Could be a big improvment over Morrow, which is'nt saying a lot but id take this guy over Morrow, hopefully he wont see any time at LM because he have far better options, but LB, decent enough signing.
Not impressed with this signing. We need to be aiming higher than low Championship / League One players.
We could play Stewart at left back, and move Morrow into center back. If we're clever, we could even sit Beita for Gargan and give Beita a rest. He's clearly not 100%, so a break might be good. Oh, and this lets us move Ring to the bench, or d-mid. go quakes!! - Mark
I guess the proper adjective for this signing would be "useful" or maybe "serviceable". Not a terrible acquisition, probably not a season changer. Then again, MLS is full of players who were not exactly household names when they got here who went on to play well in this league. Maybe Mr. Stewart will prove to be one of those.
after reading the mls propaganda article on him i've soften a touch.... needing left back depth i guess makes some sense. per the article stewart would be on our 2nd string back line with nana, hernandez (yikes) and gargan. i'm OK with this as long as said players are used for the summer friendlies and reserve games as if we use our 2nd string for CCL games i'll be really pissed as since our mls season isn't going anywhere we need to try and make a stand in the CCL at the very least! what doesn't make sense to me is why JD would reach for a 31 year old who's "out of season" and needs 2+ weeks to get fit, who takes up an international spot, who's probably pretty slow and who will age himself out of the team next season unless he proves to be really good. couldn't we have found a young player riding the bench within MLS who is in season, doesn't take a international slot and has some speed? this is lazy gm'ing in my pov, jd takes whoever shows up for trial (how many times has he done this, i've lost count) and then trys to spin a story about how we've found a gem and an EPL vet to boot (give me a break). do some real gm'ing JD just like the guy with the warriors who's using smarts to work with a salary cap and still improving their team 10 fold! oh and where's a CAM jd? you want to improve the team overnight find us a CAM from within the league who's in season and ready to play on saturday. fire jd!
I was nagging/ribbing G because it seemed odd that he would have posted in that thread before creating the "Official" thread... As it was, it looked like he had it created before I could finish... So then I went over to the "Official" thread and made another "About Time" joke...
I have to say that the Quakes have done a poor job with their fringe roster players. You expect some turnover, but the list of players that they signed this year or last and then failed to develop and dumped is pretty long: Mitchell Tommy Emerson Pizarro Suggs Husted ... ...and then guys they drafted and had in camp and didn't sign, like Delgado ...and then there are the guys that they seem to be failing to develop, like Garza.
...and the midget at forward who doesn't fit into our system, like Fucito. ...and the Honduran dude who was playing in China who sucks, like Martinez. However, the problem may be with the statement "failed to develop". They may just suck.
Well if they "just suck", then don't sign them. I mean you never know for sure how they will develop, but it's not like the extent to which they develop has nothing to do with how they are developed (IOW it is not entirely void of environmental influence). And the other part is knowing what players have the capacity to develop.
Exactly. Doyle needs to take some blame for signing these players. Not just Frank for failing to develop them...
"Experience of ex-Leicester, Watford defender Stewart delights San Jose boss Watson" (Tribal Football - Thursday, 7/25/13) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Dude fills a need in the back, is loaded with experience and perhaps with that experience some knowledge he can pass on to our younger players.
I was skeptical on this signing, but I have to say that I am happy with his performance so far. Definitely an upgrade over Morrow 2013, and I hope he pushes and teaches Morrow to improve his game. He was very eager to join the attacks, especially in the first half. He was ahead of Salinas several times. I think Baca and some player were reminding him to be cautious going forward. He stayed at home more in the second half. I also noticed, in last year's games, the Norwich game and this game, that he likes to cross the ball early. Our forwards don't seem to have the same anticipation to run to the near post or the penalty spot. They always expect a high ball for the header or a floater to the back post.
I was really happy with the way Stewart played. I haven't seen him before so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was pretty obvious to me that he was doing something right because Portland's attack was coming almost exclusively down Chavez' and Beitashour's side, which was pretty weak most of the night. If he keeps playing like this then Morrow will certainly be the odd man out, unless Bernardez continues getting suspensions.
He can play left mid and I guess he'd play it somewhat similar to Ramiro: a bit slow, won't beat anyone on a run down the sideline, will hit lots of longish diagonal crosses and play good d.