They’ve said before they were happy with the roster and then made signings shortly after. Stuff is in the works all the time. I’m going to be hopeful there’s another meaningful loan that they’re working on as part of the plan. They’ve hit on some good loans that became good signings. It seems unlikely to me they wouldn’t use that strategy again. I think finding a centerback that can be a difference maker to the degree of Goodsen or Muma is important. I hope they’re not hanging on for Gallindo and will just wait on whether he is actually developing and make their plans independently of that. If they can bring in a true difference maker centerback, get a loanee forward that’s more obviously promising than Fierro or Rios, and actually get some value while sorting out the too many goalies problem, I’ll be pretty happy with the off-season because Espinoza was the most important signing to get done. That said, I’m going to worry a little bit about Almeyda’s hit rate on player acquisition if neither Rios or Fierro has a significantly better season now that they’ve had adjustment time.
From the little I saw of Fierro or Rios late in 2019, I wasn’t impressed. They may have needed more time to adapt but that is a tired old line and time is now! I for one am sick of waiting until the June/ July transfer window for new players.
See you back here in May, and we'll compare notes on how the 2019 Quakes minus a few players have done in 2020...
I wouldn't use May as the gauge though. Comparing standings in May 2019 vs May 2020 will mean a very low bar. I doubt that the 2020 team, even if no one else signs, will start out as horribly as they did last year. This year they won't need 5 games to sort out how to play the Almeyda system. But in general, I am in 100% agreement that unless they have some more signings there is little hope that 2020 will be significantly different than the 2019 ending. I think that one of the downsides of the Almeyda system is players get worn down over the course of the season. And that showed in the results in the last part of last season. To make up for that you need a deep roster. I think anyone can see that today the Quakes do NOT have a deep roster.
If the Quakes had won one of those games at the beginning or at the end of the season, the standings will have changed and the Quakes could have been a playoff team. The problem is , we didn’t close out 2020 on a positive note and it’s looking like the league is becoming stronger. The two expansion teams will want results and Cincy also can’t rest on their first year disaster. Even though they are in the East conference , their games (wins & losses) will count in the standings so we may be in for an even tougher season this year.
Made doubly bad by some horrendously bad calls from the refs. The after the fact apologies from PRO only serve to rub salt in the wounds. How about you tack 3 points onto our place in the standings? You know, in recognition of the fact that you screwed us hard down the stretch? And how demoralizing is that for the players? The other teams are tough enough without feeling that you have to play against the refs too. Pile of steaming dog turds!! Go Quakes!! F@#$ MLS!! - Mark
Yes. They admitted twice that the non-PK call was incorrect. Sounded very much like a mea culpa to me. But that was hardly the only call where we got screwed at the end of the season. It should never be possible for the fans to think: "The refs had it in for us." But that point of view is not unreasonable, given the number and obviousness of the lousy calls we got late in the season. And that sucks, and it's something that MLS and PRO absolutely need to address. Go Quakes!!! F@#$ PRO!! - Mark
"Earthquakes seek to build on feel-good 2019 with much the same squad" (The Athletic - Monday, 12/30/19) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't describe finishing eight out of 12 as "feel-good". Yeah, we didn't 'win' the wooden spoon, but when all was said and done, but the end of the last match I felt like the air had been let out of the balloon. The only 'feel-good' aspect was that Wondo SMASHED Donovan's record. I'm so sick of the happy-talk. We have done zero to improve on last year's performance, unless Fierro and Rios show us 10x more than they showed last season. It's very hard to be enthusiastic...
As I posted in a separate thread concerning Quakes related media, The Athletic article is white noise -- except for the news buried therein (which I quoted) that the team is targeting a central defender.
Rios didn't improve us but at the same time he seemed to fit and play OK in his appearances. I'm cautiously optimistic we'll see something better out of him given his track record. This is a guy who played 28 matches for Vasco de Gama in 2018. Fierro looked completely useless.
Getting a CB will be super important as we didn't add any goal scoring ability. If we can't score more goals we will need to defend better. Also other teams are spending big bucks on goal scorers so we need something to counter that. Super critical for Jesse to get this signing right.
I don't give a f@#$ about Enguland!! Honestly, I don't watch the EPL at all and I don't care to. They having issues with VAR? and Brexit? Excellent! Go Quakes!! - Mark
I don't watch it much either - but I have been following threads about this on various refereeing sites.