Sources say Leitch will likely return....

I think Wondo is talking about the unsettled locker room after the unexpected coaching change, not something that happened later. It was a shock to them and then there was kind of a new world order.

The vets thing probably came about due to a squad rotation primarily. They won and Leitch kept going back to it. Honestly more than vets playing I thing the most impactful change was having Salinas play RB, + playing 4-4-2 with Vako on the wing.

I think Tommy Vs. Hyka is kind of a push, and Ceren and Godoy have been playing pretty well so Jackson's been on ice. But I think that's the extent of the big move to "the vets". TT subbing in instead of starting and Jackson on the bench.

 

I think the thing has been unsettled from the coaching change all the way to the subtle slide into the Chicago debacle. The change to Tarbell, the fragile road mentality, the good Godoy versus the disinterested Godoy, various formation changes, youth movement, starting Yueill in place of a more experienced player (Ceren). The general disposition of the team.

We disagree. You don't see any issues within the team...business as usual...squad rotation.

I saw a team with some significant internal issues that needed to be worked out.
You don't wind up with the players basically giving up in the Chicago game at home unless there are serious problems. You have to go out of your way to play that poorly.

It doesn't matter now what it was... The team has finally come together.

 

You were implying that Wondo was talking about the locker room being "unsettled" at some other advanced point in the season. I think if you read his quote carefully, he is talking about the aftermath / surprise of the Dom firing. You keep trying to bend quotes to fit your narrative. And besides if there was some kind of "veteran uprising" say after the Chicago game, why would Wondo be praising Leitch for "righting the ship"? That would be more like the team righting the ship themselves.

It's not that "I don't see any issues with the team". I am just not buying the post-Chicago game "epiphany / veteran uprising" theory that you are espousing. Now clearly they did a lot of experimenting and lineup changes and the team was unsettled. There is a quote from Jesse where he said as much - hey we experimented, probably too much, but we wanted to try some things. But I don't think there was some kind of epiphany after the Chicago game. The next game was squad rotation and Ceren was in and Hyka was in, and Muma was in. And of course, after a lousy game you're going to try a few new things. That starting lineup had a good game, so they got the next game and so on. So you're at the end of the season, you have a lineup that's doing well, you stick with it. I don't think there is anything more to it than that. There was no veteran uprising where they cornered Leitch and threatened to give him a noogie if they didn't play, etc. That not the way it works, and even if it did, that would hardly be a reason for Wondo to praise Leitch's handling of the team.

 

I think that this is exactly what happened. Working so far.

I'd rate SJ significant underdogs on Wednesday. They have only won one road match under Leitch--against a historically dire LA team.

 

Two sides of the same coin. A coach who's willing to listen and to bring out the best in his players is a coach worth keeping.

Remember last year when Chad Barrett (a veteran player) had a different perspective than his coach? And as someone else mentioned, Leitch's boys played with passion under do-or-duress against a reputedly inferior foe, unlike standard-setter Bruce Arena's USMNT in the same circumstances.

 

Unlike JazzyJ, I don't discount a team's mental state. Indeed, I think it is paramount -- more significant than aggregate talent. But I credit Leitch for doing what it took to fix the problem. The Quakes are currently a true team, not just a collection of talents, and if they remain that way they may be the best team in the league this side of Toronto.

 

A strawman, and totally untrue. I absolutely factor in a player's / team's mental state. For example, I have written at length about how I believed that Dom had the team kind of afraid to take chances, and TT in particular, and how his play, and others' play improved when encouraged to take chances. Another example - I think that a team can get on a roll when they feel they are playing with house money. Again, I think that is about playing by instinct and confidence and not over-thinking or being afraid to make a mistake.

I am however, skeptical of the idea that players are not trying hard enough. This is these guys' jobs, their livelihood, why wouldn't they give full effort? I think sometimes it may look like they are not trying hard enough, but that may be due to game circumstances, and it may be due to trying too hard in a sense, when they start pressing and not playing naturally, and just doing the wrong thing.

So I don't think there was any kind of epiphany after or around the Chicago game. Every now and then a team has a stinker at home. It happens. But otherwise, the Quakes form has been pretty consistent with Leitch at the helm, and this while having many different players in the lineup. They win almost all of the time at home, and usually lose on the road, often badly. It was just a game or two before the Chicago game where everyone was singing Yueill's praises because he had a monster game against Houston. And now he's the problem because he's not a veteran player? The Vancouver game went better because of the way Vancouver played - they do not high press but wait and counter. And still xG was about 2 to a half a goal in that game, Vancouver with the 2, Quakes with the .5. If Tarbell doesn't stand on his head, it's another bad road loss. So I don't think there's been an epiphany, and I don't think the team has suddenly gotten much better.

As I said, I do think that they over-tinkered. Jesse admitted as much. But at the very end of the season it is time to stop tinkering as long as the team is doing reasonably well. That is just common sense, not the result of an epiphany or a sudden magical alignment of the "locker room".

 

As I recall, you expressly discounted the mental state of the USMNT as a factor in their final disastrous qualifier. I think the juxtaposition in effort -- and result -- between Leitch's Quakes and Arena's USMNT speaks for itself.

Anyway, I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm with Yogi Berra in believing that half the game is 90 percent mental, or something like that. I don't think you give it nearly the same importance.

 

Yes, that is true. I don't believe that they didn't try or didn't care. However, I think they probably tightened up pretty badly after the own goal.

As for the juxtaposition of the results, it is a game of inches sometimes. Dempsey's would-be tying goal hit the post, Urena's shot hit a defender and bounced safely wide of the onrushing GK, who would have otherwise saved the shot most likely.

In both cases, the teams struggled with everything on the line.

 

If Wondo is giving Leitch credit for bringing the team together, then I'm good. Bring Leitch back for another year.

That was the only question I had regarding keeping him. Can he man manage the locker room. It looked like he never completely had a handle on it, or it was slipping big time going into the Chicago game. After the Chicago game a complete 180 from all involved...the way a real team should look.

 

Wasn’t sure where to post this, but I just ran into Tim Hanley at the mall, and he was let go by the Quakes this past week. Didn’t get a chance to ask any details...

 

Well, the Quakes did have the absolutely most horrible, indefensible allowed goals. If coaches can be blamed for a team's losses, then maybe it's not completely unfair that the goalkeeper coach can be held accountable for the goalkeepers' performance. (I know, poor defense is also responsible for goals allowed- goalkeeper can't do everything by himself).

 

A combination of an injured Tarbell and a woeful defense is probably more cause for the goals against than Hanley. However, none of the keepers that Hanley has coached have been good distributors of the ball and that needs to change. Sorry to see Hanley go, and hopefully the new goalkeeper coach will instill a more outfield playing goalkeeper, which would greatly assist in transitioning the team to three defenders, if they choose to go that route.

 

NEWS: Quakes part ways with goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley

The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the club has parted ways with goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley. The Quakes will not immediately name his replacement on the coaching staff.

“I would like to thank Tim for all of his contributions to the club,” said Earthquakes general manager Jesse Fioranelli. “He has been an important piece of San Jose’s coaching staff for many seasons and we wish him nothing but the best in the future.”

Hanley, 57, served as the Quakes’ goalkeeper coach for 11 seasons, including each of the last three.​

 

The Quakes have been laughingly bad using their keepers to maintain possession. I do recall a period where it looked like Kinnear or Hanley were forcing Bingham to take goal kicks short to center backs and the center backs only passing option were to push it immediately back to Bingham with the onrushing forward pressuring Bings to just whack it upfield. It was so stupid I had to laugh.

 

Yeah, a big part of that was the midfield vacating their positions in an effort to clump every offensive player into one line, leaving the defenders with few options. I'm not sure there was much Hanley or anyone could have done to improve that specifically. His release may just have been part of removing as many remnants of the former era as possible, and unfortunately, he's an easy scapegoat with regard to the team's poor defensive performances.

Granted, there was a pretty serious dip in quality with Bingham this season compared to last, and I'm wondering if the poor defense highlighted some of the shortcomings of Hanley's methods, such as maybe a philosophy on staying deep instead of coming out for challenges earlier, or something. Speculating here as I can't honestly say I am familiar with how Hanley views the goalkeeper position and have to judge based on what I've seen from the various keepers the team has had.

 

And then there's the ol' GK to CB, CB to CM, CM back to CB, CB back to GK. Repeat until GK boots long ball. That's another Quakes specialty, at least Dom era. That will win you fans! "Heh, at least we're not getting scored on!". I'd rather see the Quakes play the game and lose 4-0 than to see that drivel. 'Cause then if they're at least trying to play the game, hopefully they will learn to play it better. It's when you try to avoid playing the game that you are really dead in the water. IOW you'll never learn to play the game that you are trying to avoid.

 

I don't want him back. Period.

 

Yeah, our goal kick formation was practically a 4-0-6..

Vako-----------Hoesen-------Wondo-----------Tommy
-------Godoy------------------------------Ceren-----------



----ACRES-----OF-------SPACE----



Salinas---------Jungwirth---------Muma--------Sarkodie

------------------------------Tarbings--------------------------

 

I have always been a big Tim Hanley fan. His analysis of opponents and strategies was always first rate. (Not that our head coaches listened to him much.) And he's a nice guy and was willing to talk to the fans.

That said, our GK distribution has always been piss poor, so it's probably time to move on. Good Luck, Tim!!

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

We should sign that French international midfielder, Acre Sofspace. He'd fit in great.

 

Maybe not ?

933702521192726529 is not a valid tweet id

 

I hope we're not stahring at another losing season as a new coach tries to learn the league.

 

Yeah that is something that wont bode well with the fans. Looks like it is all but official.

Can confirm that #Quakes74 are poised to name Mikael Stahre as their new manager, replacing Chris Leitch. Announcement expected w/in next 48 hours. Story to come. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) November 23, 2017