Same thing to me, you have a very specific job, just my two cents, I don't want the 6 taking chances, to willfully move out of a position and not have a defensive angle on the play...very conservative mindset...communication and rotations to help are always vulnerable to miscues...just not as tight as having a disciplined guy staying home....typing this I almost shed a tear missing healthy Judson...he played that role incredibly well.
The difference is that if you have 4 behind you it's 33% more bodies than 3, therefore there's a little more license to take chances. I think it's important that the person in that role is a destroyer and will fight for the ball. Yes, that means taking chances sometimes. We had a DP dmid who was just sort of there, mostly stayed in position to "cut off passing lanes" and almost never made a tackle. That wasn't....great.
I think it's both...Bruce still trying to see what his rag tag bunch is capable of against relative strength of opponent. Bottomline, defensively, due to the players we currently have, we're not that good...they all take turns blowing traps, or getting spun, or ghosting the guy they should be marking...it's Bruce still on the journey to find anything he can hang his hat on defensively
oh I thought by "taking chances" you meant Rodrigues' forays with the ball...i wouldn't regard ball winning and tackling as taking chances for a 6...imo, it's a fundamental part of the job and I really don't want to even think anymore about gruezo, so I'm all typed out on this one.
I think Arango has been fine. Quakes are playing a quick pass attacking which is high win, high loss. In the first part of your assessment, you described the problem which cause Arango to drop into the midfield (I.e. a CM that is young or doesn't have the ability to contribute). Agree with keeping Arango up top, but managing his frustration will be a challenge for both Bruce and him.
It’s not clear that Edwards is better at this point. Jacob Jackson? We did sign a 3rd keeper but I don’t know where he is. He hasn’t been playing with The Town. The Town guy is not too bad -Sweeney. Just checked - Jacob Jackson is on San Diego’s roster somehow. Must have a connection there. Bring back Bieganski?
From Matt Doyle’s “one stat from each team” article. The good news - we have the highest xG in the league. The bad news - we have the highest xG allowed in the league. Our attack is good. But we haven’t fixed our defense - at all. We are one Daniel injury away from being Quakes 2024 The Sequel. Oops… San Jose Earthquakes Stat: 33.0 The Quakes have generated the most expected goals in the league, with 16.7. The Quakes have conceded the most expected goals in the league, with 16.3. Add ‘em up. The next closest teams, in terms of total xG generated across all their games, are San Diego and Orlando with just over 26. Quakes games are wild, man. Just pure chaosball. I can assure you, however, that Bruce Arena and staff are working on how to tighten things up as the season trucks along, as this is no way to actually go out and win a trophy (which is where Bruce’s sights have always been set). They need to figure out how to get more pressure on the ball through their first two lines so that the defense isn’t constantly scrambling and so Daniel, their outstanding goalkeeper, is not always having to be Superman. Can they do it without throttling back on what's been a pretty outrageous attack so far?
Replacing Harkes with a DM in the starting lineup sets back the attack by how much? Guessing not much given that we know he has the worst G+ on the team...
Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case, but that's not a role that I think Rodrigues is gonna play realistically. I don't think anyone in MLS has ever played that role, have they? So I co-opted the discussion to Rodrigues playing in front of the back line which could actually make sense.
Does the poor Quakes intern even know what xG is... they say shooters shoot 📈 pic.twitter.com/DEMUwNwjR3— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) April 17, 2025
I played sweeper in high school and then in the adult leagues for about 15 years, back in the day when teams still used one. I do like your idea of Rodrigues as our DM, he could bring the ball forward like Der Kaiser did, who played as much midfield as he did sweeper.
The usual Quakes BigSoccer braintrust narrative is that the Quakes have a terrible / weak bench. Maybe not so much. We are above average on sub usage and top of the league in sub goal contribution.
Leroux continues to improve game by game…which is extremely impressive imo, his play up field is dynamic and threatening…coupled with Jones coming in giving us a ton on both sides of the ball…and Espinoza’s move to forward and Munie coming through as our central organizing CB…they all collectively improve the team and give us a foundation to build on to play some real ball in the 3-4-3…of course we need Daniel to stay healthy…I think with those changes we’re getting over a threshold…hopefully the other young CBs will continue to develop and we can find some better options for our central mids not named Leroux…Leroux near the box as a player maker is a real positive….the higher we can play Chicho, the better we’ll do….when he sags deep it’s not so good…which leads me to…what to do with Hernan and what Hernan are we going to get…the bad turnover machine or a skillful player who can move the ball quickly…hopefully the latter…we’ll see, I’d hate to stunt Leroux’s impact by shoehorning Hernan into the current line up when it is starting to gel….honestly I’d rather see him not in the middle at all. But it’s clear Bruce is in no rush with Hernan…and I still think part of the slow roll with Hernan is Leroux’s sharp development in the attack…he can really dish the ball around the box or drive and shoot it himself….so overall we have some real positives to build on.
If Hernan is back and playing well enough to start, I don't see how both Hernan and Leroux could start together in a 3-4-3 so does that mean Bruce chooses between the two in the 3-4-3 or switches back to a 3-5-2.
That’s a good question. I think that we want to keep Jones behind Espinoza, because that pushes both Espinoza and Chicho farther up field. So, I think that we stick with the 3-4-3. We’ve won two (three?) in a row that way. That means that either Beau goes to the bench, or we use Hernán as a sub. We’re not going to move Harkes to the bench, right? @JazzyJ may we’ll be right that we trade Hernán in the summer transfer window. It clears a DP spot for us, takes a bunch of money off our salary cap, and gives Bruce more room to modify the roster. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Go Quakesfans!!
well the tough decision, but best for the club would be to find a transfer or trade for Hernan. Imo it was an ill advised desperate decision to bring him in and a boat load of money…the scouting was poor…we saw a flashy entertaining dribbler and brought him in to play as a playmaker 10…when in fact he was not actually quick ball moving creator 10. If he stays on the club…he should just be a pure forward…imo, he would be very good as a pure attacker….but that causes an overload of good options at forward…Martinez, Chicho, Espinoza…Bouda is improving and has speed up top that Bruce values. So is the 6 million dollar man going to be a sub, probably not, and I don’t see Bruce benching Martinez, Chicho and Espinoza if they are all healthy. It would be completely stupid to bench Leroux. if I had to guess…I’ll bet Bruce will initially try playing Hernan central with Leroux behind him and gasp! Bench Harkes…but that would be really brutal for Leroux defensively. honestly, the best solution is to move Hernan…opens up a DP slot…and gives some of our quality young players more minutes to develop.