The problem is our whole roster is a 2nd team with a couple mid tier starters like Mensah, Espinoza, and possibly Ebob. Everyone else is running at half empty below average. The guys aren't in sync and hopefully we can figure it out, we dropped 2 games we should have picked up points in. The Dynamo aren't terrible either, and we need to pick up some wins at home as you mention, so I agree. We might be in a slump that gets shifted with a few games of goals hitting the net or we need to shuffle the deck a bit and see what happens. I don't count us out as being full blown clowns until some other pieces fall into place, but its very apparent we're a red card or an injury away from a disaster waiting to happen, we're a chipped windshiled that could splinter, spider and shatter at any given notice. I think it will take us 2 full years to wash the Almeyda juice off and fully inject us with Luchi-aid. Danny Musovski on his fb has started following the Quakes.
Imagine Danny learning the secret arts of a striker from Wondo. Yum…. Let’s not forget that Ian Russell coached Danny and was a fan of his game. We need a *****ski on the team anyway,
I think Danny would be a good supplament to Jebo. I think it was cool, LAFC gave Danny a ring from last year when he was traded yo make room for Bale. Bryan Rodriguez also got one.
I know that we’re playing a 4-3-3, but it still looks like a 4-5-1 to me. Our wide forwards, usually Cade and Cristian, play like wingers more than forwards. They aren’t in front of goal that much. When we played a 4-4-2 against TFC we looked more likely to score, but sadly, we didn’t. Luchi is going to play a 4-3-3. When our outside defenders push up, our outside forwards need to find space inside, closer to goal. It’s hard to score from an outside position. Go Quakesfans!!
I like the 4-4-2. Its shiftable into a 433 and a 3 5 2 very easily. Id like us to play Belisa ball, but we dont hsve the speed. I think if we hand Monteiro last game we might have scored. I hope Marie starts over Trauco this weekend. Baldi will have issues with Herrera. So hopefully Judson can rock
Wasn't "Bielsa Ball" what Almeyda was more or less trying to play? It does not seem to have a very long shelf life. Like MLS and Almeyda, once the rest of the Premier League figured Bielsa out it was not difficult to come up with a game plan to beat him.
Kinda, but he didnt execute it properly. Belisa Ball is defined by press shifting. You have to adjust and have a very intelligent team. You vant press press prrss eithout astronomical rotation and movements off the ball. What you do without the ball is almost more important then with the ball. You sacrifice possession, but you press so hard theyre trapped in their final 3rd. You must do a lot of over shifts, guys are all over the field. Monteiro, Thompson and Tsakiris fit that style of play. But its organized. Sometimes you must sit in and abosorb to retain stamina to press again. Nike shifts. Matias also didnt have a set system. He wamted to Press, Possess, Contain, Shift, Shit.
I’ve said it a million times, I want to see San Jose play Ian Russell ball ala Reno 1868. He used different formations, mainly 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield but his overall tactics were similar no matter where players lined up. Come out with an aggressive high press early, fight to get the first goal (earlier the better), then decide if the opponent is shaky and keep the pressure up or if not, start playing low block and hit counters with speed. It sounds very simple but it’s hard work and sound positioning.
We came out and aggressively pressed Toronto right out of the gate last week, and we had them on the ropes early. But the 1st goal didn't come - our final 3rd execution was abysmal, and it fizzled out into more of a back and forth game until we took the reigns again from around 70' on. So I think Luchi has this overall framework in mind, at least for home games, but we haven't been able to get that early 1st goal so far. Maybe this weekend it will be different.
I think we need to survive until the summer, grab as many points as we can and hopefully add 1 or 2 pieces. However the framework is good work, we just need healthy bodies. I truly think Yueill is the weakest guy we have in the top 18 guys. I think Thompson has done a fine job, and would like to see him on the pitch with Monteiro who can cover for his lack of speed but Monteiro needs guys who are quick touches and think fast. Tsakiris does that, I think Thompson can do that. Cowell cannot. I think you could get away with Thompson at left mid in a 4-4-2 and Gruezo/Monteiro in the middle and Espinoza out wide, with either Bouda, Kiki or Cowell with Jebo. Ideally if we had a full compliment of guys I'd rather see. Outside of Mensah who stays home anyways, Rodriguez and Akapo have displayed enough speed to get up and back and I'd rotate the squad as much as possible dependent on the game. I wouldn't even be opposed to rotate JT/Daniel in games. A few teams have done that in the past depending on matchups. TFC their cup year rotated Konopka and Bendik depending on opponents. Marie has been pretty good too. Luchi rates him and I think Thompson has played himself back onto the bench. At some point I want to see Munie get a shot. I agree with you on rotation of squad to prevent injuries. Jebo, Benji Thompson Marie, Monteiro, Gruezo, Espinoza Rodriguez, Mensah, Akapo Daniel/JT
Yep. We have the type of players too, outside of (Cowell). I think Ian wants Danny a lot. A rotation of Bouda, Musovski and Jebo would be pretty good and Benji could slide in that rotation as well. Ian was very good at adjusting his squad as you said to the game and team he was against. He wasn't afraid to rotate, or sit guys if the matchups weren't good. He platooned keepers depending on the game too. Bersano didn't play every game. He used Kalbaugh and Anderson quite often too.
Yet JY has been our best player of the first 5 games. I don't think we're as close to a competitive team as you mention. As others have mentioned we have maybe 6 starters on the team and I don't think we'll pick up enough to turn our tides in the summer. In fact maybe it will get worse with injuries and what not. Anyone know of any Zava's that might be available to us?
Quakes would be 5-0 right now if their current roster played to its potential. Or, as Jazzy would say, xG don't lie.
Ian ran a TON of overlaps with his outside backs. Sam Gleadle and Duke LeCroix were constantly racing into the corners and chipping crosses in. Five different strikers for Ian set personal season goal scoring records. They got constant service and plenty of counter attacking opportunities. Reno played from ahead in the majority of their games. The Quakes haven’t valued or prioritized outside backs since the days of prime Beitashour and Morrow. Ian Russell did. And he finished with a plus 96 goal differential in 3 1/2 seasons (Covid year 2020 was about half the games of a normal year). Luchi’s goal differential with Dallas and San Jose is barely above even.
Akapo is a "prioritized" outside back I'd say. I haven't seem him to go to the corner so much, but he'll combine and then hit a diagonal cross. I think he's a good add. Don't know what to think of Trauco yet. He is skilled but doesn't seem mobile. We can play Marie there but he's not a go to the corner guy either, he's a cut-in guy, and even more so on the left. If Trauco went into the corner I don't know how the heck he'd get back. We'd have to get him a lyft . The other issue is that just about every time Cade gets the ball on that side it's going to be a turnover and Trauco doesn't want to get caught out there.
TT for Cade seems like an odd thing because they are so dissimilar, but I could see that working. It would look a lot different - TT and Monteiro combining more than 1v1. They could switch too. Right now, Monteiro gets the ball to Cade and it's usually going to be Cade attacking on the ground and losing it. Usually not much combining after that. But I don't see Luchi doing that - he seems pretty set on either Benji or Cade on that side in the front. I think Yueill's been playing pretty well, and it will be nice to see Niko in there. I'm afraid we may not have much left in the "bank" to make much in way of summer acquisitions. I think we spent most of our remaining capital on Mensah. Hope to be proven wrong. Musovski would be a good get, and maybe attainable. He's not playing at RSL and may not cost a whole lot. And he fits probably our biggest need - someone else who can play #9.
Im a Mensah fan, but i agree the cost for him might bite us in the ass. But hes been one of our better guys. Maybe we can buy him down at some point next year. Though Id like to see Munie and even Beason get more PT. Beason has been a lot better for is under Luchi then Matias. Maybe due to maturity and age.
He didn't help much in the loss to Atalanta, so I'm not all that eager to get on the Beason bandwagon. I thought he was competent when he first debuted for the team and he's been put in some tough situations. But I don't think he's got much room to grow as a player. Mensah is an obvious improvement and I hope he can get the vast majority of minutes this season.
Yes I don't think Mensah should sit at all. If anything Rodrigues should be the one rotated. I honestly think Rodrigues could play mid better then Yueill
We desperately needed a new quality CB when we signed Mensah. Yes, he was expensive, but if our owner were less of a skinflint, this wouldn't be an issue. Matías had us playing chaos ball. It wasn't pretty and didn't work very well. Luchi has us playing a much more structured system and I think it's easier on the players and they understand their roles better. Beason is OK, except that he's a bit slow. Not slow like Jimmy Ockford, but slow. Other than that, he's OK. Not great mind you, but OK. I don't know about Rodrigues at CM. Have him replace Jackson? I don't think so. I'd rather see Nico, TT, or Skahan in that role. And while Jackson has been playing much better for us, I'm still not sold on him as our starter, nor TT nor Skahan. But Nico yes. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
It's not that he was expensive, it's that he took up possibly most of what we had left under the salary structure: our last DP slot, another $675k in salary cap charge, and some GAM (up to $500k GAM). That's not a "Fish" problem, that's just the reality of working within the confines of the salary cap structure. So again, while I'm OK with the move - it was either that or see if we can get by with some combination of Beason, Munie, and Ågren, it may have really hamstrung us in terms of moves that we can make to improve the attack this year. But that's the breaks. As the Stones correctly noted, "You can't always get what you want".