The Official Bruce Arena thread

Quakes just need a Like-O-Meter to gauge how much Bruce likes the players. If players need it, Bruce can up things to their liking.

 

I hear you, but we're winning.

He must be doing something right. He's got the guys all on the same page at the same time. That's good. We look like a team and we play like a team.

There's still plenty of time for the wheels to come off. I do think that we need to add another piece or two. I'd try to get another left back right now, not necessarily a DP. I'd be looking for a DP or at least high end #9. And I'd also be looking discreetly at #10s. For the summer transfer window, in the event that Niko can't cut it.

Being so reliant on Niko is risky. He's not strong enough on the ball, his decisions are often too slow. He's very one footed. (I agree with @JazzyJ on that!) And yet we expect him to be the linchpin in our offense? That's a lot of pressure on a young player. I don't think he's up for it. Hope like hell that I'm wrong.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

To quote Doc Holliday in Tombstone, I’m your huckleberry.
I can be the Quakes Like-O-Meter.
(I forget why Val Kilmer says that iconic line — can someone refresh my memory?)

 

The one-footedness is really my only significant criticism of Niko and it seems to be getting a little better, possibly. In the last game he played 3-4 mediumish passes with his right foot. Otherwise I think he's playing pretty well. I like his initiative - always pushing it forward with urgency. There's also corner kicks but I think he has the ability to do better there - just needs more experience with it. Oh, and I don't think we can expect him to beat a guy in an isolated 1v1. He's not that kind of player, more of a slasher who can get an angle on a defender but not necessarily beat him 1v1 from a standing position.

 

The last "meter" we had for the Quakes that I can remember is the Salinasometer (pronounced Sah-lee-neh-SOM-i-der), which I invented to measure the progress of the team. The idea is that the more Salinas played, the weaker the Quakes team, IOW it measured Salinas's playing time as an inverse relation to Quakes quality. Not that Salinas was a bad player. He was, in his own words, a good runner and an OK soccer player. A valuable guy to have on the bench and for spot starts, but if he's a regular starter it says something about the team. For example, an in-form Vako was an upgrade to Salinas (unfortunately Vako was not always in form).

 

Bruce is flexing his Neanderthal special powers. Who knew that the soccer coaching gene would be so prevalent on that branch of evolution!? If we can keep up our current pace, or anything close to it, I'll be impressed.

 

As I recounted awhile ago, at the WC 2006 in Germany, I almost asked a DCU fan why he was wearing a t-shirt with a gorilla on it. Fortunately, I figured out it was Bruce before I asked the question.

 

Land o Lakes.

 

For any doubters, Niko had a hell of game against San Diego tonite.

 

Honestly, I think Bruce has attracted the best assistant coaches in the league and I think they are mentoring the young players and training them in a way the Quakes have never done before. The defense has been ridiculously tight. I saw a snippet of training video and it was impressive. Overhead shots with a grid system where everyone gets a very clear understanding of their responsibilities. It feels like the team is relying less and less on Daniel standing on his head to make ridiculous saves just to keep them in the game. Stats are showing they are outplaying their opponents. Even in the Seattle loss they must have had close to 20 corner kicks. All of this happening after letting players like Espinosa, Hernan, Martinez, Arango and others go. This is not a team full of stars. It’s a very well coached team. The best coached in the team’s long history in my opinion.

 

I've definitely noticed a few big changes:

1) Much better supporting defensive coverage from our midfield when the wingbacks push forward
2) Much higher backline - they are really starting to trust their speed
3) Mostly much more aggressive trying to recover the ball after losing it - enough that my wife mentioned it (she missed the last few games before SD).
4) For the most part the central midfielders are confronting earlier - this is still a problem though
5) Munie is communicating really well on the offside trap line - it was really evident last game after and Roberts moved to LB... Munie was barking constantly at both Roberts and Romney.

 

This is a big one. It makes a huge difference when you can compress the field. SD just didn't have anywhere to play the ball trying to play out of the back. Daniel was recently clocked as one of the fastest players in MLS, possibly the fastest defender, just behind Ricketts who was clocked as tied for the fastest player.

 

We have a Lot of team speed. Sure, Ricketts and Munie are fastest, but Dejuan is fast, Benji is seriously fast, Bouda is fast, Judd is fast. There's no one on the team who is actually slow. We have a Lot of foot speed, which was really evident against SD.

I like the way we're playing. We need a little more punch up front. I want to see Judd and Ousseni score more.

Can we call SD ... Suck D? Asking for a friend.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

I don't think our 2 CM's - Vieira and Beau are fast, though I'm not sure I'd call them slow. I'd say average at best speed. But pretty good speed everywhere else.

 

Vieira and Beau are not fast, but they still have decent speed. Really, no one slow. No one like Wilson. No one like Ockford. We have pretty good pace everywhere.

And Bruce is using that speed to good effect.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

Hah, I don't even remember who Ockford is. I would say that Vieira and Beau have below average speed, but I don't know about slow. They are certainly not fast. But anyway it doesn't seem to be hurting us much. They are both good passers and use the ball to do work for them. And Vieira is good with angles and things like that as a dmid.

 

I purchased a pair of individual tix.

I almost spit out my coffee laughing at the idea that anyone would drop $10k to guarantee sitting with Bob Bradley. He doesn’t strike me as a great conversationalist.