Post-match: Minnesota United FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 3/19) postgame thread [R]

Discussion in 'San Jose Earthquakes' started by Goodsport, Mar 19, 2022.

  1. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    Heck it's not even the lowest of the low in the Almeyda era! Remember that string of games after MLSIsBack in Orlando where we were losing like 7-1 and 6-0? Those kinds of scores. Like one after another? Or the 2019 start - 4 bad losses in a row. These losses have been reasonably close by those standards and and in fact we got lucky and didn't lose one of the 4 (Columbus game).
     
  2. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    did we go two full games without a shot on goal, under Stahre? or start out a season quite this poorly? it's all like one endless blur of crap, hard to distinguish where one crappy coach ends and another begins. :)
     
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  3. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    I don't think I'd want him having any inside info. Too inclined to let it slip on a broadcast.

    We lost 0-1 -- no one thought we'd do so well!
     
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  4. davez

    davez Member+

    Aug 10, 2000
    Mountain View, CA
    I think we need to let Almeyda move on, he needs to go. With the little attack that we have we open with our two most effective offensive pieces, Cowell and Benji on the bench? Even a blind man would tell you we need some offense. And while I think Ebobisse can be good, he needs some service.
     
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  5. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    Benji started tonight.
     
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  6. mjlee22

    mjlee22 Quake & Landon fan

    Nov 24, 2003
    near Palo Alto, CA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I feel the same way — the biggest player disappointments right now are Jebo and Espinoza, well, and Cowell.
    Who else can you blame for this, but MA?
     
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  7. BIGBADMIKE

    BIGBADMIKE Member

    Nov 4, 2003
    Resident Optimist here ….

    1- Tanner Beason played well in the right CB position- despite being Left footed ….

    2- Jackson Y looked much much better in the midfield … and that’s probably the best I’ve seen him play in several games …

    3- Benji was a shining light in the darkness up front … it’s a shame he only gets 25 minutes to show his worth … he’s your starter at #9 … Jeremy can take his seat on the bench …

    4- JT is really showing well his shot stopping ability on one versus one situations … top 5 performance in the league …. ( that one between the legs in a prior game - that’s his mulligan ). He’s high quality … in my opinion.

    5 - It’s worth noting that the 3 east coast teams … Columbus … Philly … NY B … are at the top of their conference right now …. So, the level of our competition has been high … this matters …

    6 - 3 of the next 4 games are at home against the West - we will do much better

    7- We’ll right this ship If Matias sees the light on some obvious points …

    # 9 changes - start Benji …. Jeremy’s a sub
    Wing changes - start Cade … Christian are sub …

    Start Four men on the back line … always …with Tanner & Calvo as your CB’s ….
     
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  8. BIGBADMIKE

    BIGBADMIKE Member

    Nov 4, 2003
  9. markmcf8

    markmcf8 Member+

    Oct 18, 1999
    Vancouver, WA, USA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Our problem is tactics, tactics, tactics. That's what's wrong with us, and until and unless we clean that up, nothing else matters and we will make no progress.

    Here's problem number one!!
    Matias insists on having his outside defenders attack. That necessarily exposes us at the back. And the idea that defenders are better attackers than offensive players is just flat stupid. Maybe Nick Lima could argue that point, but he's on another team now.

    Here's problem number two!!
    Matias keeps playing central midfielders on the backline. He could play Lopez - Calvo - Beason - Marie and field four defenders. Tommy isn't terrible as an outside defender. We could plug Oskar into the backline. If we played three in the back: Calvo - Beason - Oskar, AND made them stay home at all times, that probably wouldn't be terrible, depending on how ready for prime-time Oskar is.

    Here's problem number three!!
    Matias thinks that Remedi is one of our better players. I think Remedi should only see the pitch if two of GG, Jackson, and Judson are injured. Otherwise, he should be collecting splinters. HOW in the hell does Almeyda think that Remedi is better than Judson?! With Judson on the pitch we look like a soccer team. With Judson on the bench we look like a pub team.

    Here's problem number four!!!
    Almeyda insists on playing with a lone striker. We do not have anyone on the team who can play as a lone striker in a 4-5-1, or a 4-3-2-1. And when he's played a 4-3-3, the center striker plays like a striker and the two outside forwards play like wingers. Almeyda has never lined us up with two actual forwards both playing like actual forwards.

    Here's problem number five!!!!
    We never setup passing triangles. We did in once or twice tonight. Otherwise, I haven't seen it this season. Almeyda has us play vertically, so if the guy with the ball gets pressured, his only outlet pass is backwards. Which brings us to problem number six!!

    Here's problem number six!!!!
    Our guys don't support each other. When one of our dudes has the ball, no one gets near him to be an outlet pass, or to take pressure off of him. Our lone shark player is all by himself and either gets dispossessed or passes the ball, often to the other team.

    I'm sure that we have other shortcomings. I'd add man-to-man marking to that list above. BUT, until we fix these basic, high school level problems we aren't going to get better. This is basic stuff!! We're terrible on corner kicks (better than previously, but still terrible). We're terrible on throwing. We're terrible on most of our free kicks, but GG is a great free-kick taker, so we're a bit better there now. We miss defensive assignments all too often.

    All of this is down to the coach. Every last bit of it. Could we use better players? Sure, of course, we could. But Almeyda wouldn't know what to do with them. He wants to play the way he wants to play and nothing is going to dissuade him from that.

    The obvious answer is to fire the idiot and replace him with someone else. Someone who will play a simpler system more suited to the guys that we actually have. Someone who will play the guys in their best and most accustomed positions. It's not freaking rocket science. It's futbol!!

    F#$%!!!

    Go Quakesfans!!
    Almeyda OUT!!!

    - Mark
     
  10. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    well, that and our roster isn't very good, if we're being honest.
     
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  11. markmcf8

    markmcf8 Member+

    Oct 18, 1999
    Vancouver, WA, USA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Greguš, Jamiro, and Calvo were all good players last season. What do you think happened to them? They drank the water and ate the burritos in San Jose and now they are crap?!

    I'll grant you that we need some better players, and that we need to fill some holes in the roster. Sure. But when you use your players poorly, you're going to lose. It doesn't matter if they are good, bad, or indifferent. If your lineup, and your tactics are crap, you're getting crap results. If you don't know how to get the most out of the guys that you have, you're going to suck.

    Every team in the league has figured us out. They all play us the same way now, and we fall into that trap every single time. It's not that our players are terrible, though they could be better. It's that our coach deploys them in a scheme that cannot be productive.

    That's how it is.

    Go Quakesfans!!

    - Mark
     
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  12. mjlee22

    mjlee22 Quake & Landon fan

    Nov 24, 2003
    near Palo Alto, CA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It would be great if Almeyda let the players decide what position they should play. They’d probably each go to the right spot, and we’d win a game.
     
  13. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    You’re free to see this as a MA problem, and to an extent it is. But it’s bigger than that. It stretches back a bunch of years and a whole bunch of coaches. I don’t see any coach getting much further with this roster as it is. We have some talent on this team, some decent players, but this roster needs a lot of work. For me it’s not one or the other, it’s all of the above when it comes to what the Quakes aren’t doing well.

    Sure, replace the coach, it’s a pretty sour situation by now, it’s really on CL to make a coaching change or add some reinforcements, something, but it’s his move. We’re off to a really poor start, fortunately it’s still early, plenty of time for Chris to act.

    For coach #7 to be any more successful though CL is going to have to use all his smarts to add some critical pieces, this roster needs a lot of work and retooling.
     
  14. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    So I think it's entirely possible for the Quakes to shake off this rough start. As I said, they had a worse start in 2019. And there are some positive signs - Beas(t) finally back out there and JY going back to midfield, etc.

    However in order to shake off the bad start, the team has to stay motivated and together in the locker room and not lose confidence. In that regard, there was an advantage in 2019 because Matias was very motivated and showed great faith in the team, and the team was very determined. (Remember that defiant TT pregame interview before the Quakes smoked Portland at Avaya 5th game or so of the season?).

    I'm not sure if these things are still there. My concern is that Matias's comments in the press about the roster have not done much for the team's confidence. I think the roster is OK, not great, but not bad, but even if he's right, if you say it, it's hard for the team to overachieve - to believe that they are better than they are. And it's hard to say what he's like with the team day in and day out but his game day body language shows less determination and more resignation, I guess you could say. I hope for the best but these are worrisome things.
     
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  15. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    yup, it may be that this team's lack of ambition has worn him down, he sees the writing on the wall, the inevitable conclusion that we all see. the VamosSJ! era ends poorly, that has to be disheartening for a competitor, I'm sure he had hoped he could succeed here.

    at this point CL has to make a decision, fish or cut bait.
     
  16. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    You could see it that way, or you can see it as - hey, this turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. There's no shame in that. But IMO he's getting paid to get the most out of the team that he possibly can, so this is where he earns his money (or not). He's gotta stay positive, keep the team together and do whatever he can do to help them get their confidence back. Never Give Up! Remember that? :)
     
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  17. markmcf8

    markmcf8 Member+

    Oct 18, 1999
    Vancouver, WA, USA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We have had overwhelmingly conservative coaches, and Almeyda is the opposite direction in overconfident, radical optimism. We need to strike a medium. Know what players you have, put them in their best positions, give them the best tactics to make use of the skills that they have.

    We haven't had a coach try that really. Maybe Chris Leitch. Maybe. He was much more liberal (here we mean the difference between conservative coaching and liberal coaching, this is not a political comment). Leitch tried to change a lot of stuff about the team on the fly. And he was successful. We made the playoffs when we were on a trajectory to miss the playoffs.

    We need to play a more basic system. Maybe we need to become a counter-attacking team, such that we play a more defensive formation and more defensive tactics, with quick counterattacks as part of our DNA. We've got the speed for it. I could see us play a 4-3-3, where the three mids are essentially d-mids whose job it is to get the ball to the forwards, and forwards play as cloud up front. No set positions, no set zones, just float free and look for the counter. It might work.

    What's not working is what we're doing now.

    And under our boring conservative coaches we were usually fighting for a playoff spot at the end of the season, and losing that fight. With Almeyda we've mostly been out of it by mid-season. And if he was building a project, why don't we see any progress?! I don't see us getting better at anything really. Our corner kicks are better, but nothing to write home about. Our throw-ins are still terrible and have regressed since '19. Our free kicks might be better with GG serving the ball to Calvo, but that's as far as that goes. Our defense looks like total crap, and our offense looks like it doesn't exist at all.

    It's time for change. We can't fire the entire roster, so it's the coach and his assistants who will, and should, get the axe.

    Go Quakesfans!!

    - Mark
     
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  18. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    I expect he will. But he also doesn't want to be scapegoated for systemic, long-term problems in San Jose, so it's likely to be bumpy.

    CL needs to make some GM decisions, steady the ship...still plenty of time but Matias needs a little more help from his GM here. Or, if CL thinks it's time to move on, he could make that decision too, start fresh with a new coach, show the Bay Area soccer loving community that he intends to win the 2022 MLS Cup Final - or at least win that first-in-a-decade playoff game.
     
  19. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    A win would sure be a good start to making things better. 3 of the next 4 at home. I hope we can win 2 of them. The runs of form, the confidence, it tends to come (and go) in bunches.
     
  20. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    it's CL's call. I guess we'll know soon if the 2022 season matters at all for him or if it was always a "zombie season" as some of us suspect.
     
  21. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    amazing what a win or two can do. this somehow feels different though. I do think MA is finding this experience disheartening by now. Fishball is tough, as we know, and Matias is a competitor.
     
  22. chris thebassplayer

    Feb 18, 2014
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Yeah, tough start to the season. I wasn't expecting anything from the away games with the lack of chemistry we have in midfield. We could structure the team with the players we have and be more defensive and counter off that...even by simply dropping our wingbacks. The problem is we're tripping over ourselves in midfield, the roles aren't defined...Jamiro had one stellar ball early and then just dribbled around and cycled the ball square and backward...really one of the least threatening players on the pitch and he really slows things down to a crawl...he's our freaking ACM...I questioned the reasoning picking him up since Curtain moved him out of the 10 role in Philly. It all is pretty obvious now. Still early, but imo, he is not the answer for us at all at that position. I would move him out via trade if possible...he just gums us up

    Same issues with Jebo we've seen earlier he doesn't move or make runs into space when he needs to...really static. Need to make and adjustment at the 9

    Almeyda has the team set up to play on the front foot and possess, we have push up wingbacks and a lot of players up field but nobody can combo at all....which leads to a million turnovers and bad situations coming back the other way.

    I thought in the preseason, we would do something logical like play Judson at the 6...I also thought if the attacked clicked we would be in good shape...a gritty side with some speed to play to up top...but right now we are really out of whack in the midfield, with push up wingbacks...getting no benefit at all for all the players upfield...it winds up being detrimental and exposes us so bad on the counter.

    Almeyda will have to make adjustments quickly to a defensive posture to get things stabilized....or miraculously get something to click with the mids and attackers...I don't see that happening anytime soon...but he has a few homes games to get it moving in positive direction. We'll see what happens.
     
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  23. nivla

    nivla Member+

    Jan 17, 2003
    Milpitas
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    In this game, Richmond did more in his limited minutes than Espinoza did before leaving the field.

    Lopez was really bad and it was the right thing to sub him out.

    Our attack was a mess. Our attacking players were mostly tentative and low on confidence. The final ball was lacking. The presence in the box was missing. You would not be able to imagine where the goal could come.

    If you look at the stats, we had the advantage in most of the categories except shots (13 vs 6) and shots on goal (5 vs 0). Offense is in trouble.

    upload_2022-3-19_23-3-55.png

    Two good things this afternoon. First, the ref called the fouls. Minnesota committed 3 to 4 fouls within the first 120 seconds of the first half kickoff.

    Second, I got a picture with Wondo.
     
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  24. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    pics or it didn't happen. :)
     
  25. Quakes05

    Quakes05 Member+

    Oct 1, 2005
    birthplace of MLS
    it was a beauty. found Espinoza with plenty of time and space and he botched it badly. so frustrating watching Espinoza trying to get a shot on target.

    but overall, I agree completely, our big off season signing, fills a DP slot apparently, has done nothing since he got here but earn a red. I don't understand the hype at all.
     
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