Post-match: Seattle Sounders FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Thursday, 9/10) postgame thread [R]

For as much as he’s done for this team, Wondo should at least have a title or two under his belt, thats my point. 159 goals and no silverware to show for it, it’s a shame.

 

Just wrapped up listening into Black and Azul podcast for the first time, and just wanted to give them a shout out--Alex, Jamon, Charles, and our boy Joel doing great work!

Give the crew a listen if you haven't yet. Good place to vent and lots of good thoughts being passed back and forth, all discussions are kept civil and G-rated, I like and appreciate that. Thanks guys!

 

Ah, I see what you mean now. 2012 still kills me.

 

Cannon
Barrett
Robinson
Dayak
Agoos
Conrad
Ekelund
Mulrooney
Corrales
Lagos
Russell
Donovan
Cerritos
DeRosario

Trying to think positive thoughts.

 

Keeping the car running for you.

 

You forgot Brose, Bower, Conway, Agogo, and Ibsen

 

Sums up our past 5 years.



It's not even worth analyzing tonight with charts, we got torched down the middle and on the right which is where the majority of there shots came from. Our team is abysmal, and before we all get those perfect rose gold sunglasses back on, a few good passes from Tommy Thompson doesn't make him the lord and savior and future of our team and quarter back. He came on against a Seattle Team that just scorched us 7 times, and started to sit in, probably in mercy from further humiliating us which is when our possession started to pick up which lead to a PK that shouldn't have even been given and robbed Seattle of a shutout, fan of the Earthquakes or not, if it was the other way around we'd be screaming bloody murder they robbed our shutout. Thompson clearly dove.

Since 2008 this forum has cried and screamed for Yallop, Kinnear, and Watson, to be fired, for abysmal play, boring empty bucket tactics, terrible coaching decisions, misuse of players, missing playoffs, losing games, lack of scoring, using the wrong players, and overall just bad play. Never once did any of them have the team playing as dysfunctional and demotivated as they are now. Then we screamed every year for an International Coach with a pedigree, a International GM, who can take us to new heights because we need to move away from the American Coaching Tree and then we FINALLY get our wish with Fioranelli and Starhe and we sucked real bad, we screamed for Starhe to be fired and then we get exactly what we want in Almeyda, who has a high press system, and says all the right things and paints a perfect picture, and we've devolved into the absolute worst team in MLS history. We have sunk lower then Chivas USA last year and our stadium attendance would have showed.

Their is absolutely no excuse that can be made for the way we are playing and since Almeyda took over we've progressively gotten worse. We were the only team in MLS 2019 into 2020 who didn't make any moves in the off season, whether Free Agency, USL-Reno Player Promotions or Trials in spring camp, or internationals. We've been promised 'big' signings and we got Espinoza (Great!), but we also received Urena, Alanis, Fierro, Rios, Vega, Vako, and Kashia. I almost think we should have kept Yeferson Quintana who was young, and without injury early on showed well. He is still better then anyone we have at center back right now. The GM and Head Coach need to be dismissed immediately.

We for years yelled for John Doyle to be fired, and blamed a majority of the teams woes on him, making no excuses, at least he bled Quakes colors and what the Clash/Quakes meant to the Bay Area. Bridgewater, Meterparel, Neale, Moore, McAllister, and DOYLE were never as disrespectful to a club rich with history and tradition then Fioranelli in my opinion. He doesn't RESPECT what the Quakes soccer foundation was built on dating back to the NASL which was journey-men, hard nosed cohesive players who bled to win.

We've gone from the dominate and iconic players like Cannon, Busch, Dayak, Cerritos, Corrales, Baicher, Waibel, George Best... to players like Fierro and Vega. Castoff international players who couldn't were barely cracking it on previous teams, to some how becoming our nucleus.

Why is it, Thompson gets a free pass for absolute suckage, but Magnus was blasted every single game? Magnus was more important to the foundation of this team then Thompson ever will be, and our play shows without him our on-field play has dipped into gutter. Why does Wondolowski at 37 get a pass, and we rely on him to be our point man, when everyone screamed for guys like Corrales, Muma, and Cerritos being 'past it' and need to retire?

This team needs a complete makeover, front office, ownership, coaching, and a majority of our players need to be refreshed and restarted.

No more excuses can be made for this team, and we have absolutely no right to clown on teams for the way they play, dirty, physical, cheating whatever the excuse / insult will be, until we are on a competitive level. I would trade our entire team owner down to players, for Seattle's, Toronto, Red Bull, etc.

We can't go in time, but we can go forward, and build a better tomorrow. We should have made a play for Caleb Porter to be our head coach when he was available, he wanted roster control in Los Angeles, and then turned it down, went to Columbus and they are the hottest team in MLS and he's building a very solid roster with MLS Vets, Young Kids & International Talent, and he's working with our very own Tim Hanley and Pat Onstad. He has deployed a very modernized goalkeeping rotation, Tarbell and Room have basically split games, and are successful, they play based off match up against a team using modernized analytics. I am pulling hard for Columbus to win the Cup this year.

Anyways... thats my rant for the evening.

 

Nothing will change until ownership changes. So they fire everyone and bring in a new GM and Coach. They’ll still have USL quality players.

 

We simply don’t have the players to compete in this league. All the coaching in the world will not change that.

 

Well, we do have the Supporter's Shield from 2012. I remember back when Seattle fans were insisting that was more important than the Cup (i.e. before they won one - after which they insisted they invented winning the MLS Cup)...

 

OK - who are you really, and what have you done with the REAL bobby_guzman?

 

funny, I almost posted exactly the same comment last night. Bobby G must've turned over a new leaf.

 

Yes, he should have an MLS Cup title with us, but he has the 2005 and 2012 Supporter's Shield as a Quake, so silverware but no championships in blue.

 

Is the supporters shield technically even a trophy? In any case, his talent and goal scoring prowess has largely gone to waste in SJ, the one time (2012) he had a more talented team around him, the Quakes soared. Wondo, more than anyone, has deserved more from this team for his effort and contributions - imagine if we had had other players who could chip in with goals consistently, over his tenure, 2012 might not be such a distant anomaly.

 

I didn't read much of this... there was too much BS just in the first two paragraphs... Magnus sucked and was paid 3x what TT is paid. Why do you keep comparing them?

I don't care if we lose by 20 or 1... a loss is a loss. I'd rather have a team that gets thrashed against the best teams than one that can't generate a goal against the worst. I also like that MA is trying different combinations; as I mentioned in the past, this is a throw away year. I don't get why certain players are playing so much, but he's seeing the training.

My biggest problem is that the team looked confused last night. Seattle would blow past a 1:1, the players ahead would spread out, and no one would address the immediate threat now coming down the middle of the field, unmarked. Has MA not taught them how to deal with break downs yet? I find that unforgivable (it wasn't just one player, it was everyone... it's like the only plan is stick with your man no matter what the situation).

There is probably a reason why no other team in the world plays a full man marking system.

 

We have become Chivas USA. I can't add anything to that.

 

Wondo and MA are right the team is giving too much space when marking (in fact that's been true well before MA). But, against Seattle and LAFC, when we marked tight we got beat bad which led to goals. What is the middle ground?

 

Pull up a chair folks, order a pint, because we find ourselves once again at our usual watering hole.

 

Shoot man, we have to strain our necks looking up a rock bottom...

 

I think for Almeyda it's not just about playing to win at this point. It seems like they are treating the season as a throwaway and trying to plan for the future. Hence, recent starts for younger players to see if they will pan out. Also, with the compacted schedule they MUST rotate players to avoid injuries and stay fresh but the team isn't deep enough... we already knew this but the schedule is really exposing it.

We still have essentially the same group of players that should have made the playoffs and were near top of the league deep into last season before a collapse that was a combination of self-inflicted mistakes and unfair decisions from refs/league. But with that set of players everything must be PERFECT for success. It doesn't take many chinks in the armor for it to fall apart. We need higher quality players and that won't happen if the team doesn't spend. I love the idea of developing your own players, I like the idea of blue-collar teams that don't just buy a superstar... but there is a reality about what level we're at.

Offensively... we all love Wondo but the sun is setting on him. Rios has moments where he shows similar talent and may even hold the ball better but is wildly inconsistent and doesn't look like he puts in the same effort level. Magnus is gone, but we needed better than him to really complete anyway. Espinoza has been invisible for multiple games in a row and he's what we rely on most to create offense. I'd note that one big thing that has happened for him in the last year is that he became a parent... got a <1-year-old in your house, that can affect your sleep and work life. Vako is not bad but inconsistent. Cowell has a lot to learn. Hoesen is injured and doesn't seem to be the coach's favorite anyway. Shea's career is waning at this point.

When Judson and Yueill both play well it's a good central midfield, but what other combination works? NONE.

Really though, the issue lately has been on defense. Vega is beaten far too easily and on top of that, makes ridiculous mistakes repeatedly. TT has had some good performances at RB but is ultimately too slow and Marie lacks experience. Absolutely the worst defenders against Seattle where Alanis and Lopez. Lopez lost or could not keep up with his man multiple times and it led to goals. He was laughably out of position... he's probably the biggest liability on the entire team with Mathias' man-v-man system. Alanis looks to me like he does not give adequate effort... does he not want to be here? Back to Vega... if he could keep from getting scored on by balls that pass 6 inches by him, it might help the team morale.

The system can work. We've seen it work. I love it, and it's not like the team won't adjust tactically when necessary. But you put a couple holes on the field in the way of players that don't buy in or can't fulfill their duty and it's a disaster.

Seattle was attacking us with a MF/F line-up of Ruidiaz, Morris, Lodeiro, Roldan, Joevin Jones, Joao Paulo. We are trying to defend against that with the likes of Vega, Lopez, and a lackluster Alanis on the field, not to mention Luis Felipe was not spectacular. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

On the other side of the ball, we're what, expecting Espinoza, Vako, Wondo, and Andy Rios to make magic? Wondo and Rios aren't going to do anything unless others get them the ball in dangerous positions. Vako and Espinoza are too easy to team up on because the other teams know if you stop them there is no other danger. We expect outside backs to get into the game but played the backups yesterday and for the most part they were much too busy getting their butts handed to them by Seattle's offense.

It'd be nice if:
Alanis comes around and plays like a star defender and that Beason grows fast
We stick with Lima and he is able to maintain his best level, which can be very good
Marie proves he can play both ways with consistency, he has more speed than TT
Yueill gets back to form that had everybody talking about him
Judson stays fit
We actually find workable backups for those two
Espinoza contributes more again / team finds other options so opponents don't just hone in on him and eliminate him from games
We bring on a truly lethal forward sooner than later

 

I agree with most of this. Except I want credit for not whining for an international GM and or Coach. I have always argued that we a coach with US experience. I wanted us to hire Gio Savarese, or Marc Dos Santos, before that I argued for other US coaches with MLS experience, Cabrera, Pareja, and others. I’ve said that we need a GM who understands our league, which means someone who has worked in the league, and I’ve made suggestions there too.

We have sucked for years, and it’s not about the coach or the players really, it’s about the owner being a cheapass wanker and not spending enough on the team. And yes, we’ve bungled player signings. We’ve signed guys who don’t fit our system du jour. We’ve been notoriously bad at developing youth talent. I don’t think we’ve ever tried to build a strategic plan around the players we have.

And TT is one of our least terrible players, and he’s a lot cheaper than Magnus, who sucked. Sure Magnus was an important part of our team, but that’s rather like praising a Trabant because it runs.

Whatever, this would all best be discussed over beer. Many pints of beer, and those German pretzels with the sweet and hot mustard. However, this shit show has to end. We have to have meaningful change. Fisher needs to sell the team, or at least triple his spending on it.

We are now on the far side of the breaking point. I encourage all of the STHs to contact their reps and demand change. This is just a pile of shit.

Go Quakes!!
Fisher OUT!!

- Mark

 

BTW...

sjearthquakes.com: "RECAP: Wondo extends MLS goal-scoring record against Seattle"

We love Wondo but when things are not good, own it.