Hoesen in the TOTW, Vako on the bench... Team of the Week presented by Audi: Earthquakes' Hoesen leads in Week 1 Audi Player Index Spotlight The spotlight player this week is San Jose Earthquakes forward Danny Hoesen, who scored a brace in a 3-2 win over Minnesota United. Hoesen had the Audi Player Index Performance of the Week, earning 1257 points in the match, best in the league. Hoesen scored one goal outside the box (327 points) and one goal inside the box (303 points), as well as tallying the eventual game-winner (175 points). He also completed 18 successful passes in the opposition half in the match, and tallied a key pass.
Congrats to Danny! Interesting, I wasn't aware that Houston picked up Senderos. If he stays healthy, he may be a very good signing with his experience.
I think Wondo did - the very last week of the season. I guess that makes 2 Quakes Player of the Week winners in a row, kind of.
Yup Hoesen wins first Player of the Week award of 2018 March 6, 2018 After leading Quakes to playoffs, Wondo named PotW October 24, 2017
Joel Soria and Daniel Sperry return for their next episode of the 24/74 show! In this episode Joel and Daniel discuss the opening day win, and go in depth with their analysis of the Earthquakes impressive performance. Then, Joel and Danny Hoesen chat about life, soccer, and the Quakes. After that fantastic interview, Joel and Daniel field Twitter Questions as well as try out some new segments for the show. Have a listen! You can follow the 24/74 show on Soundcloud and iTunes: https://soundcloud.com/24-74-show/2474-show-danny-hoesen-interview
A much better written article from Joel Soria. It's a lot of quotes, but that's fine. Keep it simple, let the article largely write itself with the quotes and the setup for the quotes. https://quakesepicenter.com/2018/03...n-has-revitalized-his-career-with-the-quakes/ And, the theme of the article, love the game (as TT says, "first love the game"). That theme has popped up a lot recently.
And it seemed like once Wondo came on at HT, Danny didn’t have space to move around, didn’t get the ball, and started playing more defense. In the last 10 minutes, I twice noticed him tracking down an attacker near our own goal line. I think because our MFs weren’t getting it done. Then the ball came loose, and there was no Quakes player to hoof it to.
Yes, that was definitely the reason too. But if you are the designated goalscorer, and you’re running back to help out, it’s because you’re thinking there is another goalscorer up front. That’s the wrong mindset. He needs to be told to stay up top no matter what, but if anyone should help run back and defend, it should be Wondo, not Danny. I mean, that’s like youth soccer principles...
No offense to Hoesen, who is giving it his all. However, why play him as a hold up, lone striker when he's bad at trapping the ball and prefers the ball at his feet? He's not Gordon or Lenhart or even Amarikwa. Hard to fathom that Fraudanelli paid a transfer fee for him and jettisoned under contract Ureña, who is better and cheaper than Erikkson, presumably his replacement, who also required a transfer fee. Everyone knew that Wondo is getting near the end. Why not keep team chemistry and start the season with a Hoesen/Ureña strike force with Wondo as a sub? Seriously, Fraudanelli is terrible at judging both player and coaching talent. Why is he here exactly? Because he likes the 3 back/5 back system, which is unpopular for good reason? FFS.
A three at the back system is fine if you can instill in players how it should work and what their responsibilities are. But here's the thing, the number of the defenders, whether 3 or 5, depending on the situation, is not the problem. They've defended okay with both 5 and 3. The major issue as that the midfield is incomprehensibly awful. I cannot, for the life of me, determine how Godoy keeps getting starts when he is the worst player on the field in nearly every game. He is not good enough to play in MLS and the Quakes will continue to suffer if they can't figure out how to put together a decent center midfield. Kinnear never understood how midfields work and Fioranelli and Stahre seem equally incapable of understanding even the simplest of soccer principles.
Urena was absolute crap at finishing, something which we actually need in a center forward unlike LAFC who can have Rossi and Vela. Exhibits A, B, C, and D. I'll throw in E for good measure, doesn't show his finishing but his general attacking prowess. If Urena was as good as you thought he was then we wouldn't have needed his last minute goal to make the playoffs where he hit it right into Boxall.
Ureña and his finishing weren’t the best. And not defending it. But he’s never going to be our killer striker. He was a supporting striker, which he did very well! And that’s exactly what he’s shining as in LAFC Edit: with wondo on our team (other than this season) we’ve never looked for a like-for-like replacement. It was always “who pairs best with wondo”