The reason for defending space over players specifically is so that you can limit the area in which the other team can play. While you might make some concessions in the short term (allowing a player to receive a pass let's say), by occupying the correct space, you can limit the options of all players collectively, rather than one at a time. If you control where the other team can move, you can influence where the ball moves to and can thus defend more effectively. You can also do a sort of combination of the two, where you have your attacking players hound the ball specifically when in the offensive third, although that also is based around the attacking player closest to the ball moving to try to get it, rather than staying around to defend a specific player. Defending man to man is very unforgiving if you make mistakes. You can play guys out of games entirely if you mark them well, but if the defender gets pulled out of position frequently and opens space in dangerous areas, then you are providing the other team with opportunities to exploit individual defensive mistakes more frequently. Unfortunately, the Quakes have not been defending so well when one on one situations come up and have also had several miscues on who goes to try to win balls around the area and some disorganization in the midfield that has caused problems. A solidified central midfield will help a lot, I think.
Thanks for that. We still leave a lot of space open, such that the enemy have guys freely marauding in our end. So the enemy often has an outlet in the corner where one of their dudes can whip in a cross. Also, we depend on our defensive backs getting forward into the attack, which means that we are exposed in the back. What I've been arguing for is an attacker in central midfield, or even five midfielders. This would help us to control the middle of the field, and thus retain possession, and it would give us more attacking options. One of the issues with our team is that we give up too much possession and the enemy get to attack us a lot. The more chance they generate, and the more goals they score. Then we have to play from behind. We're very good at that, but it's still a lousy way to play. go quakes!! Fire JD and MW!! - Mark
"Defending space", "maintaining shape", "being hard to break down" - those all sound like "trying not to lose" strategies to me, rather than "trying to win" strategies. Don't know about the first of those, but it is not uncommon to hear Wat and Frank talk about the latter two. Maybe all coaches talk about those things from time to time, but I would also like to hear the coach talk about something like "off-the-ball movement". You can get a sense for the type of coach is / what kind of strategy they favor, by the language they use. Is it passive phraseology ("hold shape", "hard to break down") or is it dynamic ("movement", etc.).
You guys will love this one from Mark Watson (per Elliott Almond): "If we can go forward early we want to do that. But it is assessing the risk of the situation." (Source) Early? And at home! Never heard a more timid statement in my life. To be fair to Watson, Toronto beat Columbus last week playing a very Quakes-like game (because tactically, Toronto is San Jose, plus, you know, three or four world class players...). Only, they have Michael Bradley dominating central midfield...
Watson, like Yallop, wishes games were 15 minutes long. They don't care much for the first 75.. Much more comfortable in last ditch efforts where they have storylines given to them rather than writing their own and having to plan for the future. Watson has the charisma of a blank sheet of paper.
Actually, I did see it before they moved but not since their comeback in 2008. As far as MLS is concerned anyway, Dom's 2005 Quakes team was a very exciting bunch of players.
Will this be the end of the 4-4-********ing 2? http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...tical-tweaks-fortify-midfield-maximize-newcom Before everyone starts saying Wondo cant play alone up top, he's done it for the USMNT and scored multiple times. Im just not sure if Djalo is best used in the center of the park. IMO we should go with the 4-4-2 one more time with Djalo starting and see how it goes.
I dont think thats a sign of the end of the 4-4-2 right away, just some adjustments within it. The main one i would like to see is abandon the pulley system of flat CMs, and instead pushing one up a little higher while the other plays a true 6. This is what we had de-facto with Baca, since he would more often then not push up higher then Cronin. I like it because it would clarify the roles of Cronin and Pierazzi, as I think both have been struggling to balance things. Too often neither is stepping up and they are both dropping off, or one is stepping up and the other doesnt seem to react properly and isnt in a supporting position. The other advantage is a lot of teams are adopting a free attacking midfielder who sits in the space underneat the forward(s) and looks to find gaps between the lines to exploit. It will be easier to account for those players with a clear 6 protecting the space in front of the back line.
One way you can "abandon the pulley system of flat CMs" is to play a 4-1-x-x formation. For example, 4-1-4-1 or 4-1-3-2. It's easy and straightforward enough that even Yallop uses it when he is trying to tweak a lineup or deal with injuries. Below again is a possible lineup I posted earlier. The weak link is not having a playmaker but on the other hand having a destroyer so high up should mean that some promising possession will get started in the opponent's half. Also Djalo with his speed should create havoc up top (look at what Amarikwa has been able to do this year).
I think we may have to play Pierazzi as a 6 if we are going to play him. Thats what he has been his whole career to date and my guess is thats what his instincts make him. I think Cronin could play higher up the field, but honestly I hope Koval can win a place playing in front of Pierazzi or Cronin with the other going to the bench.
You're probably right although if Pierazzi does get relegated to a pure #6 role then it will have been a really bad signing (as opposed to just a questionable one).
New formation & Djalo?: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/san-jose-earthquakes-ponder-tactical-133305894--mls.html
“I think if we look at how a lot of [MLS] teams are playing now, they’re overloading numbers in midfield. So one of our jobs is to make sure we’re able to handle that.” Um...yeah. I'm in favor of getting 5 in the midfield somehow, whether it's taking someone from the back or the front. I think it just fosters more movement, less static / positional, and gives you a better chance to win the ball as it is usually contested in the middle of the field.
Geoff Lepper @quakesbeat 12m Lot of ink on the Quakes' injury report. OUT: Francis, Hernandez, Lenhart, Muller, Thompson. QUESTIONABLE: Barklage, Djalo, Stewart. Geoff Lepper @quakesbeat 10m LB suddenly might be the Quakes' biggest concern. With Francis out, if Stewart can't go, there aren't many great options left for Watson. Stewart has what? 2 games for us this season? Why did we get rid of a young reliable player for this injury prone guy???
As I said, I don't care whether we take someone from the back (3-5-2) or front (4-5-1), and I disagree that 4-5-1 is boring. Low percentage long ball to forwards, lose it, track back and defend, win the ball back or pull ball out of net, repeat and rinse - is boring to me. I'd rather see guys actually moving the ball forward into attacking positions, not seeing guys playing back to the goal and players moving up hesitantly and eventually if it turns out that the target actually wins the ball, which is not all that often, especially recently.
i know... i'm saying it was a mistake to go with the injury prone veteran as a starter... we ditched the wrong player. stewart has had MASSIVE injury issues throughout his career and especially the last few years. everyone likes to talk about moneyball and what the next undervalued commodity/stat is going to be. well in baseball lately billy beane has made player health a major focus.... doing things like getting 15 or 18 solid-good players instead of 2 superstars and 9 role players so that you don't get hurt as bad if a superstar goes down. soccer clubs are doing the same thing you see AC Milan with the AC Milan lab that's how they were able to get so much extra mileage out of their 30+ year old players a few years ago like seedorf etc. and then there's us, an admittedly small club that needs to be smart about player acquisition and undervalued stats stuff like this and we go and do the complete opposite.
we do not have the personnel to play 3-5-2 we don't have a single player who is capable of playing wingback... morrow and beita possibly could have but they're long gone. 4-5-1/4231 is boring and leads to lots of low scoring matches. it's very conservative and tentative and leads to lots of possession without purpose. if you want to spice it up i would be ok with a 442 diamond or 433 (although again I don't think we have the personnel for those formations... we are built for a flat 442).