Like him or not, while he was playing anyway, John Doyle was one of the best American born central defenders of his generation. He was much better than Mike Windischmann , Desmond Armstrong, Steve Trittschuh, Mike Lapper, Cle Kooiman and especially Alexi Lalas. Thomas Dooley was good but he wasn't American born and Jeff Agoos didn’t start shining until 2001-02 when Doyle already retired.
He’s on the island of misfit toys, a rather hopeless place where dreams and careers go to die. Filled with embarrassment, humiliation and despair, for all who care, its where all the league-worst records are currently being broken, and it’s right in our back yard, sadly for us. No airfare required.
Generally correct (as being one of the better American central defenders pre MLS). However, I disagree that he was better than Lalas and several of the players that you mentioned weren't central defenders (Armstrong and Lapper). By the time MLS started in 1996, Pope and Lalas were better central defenders. Doyle was old school. He was a physical freak (great in the air and could do flips at his size), but his skill was average and could be beaten by pace and 1v1. He reminded me a lot of John Rowland from the NASL Quakes. He relied a lot on his physicality than soccer skills.
Not so sure. John Rowlands was a converted center forward but he was mostly used as an offensive weapon going up using his head. Pope was good but Armstrong never played in MLS and Lapper also didn't impress me. Meanwhile, John Doyle won defender of the year in 1996 over Lalas and the others. Coach Frank Stapleton in his first year with the Revs in 1996 didn’t regard Alexi at all and they traded him to NY Metrostars in early 1998. Alexi did ok with Padova in the Serie A from 1994-1995 but then was also outsted by coach Mauro Sandreani. As far as MLS defenders or rather, his time in the league from 1996-2000, Doyle was a much better defender.
I think the problem is that PayPal Park is cursed. Bay FC sucks just like the Quakes now. I left last night's game at the 75th min because BFC were so bad and it was too cold. Last night's attendance looked Quakes-like.
Get off that. Fisher has nothing to do with Bay FC, Bay FC is also a piss poor managed team. they were gonna give my old ass a look if i passed the physical.
I think proximity matters. If I owned a pro sports team, I wouldn't want them anywhere near anything John Fisher related, but that's just me, I'm a little superstitious like that.
- The Quakes hired Chris Leitch as GM over Will Kuntz who then went to LA Galaxy - Quakes bring in 22 year old 6'3 Polish goalkeeper Mikołaj Biegański on loan who played 7 games for The Town in MLS Next Pro before the loan was ended early and he went back to Poland - Galaxy bring in 22 year old 6'3 Serbian goalkeeper Novak Mićović on loan who... beats the Quakes in Leagues Cup Good performance by LA Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Mićović last night in his side’s 2-1 win over San Jose.The 22-year-old joined LAG on loan initially then a $1m purchase option picked up this winter pic.twitter.com/BKncVjjrSU— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) August 1, 2024 This isn't a Pec Pantsil big money DP move, this is the sort of move a team that's not going to spend tons of money has to get right in order to be competitive, with the proper talent identification and development, which starts with the analytics and scouting but the buck stops with the GM.
I don’t think you can compare the Bieganski loan to Mićović. Bieganski was never on the 1st team roster, and the loan amount may not be very close either. I didn’t even think Mićović was all that good against the Quakes. One decent save on a Pellegrino shot and then made a bit of a mess with the Jebo goal, kinda of coming out into no-man’s land. ‘Brough actually had a better save (double save) on Pec and Puig. So I wouldn’t run too far with “he beat the Quakes”. I think we took a cheap flyer on Bieganski and for whatever reason it didn’t work out. If we want to complain about Quakes keeper moves we should be talking more about Yarbrough.
double save is generous. he made a good save, the second shot was hit directly at his jaw...so he got lucky. but Yarbrough wasn't the problem last night. our attack was terribly weak.
First save was really good though. I don't think it matters that much that the 2nd shot was hit directly into him. The broader point is that even 'Brough made a a better save than Mićović made all night last night.
it only matters in as much as it was one good save, and a little fortuitous luck, as opposed to a great double save.
Yes, but my broader point was about annointing (or not) Mićović as a great acquisition when he "beat" the Quakes in one game. Even 'Brough made a better save last night, and Mićović's career saves % in MLS is 58%. Small sample size but....so far, not great.
The 2024 Quakes are on pace to be one of the worst teams in MLS history.... the summer transfer window just closed and they made ZERO moves! Question for Chris Leitch:
I can’t respect his way-too-minimalist approach any more than I can respect our way-too-minimalist stadium. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Summer transfer rumors: Quakes connected to a center back, defensive midfielder, left winger Chris Leitch: gets zero of the three moves over the line Who won the transfer window? 💭— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 15, 2024
Apparently we weren't the worst, but merely 28th out of 29! Ranking every MLS team’s 2024 summer transfer window from worst-to-first 29. Seattle Sounders Notable incomings: N/A Notable outgoings: N/A Yeah… Seattle. did nothing to meaningfully elevate their chances of winning a trophy this year. They didn’t fill their open U22 Initiative spot and they didn’t ditch Raul Ruidiaz. The Sounders are still a strong team, but their margin for error is smaller than the best in the West. 28. San Jose Earthquakes In: N/A Out: N/A Is anyone surprised that the Quakes had a quiet summer? No? I didn’t think so. The worst team in the West has a coaching vacancy to fill, a roster to overhaul, and a reputation as one of the league’s least-ambitious clubs to maintain.
Least ambitious is right. Excellent job Quakes on representing 50 years of soccer in San Jose with a season to forget.