He was on the French World Cup winning team in 2018. If he signs, he would be the Quakes first WC winner ever.
We don't even get the guys when we're one of two teams interested. If it's one in six, fogettaboudit!
I think he can play on either side though, as well as forward. We should be able to make at least one significant addition to the attack somewhere. We haven't had an attacking player signing of any significance since Jebo - almost 2 years ago (Monteiro being kinda borderline but he plays a bit more like an 8 much of the time rather than a real attacking player).
30 minutes after this was posted Look, if you are gonna put out very dubious rumors about #Quakes74 interest in a winger, at least make it realistic with someone who plays primarily on the left side, okay?— JMoore Quakes (@JmooreQuakes) January 26, 2023
Thing is, the Quakes have two good young players who play on the left, whose combined contribution is probably comparable to Espinoza's, especially when you consider that Espinoza is only good for a couple of goals from run of play per year, and he's been consistent in that regard, year after year. Cade and Benji were combined 9g, 8a last year. Espinoza I think 2 run of play goals last year and 14 assists (some of which were very generous, like he was credited for 2ndary assist on those 2 assists TT had against LAFC, plus he takes almost all the corners). Still it's 2g, 14a vs. 9g, 8a for Cade / Benji. More g+a for Cade / Benji and a lot more goals. So I'm not sure that the left is all that much better than the right. We can't just be good with a starting player and then a warm body backup anymore. We need a couple of good players at every position. If we were to sign a good player like Thauvin, we'd find a way to use him. I'm not worried about that.
JassyJ finds a way to always discredit people and some how talk about Thompson no matter what. This guy > Cowell, Kikanovic, Can of shit > Thompson > Double J
I've read reports he's signing with Udinese in Italy's sería A. I'd rather we'd go after a true forward to push/challenge Jebo. We're extremely short on our forwards position.
I have a request for bigsoccer that the ignore function be extended to keywords. That way, I don't have to see any post containing, for instance, "Renkel."
The numbers (g+a) say otherwise as I showed above. Espinoza gets a lot of assists but rarely scores goals. Even last year, 2 non-PK goals and he played nearly every minute of every game. And his dead ball service is generally lousy. He’s good but I would not say “really good”, and what happens if he gets injured, and besides maybe it would do him some good to get more rest. Here’s the thing. You can make an argument that we wouldn’t want to take lots of minutes away from any of our front 3 starters. Jebo, after he scored 17 goals? Benji / Cade, after they had a combined 9g/8a from the left side and have not hit their ceiling, and if they continue to develop could be significant transfer $? A good player like Espinoza? So no matter where a new addition plays it’s going to look like some redundancy, but we need more depth and our depth should be players that can compete for minutes, not just warm bodies. We should be 2 deep with good players at all 3 of those front attacking spots. We have it on the left side right now but not on the right or at center forward.
Eddie Lewis didnt score a lot but he had a lot of assists like Espinoza. Is he really good? What about a guy by the name of Brad Davis? Manny Lagos, Ronnie O Brien, Dario Brose, Richard Mulrooney also had lots of assists and not many goals... or what ablut Ekelund who didmt score or assist much? Your stastical arguements have no weight. Espinoza is one of our great players.
I think I need help. Yesterday, I started having what feels like fever dreams, imagining us lining up in a 3-5-2 with Cowell and Espinoza as wingbacks. But this seems crazy from a defensive standpoint. Can Espinoza play wingback?
Reminds me that Matias Almeyda was giving a speech in my dream last night. Cannot remember the specific scenario, but it wasn't soccer related.
8 goals 5 assists in 38 games for Tigres, pretty much the best team in North America... guessing they decided Thauvin wasn't worth $6 million per season and will upgrade the position. Unless he's willing to take a serious pay cut, no thanks.
I would vote against making one of the worst defenses in MLS even worse. I don't know how many 5-4 losses I could handle.
Don't think it will happen with Luchi, who appears to be a 4-in-the-back guy. But what I'm expecting to happen is that Trauco is going to push forward a lot into the attack and Akapo will be more stay-at-home. So it's going to look a little like a 3-5-2 at times, with Cade pinching in towards the center and Trauco and Espinoza being de facto wingbacks.
If you've ever seen Akapo play which you HAVENT, but if you did, you'd know he plays like Waibel, Letich and Beitashour who pushes into the attack when possible, above-average to good on crossing. He doesn't have speed but neither did the 3 previously mentioned however he is faster then the 3 of them. He's physical and positions himself well to make up for speed like Waibel, he's very good at man marking like Beitashour and he's got a cross on par or above average like Leitch and Beitashour. The point of Trauco and Akapo was to bring attack minded backs. I also will say they're our 2 best wing backs since Morrow/Beitashour. A bit older but just as good and a LOT more experienced. I don't think we get blown out, if we suck its because the offense doesn't do their job and score.
Daniel Akapo, Rodrigues, Nathan, Truaco Yueill Espinoza, Montiero, Tsakiris, Cowell Ebobisse I bet thats about as close to the opening day lineup as we see. But you could argue Daniel and Tsakiris could be swapped with Marcinkowski and Judson. However if Marcinkowski starts and we have a difficult first 3 or so games he will be replaced by Daniel. I hope to see what I put out for the best chances at winning. Looking at that lineup, Ebobisse, Nathan and Yueill are the players I want to see upgraded immediately. I would even start Thompson up top over Jebo. I don't rate that guy at all. He scores goals, great, so did Lozzano, Lenhart, and Conteh. Wouldn't exactly call the group of them 'great players'