The Official Marco Ureña thread

Cold weather can be a real detriment to players who aren't used to it, and by used to it, I generally mean raised in it. There are a number of examples of players who go to Norway and Denmark, places like that, and they just can never get up to their potential because of being unable to adjust. If that was a factor at all for him, then California should help considerably.

 

Speaking of Costa Rican nationals not used to cold weather:

 

I was actually in Costa Rica when the rumor that Urena was coming to SJE broke. Side bar, Costa Rican's know more about MLS than most Americans I know. Being in Costa Rica, I did a very unofficial poll of local soccer fans on Urenas talent. Fist, 100% were thrilled another Costa Rican player might be coming to MLS. Good news, most said he's an athletic hard working attacker that is well liked. Bad news, not a reliable at scoring or much of anything else. In summary, "Meh"...Ultan, you hit it on the head.

 

That's why I expect Dom to play him at outside mid. When you are striker pressure's on to score a lot. If he tends to stir the pot and works hard but doesn't necessarily score a lot, outside mid in Dom's "system" may be a better fit. Salinas rarely scores. I'd be surprised if he didn't score a little more than Salinas and isn't more cultures around goal.

 

Yeah, maybe he's the replacement for Quintero. Sure seems like we're stacking up mids. Doesn't make sense unless we're planning to add the capability of using different formations.
I wonder if we're going see a three man back line at some point.

 

He actually seems like Darwin Quintero lite. Speedy, including with the ball...combines with a strike parter and contributes both goals and assists...has a good shot.

 

I tried converting Danish G+A/G or G+A/90 to MLS G+A/90(from the player's first two seasons), but there are only two other forwards who came from the Danish Superliga to MLS(2009 onwards), Charlie Davies and Chris Rolfe.

Rolfe(came back 2012): 12G+A,35GP,2207mins (.343pg,.489p90) => 16G+A,3895mins(.370p90)
Davies(came back 2013): 25G+A,23GP,4058mins (.455pg,.554p90) => 7G+A,1166mins(.540p90)

So I added Sweden and Norway(I'd say they are comparable)
Cam Weaver(came back 2009) 20G+A,46GP,1579mins(.435pg,.470p90) => 11G+A,1579mins(.627p90)
Kennedy Igboananike(came 2015) 43G+A,117GP,7517mins(.368pg,.515p90) => 16G+A,3550mins(.406p90)
David Accam(came 2015) 39G+A,62GP,4889mins(.629pg,.719p90) => 26G+A,3800mins(.616p90)
Alhaji Kamara(came 2016) 20G+A,45GP,2243smins(.444pg,.802p90) =>1G+A,173mins(.520p90)
Ema Boateng(came back 2016) 5G+A,40GP,1432mins(.125pg,.314p90) =>7G+A,1547mins(.407p90)

Urena had 10G+A in 42 games and 1004 mins. (A stunning 0.896 G+A/90 and a woeful 0.238 G+A/GP)

Using Multi-linear regression with both numbers I created a model with R-squared of 0.57 which has Urena pegged at .327 G+A/90, just .09 higher than Quincy last year. However, none of the inputs had a per game and per 90 discrepancy close to as large as Urena.

*Note Transfermarkt's numbers are slightly off whenever I check other sources for mins.

 

I think the Quakes have a pretty good idea about Marcos's game. They see him in CONCACAF, etc. I mean it's not like he's from Urenas.

 

You're really reaching now....

 

My two cents about this signing: *Meh*

 

“I really like to play forward, up top,” said Urena. “This is my favorite position. I hope to score a lot of goals for San Jose.”

“I am very happy to have him join the Quakes,” said Fioranelli, “especially because he is going to give us versatility in midfield, being able to connect our defensive and offensive efforts. Having looked at him in more depth, I really appreciate how much presence he has on the field, and how much ground he covers.”

Ruh-roh.

 

Interchangeable attackers...versatile smart soccer players...fluid rotations...Roma ideology...seems ambitious after an eon of 4-4-2...all we've ever really known. I doubt we're going to see the empty bucket. If we do, it won't be for long....heading towards something very different...stacking up players who can play multiple positions.

 

We had interchangeable attackers last season too. It's just that they all played outside mid .

 

Let's say he's a middling player and only produces 6 goals and 3 assists. That would still be a big boost to our anemic offense. So I'll take it. Also, given that we aren't spending DP money, we can't expect DP level performances.

And what's Dom going to say? "We just signed another middle of the road striker, I hope he doesn't suck too badly." Yes, that's sure to rally the troops and sell tickets!

Go ..... oh f@#$ it.

- Mark

 

I hope you're right, but Dom is stubbornly wedded to the empty bucket. Maybe this means that Dom gets the sack early in the season? And we get a coach from AS Roma or Lazio?

I'd love to see us do better, but I think we have to sack Dom for that to really happen.

- Mark

 

One can only hope. The number and type of defenders the team has now does lend itself to various configurations of three.

 

Anyone seen Marcos's goal dance? It's great. It has been described as something approximating the Mac-urena.

 

Phbhbhbhbhbhbhbhbh! If only there was still negative rep.

 

He isn't. Some people are stubbornly wedded to the idea that he is; but last year he didn't always do that.

 

True Dom might occasionally play Wondo as a #10!

 

Didn't Dom sometimes play a 4-3-3 in Houston? I'd be more surprised if he'd play a 3-5-2.

 

He did mess around with it. I can see us moving that direction based on the input of Leitch and Fioranelli

 

He did try a 4-3-3, which I recall him quickly abandoning when it didn't produce immediate results. I could be wrong on that, but fairly sure it was a short lived experiment, suggesting his heart wasn't really in it to begin with.

 

Since his return to blessed San José, Dom has tried a 4-5-1, and 4-1-4-1 (practically the same thing), but he abandoned those right away. There were a few times last year where toward the end of a match, when we were behind, that he pulled a midfielder for another forward so 4-3-3, and even once or twice when he pulled a defender and we played 3-5-2 or 3-4-3, but those were Hail Mary situations, and not part of our regular formation.

I want to see us play a 4-3-3 all the time, or better yet, a 3-5-2 (more control in the midfield).

At a minimum, we should practice different formations (I do not know if we do this already or not) so that we can make the switch in a game and not go to pieces. We should be more flexible is what I 'm saying. But a 4-3-3 like this (understanding that the forwards move around a lot, so those aren't really set positions):

- - - Garcia - - - Wondo - - - Ureña
- - - - - - - - - - - Dawkins
- - - - - - Godoy - - - - - - Alashe
Kip - - Cummings - Muma - Wynne
- - - - - - - - - - - - Bings

Maybe Imperiale plays in place of Cummings or Muma (I assume some Muma injuries and suspensions). Maybe Lima plays in place of Kip, or maybe Wynne plays left back and Lima plays right back. I'm not impressed enough with Darwin to have him start over Fatai, but your mileage may vary. Oh, and maybe we actually do get Hoesen and he's better than Garcia. No idea as of yet.

I'm still not convinced that this gives us enough offense unless Dawkins attacks most of the time, and Alashe or Godoy get into it too. Even so, we would need offensive production from Kip and Wynne or Lima and Wynne. Whatever the combination is on the back line.

Oh, and does this lineup look like we might be playoff bound? No? Not even if several other teams collapse? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

- Mark