So, first we just signed a new GK. So much for no more players. Second, could you please dial back the ersatz profanity? Thirdly, I'm angry too! We're going to suck this coming season. Unless Espinosa, Lopez, Judson, and Vega all turn out to be top ten players in the league at their positions, we're likely to get slagged. My guess is that we have too much cash locked up in a few players with long-term (three year?) contracts, so we can't just ditch them and fix our problems. I'm going to guess that Vako, Kashia, Affolter, Jungworth, Eriksson, and Qwiberg are all on longish contracts and it would cost us a bundle and or MLS won't let us ditch them all. I like Flo, so I'm happy for him to stay, but the rest of those are over paid for what they deliver. So, just because they said that we're done, doesn't mean that we are. We could well make one more signing, maybe even two more signings. Probably, they are trying to move Eriksson, and once that gets done (maybe not until February because he'll be going back to Sweden?) then we can sign someone else. But yeah, I think we're going to get trashed this coming season. Go Quakes!! We're number 23!! - Mark
You're guessing that the new guys, plus the new coaching will make a huge difference. I'm guessing that even with the new coaching, the new guys won't be good enough for us to over take teams who were better than us to start with, and trying to get even better in the off-season. Now maybe some of those teams will stumble, maybe some of those improvement efforts will backfire. But most teams get a little bit better every season, and thus we have to get so much better that we make up our existing deficit and get even better than that. Sorry, I don't expect that. But I will try to get down to SJ for more games this season! Go Quakes!! When do we get relegated?! - Mark
Yes, and I am guessing the Quakes will be a "team" in 2019, which they were not last season. A team is more than the sum of its parts. That is the thing most naysayers have been missing. I'm not terribly impressed with the Western Conference competition. I'm not even impressed by Atlanta. Get the team thing down and the sky's the limit. I understand it's easier said than done. But the Vega signing is the most encouraging one to date, for the reasons I've discussed. I get the sense that Almeyda's not a great coach because he understands the x's and o's (or whatever the soccer phraseology is) better than the rest, but that he has better interpersonal skills than his competitors and knows how to build a team.
Don, I hope you're right. A team should be more than the sum of the parts, to be sure. Whether we're talking soccer, rock bands, or business units. Here's my fear. Even assuming that Matias is a great coach, our guys were close to shell shocked last season. Can Matias overcome that expectation of failure? And even if he can get the guys moving in the right direction, can he keep it up? What happens the first or second time we get slagged? Or give up a late goal or two, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? Even if Matias is great, this team is damaged. If he can get us into the last playoff bearth, that will be a miracle. Go Quakes!! Pass the Aquavit! - Mark
Are we one of the least American teams in the league? That would be very disappointing to me. I'm psyched that we've got a kick-ass high profile coaching team. It's long past time we stopped emulating lower forms of British soccer from the bad old days, and might build a team that could more easily appeal to Latinx (?) soccer fans. I've felt this club "built a wall" of sorts way before that was political parlance. But we are the club of fricking Northern California. Pretty strong territory, missing a shining apex. Missing what the Quakes should be. If we're going to suck, I'd rather suck with American product... esp California product. Even if/when we're aiming low, I wish we exalted guys like Beitashur, and went after Sebastian Lletget when in-state rivals were chasing Carlos Vela and dos Dos Santos. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be in the cards since what Jesse was selling was Euro magic. Now it seems to be Latin magic - let's hope that's not a gimmick. Let's also hope we've brought on board a team that's excited by the potential of the region and the Quakes academy. But do we have a club that's truly motivated to develop that pipeline?
Lafc, Atlanta United, redbulls,la galaxy, Orlando, Houston, Sounders, Portland all have less or the same amount of Americans. So don’t be too disappointed.
The next CBA could be telling, but basically all MLS teams devalue American players, especially college players, except I guess the top 10+ Americans.
I have had the opportunity to see many of the current top-tier U18/19 boys teams in NorCal over the past year and can definitively state that there is a lot of talent here that is overlooked.
I think that coaches and GM's feel a lot of pressure to win now, as opposed to two or three seasons down the line. Some teams, like NYRB and FCKD have made a committment to their academies, which I think is great. And of course, OUR team doesn't feel any pressure to win ever. So we can continue to suck it. Go Quakes!! What does it take to make this team better?! - Mark
Pretty good player. Okay TV commentator. Not very good MLS assistant coach. WORST.GM.EVER I don’t know anything about his performance in youth soccer, so I’m willing to take your word that he’s good at it.
I don't even think JD is affiliated with that soccer camp. From the our staff section of that soccer camp you can see Robert Whelan is the Administrative Director. You can also tell he created the account just to post that today morning. This is one of the most pathetic advertizements I've ever seen in my life.
Thanks for reporting it. Looks like spam (unsolicited advertising) - dude signed up to bigsoccer just to post that ad and took some minimal effort to make it look relevant by mentioning a former GM of our club.
Wow, the Jesse police are after me! I guess he is going to transfer me to Cincinnati soon. I guess I received this because I tweeted Tyf's photo of the new jersey with the "this space available" message. I feel like i have to tweet this screenshot too. What do y'all BSers think? I mean, i have like maybe 30 followers on twitter who are not bots. Why chase after me?
I am not sure but I recall an incident in the Serie A online forums a few years ago where an assistant manger within a team got into it in public with a fan on the internet. It was with Palermo I believe and their president/owner Zamparini fired the manager. I don’t believe it’s a combative or problematic post but I’m surprised he singled you out as it could very well lead to something bigger if tensions escalate.
Yeah, I just read up on the Sector Latino problem at the Chicago Fire last year, where they banned a supporters group and refunded their season tickets, for violating the Fan Code of Conduct. Do the Quakes have a Code of Conduct that applies to social media? And I just checked my twitter analytics. Only about 600 impressions on that photo i tweeted
I'm not on Twitter so I am unaware of any special context of your tweets, but on the face of it I agree with Falvo that it is not a combative or problematic post. I believe you've spoken with Jesse (and Tom Fox) at some of the public events and have even had lists of questions for them. I thought they may have already invited you to meet personally to discuss your concerns further, but I don't know if you've taken them up on that. This may just be another outreach attempt.
if you decide to take him up on it and would like some company, I'd be willing to join you. We would have to try to make it for an evening, preferably during the week. I think we could get some input from folks around here and prepare some really good questions. what would "help the clubs cause" is to build a team that can get Bay Area soccer fans all fired up and full of eager anticipation for the upcoming season, one that anyone can look at on paper and go "oh hell yes! this is a team that just might win the whole damn thing!" you know, the pride and excitement that's been so lacking and yet, is so critical to the health and viability of this team. It would be good to get Jesse's take on what he sees as his role in this, why our team has failed so much under his leadership, what he thinks is holding us back, why he hasn't been able to bring in the players we need and so on. I would definitely be up for this.