Let’s just play 3 cb’s. Flo on the left, kashia on the right and alanis will be the ‘attacking center back’ in the middle. [emoji3]
I'd honestly be very open to trying that. It isn't as if Thompson and Lima are doing much on the defensive side of the game right now, anyway. Might as well limit the damage they're doing to the team as much as possible.
My Starting XI (JT/Yueill with USOQ group): Vega Kashia Alanis Flo TT(RWB) Judson(CDM) Lima(LWB) Cowell(RAM) Espinoza(LAM) Wondo Hoesen Vako’s last two performances, Saturday’s goal notwithstanding, hasn’t impressed me. He’s back to ballhog mode. Eriksson’s only plus is his ability to forcibly run through opponent bodies with brute force. Other than that, he slows play down. Cowell provides a definite spark when he came on at HT on Saturday — Rios should’ve come off, not Hoesen, for that change.
I personally think Hoesen has been dreadful in his first two games this year, and it's a major failing of Almeyda to not realize that he's just not good enough to play out wide. I also don't recall the Hoesen/Wondolowski pairing working particularly well, so I wouldn't be eager to see it tried again. If they lose their third game, then I think it'll just be time to bench the older players and put as many of the youngest guys on the field as possible. To me, there was no point in replacing Wondolowski with another over 30 player. It's a baffling move, to me. Likewise, if there are any available young defenders to try, it's time to try them. I feel pretty confident that they could not do that much worse than allowing 7 goals at home in two games. The whole team has been pathetic in their execution, and none of the starting players are likely to get better. Every single one is at peak age or older. They've had their chance and squandered it. Time to make good on the promise of giving time to younger talent.
You could say this about nearly all of our players. Vega has been terrible. Rios has been terrible. Lima has been weak at best. Magnus hasn't been good enough, but he's trying at least. Vako has been up and down, mostly down. We've been shitte, no doubt about it. This team needs a lot of changes, coach might be one of them. (GM too.) (Owner needs to go for certain.) Go Quakes!! Fisher OUT!! - Mark
I don't see any reason other than injury or losing a step on why Florian shouldn't be starting. If he is exactly as he was last season, he should be playing.
Almeyda is probably afraid the defense will get ripped to shreds in the air (which they did anyway). Flo played with either Kashia or Cummings last year. He’s was always paired with a big guy. Alanis is listed as bigger than Kashia but that isn’t true.
Yeah, big is one of those descriptor's that doesn't mean much on its own. He certainly doesn't appear to have the same build as Kashia in terms of upper body muscle. But not sure that matter all that much. What killed both Kashia and Alanis in their first two games was poor positioning. It doesn't matter how tall or big you are if you don't know where you're supposed to be. I do think Jungwirth has an edge over Kashia in this respect, certainly. What makes me think Jungwirth's effect would be limited is that he often gets outplayed in key areas. He can show up in the right place, but then just gets blown by because he over commits or just plain isn't fast enough. Really, none of us should have any confidence in the defenders, both because they aren't especially good defenders in their own right, but also because Almeyda hasn't organized the team in a way that allows them to defend well. Two games now and we've seen zero defending in the center of the field. When you expose the center of the field the way they've done, you're going to make your life significantly more challenging than it should be. If the team converted a lot of their scoring chances, I'd say maybe you could get away with it. But when you can't even get shots on frame from 18 or 20 yards out, you aren't going to score a lot of goals. If you aren't scoring goals and litter the field with players that can't or won't defend, you aren't going to win games. Could Jungwirth help the team were he to play? Yes, maybe a little. Is it going to matter in the long run if there aren't more significant changes than that? Not really, no. It's actually amazing how much progress the team lost from 2019 to 2020, but we saw it starting to happen late last season. Almeyda's system isn't magic, and it's even less so if he continues down the same stubborn path that proves won't work. Maybe there's something in the water in San Jose that makes every front office person and coach a total coward with regard to trying new things, but it's baffling how terrible the team has looked so far this year. I certainly think Jungwirth should get a shot at starting again so long as he's fit given the circumstances, but it's hard for me to believe anything real will change. The problem most squarely rests with Fioranelli's horrible talent evaluation. When he pictures a soccer game in his mind, I really wonder what that picture looks like. Of course, what I fear is that there's no picture at all, which would explain what we've been watching since he took control of the team.
Opara out jumped both I believe. I doubt Florian would be beaten like that twice or even once. I still say play Flo in the midfield. Again , although I like Lima, I doubt he will be worse than he has been.
do we have more CBs on the team? we should play all of the registered CBs inside our box to protect Vega and the 0-0 draw from kick off. Let Magnus, Hosen, Vako, Rios or whoever do whatever they are doing around the opposite box or any random location on the other half pretending they are playing attacking soccer.
Ike Opara is a BEAST in the air. Did you see his 'hang time' on the first (I think) goal? He defies gravity. When the Quakes drafted him out of college I remember a pic of him in a college game where his hips were elevated about the defenders head. The guys has springs for legs. Nobody can defend that.
Yeah. Too bad Opara was always injured while he was with the Quakes. I think at the time their only choice was to let him go. He has won defender of the year twice but I still retain that he will not have won anything had he remained here.
"Florian Jungwirth voted Center Line Soccer’s 2020 San Jose Earthquakes Defender of the Year" (Center Line Soccer - Friday, 12/11/20) (Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Interesting seeing that photo now. Quincy is now pretty much out of the game and Ibra is leading AC Milan to first place while leading the Serie A in scoring... As for Florian, I always thought he was a steady defender but he along with the rest of the defense seemed to implode in the last few years with those blowout losses. You want to blame the GK at first but the defense was also at fault. Glad he got defender of the year though...
Highly recommend this interview with Flo. Lots of good insights, including how bad the team Chemistry was under Stahre. This is part 2... you'll need to dig a bit for part 1.