Pellegrino isn't a bad player, but he's not a good player. He's your average level professional soccer player. He isn't going to change the game. The MLS isn't suited for his style of play either. He's not physical or fast. He's a finesse slow player. It's why the MLS will be his peak.
New England, Dallas, Chicago, and Seattle making sure Luchi has some competition for first coach fired, can't have him running away with that award...
Looks like Seattle got two red cards. Vancouver scored twice after the first red. Kind of hard to pin this one on Schmetzer.
He's a very odd player. I've never seen such a skinny soccer player. Just so tall and rail thin. He is actually fast, not in short movements, but on longer runs; he can run past the defense if you play him thru with a long ball. I think it's the long legs plus like 0 wind resistance . Good finisher, not going to get much on defense, not going to take guys on. He can be useful but you have to play to his strengths. If you don't, then there's no use playing him. I would get him off the outside and move him centrally for one.
Another guy I would consider for that left side attacker spot - Will Richmond. Yes, Will Richmond! The reason is that he's the one guy, out of all of those, who has a two-way game on the attack, like Salinas. He's a righty but can cross pretty well with his left. He's not nearly as fast as Salinas, and not as good at attacking a guy 1v1, but a bit better than average speed and I think loses the ball less often than Salinas. He's gotten little bits and pieces of 1st team minutes, but what do we have to lose at the point? Start trying stuff and give these guys a shot. Skahan, Marie, and Benji are all righties with no reasonable hope for a left-footed cross of any kind. Niko and Ricketts are lefties so their shooting angles from the left side are limited. They'd have to play the position like traditional (non-inverted) wingers, which is OK but better to keep the defender guessing as to which way you want to go and what you're trying to do.
San Jose coach fired NEWS: The #SJSharks have relieved David Quinn of his head coaching duties.— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) April 24, 2024
Luchi is now 1-8-1 to start the 2024 MLS season, and he doesn't even have the excuse of taking over a new team! "The NE Revs are now 1-7-1 to start the 2024 MLS season. In MLS history, 1-7-1 is is tied for the second-worst start for a head coach with a new team." In MLS history, 1-7-1 is is tied for the second-worst start for a head coach with a new team. Been tough sledding for Caleb Porter thus far. https://t.co/9piXCTJFLa— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 28, 2024 I should specify that this is over the first 9 games of a managerial tenure. Only Terry Dunfield (1-8-0), who took over TFC last year, was worse.Porter's 1-7-1 is tied with Perry van der Beck, who took over Tampa Bay in mid-2001.— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 28, 2024
Fortunately for Luchi, his "taking over new team" season was a playoff earning (barely) 10-10-14. In Luchi's eyes, that probably buys him some time. I think the chance that Luchi loses his job this season are very low.
Although, no one knows what the player will bring as of yet, signing Lopez may also save Luchi's job for now.
He should be cleaning out his office today and out the door tomorrow. I said "should be" - not "will be". Do we know if Leitch can fire him or if Shawlee would have to OK it?
At the very least CL knows this is a player we need badly and he hasn’t gotten the player to Luchi yet this season. So certainly he’s going to want to give Luchi time to integrate Hernán and most certainly we’ll have a little better results. It would be hard not to. So unless we somehow continue at our awful pace, I think Luchi will be the coach to the end of the the year and next year too. The people waiting with bated breath for Luchi to get fired any day now are very likely wasting their energy.
Luchi should have done better with the guys he has. HLN or no, we shouldn’t be as lousy as we are. Luchi hasn’t done well with the tools that he has, there’s no reason to spare him when we could hand the team over to Ian Monday morning. He’s not a good coach as you have said. Time for him to find the door. Of course, I don’t expect him to be fired just yet. Go Quakesfans!!
Luchi had Ferreria, Pepi, Mosquera and other guys comparable to our new man and he still sucked. Facts are facts. If your desire is to be competitive and lose then Luchi is your guy If you want MLS Cup or top table contention Luchi isnt your guy
I didn’t pay much attention to Dallas. The attacking players you named were much more dynamic than ours if I remember correctly. Was Luchi’s FC Dallas playing the same static and slow moving style?
They couldn't score goals, they were a very boring team that had almost no creative flare. They were the most boring team to watch under Luchi. A lead meant bunkering even if it was the 30th minute of the game. You would expect a Dallas roster that included Akindele, Pepi, Ulloa, Chris Richards, Alexander, Acosta, Hollingshead, Mosquera, Badji, Pepi, Ferreira, Barrios, Hedges, Pomykal, Gonzalez and Mauer end up in 7th place and 13th overall? On paper they had one of the best talent rosters in MLS. FC Dallas went from a 4th place team with Peraja to a 7th place struggling team in 1 season under Luchi's first year. 7th, 6th, 11th were his finishes with Dallas. It should be noted Luchi was coaching at the time they sold Gruezo mid season. So he apparently didn't rate him all that high... So I don't know why he'd want him now. Makes no sense to me. Luchi wasted HGP/Young talent in Dallas during his time.
I think it was the chance to net around $5M in the transfer to Augsburg. And that's probably one of the reasons we overpaid for him. Augsburg was probably saying, yeah, we paid $5M so it's going to cost you (they were probably bluffing and would have been happy to be done with him even for $1M or less). $3M might have been seen as a good deal for us based on his previous transfer. But it sure wasn't. CL got fleeced by Augsburg and Gruezo's agent (on his guaranteed salary). Hopefully the Hernán deal doesn't turn out to be another fleecing. He looks like the real deal but you never know.
The team overall isnt good enough for him. At some point we will get some wins, but we shpuldnt expect anything hire than 14th.
I have a Luchi question. During his announcement as head coach he went to lengths to explain that he had learned so much as an assistant coach under Berhalter during the World Cup campaign and he would be applying those lessons as the Quake’s head coach. What has changed from his coaching and tactics from his Dallas days? Looks very much the same to me.
To me too. Gregg's 4-3-3 looks and plays like a 4-3-3, but Luchi's 4-3-3 looks and plays like a 4-5-1 and it's boring as hell. I was expecting not to like Luchi as a coach, and I don't. Can we fire him now, please? Next week at the latest? Go Quakesfans!!
I don't know how it's different from Dallas, but I can see the similar problems that the UMSNT has had with GB. The team is designed to build up in attack and play through the wings. Neither the USMNT or Quakes do a good job of feeding the striker. Neither central midfield is dynamic and is more concerned with shape than penetrating attacks. Defense is predicated on keeping it's shape and not getting stretched (I.e. limit counterattacks). The only savior for Gregg is that he has better talent.
Sigi Schmid was fired before Lodeiro got to Seattle even though the Sounders had been working on his transfer for a long time prior. I’ll tell you what, if Schmetzer gets let go in Seattle I’d love to see him approached to be an assistant for Ian Russell in San Jose. He might relish a mental break from the rigors of the top position for a season or two, They both grew up in Seattle with fathers that were soccer coaches. I bet they get along famously.
Schmetz is a good coach and a good guy. I think it would be a mistake for Seattle to let him go but maybe he’s run his course there. It’s been a long time. I think it’s more likely he becomes Quakes head coach than it is that he becomes Ian’s assistant. And if he were to coach here, well it’s a harder job than Seattle. If he wants a challenge…but if things go south it could be his last MLS head coaching job. At some point you are branded as “MLS has passed him by”. A few losing seasons in SJ, fair or not, he’d probably get that branding, like Dom and Frank got.