442 system.
I'm guessing, but I think that was more Doyle than Wolff or Kaval. Doyle probably told him that he wasn't going to make the effort to sign more players, because after all, he managed to sign almost all of the 2012 SS winning team (except of course Dawkins), so why wouldn't it be successful in 2013?
OK, for all the Baca-haters, mlssoccer posted a list of the 50 most accurate passers in MLS. Guess who's sitting at #14? And there are just a few ahead of him who had a greater percentage of "opponent's half / own half" passes. There are no other Quakes in the list. It's a Bacanalian world out there, my friends. Let's drink to that! :--). http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...eaking-down-50-most-accurate-passers-mls-2013
Philly is looking for a center midfield playmaker Diego Valeri type (who isn't?): http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...philadelphia-union-hunt-playmaker-thats-our-n
Yeah, Grabavoy's numbers are impressive too, and also a little better than Baca on the opponent's half / own half breakdown. Riley is surprising, and for a defender, more of his passes were in the opponent's half! Just goes to show you that, while no one was paying attention, he was living the life of...,oh, never mind.
Big whoop. The last two people on that list are Robbie Keane and Lee Nguyen and they are light years better than Baca. Linebacker Derek Smith of the 49ers used to rack up big numbers too and he was $hit. Everyone clamored about his high tackle numbers while his critics pointed out that all of his tackles were in the secondary or that he was getting credit for falling on the pile. When the 49ers drafted Patrick Willis and saw what a real run-stopping linebacker looked like, everyone forgot about Derek Smith and his inflated numbers. When the Quakes get a legit CM/CAM who knows how to pass to the forwards and make the opposing goalie earn his money, everyone will forget about Baca (and Cronin for that matter).
How many of those accurate passes led to a goal for the Quakes? It would be interesting to analyze our goals scored and see how many had a Baca pass in the string of passes leading up to it, and which pass it was. We know how many assists he had, but, what of the pass before an assist, and then the one before that one, and so on.