Philadelphia Union - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 3/7) pre/in/postgame thread [R]

We had a couple of things going on at the end. Both new players on the pitch, but players interchanging positions a lot. I think that made us a bit loose.

Timo was sometimes on the left, and sometimes on the right. At one point, Timo was on the right, and Skahan moved to the center.

At the start of games, our guys mostly stay in their positions, but when Timo comes on, there’s a lot of switching. It could be that our subs don’t handle the role switching that well. Of course, they need to learn how to interchange, but I agree, they got a little loose and disconnected.

Also, Niko did not have a very good night. Beau played well, but then we subbed him out.

In any case, we won!! Go us!!

Go Quakesfans!!

 

After all thr subs, I thought it was pretty obvious that no one knew where their teammates were.
And, our subs are pretty puny. Our bench may not have the depth/talent to hold onto a lead.

 

I suspect that also true of our starters

 

I think you heard me screaming that all the way from the East Foothills.

 

Didn't they just hold a lead?

 

FIFY

 

They just held a lead, just barely.

 

They just won, baby!!

 

We got 2nd billing on MLS's cover story, behind the obligatory Messi story.

 

RE Messi how come MLS is not reporting about the "blowback" Messi is getting from his White House appearance amongst Argentinians?

 

Why should they? What does that matter in terms of his play on the field and its impact on MLS

 

Because they report on every other thing about him.

 

Philadelphia's two strikers Damiani and Alladoh cost a combined $8 million transfer fee, $3.5m and $4.5m respectively. Damiani looked like over 35 and from the 80's Eastern Europe. He is actually Uruguayan and only 23.

Atlanta also bet $22 million on a cup of Latte.

Anyway, having money to spend is nice but spending money wisely is key.

Well, it is not our problem under Fisher.

 

Werner may be a case of “spending your money wisely”, but let’s see how it turns out. So far so good.

 

I was thinking of the near future, further down the road when the starters get fatigued from the weekly grind and injuries start to pile up.

 

Well, there's always that speedster Romney! OTOH, I think Marie is perfectly capable of fitting into the current scheme, and you know Bruce will play Costa, because keeping a senior Intl player with his salary on the bench makes it look like you ********ed up in the offseason.

 

Contrary to what we might think, given that we still have, what 5 open senior roster spots, we have some measure of depth at every position.

-------------------------------Judd / Bouda / Adimabu-------------------------------
Timo / Ricketts / Marie-----Niko / Fernandez------------Bouda / Skahan--
----------------Vieira / Harkes / JoGo-----------------Beau / Harkes / Buck----
Jones / Costa-----Roberts / Romney----Munie / Floriani----Benji / Jasinski / Marie
----------------------------------------Daniel / Edwards------------------------------------

Weak spots would probably be RCB - Munie to Floriani is a big drop-off and GK - Daniel to Edwards - big drop-off. We are also lacking in true #9 - I don't think that would be a good use of Timo, and Adimabua is not great. And Bouda is also better on one of the wings.

 

Solid game on the road, but lucky to get the win. Benji missed a cross and had some poor marking which wasn't exposed. Roberts was shaky the first 20 minutes of the game. Niko had a poor game. Daniel (MOTM) can't save us each game. Still, a tie was a good result.

While overall I think the Quakes were better in the game, the soccer gods will get us later in the season. However, this team appears to be different. Team defense is much better and we are getting numbers into the attack. Judd missed a good chance on goal and a pass that could have ended with a goal.

Key will be the young team staying together during a tough stretch or two in the season, and no major injuries.

 

On my DirectTV schedule, tonight (Wednesday March 11) KTVU will show the rebroadcast of the Philadelphia game at 8 PM. However it will not be on Channel 2 KTVU,, it will be on channel 36 KICU.

 

Yeah, I have been seeing the replaying popup on my YouTube recordings. I didn't see them in past seasons (or only for very few games).