Pre-match: Los Angeles FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Wednesday, 8/21) pregame thread

No, we don't.

 

Our 5 remaining road game are all brutal, starting with the filth Jr.. Welcome to the death spiral.

 

One thing that works in our favor is that LAFC plays Galaxy on Saturday. They must be desperate to beat Galaxy and may overlook their game against us. Although LAFC’s b team beat Houston in Houston.

 

In the last few weeks we played teams that sat back, and utilized counter-attack in the first half and then turned up the intensity and pushed forward in the second half. I don't know if that was a designed game plan against us or these teams always played that way. We obviously had problem dealing with it and lost points. We pushed hard in the first half but the lack of finishing minimized the advantage. Then second half came and we reacted slow. Maybe we need to manage our tempo and energy (which affects concentration) better in 90min overall as personal duel is important in this system.

Now LAFC plays a different style, and probably will take their game to us from kick off. I wonder if it will be better for us and give us a bit more space to operate. We have been playing the same way against all teams regardless their style or formation.

 

I've been watching TT as a sort of bellwether on all of this. He goes full out from the beginning until he wears out. It is my impression that in the altitude of Colorado and the humidity in Kansas City, combined with a season's worth of hard running, he has just faded in the second half. Almeyda's system appears to need substitution at the outside back or the winger position due to fatigue. However, if you are forced to sub in attacking players to score while your defenders are wearing out, you are vulnerable. The Colorado, Columbus, and KC games seemed to me to be examples of that. TT makes a big impact early, but sometimes by the end of a game he is dragging. This is one of the virtues of Espinoza. Unless he is getting beat up and fouled, he can go both ways effectively for the whole game.

 

Godoy for Judson i'm sure.
The insane person in me that clings to molecules of hope, says we draw.

 

I'm predicting a win.

 

I have commented before on Tommy's fitness over 90 minutes, but, then someone will mention that he won the last Beep Test the team did. Though you never know how you will need to sub, I think sometimes it makes sense to sub him out and switch Lima to the right and bring in Lopez (or Salinas) at left back.

 

I don't think Godoy is healthy yet, is he?

 

A beep test must be easier than going full throttle for 90+ mins in a game.

 

He was on the bench for the SKC game.

 

ohhhhh.... perhaps not fit though

 

since they just clinched a playoff spot and have the Galaxy game on Saturday, I'm hoping LAFC are a bit distracted......I'm guessing they rest 2 or 3 starters...

 

Yeah, this is kind of ideal circumstances for us.
Although I told my wife that Bradley might not prepare so much for this game and she laughed at me - after watching the LAFC documentary on espn+ she knows enough about him to know that he's not going to overlook this game. He's a pretty intense guy.
But regardless - these circumstances can only help us.

 

Quakes seek revenge vs. LAFC at the Banc

 

Guess they're not expecting many people.

Northern California > Southern California 🤷‍♂️

Join us for our #RivalryWeek Viewing Party at @FairmontSanJose!

RSVP: https://t.co/Szv255AQbw#BeatLA | @Heineken_US pic.twitter.com/uQmdfp6tL9

— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) August 19, 2019

 

It took the whole team about three months to play the MA way so don't expect the new players to do anything better than 6 to 8 weeks.

 

We do need to mix it up for this game. I would get both Cummings and Godoy into this game, they are a very physical pair and can shut down the middle and add better distribution over Judson.

We also need to start Hoesen. Wondo is doing fine but only seems to score from the 6 yeard box and is not creating chances. At this point Hoesen is our best bet to add to Vako and Espinoza and maybe free up Magnus to take more shots.

While I don't like the thought Yueill has seemed very "laid back" in the last few games. If he needs rest then give it to him, otherwise light a fire under his ass to get him going again.

 

I knew there was a reason I disliked Bob Bradley.

 

Godoy has not played a competitive game in a long time. Something needs to be done about the midfield, but I suspect that putting Godoy on the field in this one is not going to yield the best results, unless the goal is really to help get him fit again and the outcome of the match is already being considered a loss.

I do think Cummings should see the field and I'm surprised and disappointed that Kashia has gotten minutes over him. Maybe something's going on with him, maybe his training performances have been really poor. Who knows? My personal assessment is that Cummings is a better defender than Kashia, but he's hardly perfect and my evaluation is certainly far from perfect.

I assume we'll see some shakeup in the starting players, though. I can't imagine losing two games in a row and Almeyda making no changes at all.