Post-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Seattle Sounders FC (Sunday, 9/29) postgame thread [R]

we’ve scored three goals in the last five games...three. we need a goal scorer. what happened to Vako?

 

The league figured Vako’s one trick pony out!

 

I'm sorry but Vako is not the problem. The guy is triple covered all the time and gets literal no support. He gets the ball and maybe there is a winger or Espinoza to pass it to. Wondo is just standing on the other side of the defensive wall. Dishing the ball to Magnus and Jackson is useless as both have stopped shooting.

Vako needs someone up the middle that can beat at least one defender and take a shot and there is no on the team doing that. Shoot, it might even be better to put Espinoza in the middle since he will move and shoot.

 

I still think Vako would be best in the middle where his close control would command defenders gravity. Having Salinas (or another pacey player like Nick or Fierro) on one side of Vako with Espi on the other would stretch the field wide with pace allowing Vako even more room to operate.

Magnus is so worthless and the fact that he's our #10 (supposed to be your best offensive player) is the reason we are not comfortably in the playoffs. Seattle actually let Magnus have the ball, they hardly pressured him in their own half basically daring him to beat them while doubling Vako and Espinosa -- of course, Magnus could only help beat ourselves. He wasn't the #10 yesterday, he played in the spot Yuell or Judson would normally play against Seattle, but the point still stands that he is terrible.

 

Vako likes to cut in and move inside and our forwards are standing at the edge of the box. The area is very crowded and no one is making runs. As he is triple guarded, he sometimes find and pass it to Espinoza wide open on the right. He can't find any space to shoot like he did in earlier games. Now the overlapping LB, whether it is Lima or Lopez, doesn't seem to be a real thread offensively. That allows teams to focus on Vako. At best we go wide with Espinoza and try to hit a low cross, hoping Wondo will be able to one-touch it into the net. If that doesn't work, then we are screwed as we have no physicality to crash the box, nor speed to burn slower or average CBs and we also stop shooting from outside of the box. I like we how try to do nice combination and flicks, but it doesn't always work out. We need some varieties. Also each of our attacking players may be a bit one-dimensional.

 

The whole league knows Vako is a threat to score. He gets a lot of extra defensive attention. The problem is Almeyda hasn't gotten him to pass the ball quickly out pressure when he gets rapidly closed down with1-2 extra defenders. He's scored some fantastic goals this season, but he's playing too slow now against the extra defensive pressure. Teams unbalance themselves when they commit extra numbers to defend him, but we haven't taken advantage of that due to slow ball movement at crucial moments.

 

My biggest complaint was his defending. That’s atleast a second trick he’s got

 

He is way better than the 2018 Vako in defending. Low bar I know but an improvement.

 

Every year it’s the same old story. It’s either Vako, Salinas or Wondo who isn't the problem. I go back to Lenny and Gordon as well. How come there is always an excuse for every player and no one is ever held accountable? Vako is paid $1.6 million and is a DP. He played well for a stretch but now when we need him most, he hasn't featured or even shown his worth.

Of course he is part of the problem and not the solution.


Then again, we can always blame Fisher but everyone seems reluctant to do so.
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This wasn't (to me) as apparent in the Seattle game, but was notable in the Philly game - he had three defenders on him the moment he received the ball, but was unable to find an open attacker, because he seems constitutionally unable to make a one-touch pass; he HAS to dribble.

 

My DVR was filling up and I realized it was because I had 5-6 Quakes games that I hadn’t had the stomach to rewatch. So I decided to try some cognitive behavioral therapy by watching a little bit at a time, starting with the 2H of the SEA game.

Now that I’ve seen the video, I think Tommy’s red card was a little suspicious because

1) AR1 did not call it, he called a foul on Tommy when both players hit the ground. He was looking past Tommy when he got up. I don’t think he saw TT step on the defender.

2) I don’t think Elfath called it because he did not rush over there to say to TT, WTF are you doing? It took him at least 30 seconds to go to TT and show the card

3) This leads me to believe the VAR called it, which Elfath should have then video reviewed.

The way Tommy’s foul appears on video, you cannot say for sure that it is intentional, which would be VC = violent conduct. Therefore, if you are unsure it is VC, it should have been a yellow.

 

PRO vindicates Rios' turned over penalty (says it should not have been overturned) but validates the goal reversal for offside and the penalty reversal for the foul being out of the box:

TT's red card wasn't mentioned.

 

So, does that mean we get the three points we were robbed of?

 

One point. If the PK was converted, game would have been 2-2.

That single extra point in the standings would have the Quakes currently above, rather than below, the playoff line. We will see how it all sorts out, but that single blown call may have robbed the Quakes of a playoff berth.

 

Was that not the intended result?

 

Shoulder-to-shoulder. That's their story and they're sticking to it.