Pre-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (Saturday, 3/9) pregame thread

I watched the entire Vancouver match yesterday and this is a very winnable game. In fact, if we don't win it easily it would be a disgraceful, disgusting result.

 

Wow, Wilcox was good when I played for Monta Vista ('76-'79)

 

Wilcox what though? Volleyball? Soccer? Field hockey? I think they are including all different types of HS championship teams but not sure.

 

Used to hide my ripped jeans from my mom to ensure she didn't throw them out.

 

So what do we do in this game? Rinse and repeat to start Skahan, Beason and Jebo?

Play both Gruezo and Morales behind Yueill as an attempt to stop the bleeding?

 

I would start Wilson for Beason, Judd for Jebo, and Benji for Pellegrino. Not sure how to fix the midfield, but I would find a way to keep Gruezo on the bench.

 

Haha. I'm too old to break-in a new pair of jeans. And I refuse to buy them pre-ripped. Takes all the fun out of it.

 

Somebody in the moat needs to hand a Whitecaps player a beer to swig when they line up for a corner kick, just for old times sakes.

 

It's a risk we should take.

 

I’d start Wilson in place of Beason, Morales for Gruezo, Judd for Jebo, and maybe Benji for Amahl.

So at least three changes, maybe four. I like Skahan. I think he’ll do better with a more aggressive more direct forward in front of him. Also, he’ll be better with a #6 behind him who isn’t a ghost.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

I only watched the highlights. I sure hope you’re right and that we get on track. Or first two games have been poor. A third one will really suck.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

My biggest gripe with Luchi is his player management. Jebo has been utter trash if we're being honest and that's going back to most of last season yet, in Luchi's mind, he is an unquestioned starter. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a guy like Kikanovic, who had as poor of a season last year, have a pretty solid/good first game of the season yet gets benched the next game. How is that supposed to motivate players!?

He needs to send a message to Jebo and bench him since you have Judd or Kikanovic who can play up front. Kikanovic should have started last game while you slowly integrate Pellegrino into the team who has only been with them for a couple of weeks and let him get used to the team and the style.

I know it has only been one season, but Luchi hasn't given me any sense of a quality coach that is able to adapt, motivate, and play to the strengths of his players. I hope I'm proven wrong but I am not confident at all...

 

People, people...We have bigger problems than taking Jebo and Beason out (which I agree by the way - I would prefer Benji up top and Wilson in for Beason for this game). Still, we have a dead patch in the middle with Gruezo, Yuell, and Jack. How do we solve that? My guess no one is mentioning that problem as there is no solution at the moment.

If I'm Vancouver, I would sit back and counterattack. If they score, start pressing the Quakes as they will feel the pressure. Our team is not mentally strong at this moment.

 

My thoughts exactly on the Jebo situation...how can you be that disconnected in the attack for so long and not get pulled for a game or two. Luchi doesn't strike me as a coach with a lot of Presence... conflict averse....not enough of a strong personality to set guys straight when he needs to...honestly it's more kid brother vibe....so imo, even after a season, the jury is still out if he can truly man manage the players in the locker room. Not confronting or dealing with sustained poor performance is a red flag giveaway.

 

I appreciate Jebo's contribution to the buildup and his work rate more than most here, and it's not all his fault that our offense has no flow, but just to note: he has 0 shots so far this year. That's not SOG, that's shots.

For now I'd continue to give him a chance to start (~30 goals in the last couple of seasons - nothing to sneeze at - we can't throw that out with a 2-game sample this year), and have him go hard for 60-70 minutes but give Judd regular minutes as his sub and we'll see how things land. Game state as a starter vs. a sub is not apples to apples though so we need to be careful about coming to grand conclusions. Yeah, Judd got more involved when he came in but we were in desperation mode pushing a lot of numbers forward. There were just a lot more chances to be had. Judd finished the ball that fell to him but I also saw him take a kind ridiculous "gunner" shot that had no chance whatsoever. That registers as a shot but it doesn't help us.