Imo, Almeyda is letting a few guys play themselves out of the starting 11...also sending a message to Fioranelli that he can't get it done with Fioranelli's guys. If the rumor is true that Almeyda couldn't get the players he wanted..and Fioranelli couldn't find creative ways to dump guys, then this is Almeyda ratcheting up the pressure...It's a big in your face to Fioranelli....get me some real players or this thing will implode.
Why would Fioranelli need prodding to get real players? Presumably his seat is already warm. If it's parsimoniousness, where does that problem emanate?
I think, in general, service has been poor to the forwards. Wondo got a few off and almost scored (off the post in the first half if I remember correctly). I think a few chances a game is all Wondo has ever had and we don't have enough data to know if he's gone down hill yet. He certainly looks slower to react and adjust his footing.
Wondo has never thrived as a lone forward. Anyone who's done their homework would know that. I suspect Wondo has not lost any part of his game.
This. Also, I've never been a big fan of putting two guys (a lefty and a righty, in this case, Espinoza and Eriksson) out there to take corners- especially if you're rarely going to play it short. It means one less player in the area to try to score, or outside the area to try to pick up a clearance. I get the "inswinger vs outswinger" deception thing, but it doesn't seem that valuable to me to sacrifice the extra guy being available to be active in the attack. It also puts you more out of position defensively, in case of a counter-attack off of a failed corner.
I’m sure the scouting report on Quakes goes something like this: Pressure Vako as soon as he gets the ball..if he beats the first guy, the second and third guy step to him. Don’t worry about a through ball because he never pushes a ball into space behind defenders. Just keep piling on defenders until he coughs it up. Don’t worry about Wondo beating you deep, just defend him enough until they get it to Vako, then see step 1.
Counting on a 36 year old to have not lost anything seems highly optimistic. Father Time yields to no one.
Pretty sure that that "shot" was actually a deflection off the foot of the guy marking Wondo. But at least Wondo was there threatening to score. He looked slow to react to being offside, too! I hope this won't be a trend, because he was caught offside several (not sure how many, but too many) times in this game. It wasn't like he was just testing that fine line on through balls, either. At least a couple of them were a result of being too slow to realize where he was, or too slow to move his body.
Unfortunately a #10 is just a starting point on this team. He’d have essentially no supporting cast. So many areas need improvement.
To me the most frustrating player to watch is Godoy. Besides the mandatory yellow card each game, his lack of concentration, awareness and even effort is irritating. There was a sequence in the first half, Opara moved forward with the ball, crossed the centerline looking at playing a one-two with another Minnesota player. The moment he passed the ball, the whole stadium knew he would continue his run forward to receive the return pass. Godoy, the closest player to Opara when he made the initial pass, just causally watched the whole thing occurring before him and saw Opara freely run forward, receive the pass and get into our box. Gody just trailed behind to escort Opara into our box. Opara is a CB and he was allowed to eat up so much space in our own half with no resistance. There were also many other moments when we broke down the play and were able to poke the ball away, but Gody was just slow to react. Transition never happened and we had to defend again. Also not impressed with Lopez who didn't combine well with anyone. Many of his crosses didn't even pass the first defender. Lima was a bit lost. He was taken out for TT because the other team was not going to attack as much with a lead and we also needed someone to offer something different moving forward. Lopes was already doing the crosses.
I agree. In addition to what you mentioned, he had a few very bad give-aways on cross-field passes. To be fair to Lopez, combining is a 2-way street. I think he knows how to combine pretty well, but often times he's not getting a return pass. Both Godoy and Vako are ball dominant, and may not trust the young Lopez just yet. I think they need to, especially when Vako is getting swarmed by defenders by design. I think Nick has been a bit off, but I'm also seeing the same lack of chemistry between him and Espinoza as I'm seeing on the opposite flank with Lopez and Vako. And I'm not sure that Espinoza's crosses have been much better than the ones from Lopez. I'm not even sure it matters, because Wondo has generally been well marked in the box, and how often have we seen Vako or Eriksson getting on the end of a cross? It's all a function of how plodding and lethargic our attack has become. We're not surprising anybody, and don't have enough speed to stretch defenses and open up space.
Well, we did score one goal off a nice header and Vega stood on his head in the first half and... Actually, I would say that the team had a good first half as they played together better and caused problems for the Loons. However, we still gave up too many quality opportunities and didn't create anything. Wondo was awful. He is such a limited threat outside of the box that it's really impacted the Quakes. Stop playing the back shoulder all of the time and the miss in front of the goal was comical. Sub him with Danny. Erikkson is better defensively and is OK in the middle, but as soon he moved to the outside in the first half, he almost gave up a goal and looked useless. Sub him for with TT. Goday sucked. Sub him was anyone. Lopez is going to have growing pains. Unfortunately, we can't afford them this year. Need to send a search party for Lima because he is lost. Keisha and Vega played well, Cummings, not so much - except for the goal. Vako had an off game. Until the Quakes have more threats, other teams will continue to make him with 2-3 players.
Lima is probably pissed. Espinoza is not working well with him, nor is Espinoza working well with TT. The give and goes are not happening with Espinoza. Lima has to feel like crap as he is being subbed and sees Godoy and Magnus still on the pitch, TT can come in for either of them and have the same impact. There is the off chance that he is gassed as he had a very short winter break.
Usually January Camp players are ahead of others early in the MLS season, Lima is too young and athletic to be gassed from playing two friendlies over a month ago. Lima didn't have playoff games in 2018 so his season ended earlier than many. And he doesn't have CCL games in 2019, either.
Play the Earthquakes, make the team of the week... Week 1: Taider, Diallo Week 2: Quintero, Metanire, Alonso (bench)
Quintero? Ok, he got an assist and a goal, but, the goal was a pk. He also had 12 unsuccessful passes in the game, where it is rare for players to hit double digits in that department. I thought Judson kept him pretty well contained. I think people picking the award just look at the box score..
I noticed that Lima looked faster after playing the USMNT games. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who gets pissed at teammates — he seems too mellow for that. I think the problem is that Espinoza doesn’t reward Lima’s runs. Espinoza, like Vako, doesn’t look up much, but when he does look it up, it is just to look for a cross. On the other side, it seems like Lopez just looks to take on a player and shoot, as if he were a winger, which is his natural position.
I always found this so-called awards useless and arbitrary. Not sure what people's fascination with them is