There was a Quakes epicenter podcast where they debated the Hoppe signing. One guy- Alex Morgan (no not that Alex Morgan) said it would be the Quakes most impactful signing ever. Not sure if serious or just trying to make it a more interesting podcast. The other guys weren’t sure if he was an upgrade to Benji (well they turned out to be right).
His last game was poor, but I’m of the opinion he should get a crack at the 9…and it is still too early to tell how much he can offer the team based on a handful of late game minutes on the wing. He’s clearly a central player…I just get irritated that Luchi rubber stamps Jebo at the 9, even after some pretty poor games where he can’t handle the ball cleanly…and sleepwalks through long stretches of the game. Why bring in players to supposedly compete for the position and not give them a legitimate shot at it. Give Hoppe a legit shot at the 9
We are in a playoff race and losing. How do you give Hoppe a start over Jebo at this time? He certainly hasn't shown that he deserves it in his minutes so far with the Quakes. I fully agree that we need an option to Jebo (off the bench and period starts), but I don't want to just give a start to the new "shinny object". We need to have done this earlier in the year.
Personally, I think they should give Jebo a shot at attacking mid, just like with deRo. Jebo has better ball control than a lot of guys on the team.
I wish we had a good second striker / "9.5" type of player on the team. For instance, Griezmann has been vocal about wanting to play in MLS - not that he would come to the Quakes but he would be incredible.
I see him as more of a CAM but then I've mostly watched him with the French nats. But yeah, he'd be great obviously. I think we should consider committing to the 3-5-2 next year, and give Espinoza the 2nd forward spot, but keep things a bit unbalanced on the right side. He'd be 2nd forward but would tend to drift right as well or towards the center with Akapo overlaps (which he does a lot). On a good finishing day he might have had 3 goals against DCU. And then I think he scored against LAFC when we played a 3-5-2 there. He's our best shooter by far - can finish with either foot and with power. He's good on the wing but can be even better a little more central and in front of the goal.
You could play Espinoza underneath Jebo and Hoppe in a 3-5-2 or call it a 3-4-3...you could even try Cade instead of Hoppe to stretch the D...that works for me...Espinoza has a great engine...those three up the spine with Marie and Akapo playing to them....instead of Espinoza playing to mostly a single forward in Jebo...makes way too much sense to have a greater presence in and around the box. Having another forward might take some pressure off of Jebo. We need to get serious about putting the most threatening players we have closer to goal. Bottom line we have to play a three back and keep Espinoza playing between and in the channels as a shooting threat and Cade stretching the D with actual speed up the middle or channels to make space for Jebo and Espinoza or Hoppe making those cheeky little slip pass runs. The attack is killing us...why not cut to the chase and not wait until the last 10 minutes of the games to actually put more central forwards in the game. Jebo, would be a disaster at ACM...way to loose with the ball and as Jazz says...over play his left and he'd really struggle to get anything done. Espinoza on the other hand could handle it...and imo, would be a serious threat in combo play, or making his own runs behind the D or shooting. I mean really, who would you rather see at ACM in a 3-5-2...Espinoza or Montiero....maximum threat vs zero threat...
Wonder what his state of mind is. Going from playing at a high level in Germany to be stuck on the Quakes, the Oakland A's of MLS.
Honestly, the Quakes wish they had the history of success that the A's had. They are trash now, but they have been good in the recent past and great in the not too distant pass. The Quakes haven't even pretended to be good except once in the last 20 years.
2010 wasn't bad - lost by a late goal in MLS Cup semifinal, but it's true that on balance, in the last 20 years, the A's had much more success. We should be so lucky.
If I recall, the Quakes didn't even have a winning record in 2010, or were just barely over the line. They weren't a good team, the league was just overall worse in every way and making the playoffs was not difficult. And yet the Quakes still almost never managed to do it.
We were 13-10-7 for a 1.53 PPG and beat the #1 seed in the east, the Thierry Henry-led NYRB, in their house. We weren’t great but pretty good.
2010 Quakes were tied in points (46) and had more wins (13 to 12) than league champion Colorado Rapids (who were seeded ahead of the Quakes on a goal differential tie breaker). Quakes barely lost to the Rapids in the (Eastern) conference final, 1-0, in freezing temperatures in Colorado.
Quakes have mostly gone from bad to worse over the past 15 years, fortunately for us we have 2026 to look forward to when the Fisher/Leitch master plan comes to fruition.
Quakes are .500 right now, which is something they did not achieve last season and most prior seasons. They have results in two of every three games this year. They have inarguably gone from bad to better.
if they miss out on the playoffs again this year, 2023 will be seen as a massive failure compounded by 15 years of utter futility. if they squeak into the playoffs only to be bounced in the first game, it will be almost as bad.
You said, "Quakes have mostly gone from bad to worse over the past 15 years," which is false (as I demonstrated above), and remains false even if the 2023 Quakes don't qualify for the playoffs or are eliminated in the first playoff match.
seems like we were better in 2012...good even, until we faced 3 quality DP's and crashed out of the playoffs. feels like it's been all downhill from there, if you look at the big picture, new coach bump(s) notwithstanding.