His excuse is that he's bounced back and forth between nats duty several times this season, he's not a DP, he makes 1/2 the $ that Espinoza makes, he doesn't take up an intl slot, and he is not getting outplayed in his position by a 36-year old who makes 1/5 the money that he does. In the last 3 seasons, Espinoza has led the team in shots - by a lot, with around 200 shots. Last year he had almost twice as many shots as anyone else. He has 7 goals. In 3 years. That's not a typo.
I don’t care how many goals Chofis scores, I can’t stand watching him play, https://www.instagram.com/p/CT3YozslaHn/?utm_medium=copy_link
Yecchh. He WANTS to STAY! Chofis Lopez on his situation. #Quakes74 #MLS pic.twitter.com/SRPbLtzIal— Tectonic Takes (@TectonicTakes) September 17, 2021
Getting bounced around the nats duty is a poor excuse if one at all. He is not a 20 year old kid just breaking through into the team for the "burden" to affect his play this much. He's a MLS veteran who was supposed to take the next step for us this season and be an integral player. Not too long ago, many of us were fearing or even expecting that he was a good candidate to move abroad. He has been involved with the nats for the past couple of seasons where he hasn't played much but I don't rememeber it affecting his play like it has this season. The problem is that he is not even playing up to his $600K salary this season. Espinoza has been just as bad as JY no question. However, we know that both are much better than what they've shown this season so I don't see a reason to move on from either of them. Like I mentioned before, we will be creating internationial slots and salary cap space by moving on from Fierro, Rios, Alanis, and Vega (although he may have a GC). JY and Espinoza can be vital pieces for the team next season especially if the new GM is able to strengthen the roster with the $2M+ savings.
We had Hyka the Swiss Messi and Vako the Georgian Messi. TO me, Chofis is the Mexican Vako-who-doesn’t-care. At least Vako seemed to care about playing for the Quakes, whereas Chofis’ body language and lack of work express such a negative attitude. I guess that’s why the Quakes had to tweet a “Yes I really care” statement for Chofis. I don’t recall ever seeing such a thing before from the Quakes.
He’s been playing better lately, and I don’t mean just the hat trick. At $860K, he’s not grossly overpaid. But he appears to be rounding into play. He’s getting better, lasting longer in games. I want to see him combine better with his teammates, but he’s not a super ball hog like Vako. On the whole, I’m willing to re-evaluate my negative assessment of him. If he really wants to stay here, and if his improvement trajectory continues, I could see keeping him. Let’s assume that Wondo really does retire. Also, let’s assume that we lose Alanis, Rios, Fiero, Vega, Abecasis, and maybe one or two more players; that’s going to clear a lot of cap space. (I could see us transferring some of our guys who are out on loan right now.) Also, it’s going to depend on whether some team buys out MA’s and his assistant coach’s contracts. If Fisher has to eat that bill, he’s going to find other places in the budget to cut. So, in the right circumstances, I’d be happy to keep Chofis. He’s been improving steadily, and he hadn’t played competitively in about a year and a half, so really, that playing his way into shape should have been more expected. (At least, I should have expected that more.) I’m a lot more concerned about some of our other players. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
Hyka is Albanian. I was bummed when we ditched him. He was really good. Certainly, better than a number of our other players. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
Oddly, Espinoza seemed more effective back when he was the main threat on the field and garnered most of the opposing team's defensive attention. If you notice - he's rarely double- or triple-teamed like he was in prior seasons.
@JazzyJ Espinoza at his best is an assist machine. With Jeremy up top we need someone pumping balls into the mix. Espinoza is definately good for 10+ assist per season and Jeremy is good for that many goals or more. Yes Shea can do this too at a lesser cost but Shea is one in a million. Chofis can score goals out of thin air (like Vako) but he's not much for assisting like Espinoza can. He also has shown up until recently that he can't go the full 90. I'd argue starting Espinoza out wide is better as a whole for the team and then having Chofis come in late to create a goal out of nothing when needed. IF we are ever to have the depth that the club claims to have we need both. One @ DP level for now and one @ TAM level. Also Haji needs to play so we can develop him as a Chofis replacement.
A lot to unpack there @DasMoots. IF we are going to lose Chofis at the end of the season, then yes, we need to get Haji and Skahan more minutes. BUT, would MA be willing to do that? MA may well be thinking that he’s going to stay for next season and that Chofis will stay also. Espinoza when he’s in form is our best winger to be sure. But he’s not in form now. Jebo is a great striker, but he’s out right now, possibly for the rest of the season, possibly forever. So we can’t count on Jebo right now. (I’m still really pissed about this. That could be a career ending injury and Abubakar was at the very least careless about the injury chance to Jeremy. Wanker.) So we should really be playing either Cade or Benji up top and Chofis as a withdrawn striker with Espinoza on the wing, and either Haji or Skahan at the #10 spot. At least, that’s my thinking. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
Wow he just scored a hat trick for us and all 3 goals were exceptional. 2 of them were GOTY material. And you can’t stand watching him play? Play him at forward where defensive work rate is not at a premium and keep him close to the goal. At this point other than maybe Jebo and Wondo, he’s the only Quakes player that can shoot.
What that says is not that it’s “odd”. It says what it means - that his effectiveness has diminished.
It’s not a great excuse but it could be a *reason*. Captain of the Olympic qualifying team, Gold Cup. WC Qualifying, that’s a lot, plus trying to play in a constantly changing midfield. It’s the first time he’s had to deal with that much back and forth and that much pressure. I’d expect he’d get better at dealing with it over time.
Espinoza’s good for a good number of assists but his effectiveness in that regard has been diminishing season over season. He really is not even able to take on a player 1v1 on the dribble. He really has one move - push the ball into space and try to beat the defender to it, but that’s been less and less effective each season as well. At this point guys know it’s coming. Put him on the left to try to create more opportunities for him to shoot, he disappears. One of the reasons he has so many unproductive shots is that he is unable to create sufficient space for it with creative moves. Many blocked shots. It just cannot be, on a team that expects to come remotely close to the playoffs, that your top shot taker, by far, and highest paid player, by a good margin, scores 2.3 goals a season. That is - fail. For the $, for an intl spot, we simply must do better. I wouldn’t be hugely upset if we keep him next year - he’s nowhere near Innocemt bad, and he seems like a good guy who puts in the effort, but we really must get better value if we want to be a serious team.
Totally agree! I think, Jesse's failure to get Judson into the country during pre-season forced MA to play Remedi w JY and that's where JY's tailspin began. JY is still not back on track since then and any time Remedi is on with him JY basically just disappears (the JURY midfield has looked good on occasion but I don't think it's the solution to the JY problem). Maybe the answer is to bench JY and start Remedi with Judson... Sidelining a starting player who is waiting for a green card and missing 8 weeks is not acceptable. Vega should have been cut so that we had the international spot and so that one of our best players was available from day one. Totally stupid GM'ing.
I agree with you. Espinoza must do better. 10+ assists per season AND 4 to 6 goals is what a DP should be producing!! With that said I think to maximize Jeremy's talents we have to double down on Espinoza or someone else like the best version of him that will run hard into the 18 to pump balls into the box. Chofis isn't that guy.
It doesn’t need to be an “or”, it can be an “and”. Depending on the formation, Esp as wide attacking mid, Chofis as a withdrawn forward, Jebo at 9. Or if 3-5-2 same forward setup and Esp as winger. The only tricky one is 4-3-3. I’d consider playing Esp as a right back who attacks a lot down the line, Jebo as center forward and Chofis at right forward where he’s been deadly (both against RSL and also against LA - the win in LA).
Interesting JazzyJ. Let's pretend... Leitch gets the GM job, MA moves on after being bought out by a LigaMX team, Russell is hired as coach and Chofis' pre-negociated buy-out clause is triggered by Leitch. How would you set the team up in Russell's preferred diamond 4-4-2*? *Figuring that all the true FOM's leave but not Remedi/Espinoza
I get it, you are ok with underperforming players as long as they aren't such a hit on the salary cap. And you conveniently didn't mention that Espinosa has 28 assists the last three seasons, which is way more than anyone else on the team, by a lot. And this Nats duty excuse for Yueill is a bunch of lame b.s. And if there is a correlation, it suggests he doesn't have the mental fortitude to be a top, consistent player.
It's all about value - performance vs. cost. If they both underperformed by the same amount, Espinoza's underperformance was twice as bad because he is 2x the hit on the salary cap, not to mention taking up an intl slot. And you conveniently didn't mention leading the team in shots, but a lot, the last 3 years, with 2.3 goals per season to show for it? Not remotely good enough for your highest paid player. You also conveniently didn't mention Espinoza's assist production going down each year. As I said nats duty is not an excuse, but it could be a *reason*. Hopefully he gets better at dealing with it in the future. And I would argue it was excessive this year - Olympic qualifying captain, Gold Cup, WC qualifying, he was up and back several times. Doesn't have the "mental fortitude". Please
I wouldn't want to play a 4-4-2 diamond with this team because I'd like to see Judson-Remedi-Yueill all in central midfield. So I'd go 3-5-2, with Chofis at withdrawn forward, Judson-Remedi-Yueill central midfield, Espinoza or EspiUpgrade at right winger, and an Alanis upgrade to go with Nathan and Beas(t) or Beas(t) upgrade in the back. Or 4-3-3 with Chofis at right forward, where he's been raking, some combination of Salinas/Esp/EspiUpgrade on the other side, JuRY midfield, Jebo CF, etc. But if it's 4-4-2 diamond, I'd put Chofis at withdrawn forward, Yueill at the front of the diamond, Judson at the back, Esp or EspiUgrade at right attacking mid, etc. That said, the acquisitions we make are going to change the picture and we'll be looking at other options to work in some good players hopefully.
I’m going to take a stab at that, and I’m not going to assume that Ian will play a 4-4-2, but … - - - - - - - - - - Jebo/Cade - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chofis Shea/New - - - - - Haji/JS - - - - - - Espinoza - - - - - - - - - - - - - Judson Lopez - - - - Beason - - Jacob - - - TT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JT IF Shea returns for another season, he probably starts, or starts some of the time. We still need a new left wing. Jebo or Cade up top (hoping like hell that Jebo recovers and can play again.) Haji, Jack Skahan, or even TT at the #10 spot. Lopez and Marie are almost good enough as attacking wide defenders, but Ian might think that they need to be better. So he might want upgrades for those positions. And he might play a 3-5-2 (given our personnel), or he might play a 3-4-3 (given our personnel), or he might want to change out a bunch of players. And I’m leaving good players on the bench. I want Yueill and Judson in my d-mid spots, which means that I want five in the midfield. Or, you could go 4-3-3 Cade - - - - - - Jebo - - - - Chofis - - - - - - - - - Jackson - - - - Remedi - - - - - Judson Lopez - - TB - - - - - Jacob - - TT - - - - - - - - - - - JT But now I’m leaving Espinoza on the bench. Honestly, we’re going to lose a bunch of guys in this scenario, and clear a lot of cap space. I could see Leitch and Russell (or whoever) making a sea change in the roster, and I wouldn’t mind. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
Russell is going to Russell, he likes the 4-4-2 diamond. Taking what you got here's where I'd go to to line up the first 11. --------------------Jeremey/Chofis---------------------- ---Cade------------------JY-------------------Espinoza- -------------------------Judson----------------------------- Lopez ------Beason--------Nathan--------------Marie- ---------------------------JT------------------------------------- With Chofis as a sub for Espinoza here's the look .... --------------------Jeremey/Benji---------------------- ---Cade------------------JY-------------------Espinoza- -------------------------Judson----------------------------- Lopez ------Beason--------Nathan--------------Marie- ---------------------------JT-------------------------------------
Not a bad choice given what we have, but I'd start TT at RB, even though I don't think it's his best position. He works very well with Espinoza because he defers to him and does complementary stuff. Marie does stuff that Espinoza wants to do.