None of the above. The Quakes have not peaked yet, especially on offense. With improved health and the added depth with players such as Waibel and Dunivant getting valuable playing time (while Ecklund and Robinson are out with injuries), I believe the team can get better. Remember, this league is all about parity. We should be in contention for the remainder of the season as long as out attitude is good and we play as a team. However, I'm still concerned that over the duration of the season we will need additional help in scoring with DeRo out for the season. Very few teams will have a Ruiz or Twellman who get hot for the whole season. Either Arturo is going to need to step-up or we need to pick someone up...
The Quakes style of play is a bit difficult for most MLS teams to cope with, especially during the beginning of the season. Count how many successive passes the Quakes have v. their opponents. Quick passing leading to dominate possession leading to scoring chances. The Quakes will improve as Ekelund regains his health and as they sharpen up their boots a bit. The team has to improve on finishing and recognizing when to take a shot on net. Ching and Mullan had better step up very soon and start putting some more balls on target. Lagos come on either get the job done or move aside for Alvarez.
How can any team come anywhere close to the peak in the first 3 games??? We don't even have Ekelund or Robinson yet...
I hope we haven't peaked, because in spite of our record we don't look all that great. thankfully all the other teams seem to be in the same boat.
Expectations were low coming into the season. My brother in England sent me an email with the subject line "looks like the whipping boys are doing the whipping" - he's got a point. We came in saying that this is going to be a humiliating season. Yeah we may have won games, but they weren't pretty, there's DEFINITELY room for improvement. How many shots did we have against L.A. and what minute fraction of those were on target? I think the report card would say "Satisfactory, but could do better."
Would be funny if we took the SS this season without Graz, Cannon, Barrett or DeRo. I just remember mid season last year thinking we might win the triple, then the double, then a least the Cup. Geez, not even a play off match. Ouch.
      Most here did... a few here didn't.       You are correct as far as there being room for improvement, though. Part of that will come as the injured guys heal up, but I think that Yallop will need to pick up at least one more player if/when Dwayne DeRosario is officially declared out for the season.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
If Yallop doesn't learn how to make better use of his subs the team will tail off this year just like last year. Yeah, we don't have the deepest bench, but not making any subs at all is going to wear the team down just like last year.
Re: Re: Have the Quakes peaked too soon? Agreed. The only godsend so far is that the coaching staff (and we fans) can feel a little better about our soon-to-be bench depth, which still won't be that good, once Robinson and Ekelund and Russell are healthy. I presume E-Rob and Ekelund return to the starting lineup immediately, and I'll feel a little better about players like Mullan/Ching and Waibel coming off the bench than I would have had I not seen them play. If I was Yallop, I'd be scared to use Jamil Walker in an MLS match, too. And Alvarez alternatingly shows moments of pure brilliance, pure crap, and just looking like a 17-year-old, so it's a risk to bring him into a close game, too. I think Yallop would be a lot more willing to bring in subs if our starters would do their damn jobs and finish. It's so much easier to sub as a coach when you're ahead two or more. And, really, we should have been ahead two or more in every game.
Peaked too soon!!?? What!?! We may be playing beyond expectations at the moment, but give me at least ONE game with a full, injury free (or only one major injury) roster before you talk about PEAKING... Now, if someone can tell Mullan that Donovan is fast and that it's okay to play the ball into space for Donovan to run on to then we'll get an extra goal per game. (This is based on the LA game where, twice on quick counters, Mullan failed to make a pass to Donovan/space until all the space had been used up).
It's out on the field right now. The upside of this is that it may lead to greater depth (when the injured come back) than what we have had in the last three seasons.