Post-match: D.C. United - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 8/22) postgame thread [R]

Its just human nature. Unfortunately in life like in sports, you either win or you lose. No one remembers the Niners when they were 2 & 14 or 8 & 8 but everyone remembers their 5 Super Bowls in 14 years. That is just the way it is and that's the nature of sports.

 

2 weeks ago the team was the worst thing ever and everybody deserved to be fired. Suddenly everyones excited again. Not many people here seem to want to put the pieces together and realize that the team is probably one of the top 8 teams in the league but has unfortunately been utterly screwed by a difficult schedule to this point. I expected us to make a run at the playoffs, Im just surprised it started so strong this week. We play 7 of the next 9 at home. I expect us at this point to finish with a winning record. I dont think we are a top team though, and are unlikely to win it all. But Id like to see how close we get.

You may not, but usually there are 8-8 season in between the extremes of 2-14 and 14-2. I think the team has made substantial improvements this year, whether or not we make the playoffs (though it seems likely we will at this point). How to improve for next season is a big question we will face in the offseason. The question we are going to answer for the rest of the season is just how much and where we will need it.

 

Actually we have made the playoffs or won anything yet. Let's see where we are in 3 weeks until we start talking about the post season or even next season.

 

Agreeable? What does that mean? I thought the point was to play to win championships. All that would be happening here is another yo-yo season. Make the playoffs, then suck, win SS, then choke, then choke some more, and then make the playoffs again.

 

Exactly, 90% of the board was either flat out against Kinnear, or skeptical of his hiring. We had an unbalanced schedule playing a lot of away games early...plus Wondo's absence really hurt us. We couldn't even pull off the 4-5-1 with him gone. At some point Dom was going to play with two forwards...the Godoy and Quincy signings made that possible... He deserves credit...I'm pretty sure there was plan...how he wanted to play and what he needed to do to get there. He's doing fine, he's a solid coach.

What I don't understand is why it seems some "fans" would rather see the team go down in flames just to support their narrative that Kinnear was a poor selection.... instead of seeing their precious internet soccer cred take a hit...WTF.

 

Dont think Kinnear had much to say in the Godoy signing, IMO. In his interview on the Quakes website, Godoy said that we had an eye on him for the past 4 years, but that the move was finally made possible.

http://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2015/08/17/qa-getting-know-quakes-new-signing-anibal-godoy

 

Nice segment by Matthew Doyle about the Quakes 3-game streak and the importance of Quincy and Godoy. He calls Quincy a "bowling ball of a No. 9 who uses his soft feet, low center of gravity, elite balance and strength to boss central defenders that tower over him". That pretty much covers it in my book. And then he goes on to show the network passing graph of the win over KC; it is stunning in the way that it shows how much of a midfield hub Godoy was in that game.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...lyst-pieces-puzzle-metronome-and-more-week-25

 

Okay we can give Frank credit haha, but if Dom didn't rate him he wouldn't be here. I can't believe JD would bring someone in without Dom's approval...that would be quite frightening.

 

JD brought inEdmundo Zura without FY's blessing didnt he? (I actually dont know)

 

Yeah, I believe he would do that to Watty...maybe even to some degree Frank...I'm cynical, but I don't think JD was going out of his way to make things too rosy for either one, especially Watty. I'll go to my grave believing they were sitting on Kinnear for longer than they care to admit.

 

Making the playoffs at this point would be an accomplishment of sorts, but for me it would depend on where the Quakes are seeded to determine how successful they are. The MLS playoffs have a pretty generous acceptance policy of allowing 60% of teams to qualify. At the end of the regular season, here's how I grade teams.

DNQ for Playoffs = Failure
6th seed = D
5th seed = C-
4th seed = C+
3rd seed = B+
2nd seed = A-
1st seed = A+
Supporters Shield = Valedictorian

 

I know you're not talking about me when referring to fans who want the team to go down in flames, but I will admit I'm still skeptical of Kinnear. Off the top of my head the last two games and the first game in Seattle are the only games that made me think the hype surrounding Kinnear may not be all rooted in nostalgia. That's a whopping 3 games out of 25.

The other 22 games looked like classic MLS 1.0.

 

I'd be happy with a mid-table team. As long as we play something approaching attractive soccer, and it looks like we're trying to improve. I don't need for us to challenge for MLS Cup every season. Of course, I want us to challenge for MLS Cup and Win it every season, but I recognize that that is a fantasy.

Yes, we should try to win the Cup every season, but realistically, that's not going to happen.

I don't want the team to suck. I know that I'm one of most Negative Norbert's on the forum. Part of that is my view that we lack ambition, and we lack vision, and we are headed down the wrong path.

But hey! I want us to win. I'd be pleased as punch if Kinnear turns out to a good a coach for us. Yes, I opposed the Kinnear signing, I still don't think he's going to lead us to glory. BUT, I'd really love to be wrong.

If Kinnear is a good coach, if he can get us to a consistently mid table performance, where we are in the playoffs consistently, and if we can manage to play reasonably attractive soccer under him, I'll be pumped.

• Success, even moderate success is way better than sucking like a Dyson.
• If Kinnear is a good a good coach, then we don't need to replace him, which means not blowing up the team and building from what we already have. (All good things.)
• If Kinnear sucks and we have to replace him, there is no guarantee, or even high likelihood, that we would hire a good coach. I think the odds would be against it actually. (Because Kaval and Doyle wouldn't recognize a talented coach if he kicked them in the goonies.

See? I've got a long list of reasons that I want Kinnear to be good.

But I still think that we need a more modern approach to running our team. From the academy, through the draft, through overseas scouting, through using our USL affiliate, through roster decisions, through to the way we play on the pitch. Again, I'd love to be wrong, but I don't think I am.

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

Mediocrity get tiresome after extended periods.

 

https://www.football.com/en/quakes-knock-off-mls-leading-dc-united-on-the-road-2-0/

 

Really good article. Very insightful, and does not fall off the deep end but rather takes a balanced view on things like "Wondo out of midfield" and just the general prospects of the team going forward. He is right that outside of the 5-0 rout of KC, the Colorado and DCU games were just really OK. They were fortunate to win both games.

I don't necessarily agree with him that the team is so razor thin in depth, and one injury to a key player and they are likely out.

 

Yes I believe that too. It was all pretty much known by Doyle before hand that Dom would end up taking over for Frank at some point. I mean we all knew and speculated it in the threads and even Dom hinted things through the years. He even recently admitted that he only wanted to stay in Houston for 2 years initially. I'm sure making a salary of $600k a year helped him change his mind.

 

His podcasts from this season can be found at:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/42264

 

FYP.

 

Damn! folks on this board still don't get how the Quake's FO and ownership group work after all these years.

Bottom line: If the fans don't complain when the performance on the field is Sh_T then nothing is done.

 

This should probably go in the tactics thread but ..

I heard it on this thread but I think it is important to repeat it here since
it is very important point ..

most of our goals are coming from passes on the ground!

I took the team over 1 year but I think we're starting to see the benefits to our
attack

 

Wow, where did this guy come from? Finally some good Quakes analysis. Sorry, but we sure weren't getting it from Robert Jonas. Eitnire makes a lot of the same points that I would make, so naturally I like what he writes :--): For example,

1) Don't obsess on Wondo's position or even the stated formation. Soccer is a relatively fluid game. And what is the difference really between a "deep-lying forward and a goalscoring attacking midfielder"?

2) A more minor point, but he thinks Jahn has it in him to be a useful MLS player. The shots just haven't quite gone his way this year.

3) By now this is well understood, but Godoy was likely not the first choice signing by the Quakes during the transfer period, but is not necessarily a "defensive" signing due to the effect that he has on the role of the other players.

Here's his match report on the SKC game:

https://www.football.com/en/quakes-stun-sporting-kc-at-home-5-0/

 

Clearly a kook!

 

If we were mostly mediocre with occasional good seasons it would be an improvement over the current state of affairs, where we mostly suck.

While it's true that we're on a three game winning streak, we just barely beat a terrible Crapids team, then completely waxed an exhausted Sporks side, then we beat a quality DCU in their house, while they were in good shape. That last one was impressive.

I'm not trying to be super critical here, but we need to sustain good play and win most of our games down the stretch if we are to make the playoffs. We're at about a 46% chance of making it now, so that has to get better. We don't have to win every game, but we need to win more than not. We're actually in a playoff spot right now on 1.40 PPG, and that 1.4 might be enough to make the grade this year. Still, we've a long ways to go before the playoffs.

Go Quakes!!

- Mark