San Jose Earthquakes - Seattle Sounders FC (Sunday, 3/15) pre/in/postgame thread [R]

Seattle rotated their squad for our game due to their CCL game so we didn't play their best XI. Having said that, you would expect the Quakes to be the vastly better team in that instance and they were so that gives me hope and confidence in the team moving forward.

We still do not have the necessary skill or options to break down low blocks but that was already known when looking at the roster so I am hoping we make use of our empty DP and U-22 spots come summer transfer window. At CF, especially, we need an upgrade to, at least, challenge Judd. The vast majority of our attacks came through the left side as Bouda just didn't have it yesterday. He was struggling with his touch and was unable to dribble past anyone. Niko was OK at best but showed great workrate as he was picking up balls all the way inside our box and even putting in a defensive shift on a few occasions. However, needs to become more consistent with decision making in the final third as there were a few instances where his bad passing killed potential counter opportunities.

Lastly, corner kicks....both, Timo and Niko, need to put in much better crosses. They kept hitting floating balls to the deep post which was, either, picked off by the keeper or went over everyone's head. Just kick it hard towards the front post for god's sake.

 

We may need more corner kick varieties. The corners going to the back post were for Bouda who was unaware and unprepared in every situation yesterday. Who else could be a threat in the middle? Munie? Judd was doing surprisingly well with the ball in the air during the first three games but he was back to be the big guy with no ariel game yesterday.

 

Not just "not their best XI". They pulled up 2 "emergency reserves" from Tacoma Defiance. And a bunch of their other starters were Tacoma Defiance players in the past. So basically we lost to Tacoma Defiance. :-(

 

The Hello Kitty pic line was in the way

 

On the current roster i think Bouda would be the fill in for Judd up top...and i'd like to see that...Ricketts left side Timo under Bouda...and play Niko as an inverted right mid...Benji can provide the width.

 

We were unlucky to an extent, but you also create your own luck and, given the amount of opportunity we created, not much of it was really dangerous. We played right into into Seattle's strategy yet again (which we do well).

We can't have that many corners with so few actually attempt on goal. Timo's corners/free kicks are atrocious. Niko's are better, but there has to be someone who can drive the ball with accuracy on the team somewhere.

I thought Vieira was really good myself. Seattle playing back so far meant he didn't have to defend all that much, but he was covering the back line well and winning tackles. And I love how active he was with the ref... with no yellow card. I'm also watching him interact with the players during warm up and during the game. He's a real Captain (Wondo without pissing off the ref). And that potentially game saving (at the time) tackle was massive.

It's clear they picked Roberts to attack every time they got the ball. They'd wait for Jones to push up and counter quickly, isolating him. And he got skinned a few times... he's not as fast as I thought.

 

Niko and Beau were both pretty poor, and our inability beat a compact low press is concerning. We also finally paid the price for a three-man defense who push up aggressively.

 

I know we’re all “additiony by subtractiony” and stuff but it sure would be nice to have Espinoza on the other side of Timo. Nashville is gonna be very happy with that pickup.

Anyway, yeah we were having trouble breaking a bunker against Seattle but how imagine how bad we'd be at it if it weren't for Timo.

 

schmetzer can pack his box with cadavers and slightly warm bodies and third stringers. We played right into their hands giving them the lead. It didn't matter much that their squad was heavy rotated. We had a defensive breakdown they didn't...brutal razor thin defensive margin.

 

Well, getting the 1st goal is part of the deal. We let essentially the Tacoma Defiance (i.e. a heavily rotated squad) get the 1st goal on us. That was my point.

 

Both of Bouda’s goals this year have come when we make subs and Bouda switches to the #9.

 

Are Rothrock and Ferriera, the guys that factored into their first goal...not on the full side roster? Rothrock is a quality player...who could be a starter for a lot of MLS teams...i didn't realize they are now primarily Tacoma players....

 

Now as some of you brought up the first goal, was another Seattle player (the winger from the left) moved towards the ball in offside position and stopped before Rothrock took possession of the ball?

 

1) It’s a team game, 2) we weren’t behind when the game started as I recall, and 3) I was exaggerating to make a point obviously. But Kingston and Lopez are emergency 6-game max callups from Tacoma Defiance. And besides that Minoungou, Ragen, Baker, and Thomas, are all previous Tacoma Defiance players, and even Rothrock came from Tacoma Defiance and is not necessarily a starter when they’re healthy. Remember they had the Roldan’s and Rusnak on the bench, and Jordan Morris, De La Vega, and Yeimar out injured.

Bottom line, between the injuries and Schmetz laying for the CONCACAF game midweek and resting guys who played last Thursday, Seattle played their B / C team and it was the most winnable game we’ll ever get against Seattle.

 

There was a passive offside player... I didn't think that player interfered and think the ref team got it right (they paused the kick off long enough that there must have been a debate).

 

First?

 

The main problem was Bouda being clueless on the far post. We need to put someone else. I actually liked that we had some variety. Also, Judd had the best opportunity with a flick header that didn't find the right spot.

 

Overall, good game and test for a young team. Seattle was better in transition offense than prior team and their strategy to defend and counter worked well. We were a little unlucky with some of the bounces this game, but we did have enough chances. Just needed better execution.

We did have some players who had poor games. Bouda, Niko (good work rate), and Leroux. Plus, we tried to much to push the ball to the left side for Timo.

As other's noted, it did show that we don't have a backup at center forward. Bouda is not the answer as he has a poor shot (all his goals are tap in's).

I think the only real disappointment was that this wasn't even Seattle's best team with the Roldan's sitting most of the game.

 

I just got back from Colombia, where I happened to see Chicho Arango play on TV. He looked good. We could have used a finisher like him yesterday.

 

First annual? First bi-monthly?

 

We definitely need more corner kick variety!

And we squandered most of our freekicks!

As soneone else said, we forced the ball to Timo on the left side too much. And yes, Bud’s was poor on the right. But also, Niko was way too deep in our formation most of the game. So he was no help on the right.

We had a poor game when we needed a good game. Maybe this loss will bring us some focus and steel in our spines.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

I thought Niko had a bit of a rough 1st half but a pretty good 2nd half. And he's always trying to take the initiative and be aggressive, which is good. But I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this play in the 1st half. Not sure what he was doing here. I guess the pass was meant to go to Jones, but Jones seemed too far away to get to it. Seeing it live and seeing where Jones was, there was no way he was going to get that ball. It was way too underhit. So it was just an inexplicable gift to Seattle and they took off and ran the other way, resulting in a 2 on 1 that Jones heroically saved but may have injured himself in the process.

Maybe that was a set play where Jones was supposed to be there to hit a diagonal cross. But you gotta know where he is when you pass it.

What bothers me about this play even more than the pass was Niko standing flat-footed and hands out in a "What are you doing" pose, trying to blame Jones. Even if Jones is partly to blame, Niko should be high-tailing it down the field to try to help put out the fire he started. It's not the time to try to blame another player. Hopefully Bruce has a word with him about this one.

 

Hello Kitty and Friends Park East.

 

When you give Brian Schmetzer a one-goal lead in the 20th minute and he's running out a patched-up spare tire of a team you're going to get 70 minutes of excruciating bus-parking. I'm not too broken up about this = let's see what happens next week, the week after, and two weeks after that when we play the teams above us in the west before we make any pronouncements on the season.