Oh, please, it is an indicator of how much a player contributes to the attack. I've seen the shots he takes - they are good hard shots from medium distance. And we are talking about 13 vs. 0. At least we have shots to talk about. It is kind of like the frying pan criticizing the kettle for the tone of its whistle. Well at he least it can whistle. As for other stats, Lima is getting key passes at a rate that is 4x what Wynne had last year. Lima has one almost every other game, Wynne had one about every 10 games last year. There's no reason to "stop playing that way". It is a perfectly viable way to play and many teams around the world play it. It does not require "perfect execution by every single player". It does require players with the right skills in the right positions. That is not only outside backs who are good at providing attacking width but also outside mids who are very effective cutting in. The Quakes have not had outside backs who are good at attacking for years, with the exception of Lima this year. And the attacking outside mids have to be really effective at cut-in attacks. They just haven't quite found the best players for that role yet. Dawkins was supposed to be the guy, and he was in 2012 but not anymore. Hyka is pretty good but requires some space - he doesn't take guys on too much. Salinas takes guys on but has poor final product and will lose it often against good defenders. If the new Georgian guy plays outside mid and proves to be effective with cut-in attacks and can take defenders on (and you can see some promising stuff from his highlights) it could move the needle. And if Dom plays Cato and Lima regularly at outside back, it could move the needle. The team is already set for holding / d-mids. The team has also had trouble finding a good partner for Wondo. They need a solid #9 type. That would also move the needle in the context of the 4-4-2. So again, there is nothing wrong with the "system". They just need more effective players to play in it, or to use the right players in it.
San Jose sign DP Valeri "Vako" Qazaishvili as solution for middling attack "Middling attack" is being kind. Here's how the MLS site is running the story on their front page: "Quakes' string of DP duds"... that is not ideal.
Why is it that everybody except our owners/management can see that this team has been a clusterfvck for almost all of the past nine years?
Article = fail in terms of describing the Quakes DP "duds". It mentions Geo, who wasn't actually all that bad, and MPG, who also wasn't actually that bad (and was he even a DP?), but it doesn't mention the dud of them all, Innocent, nor does it mention Dawkins, who was OK last year but whether it's injuries or whatever, a non-factor this year.
Dawkins was a non-factor last year, also, and is magnified by his DP status. His returning to the Quakes has been a complete waste.
He had 5 goals last year playing mostly a wide position, and I think that was 2nd on the team. So while he was not great he was not a "non-factor".
He scored fewer times than his 2011 debut with the team, recorded the same number of assists (just 2 as a wide midfielder), and played in more games than any other season with the Quakes at 29. And he was enormously more expensive. Factoring in everything, I would say that he was an incredible disappointment. 5 goals is not nothing, but when you are expected to provide assists as a wide midfielder and you don't do that more than twice in a season, that's a huge problem. I would posit that Dawkins' inability to provide service to other players negatively impacted the team more than his goals positively contributed. How many times did Dawkins opt to go it alone rather than combine with teammates, only to lose the ball, then fail to recover defensively? The amount of possession lost, the lack of ability to hold the ball to relieve pressure, and the numerous squandered opportunities where he blasted balls over the bar from within 18 yards of the goal were unbearable to watch. When your DP player is marginally better than Cordell Cato, that's a big problem.
I was not judging him as a DP or even comparing him to 2011/12. I was responding to the "non-factor" comment at face value. Your second highest goal scorer is not a "non-factor", especially when one of those goals got you a win and another a tie in the dying moments. We can say that he was a disapointment but he was not a "non-factor".
Did our small team also speak softly like the other guy who was known for speaking softly while carrying a big stick? GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
The playing field at Stanford Stadium physically couldn't be widened any further, but as of today (Monday, July 10th), Chris Leitch certainly did widen the Avaya Stadium playing field from Dominic Kinnear's 72 yards to a near-ideal 74 yards. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Goodsport is this you on twitter Chris Leitch widening the Avaya Stadium field from Dominic Kinnear's 72 yards to 74 yards didn't hurt either. 👍— Banankos1 (@Banankos1) July 11, 2017
Not me, but it's good to know that someone out there agrees with me about the playing field. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Although it's only been a few weeks, it certainly seems this way. With the exception of a ten man Atlanta game, they are playing with more confidence.
They played with confidence in that game, as much as a team could be expected to, anyway. They scored the opening goal, and scored a second goal after losing a player. Sure, they were beaten, but they still played pretty confidently. Kinnear's team would have gone out there, tried to absorb pressure, get scored on, then continue to sit back and try to absorb more pressure.
Since Chris took over the coaching job, the Quakes have been a small team in the best possible way: scrappy, confident, playing to win despite not having a roster of name stars. Atlanta was no exception to that, and the reason it felt like a good game despite the scoreline.
Not to mention, a couple days off of an emotional derby win and a cross country trip. While I think they really need to work on their set piece defense, those were really tired legs.
Maybe the biggest obstacle, they found out about Silva's accident right before the game. Several players talked about how much it shocked them.
The biggest part of "small team" is gone. John Doyle was a huge mistake as GM. The team has added a USL franchise (one that looks like quality as well), is clearly emphasizing it's academy setup (and promising more homegrown signings) and has decided to focus on bringing in young DPs coming into their prime. The small team was between John Doyle's ears.