Tactics Revisited .. just because

We'll see. Rumor on the street is he will be loaned to Sac. But I'd rather see him get pro minutes and develop him faster. Especially if this is a throw away year...

 

I don't believe that rumor, unless it would be to just help him get into playing shape as he rehabs his knee. Maybe I'm overly optimistic about him, but I think he'd be the best attacking player on the team the moment he steps on the field. Not sure why you'd send your best attacking player to Sacramento.

 

He is 145lb kid with absolutely no experience at this level. Might be better to let him initially play at Sacto and be away from the limelight and pressure of being the "best" right off the bat.

 

I wouldn't draw any conclusions from that match. Portmore is a much weaker side than MLS teams in general. When they have played decent MLS teams in preseason, it hasn't looked much different from what it's been in the past. A few passes between midfield and the back line, and then, often it's "bombs away!".

Possibly, but I don't know what weight has to do with it directly, and in terms of experience, we routinely let college draftees (with no MLS experience) play with the MLS team. So I don't know what's different really, other than that he is younger. I don't think he would feel pressure to be "the best". He is a very young player, so I would think that expectations would be within reason.

 

You and I might think that, but this regime has shown a propensity to use old veterans over young kids at almost every turn. With how Watson is playing I really don't see room for him in his "empty bucket" formation, unless maybe they put him on a wing. You've also got to take into account he's from the Sac area, so he and his parents might actually want to spend a year here to transition to the pro level. He could even live at his parents home. Is much rather he start with the D1 team, but if he doesn't, I'd rather see him here than wasting away on Watson's bench or less.

 

I still don't think I want Preki anywhere near him.

 

Yeah, I still don't think the team needs to "baby" him - have him play close to his parent's place, stay in his bedroom with his Messi posters and eat mom's beef stew, etc. He's not coming straight from high school. He went to college and straight-away raked from the get-go. He's played in Quakes reserve matches - same thing - raked. I think the wing would be a perfectly good place for him to start out. Bring him in in the 75th minute when you need a goal and go from there.

Admittedly, my point of view is skewed because I can't wait to see him play with the Quakes. :--)

 

Except for Watson's fascination with Cato, who turned 21 last July.

 

Don't think it's a fascination more than 'a best we have', which is the issue at hand.

 

Imagine if we sent Garza there.. Doyle knows what he's doing.

 

I'm not sure how what you are saying is much different from what I said, except that maybe you are arguing that San Jose wants to hoof the ball more? When the Quakes can play the style they want to (which they did against Portmore), then you get a much more pass oriented game designed around springing a forward or wide midfielder free through quick give and gos and such. But yes, when a team makes it difficult for the Quakes to play, they often have to resort to defending more and that ends up with more balls booted upfield. My hope is that they can play more like they did against Portmore than not, but we'll see.

 

I think the passing was actually quite good until Pierazzi was subbed out. Koval was not as good and Cato was not as settled as Barklage was at right back. You could argue the final third was not quite up to par, and I would say they need to work a bit better there, but there were so many positives in that game and it seems like everybody is just completely ignoring them. I understand Portmore is no world beater, but we got a glimpse of what San Jose can do when the players are working together and is executing at a reasonable level. If they can maintain cohesion and improve a bit in finishing and anticipating plays, then I think they will be a good team.

 

Pierazzi was frustrated by the team's inability to move the ball through the midfield.

 

Yeah, I'm just saying that of course they'd like to play the ball on the floor more, but the extent that they are able to do that depends on the level of competition. If you look at their preseason games against opponents like Portland you can see more of the same bootball. If it's Houston Baptist, sure you're going to see more balls on the ground working through midfield. But I don't see any reason to believe that things are going to be much different this year against MLS teams.

 

I think that's simplifying it a little bit. San Jose had games that they controlled and where they played the style they wanted to, more or less. It won't be as consistent as it might be against a lower level team, but I don't think it's all going to fall apart all the time against all MLS teams and they'll have no choice but to boot the ball on every play. Preseason games only give you a little bit of information. The Quakes played a weaker team against Portmore, but they also played most of their starters, so some combination of those two things allowed San Jose to basically dominate the match.

I'm going to hope that it was more about the starters starting than about the lower competition, but we'll find out soon enough.

 

Again, I don't think there's any reason to believe there is a sea change relative to last year. It is pretty much the same cast of characters and same coach from the end of last year. If Gorlitz starts, and they sign the mystery Portuguese midfielder, and with JPB it may move the needle a notch. But not all that much.

 

A glimpse at Bayern Munich training

 

Yes, which is exactly what I was screaming last year when our FO did nothing after Dawkins left. We had a huge drop off in goals, and it's no coincidence it's because opposing defenses had a much easier time. Djalo will hopefully keep opposing defenses more honest and guessing more, which should result in more goals. Can't wait to see Djalo tomorrow. (hopefully?)

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...d-formation-difficult-defend-may-be-here-stay

...It's about getting more players into the middle who are handy with the ball, echoing the system Club Tijuana used so well to beat LA in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals.

“We have more possession. Look at the players that we have [in the diamond], it's certainly not wide players and [it is] players that technically are very, very good,” captain Robbie Keane said. “We keep the ball and we make the opposition run more than we do. Ultimately, they're going to get tired, and I think that was the case [against Chivas] because we had extra bodies in the middle of park, myself and Landon [Donovan] dropping off at times and making it even more extra bodies in there.

“I think they found that difficult to deal with.”...

 

Yup - sad to say, Keane is right. The diamond is working for teams, and meanwhile our empty bucket is conceding games to the other team while we hope for comeback balls into the box.

 

We see teams in MLS playing a diamond midfield, and in some cases, a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3. In the later case, the forwards do drop back into midfield to get the ball, and of course, the three middies have a lot more options up front.

In our flatulent 4-4-2, we basically have only four attackers (the two forwards and the two outside mids). Sometimes one of our central mids gets forward, and sometimes one of our outside mids gets forward. But mostly, we rely on just four attackers, and that's part of our problem.

Also, we don't mark opposing players in our defensive third. We play positionally, like we're trying to execute a zone defense, which leaves plenty of room for the enemy to operate. I don't get that. Yallop's LanternKickers do that too.

Whatever. It's going to be a long season. Good thing I have lots of alcohol and guitars to take the sting off.

go quakes!

- Mark