Pre-match: New York City FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 4/1) pregame thread

Who is designing our uniforms? The primary is awful.

 

I actually like the primary. I also like last year's primary too

 

And I'm sorry for being a blasphemer, but I would like to lose this game. Badly. The quicker we get Dom out of here the more I don't mind losing.

 

The flaw is in your reasoning as much as your faith. Losing is not going to hasten Dom's departure. For better or worse, he's here for the duration of 2017.

 

Yeah, I really don't care if Kinnear stays or goes, as long as the team wins.

So change the players (I'd advocate Colvey for Francis). If he's not going to do that, change the system to better suit the player's talent. If he's not going to do that either, fire him and bring in someone that will.

Because doing the same system with the same players is going to produce the same pathetic results. It wasn't good enough yesterday, isn't good enough today and won't be good enough tomorrow.

Something has to give. Overhaul the players, or overhaul the system, or overhaul the coaching staff. Pick one or this team is going to continue to play uninspiring soccer.

 

We're 2-1 and in a playoff position... Why are we already in woe-is-us mode?

 

Haven't you heard? Our offense revolves around Shaun Francis.

 

Close, but inaccurate translation.

Our lack of offense involves Shaun Francis.

 

Hooray, we're the champions of March.

 

Last March 22nd Quakes were 2-1 also. We've seen this movie before

 

Spoiler alert....it doesn't end well.

 

I get that point of view, except that I don't think we can win with Kinnear at the helm. Not consistently, not enough to make the playoffs and do well. Not enough to make Quakes happy.

I would swap Colvey for Francis and TT for Dawkins (and switch side with TT on the right and Hyka on the left) I might start Hoesens and Marco uptop, and bring on Wondo with 20 minutes to go, if we need a goal.

But Kinnear isn't that bold. He's going to go more conservative, not less.

go quakes!!

- Mark

 

I completely agree. A huge part of our championship formula was having Mulrooney winning balls and finding Eklund to run the attack. Add to that overlapping backs and outside mids with the freedom to roam, and we'd attack in waves until opponents couldn't withstand the onslaught. Seems to be missing in Dom's style of play.

 

The other component to that is to include a third forward so that you get some assistance in the midfield. I'd really like to see Hoesen play as the center forward with Urena and Wondolowski on the outside. I think with his speed, Hoesen could really do some good work in taking defenders with him and making runs into the box from a deeper position. Sadly, we haven't gotten to see much of him yet.

 

Well, we've got one good overlapping back now in Lima. Gotta work on the other side now.

 

A big part of our problem is that Dom insists on playing the 4-4-2 empty bucket. This means that we have very little presence in the center of the pitch. And if one of our outside middies pinches in, it leaves a gap on the outside. Also, this is a system that requires overlapping outside defenders, which means that you want defensive players to play both ways. I think this means that we are looking for a skill set that is less common.

I'd rather play three in the back stay home defenders and use actual offensive players to generate my offense. I get that it's a fluid game, and everyone needs to be able to play both ways. I used to be an outside midfielder. But if I want more offense, then I want more offensive players on the pitch, and I don't want to count on defenders to supply my attack.

I'm sure that we could get more out of the players we have, but it would require creative coaching, which we do not have.

go quakes!!

- Mark

 

To play something like a diamond mid with a CAM, you need a really good CAM, and I would argue that a truly good CAM is a less common skill set than a reasonably adept overlapping fullback. That's why we have not really had a CAM since DeRo. Heck, Sac Republic, a USL team, has had two good overlapping fullbacks for a few years, Klimenta and Kiffe. Colvey looked good in limited action last year, before being banished to Reno.

And besides, the Quakes don't really play an "empty bucket". It is more like a double pivot, where Fatai or Godoy may be aligned somewhat vertically in a defensive posture but also where either can choose to get forward. It is just that neither has an assigned "more forward" role. It is more flexible.

 

Despite what you are saying, I cannot help but hope that Dom will be fired during the season when the Quakes take their annual dump.

If he wins, good. But that's laughable at this point. I'm not being sarcastic either. I truly believe he cannot coach this team into the playoffs.

 

I completely agree with you, but I cannot bring myself to hope the Q's lose to achieve Dom's dismissal. Kind of like I felt with Klinsman and the USMNT.

 

Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
AR1: Jeffrey Hosking
AR2: Andrew Bigelow
4th OFFICIAL: Alex Chilowics

The Quakes are 5-5-5 in matches refereed by Gonzalez

 

I was jokingly going to say that with a 5-5-5 record he is obviously biased against us. But then I realized that the truth is, with our record the past few years, if he has us even up, then he actually favors us...

 

Wondo somehow looks older in that photo (from 2005) than he does now, 12 years later. Weird. I guess he was a little bit more "gaunt" as a youngster.

 

Not a large enough sample size of before and after pictures to make that assessment.

And a player being thinner when younger? Who would have thunk it!

But, wasn't it you who pointed out that Wondo appeared to be slimmer at the start of this season? I think you are right about that.