The Official Henok Goitom thread

Välkommen

Now go score some goals

 

I don't know if you were kidding but that's a fair shout. 39 goals in 93 appearances in the Swedish top flight isn't too shabby at all and he should be a positive addition - BUT his non appearances for Getafe is worrying, particularly at his age...

 

so Wondo as midfielder again?

 

Amerikwa will be on the bench, where he belongs.

 

Nope. Quincy sits and that is fine with me.

I like Quincy as a person and love his work rate. But he takes on defenders when a pass is the better choice. Does not pick his head up enough to see what options he has.

I think he would be more effective coming in as a late sub (imagine getting hit with both Shea and Quincy late in a game).

The new guy, Goitom, should be evaluated not just on goals and assists, although I hope he can up the finishing rate from what we currently have. I want to see how he moves the back line around too. He may well make room for Wondo and never even touch the ball. But his movement can open up chances for others. He may also pull centerbacks out of position to leave room in the middle for guys like Dawkins to cut in. In other words, he may be a solid team player and help out somewhat independently of his actual scoring prowess. Of course, if he never scores, nobody will bother marking him .

I am open to being impressed.

 

His soccer brain stopped developing at the U-13 level.

 

We need for Henok to either do really well on the pitch (goals, assists, drawing defenders out of position for others), or he needs to take over as head coach.

Henok speaks:
“The adventure in San Jose is a different adventure with a different type of football … I will get to pick up experience to add to my toolbox for a future as a coach.”

Go Quakes!!
Fire Doyle and Dom!!

- Mark

 

I posted this in the Trade and Free Agency thread because we didn't have this one yet, but this is where it goes.

OK, so what would success look like for Henok? I mean, what would make us think this is a good signing?

We have twelve games to go, probably only eleven for Henok. Wondo is scoring a goal every other game. Can we expect that from Henok? Most of the elite strikers in the league are in that neighborhood, some higher. Would we be happy with a goal every three games? So three or four goals over the last eleven games? And a similar number of assists? How about one or two goals and six or seven assists?

I think we should try to describe what sort of production we want from him before he plays, so that we'll have something to measure against. I don't want us to whine that he he's terrible because he only scored three and had four assists. That would be scoring and assisting on par with the top players in the league. (At least, within the top ten guys in both categories.)

• Quintero has three goals and two assists.
• Quincy has two goals and three assists.
• Salinas is one and four.
• Wondo nine and two.

So three goals and four assists would certainly look like success to me.

But what about one goal and two assists? Is that not good enough?

OR, did we just bring him in so that it looks like we're doing something. "Hey, we signed a guy. Given the cap, this is the best we could do, and he wasn't really great. Better luck next year." Is that what this is?

Here's another question, given our great recent form, and Cerén and Henok, how many more games can we expect to win? Would four of the next twelve be good? Six of the next twelve? We need seven of the last twelve to equal last year's haul of thirteen. We are currently five points behind the last playoff spot, with two games in hand. (Who thinks that we win the next two?!) And, can Henok help get us over the hump? (Make that Henok and Cerén?)

I think we're toast. This season is cooked. We're done. It's time to start thinking about next season, and Henok is NOT going to figure in an improved squad for us next season.

Henok speaks:
“The adventure in San Jose is a different adventure with a different type of football … I will get to pick up experience to add to my toolbox for a future as a coach.”

Maybe he's a stealth signing? Maybe Kaval will sack Dom, Doyle, Ralston, Russell, and Hanley and make Henok Head Coach? Or maybe he'll be Jordan Stewart's first assistant? That might be good, it he's a good coach. Can't be much worse right?

Go Quakes!!
We Suck!!

- Mark
6-10-6, record of futility!

 

... pending receipt of his P-1 Visa and ITC.

 

I love the title 'Former La Liga Striker". Please. He had a cup of coffee. Great PR Quakes.

His stats at AIK are good. As long as he is healthy, I doubt that he is worse than QA. Cautiously optimistic.

 

Henok wore #10 for AIK; this number is usually given to the attacking center mid.
Even though, Henok is taller than our starting forwards doesn't mean he'll be played or has the experience to play as a Lenny replacement.

My guess is Henok will provide cover for Wondo if Wondo is called up for WCQ games. Plus he maybe is a good SJE academy coach at some point.

 

Isn't 109 appearances in La Liga enough to say he was a former La Liga striker? What's your cut-off point?

 

Goitom must be an upgrade over Jahn and Sherrod, who hasn't played in over a year. He's out for Friday because of passport issues, which certainly should be fixed in time for the other trip to Canada against Montreal in late September.

So, he's here for 11 games. As usual, the Quakes are late to the dance. Doyle likes to play musical chairs after the game has already started, so when he enters, there are two more people than chairs.

Hopefully, Goitom adjusts to MLS quickly and helps turn these ties into victories. Otherwise, he'll be a guy whose name we struggle to remember in a year or two.

I will judge this move based on Kaval's supposed comment that San Jose will compete for the MLS Cup, which is, of course, a vague standard. No playoffs is obviously a failure. A play-in round loss is little better, but will probably save Kinnear's and Doyle's jobs, if they are indeed at risk. And if they aren't at risk, it's unlikely this team will ever move beyond blah.

A good opportunity for Goitom to learn about coaching and general managing, if he's interested. The rest of the season will show him what not to do for his future career.

From my viewing of the condensed Orlando/Seattle match, I'd say that MPG looks a bit chubby and out of shape. However, he contributed two or three outstanding passes and balls into the box in those extended highlights. Too bad, he won't have the opportunity to aim for Goitom's head.

 

Translation: Quakes FO flunky on way to Mexican border to escort him across.

 

From my perspective, the implication is that he just moved to the Quakes from La Liga, not from AIK (after 3-4 seasons).

 

This is as close to shrewed as our front office gets. Orlando is out of my dog house as we owe them a HUGE debt of gratitude. If we don't do the Cerén deal, this doesn't happen. Now we have the right type of player to play with Wondo. This guy can score with both feet, play with both feet, and can make a system built around Wondo actually work. He doesn't have a big injury history and isn't ancient. He's big enough and tall enough--maybe not optimal on either one but has the feet to make up for that. Quincy is now overpaid, so hopefully motivated, depth.

This is the anti-innocent---good contract, recently playing and scoring at a good level, good maturity but not too old, no significant acclimation required. Back to Orlando, they gave us a fairly young player with a good contract, who brings depth in the center (no need to rely on Alashe & Godoy always being available for things to work) without relying on the return of Pelosi....in exchange for a player that wasn't getting many minutes in MPG and was leaving at the end of the year anyway. I think we're still weak with strikers of the dead ball when Salinas isn't out there, but oh well.

Obviously Henok will need to stay healthy, which is always in doubt on this team. And Marvell needs to still play well such that the loss of Goodson isn't the difference maker that tanks our season. And it may be too late still for playoffs, but this should give us a chance at least. If both Dawkins and Cato settle at their positions and are more consistant I think we have all the pieces now to fall just above the red line instead of just below.

Anyone whining about this today, is whining for whining sake. This is as good as we possibly could have done with Innocent still on the roster.

 

He played for several seasons in La Liga, and his last two competitive appearances were there.
I suppose to be more accurate they should have included the Swedish league (whatever that is called) in his introduction.

It's no worse than when a team says they signed a former **fill in the country** international when said player had one or two appearances a decade ago.

 

Is he actually ready to play this weekend? Or is it pending a visa/green card/physical etc which will keep him out for around a month.

 

. . . referred to him as an Eritrean-Swede rather than Swedish-Eritrean.

He's of Eritrean descent born in Sweden. Similarly, I'm of Italian descent born in the United States; am I American-Italian?

 

He absolutely will make Lenny the grifter into a bad memory on vacation.

He is ready. But it's unknown, but unlikely, on both the ITC and the P1 Visa by Friday. It should be all in place for the following weekend though.

 

These things seem to take longer than we'd like. May not be available until the game after the game after next.

 

Did you check his last season's stats with Getafe? Getafe was relegated and Henok didn't
Play regularly. Sound familiar?
I hope I'm wrong.

Edit: now he talking about coaching.