You mean all those unnamed guys who didn't command an astronomical transfer fee (let's call them a "team" for shorthand), you mean to say that they're collectively responsible for qualifying for the playoffs or not? If that's the case, maybe we should focus on the team instead of the marquee player with the huge transfer fee.
For you only, I'll wager as follows: If the Quakes exceed Atlanta United in points during the 2019 season, we go to the Bills / Niners game in 2020 at Levi's, tickets on your dime. If not, I'll treat you to a front row seat to a Quakes home game in 2020 along with free beers from LOBINA. Deal?
Don, are you on Fisher’s payroll as his rep on BS? Seriously, though I appreciate your confidence, and hope to heck you’re right, buddy! Quakes05, are you taking medication for PTSD after being forced to watch the Quakes over the past decade? I fully share your dread, given all of the beautiful ‘triumph’ we’ve achieved since resurrection, and hope to heck you’re wrong, buddy!
Don't we have to erase that statement out of brains? I thought that after Jesse fired Stahre, he said that he had asked Fischer for a top coach but had been denied. Wasn't that his excuse for hiring Stahre? Or am I hallucinating? I could have sworn I read that somewhere.
The Cooligans said that Arthur Blank is getting divorced from Wife #3, and that she is the soccer fan and was the one who got him interested in getting an MLS team. If this is true, then I suspect that ATL may have a 2019 season that looks like TFC's 2018 season.
Why? Atlanta leads the league in attendance by a wide margin and just won MLS Cup. Blank is a businessman, and the soccer business is being very good to him right now.
Don, you're stretching some of these points to some pretty great lengths. My hat is off to you. But one thing I didn't know: Did we pass on Porter? Or did we pass on Porter's salary demands, etc?
Wow! I will be shocked if we finish above Atlanta in 2019. Seven of twelve teams in our conference will make the playoffs. (Which I think is three or four too many.) So only five will miss the playoffs. Making the playoffs is a bare minimum level of achievement. I am disgusted by how awful we were last season. But frankly, even finishing in sixth place would be a huge improvement. Last season we were: 4-9-21 (w-d-l) The sixth place team (The SaltLickers) went 14-7-13. That is hugely better than us. Even assuming that we are hugely improved, I have trouble imagining that we will get anywhere near twenty wins. So for us to finish ahead of Atlanta, they need to tumble, seriously. Even with a coaching change, they are likely to be a good team again. We need a seventeen win swing in our direction, and probably a few ties thrown in. The seventh place team from last season, not to be mentioned here, went 13-9-12. Getting to that level of failure would require us to win nine more games that last season, while maintaining the nine ties that we "earned." That's a huge hill to climb. I'll be surprised if we do it. I hope that we win twenty or more games, I just don't expect it, or even close to it. Go Quakes!! - Mark
You keep making comments about Atlanta only being successful at home. Last time I pointed out that Atlanta just set the record for most away wins in MLS history... you didn't respond when presented with the facts. Their excellent road form already seems to have carried over into the next year, as they're clearly living rent free in your head.... I think Atlanta will likely regress and the Quakes will improve, but the gap between the two is massive as of now, so... Can I get in on this wager? Let me just swing by my bank tomorrow and see how much I have in my accounts... and how large a loan they would be willing to give me.
The Quakes did not rate Porter as highly as Matias. Whether they were right or wrong in that regard, they got the coach they wanted and did not have to settle, unlike the Galaxy.
I did not say Atlanta was "only being successful at home." I said their home field was its "biggest advantage." As for "MLS history," TFC set a record for best season in MLS history. And the next year they failed to qualify for the playoffs. Whatever Atlanta's 2018 success in whatever aspect, 2019 is a new year.
Yeah, but even tho Arthur Blank is now onboard the soccer train, the Cooligans seemed to think Blank's enthusiasm could be affected. I guess that's why they even mentioned it in their podcast. And who knows, depending on the prenup, maybe MLS could have its first female majority/sole owner!
Don, you should have said if the Quakes have greater than or equal to points for the 2019 season, instead of using "exceed"...and later claim you were talking about the NFL season. However, I really appreciate your usage of the word "during" instead of "after", implying that even after the first game if Atlanta tie and the Quakes win you can claim that you've won.
Not sure I'm following you. I think Quakes05 and I understand that we're talking about the standings at the end of the 2019 regular season. They payoff to the winner will thereafter occur in 2020. I'm not worried about having to payoff if I lose and Quakes05 knows I'm good for it.
If we have another crappy season, does Jesse get fired? We made the playoffs in 2017, albeit just barely. In 2018 with largely the same roster, plus a few "improvements," we sucked like a Dyson. In 2019 ... I wondering how this pans out, and who takes the fall if we suck? And I am not expecting a banner year. Maybe we make the playoffs, but I could see us just missing too. I still think that we need a new GK and a couple of more defenders, and I'm still not sold on Vako and Kashia. I see a troubled road ahead. Hope I'm wrong. Go Quakes!! - Mark
Honestly, I think so, yes. They've been willing to pull the trigger on coaches more readily than in the past, which suggests to me that they are more comfortable firing people who don't get the job done.
Just a couple comments on expectations and definitions... Lanus is not obscure by any definition I am willing to conisder. If you even casually follow South American soccer then you'll know of them. They have won their top league and a continental title in the last 25 years. Also, all this talk about signing marquee signings and world-class talent is silly. I am not sure if you have seen the inflation in transfer fees going on in the world right now, but $10mil is nothing now for even players who are deemed to be several years away from world class, and that is just the transfer fee, not the salary. If the international press has time to talk about a prospect enough that we'd have heard of them looking only at ESPNFC or some similar site, we can't afford them. You'd have to be looking at non-Euro "up and coming" lists to find someone we can afford. And that is exactly where we are looking.
I know Lanaus, and I don't follow South American soccer much. The trick is finding someone who will do well in MLS but isn't on other teams radar. That or just spend a boatload on a proven talent. I don't see us spending boatloads of money, but maybe we will. We signed a guy from Velez Sarsfield a few years back. They're a fairly big team too. We misused him, and then pissed away his talent. So we both need to sign good players and then use them appropriately. It's OK to get someone who isn't well known, as long as he shows the sort of skill set we're looking for, and then we need to use him appropriately. No playing #10's as outside mids. No moving strikers to the wing spots. Go Quakes!! - Mark