The Official Matías Almeyda thread

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You expect shining moments from Garber?

 

Can you name any shining moments from Garber?! He’s a sack of crap. He’s never been a good commissioner. Yes, he’s overseen a huge expansion of the league, but that’s his freaking job. I can’t think of a lot of things that he’s done that made me think: Hey! This guy is good for the league!!

F@#$ Garber!!

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

He let us have our team back. So, there's that. Would have been better if he had let us keep it in the first instance.

He let Columbus keep its team, after Ohio's judiciary forced him to do so. Would have been better if he had left well enough alone.

He folded Chivas USA. Would have been better if he had never conceived of such an abomination in the first place.

He allowed fans to belatedly wave Iron Front flags. Would have been better if he didn't try to outlaw "political" flags, including the American flag in one its original configurations.

He only fined Matias and suspended him for only about a quarter of the season rather than banning him outright and confiscating all his worldly possessions. Would have been better if he actually did something about the criminal officiating that led to Matias' outbursts.

So, yeah, Garber's had some (somewhat) shining moments in a tenure that has been mostly revolting.

 

I mean, if you're an investor in the league, I think it would be hard to argue against his tenure. He's guided the league to its most valuable state so far, and did so through a pretty dismal period as well. As a fan of the league, he's been awful. He lied about the situation in Columbus, he used veiled language to undermine the negotiating power of the referee's union and tried to weaken them further by welcoming scabs (at the behest of the owners, I'm sure). He's also continued to work to obfuscate the nature of spending when it comes to player rosters. He's a first-rate jerk bag. But he's done exactly what the league wants him to do about as well as any commissioner in pro sports in the US ever has.

He at least seems to understand why people enjoy soccer, which is more than I can say for Manfred, who often makes statements that make me wonder if he's ever watched a baseball game.

 

Faint praise, my friend.

 

short italian article looking back at Almeyda's time at Lazio:



https://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/nat...tuttofare-diventato-grande-alla-lazio-1328378

 

The sophomore season coaches in MLS | US Soccer Players

 

I believe we saw everything we had to see in the players from last season, not sure any of them get a whole lot better. The only areas for improvement are Danny, Rios and Fierro and maybe Cade. We still have no serviceable backups.

 

Cade Cowell is only 16 years old, the equivalent to a HS sophomore or junior. Unless he is a wonder kid with incredible skill , I wouldn’t put too much hope for him this year. Maybe in 3 or 4 years but not now.

 

I hope PRO is having a good off season. They really need to. I hope Almeyda and others at least got their point across in that regard.

 

Looking on the brighter side of things, Almeyda takes credit for finding Espinosa and for revitalizing Magnus last year. As I recall all of us wanted Erickson gone until March 1st and then he started playing better.

Maybe Matías can find some more gems this year?

 

I think a lot of us are still unsatisfied with Eriksson, but he certainly deserves to be considered as the most improved player from 2018 to 2019. There are still better options out there. The team still needs to score goals, and nobody other than Wondolowski scores at the rate necessary. The fact that Wondolowski still outscores everyone else on the team is a testament to his ability, but also a harsh condemnation on the ability of everyone else. Nobody else getting to double digit goal totals is a major issue. Given the way the Quakes are supposed to be playing, Eriksson should be scoring very regularly if he wants to be considered a good MLS player in today's age.

 

Sadly , sooner or later, Wondo needs to step aside and Almeyda needs to get goal production out of both Espinosa & Eriksson.

We also need to get goals from our midfielders and even a defender on occasion. That happens in every successful team in the entire world.

 

Eriksson was easily the most improved player on the squad last year. He clearly knows what he should do, he just lacks the quickness to get it done sometimes. Matias got more out of him than I thought was possible. Six goals and ten assists is actually decent.

However, because Wondo is our only big goal scorer, we need more production from the other positions. (This is one reason I don’t like one forward formations.) So yeah, we need for Cristian to score more, and Vako and Magnus too. And if possible, I want to upgrade Magnus. I want to upgrade Vako’ position too, again, not because he’s terrible, but because in our scheme, we need more production from him and more teamwork.

And as @falvo says, we need more production from our defenders and other midfielders too. Our outside defenders should score four or five a season each.

AND ... we need a Wondo backup. I mean, do any of us think that Danny can carry the load next season after Wondo retires? We need a guy who can push Wondo for minutes this season.

I like Matias, but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

We need more production from the outside backs as well as the mids. When Wondo retires or decides to leave, our forward line will be in trouble....

 

Question: does anyone know if Almeyda takes part in scrimmages and training sessions with the team? He was a brutal tackler in his younger days...

 

I was going to be their anyway but now I'll be sure to show up early.

So far I've got Alashe, Krazy George, Wondo, and soon Almeyda.

Who do you think will be the next player to get a bobble head?

I would love a Shea Salinas bobble head, but I don't know if they'll do that unless he has another great season.

I think if Espinoza can add a significant number of goals to his assists he'll be bobble head worthy, but after that what achievement can be made by a player to deserve a bobble head?

 

Yes, I would love a Q bobblehead.

 

I want to say he was playing around a bit in one of those little video clips the team released, but I don't know if it was indicative of regular playing participation. Almeyda's young enough still that he could conceivably play a fair amount to demonstrate if he so chose, the way Cruyff would play a bit toward the end of some of his training sessions after the players tired themselves out a fair bit first.

 

I would argue that Wondolowski is not really a lone forwardin Almeyda's system. In the strictest sense, he is, but it's a lot less rigid than that. Vako, for all intents and purposes, plays as a forward. That's one reason he really needs to be scoring more than he is. If he isn't getting a minimum 10 goals, then they need to consider other options.

But this season will be interesting. Almeyda seriously under-utilized Hoesen at certain points of the season, and then when he did play, he was just not in-step with everyone else. I have to expect we'll see more Fierro, in particular, due to his age. Though he also did not exactly impress in the minutes he got.

That's less the system itself than Almeyda's management of the players available to him. It's really the one major area he can be criticized in, as it always seems to be a problem. Which means we shouldn't expect him to get much better at it this year. And with everyone a year older, I'm not sure all of them are going to hold up to the rigor any better than they did in 2019.

 

Hoesen was injured for part of last season.

For most of last season, we had only two senior forwards on the roster (I'm not counting Cade and Siad, because they are, or were in Reno). Either Rios or Danny really needs to step it up this season. And if not, then we really need another striker.

About Almeyda's system: Officially, it's a 4-5-1, but it plays more like a 3-5-2 (or 3-6-1) with the outside backs pushed up and one of the D-mids dropped back. However, I think it's Magnus who plays more like a withdrawn forward than Vako. Vako plays like a pushed up wing. He cuts inside a lot, and he's reasonably good, but we need more. Perhaps if we had a much better left-back, Vako could be more productive? Vako didn't use his overlapping defender very often, which might have been a lack of confidence in Lopez.

And Kashia will be slower this season. We need an upgrade there. And we need a credible backup for Florian. I think we're thin all over the backline.

Aghrrrrrrr! We need help, in several places, but we don't seem to care as an organization about that.

Go Quakes!!
Fisher OUT!!

- Mark

 

I thought it was more of a 4-2-3-1.

-----------------------Wondo----------------------
Vako-------------Eriksson----------Espinoza
----------Jackson--------Judson----------
Lima--------Flo---------Kashia-----Tommy