I also agree with what's the big deal of just barely squeaking into the playoffs if we have to struggle all season long? Shouldn't Almeyda by now have a more of a dominant and exciting team? Also, what's the big deal of just making the playofs? Isn't the ultimate goal to win something?
Promotion/relegation is so sorely missing from US soccer. That would expose the posers (i.e. Fisher) for what they really are and dramatically improve the quality of play in MLS.
I know in Europe making the Champions League is huge and worth a lot of money. Saw Napoli eliminated yesterday with Juventus going through. The Napoli players were in tears as they were coming off the field because they did not make 4th place in the table. I don't know how much money is involved in the Concacaf Champions League but I'm assuming if the competition was worth a lot, regular season games would be worth a lot more. As it is, I don’t see this greeat lure of either the US Open Cup or for that matter , just making the MLS playoffs as big deal.
How so? don't pretty much all leagues that use it have a have/have not division? Where 50% of the teams get beat regularly buy the top 20%? and fight amongst themselves to not get regulated?
Yes. Since we're in the Matias Almeyda thread it's fair to point out that since MA took over as coach the Quakes would not have been relegated (assuming bottom 3 gets relegated). So the Quakes wouldn't be in the 'Yo-Yo Club' and therefore would probably have an even easier time floating around the playoff line.
There is no way to really associate or compare a promotion / relegation league to MLS because it doesn’t exist. If teams only goal is to play for a playoff spot , the bottom teams are not playing to save themselves to be relegated at the end of the season. If anything , American sports teams as a rule are rewarded with high draft picks for finishing last and could even tank the last games of the season. I’m not saying high choice college picks will help a bad MLS team but that is the concept that is followed just like the NBA , MLB and especially the NFL. Once in a while you get a hidden gem like a Dan Marino for picking last and then they are set. In MLS you had the LA Galaxy ending up last along with the Quakes in David Beckham’s first year of 2008. The next year I believe they ended up in the MLS Cup final. This will have never happened if there were pro/rel in place.
^This, twice. We should finish in the top four of the division at least one year out of three, and that’s a damned low bar. BUT, our leadership (I use the term very loosely) aspire only to finishing seventh, or whatever the lowest possible playoff spot is. We “made it” in ‘20, but only because MLS added an eighth spot to the playoffs. I’m sure that “leadership” saw this as an achievement, but let’s not overlook the fact that the season included multiple games where we lost by four or more goals. We got crushed several times last season. A real team would have sacked their head coach and possibly GM for those failures. But we squeaked into the playoffs, therefore it was a successful season. Piss Off Jesse, Matías, and Fisher! That’s not nearly good enough, and this season we’re already headed for the toilet. Go Quakesfans!! Fisher OUT!! - Mark
If Chile could give the Quakes what they wantred, Almeyda will have been gone. With both the Copa América (13 June – 10 July) & the CONCACAF Gold Cup (10 July – 1 August) coming up, I'm thinking there will be a lot of teams in search of a head coach opening up , with Almeyda's name at the forefront.
4 losses in a row hurts but we haven't played that badly. We've deserved more than zero points from the last 4 games. They need to keep grinding.
Maybe things are different with the death of his father and the weariness of it all, but Matias has said similar things before. He gets frustrated. He gets down. I'm sure he thinks about packing it up sometimes. But when he thinks about it, and thinks about his principles - the bushido thing, etc., you never give up, even if you know you're outmanned. The long break will make this easy. He'll get recharged and want to keep fighting, at least through the end of this season.
4 losses in a row, 1 goal over those 4. Matias knows the situation is hopeless in SJ. the investment simply isn't there, Quakes are out of ideas and money, Chivas USA part II has been a bust, San Jose is again likely to finish last. its a soul crushing environment for a real competitor.
It’s not just about our owner being a cheap ass skinflint. Look at the money we are spending on Chofis, Rios, Fierro, Alanis, Vega, and others. If we spent our money wisely, we’d have a better team. If we played a system designed to make the most of the guys that we have, we’d have a better team. If Matías and Jesse had any respect for our league, we’d have made more trades for proven MLS talent. It’s true that Fisher is a cheap bastard and doesn’t care if we win or lose, but a huge fraction of our woes is on Almeyda and Fioraneli. I’m nauseated by how bad we are, and how clueless our leadership is. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
Mark, you are right and make great points but it seems we always come back to the same argument when talking about Quakes coaches and players. With the exception of 2012 (and maybe 2010) , since 2008, we have been dealing with this same issue. Obviously, there is something wrong with the owner, GM, coaches and players….
We’ve had worse runs of form in the last 2 seasons and have come out of it each time. My only concern is if this isn’t actually our *real* bad run of form because the games have been competitive. We’ve just been cold with finishing and had bad luck. It’s like the last 6 games of 2019. Now if we have a string of multiple goal blowouts like last year on top of this we’re in real trouble and we could be looking at the doomsday wheels come off scenario I described in the LA game pregame thread.
There’s a lot wrong with this team and lots of blame to go around. But at the end of ‘17 when Chris Leitch coached the team, we looked like we knew how to play. I’d want a better coach than CL, but he’d make a fine GM. Jesse and Matías have to go. We need a coach and a GM who know how to live within the budget that we have. We won’t be great under those circumstances, but we should be a lot less embarrassing. And yes, that’s a painfully low bar. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
If Chris Leitch were coaching this team the last 3-4 years, I can't imagine how we wouldn’t be having this same discussion. As a matter of fact, I'm almost sure we would. We have a crap team from the top on down....
This NYTimes article about Chelsea’s yoga master is really interesting. Maybe Almeyda needs to switch from bushido to yoga You may have noticed a South Indian face on the Chelsea bench tonight. It belongs to Vinay Menon, Chelsea's in-house calmer of frayed nerves. Here's his story: https://t.co/xMWUkP7yEQ— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) May 29, 2021
Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference and maybe in the end he really didn’t want to coach, but I would have liked to have seen Leitch get a chance to implement the 3-5-2 he wanted to play. I mean even changing the engine while the car’s running - new system midseason, we had some great performances with it. Plenty of bad on the road too but again, no time to work on it midseason and we didn’t have the wingers for it nor the mobility at CB. I thought we’d make those changes for 2018 and see where it takes us but instead we got the awful awful Stahre era and it’s been a grind ever since.
yup A to Z, starting with Fish, worst owner in the history of sports, all the way down...very poor is right.
Pep wins wherever. he goes but he coaches great teams... Barcelona La Liga: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11 Copa del Rey: 2008–09, 2011–12 Supercopa de España: 2009, 2010, 2011 UEFA Champions League: 2008–09, 2010–11 UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011 FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011 Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 DFB-Pokal: 2013–14, 2015–16 UEFA Super Cup: 2013 FIFA Club World Cup: 2013 Manchester City Premier League: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21[250] FA Cup: 2018–19 EFL Cup: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21 FA Community Shield: 2018, 2019 I'd be if Pep were coaching the Quakes, we would be having this same discussion.
right, it's musical chairs, literally every coach we've had since 2008 has faced the same dilemma, how to compete when you have very little money (certainly no money for a real DP who might actually improve the team) and the league around you is getting better every year.