Post-match: Official San Jose vs galaxy Post Game Thread

Discussion in 'San Jose Earthquakes' started by Beerking, Apr 18, 2009.

  1. KMJvet

    KMJvet BigSoccer Supporter

    May 26, 2001
    Quake Country
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The difference between the first half and 2nd half isn't anything FY said I don't think. I think it's as simple as most of our team is not 90 minutes fit. When FY was with LA he was often accused of easy practices and having a soft team. I'm beginning to believe it's quite true. Leitch is 90 minutes fit, but he did his preseason with another team. Ryan J has an excuse because he's been rehabbing an injury. The rest of the field players are embarrassing.

    FY needs to wise up we can't hold a lead because we're 70 minutes fit and after that any team in the league will just run right through our Club Med team. Galaxy may have a lot of geriatric players, but they're fitter than we are.

    Cochrane is without a doubt the worst value per $ cap hit player in all of MLS. He's making $100K more than he should. Renegotiate him, or better yet, dump him, recoup a chunk of cap space and do something meaningful with it.

    Convey's going to be a lot better at left back. He'll be just as dangerous attacking as he was at left mid, but he'll be more trouble when defenses also have to worry about Huckerby.

    Alvarez' worst game of the season. Actually layed about 20 minutes total--talking about drifting out of a game. And giving up a wide open shot with the right foot to get nothing....simply not acceptable.

    Too bad we didn't have Shea so we could have subbed Alvarez.

    At least in the first half, Corrales and Elliott were better together than they had been so far this season. I think most of the reason Elliott ran out of gas late in the game was that Corrales was pretty lazy forcing Simon into a lot of running.

    All you Campos bashers, time to take at least a small bite of crow! And great ball by Leitch, MOTM for playing like he did on a sore ankle.


    Bottom line:
    Frank should be embarrassed 5 games into the season to have a team that's not fit.

    We can't afford the waste of money that is Ryan Cochrane. We can buy a good center back for what he costs.
     
  2. KMJvet

    KMJvet BigSoccer Supporter

    May 26, 2001
    Quake Country
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The view from the parking lot was good. Many of us watched from there for an easier exit after.
     
  3. Earthshaker

    Earthshaker BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 12, 2005
    The hills above town
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My seats are also in 125, and not liking the view from the row I was in I requested a change before the season started. I wanted to move to the second deck to get a better view, but, they said they couldn't give me tickets there. They did move me to a higher row in 125 but I still didn't like it, so, I just went up to the second deck anyway and watched from there.
     
  4. Earthshaker

    Earthshaker BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 12, 2005
    The hills above town
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Craptastic is how I define our play. We started to go into time-wasting mode right after Campos scored. I told the person I attended the game with that it was going to backfire on us and unfortunately I was right. There are so many things wrong with our play at this time.
     
  5. FAS

    FAS Member

    Jun 5, 1999
    Los Gatos
    A few other thoughts....

    Nick got burnt badly on the LA goal, at this point i would rather have Cochrane and anyone else rather than Garcia and anyone else. Both are slow, both are out of position a lot, both are lacking in distrubution skills, neither of them can organize, but at least Ryan has a tiny amount of aerial ability, if only the balls he won with his head could be directed to a black shirt.

    Let's just hope Hucks injury is a one game only thing.

    We still have not found even one starting quality forward, let alone two.

    If we don't get some presence in center mid it will be a long long season. Opposing defenses can play four wide mids and we still couldn't string passes up the middle.

    As said previously Joe's distribution was better for parts of the game, particularly through Leitch, i don't think he trusts any of the rest of the defense not to cough up the ball though. Unforunately he reverted to boot ball again for the end of the game.

    5 games played and 5 leads given up, this is a trend that must stop.
     
  6. RobsterCraw

    RobsterCraw Member

    Mar 28, 2008
    I'll focus on the positives first since the scoreline doesn't quite reflect them.

    Positives
    #1 - Campos - He started, and did not let us down until he ran out of steam midway though the second half. He threatened the LA goal frequently, his runs and positioning were intelligent and his link up with Johnson was clever although RJ wasn't always sharp enough to anticipate the pass from Campos. I don't remember exactly and I didn't get to see the last seven minutes, but I don't think anyone else had a shot on goal. Campos forced a great save from the keeper with a header and gave us our only goal

    #2 - Leitch - A fullback with the ability to spot a striker making a promising move and actually being able to get the ball to him? That's solid gold. Coupled with a decent defensive performance and confidence in possession, all I have for the guy is praise. MotM in my opinion.

    #3 - Convey - I don't know why you're calling him crap. He was invisible in the central midfield position in games one and two, but impressed as a left back and yesterday did very well in his first time at LM. Sure he didn't provide the attacking credentials of Hucks, but Hucks is essentially a forward anyway. Convey provided some very critical assistance on defense (something Hucks can rarely do) and we got the ball up the field without "hoofing it" a number of times, and there were few such occasions in which Convey didn't have something to do with it. His performance wasn't perfect, but it was good, and I can see him settling into the quakes. Don't underestimate the value of having a player who can operate deftly anywhere on the left flank when our fullback on that side is of dubious quality and Hucks isn't exactly a 90 minute player. Besides, he may as of yet manage to become an effective CM when necessary, the times he cut into the middle yesterday seemed promising.

    #4 - Elliot before he got tired, not much to it here, he did some good work in there and between him and Convey, we actually managed to pass the ball up the field and control the pace of the game.

    #5 - Alvarez's left foot - he had some deft movements and earned us some good free kicks in dangerous positions. At least he managed to get to where he should have scored.

    Negatives

    #1 - Alvarez's right foot - he should have at least gotten a shot off when he was 1 on 1 with the keeper. I'm amazed at how unwilling the guy is to even touch the ball with his right foot. Maybe he's got a testicle in the place of his big toe.

    #2 - The defense minus Leitch - I'm not sure what it is exactly, are they two slow, do they just blow? LA were desperately short of good chances the whole game, but the defensive displays in front of our goal is probably what is giving us this sense of having "lost" a game we drew. I don't know the actual figures but I thought we dominated possession, and until the last 30 minutes we were the ones controlling the pace of the game and causing LA to tend to play a very rushes and disorganized game. The fact that our defense made a hash of the few chances LA had canceled out the appearance of a better performance. Cannon had to save their butts quite a few times.

    #3 - Our match fitness - KMJvet said it, there weren't a whole lot of players who seemed to be able to make the full 90 with their energy intact. Maybe Convey, Leitch, Alvarez, and Denton. Campos seems to have improved since the pre-season, but other than that we need to improve match fitness greatly. It got ugly once our CMs petered out, and our CBs' performance at the back went from poor to comical.
     
  7. SoccerMan94043

    SoccerMan94043 Member+

    May 29, 2003
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    IMHO the defense isn't much worse than last year, though it seems the organization is. Every game I've noticed how low Garcia is keeping the defensive line which is stretching the entire team as we go forward. I'd say its fitness thing but it's the entire game, from start to finish.

    When the team looses it's compactness, the central midfielders need to do far more work. Now you have two quickly tiring midfielders and one VERY under performing captain giving way too much space to the opposing midfield. End result is too much pressure on the defense.

    I say we bench our fearful captain and put in Brandon McDonald. maybe he can add some bite. Get Hernandez back to keep the line higher and pair him with Gray who's played much better than any other center back the past 5 games. With those two you should have the aerial game in control as well.

    Perhaps a lineup like this:

    ---------------------------RJ-------Campos--------------------------

    -----------------Huckerby----------------------Alvarez------------

    -------------------------McDonald-------Elliot---------------------

    ---------------Convey-------Gray-------Hernandez------Lietch-----

    ---------------------------------Joe-------------------------------
     
  8. no pain

    no pain Member

    Sep 20, 2005
    It's interesting how you all try to single out certain players or even the refs as to the reasons for them losing this game.
    I actually thought the refs did a much better job than the last game (& I think MLS has a lot of poor refs).
    I thought this was the most boring game I have ever seen the Quakes play. (It also doesn't help having the game at the coliseum. Too big. Hard for the fans to get into the game.)
    No possesion. A lot of passes off the mark. The whole team (except for Joe) played like crap. If this is what happens when Hucks can't play, then the team is in a lot of trouble.
    At the end of last yr. I thought that all they needed was a couple of new players to improve the team & get into the playoffs. So instead they change about half the starters & they don't play like a "team" because no one is on the same page.
    I sure hope there is improvement as the season progresses.
     
  9. SoccerMan94043

    SoccerMan94043 Member+

    May 29, 2003
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Another observation. I too believe Lietch has been playing very well (every game in fact).... but he did something I didn't like early in the first half.

    Joe was yelling at him for something, and he talked back pissing Joe off even more who kept yelling until the ref told him to take the goal kick.

    It's sacrilege to argue with Joe! I hope that doesn't turn out to be a long term problem.
     
  10. Aquari

    Aquari New Member

    Jul 5, 2004
    Well, another tie at home. This really sucks! Not being able to keep a lead is really concerning me. And I can't pinpoint which to attribute this to because it's just too many damn reasons!

    We had so many chances that were once again, bungled. And someone had mentioned about not having a heart. I agree. There is no fire in this Quakes team (except The Joe and maybe Leitch---who is starting to become one of my favorites).

    I also didn't like the fact that after the enthusiastic booing of Baby Judas, he gets an assist! Actually, I was afraid of that----you know he would want to score so badly just to show us but why give him the satisfaction?????

    Argh! Another FRUSTRATING match!
     
  11. Aquari

    Aquari New Member

    Jul 5, 2004
    Someone also mentioned this and I agree: our roster last year, towards the end of the season was good. In the off season, we just need a bit of tinkering not a lot...just a wee bit. INSTEAD, we overhauled!

    It's like working on a new team all over again.

    And yes, I am still bitter about ROB. :mad:
     
  12. RobsterCraw

    RobsterCraw Member

    Mar 28, 2008
    I don't know if i'd really call it an overhaul. We lost a lot of important players, but Sealy and Lima were going their own way whether we wanted them to or not. Only ROB stands out as a big change made on the part of the quakes, I really am undecided on this one.
     
  13. bostero24

    bostero24 Member

    Jun 27, 2008
    sf
    well we still can't seem to put a full 90. either our offense is on or our defense is, but both have not complemented each other yet. hey and convey NEEDS to do much better. to many times he would get a ball just to backpass. he is a premier league player, right?! well he hides to much during games , needs to make himself available a lot more. to many times last night he'd get a pass and i was expecting him to be more aggressive, only to see him.....pass it back. we are already playing w/ two defensive mids. on the left atleast alvarez tries to unsettle the defenders and w/out huckerby convey NEEDS to do much better! extremely dissapointed w/ convey so far.
     
  14. Qrom

    Qrom Member

    Oct 26, 2007
    east bay
    Well there are lots of problems. i think a big part is that we have a lot of overpaid rapidly aging guys. Cochrane, garcia, and Corrales all come to mind. For the scratch these guys make in this league they arn't producing. i think we should really try to trade corrales....we should have traded him up for my boy Van Den Bergh.

    We need convey at leftback and we need a central midfielder who can control the game in the middle. And maybe Preki.
     
  15. due time

    due time Member+

    Mar 1, 1999
    Santa Clara
    I think KMJVet has a good point about Yallop being to easy on the players in preseason and not working them into shape.

    But that doesn't explain why they come out flat at the BEGINNING of the 2nd half. That's not a physical fitness issue, it's a mental toughness issue. They should be coming out with an attitude of "let's get another one and put our boot on the Galaxy's throat and finish this game off." Instead they come out tentative as could be.

    If Yallop is preaching possession to them then explain this sequence of passes (seen more than once); Denton to Convey (past midfield), back to Denton to Garcia to Joe (who then boots a 50-50 ball to midfield). That's just pure stupidity. Going from 100% possession in the opposing side of the field to 50% (or less) at the same location.

    So to further analyze:
    Denton can't complete a pass more complicated than a 15 yarder forward to Convey or backwards to Garcia.

    Convey is unwilling to take on his defender and no one is making a run for him.

    Garcia's distribution is horrendous and he knows it so he takes the easy pass back to the keeper (attitude: "heh, I can't be called out for a mistake if I make the simple pass")

    Joe won't distribute to the wings or outside backs (lacks confidence?) so he just does the safe thing and hoof it as far as possible.

    Everyone in that sequence (including the forwards and center mids who won't make a run for Convey) decide to play it very safe and the end result is lots of possession for LA. No one in that sequence says "I'm going to be the one who makes the play that wins us this game". It's a loser mentality and some of that goes to Frank and a lot to the players.
     
  16. JuanCasa

    JuanCasa Member

    Feb 26, 2007
    Oakland
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Negatives

    #1 - Alvarez's right foot - he should have at least gotten a shot off when he was 1 on 1 with the keeper. I'm amazed at how unwilling the guy is to even touch the ball with his right foot. Maybe he's got a testicle in the place of his big toe.


    Man, I got to agree with you here and I'm a big Alvarez fan. I'm not Pele, but even I know that you got to be able to go left and right, otherwise the defender will just cut-off your left and force you right....defending basics. I'm actually surprised he's as effective as he is with only his left (it's a very nice left though). Not to harp on the subject, but I don't recall him crossing or shooting with his right yet this season. He probably has? Regardless, he would be a much greater threat if he woke up a bit earlier tomorrow and practiced crossing the ball with his right instead of having to dribble the end line and produce magic every time they push him right.
     
  17. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Ryan Cochrane looked injured to me. There were a few times when he was stretching in such a way that made me wonder if his hamstring was bothering him. Even at his best, he shouldn't be on this team. Nice guy, bet he gets along with everyone in the locker room, no hustle. Ramiro also: the fire is gone. Okay, he used to be the guy who got into bar fights and those days are behind him, that's a good thing, but he was also -- in a few games that I recall --the only guy out there who was putting in 100%. I used to call him the energizer bunny. No more. Feels like a classic phone-in.

    Convey, now, he should be playing better for the $ he's getting, but he seems to be improving every game. Last night he was making an effort, maybe it didn't pay off, but from my vantage point, he was getting into the game and trying to make something happen.

    Ryan Johnson, I don't know. I don't feel his heart is in it. He's a good player; maybe he's just tired of getting taken down by thugs.

    Chris Leitch is great, Arturo had an off night but normally he's in there, I'm not a big Eric fan (is anyone?) but he does a workmanlike job. And I still like Simon, Nick, and Q. Swap in Kelly for RyanC and let some of the guys on the long list have a chance -- we have the makings of a good team but Frank needs to play a little more assertively and creatively with the ingredients.
     
  18. Albany58

    Albany58 Member+

    Sep 14, 1999
    Concord, CA USA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [I just noticed that due time and I are in agreement, here.]
    Soccer is a passing game, a possession game. One-touch and two-touch receive and pass. It’s still not there. Too much boom ball and loss of control. Not yet up to what I know as Yallop-ball. When they get that down, they’ll be operating as a team, but it sure ain’t there yet.

    I would like to comment, in addition to this, on the wonderful game experience, both before, during and after that the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum security staff afforded us. What a bunch of overzealous, tight-assholed jugf--kers! I tried at least three times to get over to stand with the Casbah only to be intercepted by these self-righteous marionettes, asked to be shown my ticket and then told that I had to get back to my proper place. Just wonderful. Dave Alioto and Lew Wolff: I realize that these are not your hires but there must be something you can do to improve the situation and get rid of these ex-prison guards. That group blows!
     
  19. Qrom

    Qrom Member

    Oct 26, 2007
    east bay
    Alvarez wouldn't be playing in MLS if he had a right foot. he would be a regular on the USMNT and in a better league. it is amazing how he just flat out refuses to use it. It pretty much lost 2 points last night when he beat the keeper and just had to slam a cross into RJ.
     
  20. Timbers

    Timbers Member

    Aug 14, 2003
    San Francisco
    I blame it on the offseason loss of Ronnie O'Brien.
     
  21. Chewie23

    Chewie23 Member

    Nov 14, 2006
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought Cochrane had a pretty good game. People rate him to hard. I'd rather have Cochrane/Hernandez in the middle.

    Personally I think Garcia is a liability.
     
  22. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Maybe someone who has better eyesight/comprehension than I do can answer this...there were a couple of times (at least) that Joe was way out of the box scrambling to get the ball, Gals could have easily scored, but the ball was booted out of danger by someone. I thought it was Nick who did that. If not, who was it?
     
  23. nihon2000

    nihon2000 Member

    Oct 14, 2008
    San Jose
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It may be that he is playing hurt but Cochrane has lost his acceleration speed (to go with his man marker) Check out the 1st half cross from Donavan to Kirovski. Cochrane looked like he was in slow motion! Both JoeC ad NickG had the WTF look on their faces!

    Lastly, can someone explain to me where Leitch was on the pitch on that same cross?
    I saw ArturoA pinching in to help and Cochrane but no Leitch anywhere. I know Leitch is doing a tremendous job on the offensive end (e.g. good fantasy player) but he seems to be MIA on too many ocassions. Hence, I'm not convinced on Leitch's defensive abilities.

    Now, Denton is starting to emulate Leitch's overlapping runs which could be a good thing if done properly (e.g., AC Milan etc). Poor poor JoeC, NickG, Ellott, Corrales in the middle. I think things are going way out of kilter.
     
  24. nihon2000

    nihon2000 Member

    Oct 14, 2008
    San Jose
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought the team had much better ball possession (in the 1st half) than in the previous games. There is still a ways to go but I think there is something to build upon.

    Plus, JoeC distribution was better but IMO, he needs to find the right chemistry still e.g., formula for his distribution.

    For starters, Leitch seems to want the ball. Why not give it to him on more occasions. Ideally, Convey would be the best option for distribution and ball possession if he were to play left fullback on a regular basis. Heck! I heard the USMNT is looking for a good left fullback :) e.g., the carrot for Convey to play left fullback for the Quakes.
     
  25. S.J. Jim

    S.J. Jim Member+

    Jun 11, 2006
    S.J.
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, at least there was one clear benefit from watching that game... being able to see Bruce Arena (on camera frequently) scowl and shake his head for nearly the entire match.

    I think we were pretty fortunate to get that first goal. It was a good early ball by Leitch, but talk about a defensive failure on L.A.'s part... Campos is not that fast, had acres of space, and Ricketts was a bit slow to come out and force Campos to make a decision.

    I don't think we ever adjusted very well to their 3-5-2, and I didn't like the idea of trying to play a long ball, counter-attack style when we were the home team. Convey and Alvarez didn't do enough to put pressure on their defense, and Corrales and Elliott got worn out by L.A.'s numbers advantage in the midfield. As we tired and sagged, the momentum shifted. I thought it was pretty amazing that we held the lead for 70 minutes... I expected us to lose it much sooner.

    I thought the forward subs were pretty much a bust. I didn't see a whole lot of improvement when Weaver came in, and we needed to play to him as more of a stationary target and let Amarikwa run off of him.

    I don't think Denton is special or anything, but I think he takes a little more abuse around here than he really deserves. I thought Cochrane was our weakest defensive link, and Garcia seems to be hanging on by a thread sometimes.

    All in all, we didn't deserve a W. Whether we're good enough to have expected a W is the real question. I agree with those who have pointed out that they miss ROB. Obviously, a healthy Huckerby could have changed things in our favor, but Hucks is fairly one-dimensional, and ain't getting any younger. As long as he's not the focal point of our attack, I think we need to see consistent effort and leadership from Convey and Alvarez (although they both looked pretty good against Chicago); we need to start getting something out of Salinas; and one or two of our forwards have to step it up a notch. I think our defense is stable enough to at least keep us in games- especially with Joe as the anchor.
     

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