Turns out, ironically, the year that he was fired, Jesse actually had a pretty good offseason (plus a little summer transfer) this year. Chofis has come good, Nathan's been excellent, Remedi's been pretty good, and even Benji has contributed. It's the previous years that did him in.
Not sure about the Espinoza situation but I am pretty certain that when we loaned the Urugayan CB Quintana there was a purchase option of something like $1M which we (of course)declined to pick up.
This youtube video of Chofis' hat trick which is still less than a week old has almost 467,000 views. Most of all the other videos have less than 1000 views. Excluding Chofis brace against Austin and a handful of others. Having a good Mexican player seems to be increasing our exposure in Mexico.
That graphic on the left is hilarious. Chofis chugging along and a guy on his butt looking on helplessly, and 2 others looking on befuddled.
It should be there with the other moments like Hucks leaving Klein on the ground and Chavez' smile facing the defender.
He was being played in a terribly unsuitable position in a head-scratching 3-3-4 alignment. In reality, Benji was the lone striker. I noticed that Chofis was essentially being played as a #10 - responsible for winning and distributing - things he is unsuited for. I noted that when he came off the field his jersey was utterly soaked. In this system, he did way too much running for way too little impact. Really poorly thought-out system, at least the way it played out...
So Chofis had a pretty lousy game against Seattle last night after 3 or 4 really good games. I'm going to give him a mulligan on it. But there's a larger looming question: Which of the following applies to Chofis? a) Figured it out - Did Chofis "figure it out" and we're going to see the new higher level of play pretty consistently? Or b) Got Hot - Did Chofis just get hot, and he's going to go back to his somewhat inconsistent not all that great form that we saw for the first 20 games or so? Remember when Vako got hot and was even in the conversation for MVP at one point, as in who's more impactful, Vela or Vako? And then he went back to being regular Vako. I wonder if we're seeing the same thing with Chofis. I think it's a little bit of both. I think he now knows what he can do in MLS, and it will give him some added confidence, but I don't think he's going to be able to play at the level consistently, and we're going to get a lot of "first 20 games" Chofis as his Quakes tenure goes forward. I do think the formation is a factor. We need to keep him at the front and not mired in midfield too much. 4-3-3 with Chofis in the front 3, or 3-5-2 with Chofis one of the 2. I don't like 4-4-2 as much because that's not conducive to the Judson-Remedi-Yueill midfield.
I really didn't think he was that bad... he was one of the best Quakes on the field (it was a bad performance over all). I saw some decent hustle on defense too.
It's not that he was "bad", it's just that he was back to 1st 20 games Chofis, at best. Seemed like his tricky passes were not working. They were turnovers. Our xG was miniscule - 0.4, and about 0.1 at the end of the 1st half. Not all his fault obviously but he contributed. So the question is, was he hot, or has he hit a new level and this was a temporary drop down to previous level?
I disagree. I believe he was less impactful because of the offensive alignment thrown on the field by MA. He was not used as a striker - rather he was called upon to help out from box to box, which is not his strong suit. He wore himself out chasing Seattle players and was totally wrung out by the time he was subbed. I'm putting that on the coach, not him. Use the right tool for the job...
I think that's part of it, but he was not really box to box. It was a 4-4-2. He was playing withdrawn forward. So which is it, "Got Hot" or "Figured It Out"? What do you expect from him going forward? Make a call, bs!
Figured it out. I think that was more than a flash in the pan - I'll be disappointed to learn otherwise.
He has better vision than Vako, for one thing, and seems much more aware of (and interested in) where his teammates are...
Well, it's not like he can't ever get hot again. But are we seeing a new regular level of performance or did he just get in the zone. That's what I'm not sure about. I tend to think it's mostly "zone".
I think the new level he is at will continue, so figured it out for me. He won't stick an Olympico in every game, but he'll get a lot more done when we surround him with better players and tactics. Last night was a basic no win situation for him...having to try to combo with Fierro would have driven anyone insane, Fierro has been an absolute black hole...instant death to the attack when he touches the ball.
Having Espinoza back on the field should give both Chofis and Espinoza a better chance for each of them to make an impact.