The Official Oswaldo Alanís thread

I noticed that Alanis was not man marking for most of the game. It was really bad at the start as he was basically standing on top of Kashia and then Yuell and Magnus were trying to cover three players between the two of them. Not sure if this is a new wrinkle in the MA system as I assume Alanis knows the system already.

 

I assume Alanis was the free guy who didn't need to man mark (similar to how Flo played last year). However I did notice some arguing between him and Kashia.

I can understand why they don't play both Alanis and Flo at the same time because they both bring the same elements in how they play.

It's irksome to me that the only significant roster change we made this off season was to find an upgrade to our two time defender of the year. I mean, of all the positions we have that should be upgraded we decided to replace Flo??? What the hell.

 

I was literally just thinking the same thing and looking for the Flo thread to raise this very issue. I seem to remember Flo missing the first part of last season too and then, once he was back in the starting lineup he was one of our best 2 or 3 players the rest of the season. he’s our best CB...makes no sense that he’s not starting. Flo > Kashia. Kashia was better Saturday but I still prefer Flo, but our defensive flanks are our weakest spot still. Lima on the left did okay. Tommy on the right though was not impressive. Anyone looking at that tape will know where to focus their attack.

So yeah, Alanis and Flo as CBs.

Alanis had a good game overall and was fun to watch but that goal...incredible, his first game, hits a perfect shot in the last seconds to salvage some degree of respectability, completely amazing.

 

I guess I can answer my own question. We didn't replace Flo, we replaced Cummings. IF Alanis costs us the same or less than Cummings this move made sense.

IF we are paying Alanis much more money than it doesn't make sense. We shoulda held onto Cummings and spent the extra money on a different position.

 

Premature for such an assessment. Alanis seems like a significant upgrade. He's already apparently the team's best free kick specialist in more than a decade.

 

Cummings had clearly fallen out of favor with the team/coaching staff last year. If the team no longer felt like he was going to get time on the field, then replacing him made perfect sense, especially since the team was left with just two central defenders.

I personally didn't think Cummings was that bad, but I also didn't see him train. I also wouldn't have been eager to sign him to a new contract, which the Quakes would have had to do. It seems like it would have been an easy decision to sign someone else instead.

I also think Jungwirth's performances were generally overrated. He had a couple very good games, but he also had some howlers. But you need enough defenders to play the whole season. Just because Jungwirth didn't play in game one doesn't mean he's not going to play at all. You phrased it in such a way that you think Jungwirth has been cast out or something. I think so long as he remains on the roster, he's going to get the chance to prove he deserves time out there.

 

I noticed many defenders were not playing man to man but instead they played more of zone defense. Not sure what the tactic was but every time TFC countered, they seemed exposed on the wings. Good thing Jozy & #24 Jacob Shaffelburg for TFC stunk it up as they should have scored their chances.

 

But my point is we could have made a significant upgrade somewhere else on the field. Why replace Flo who is already one of our better players?

To me it makes sense if he costs the same as Cummings.

 

I'm OK with replacing him, but just not investing a significantly more amount of money. Maybe Alanis costs about the same as Cummings - in that case I've got no problem. But if he costs much more I feel we should have spent the money somehwere else.

Two time defender of the year. Maybe league wide he's not the greatest but he is one of the Quakes best players.

 

I don't know why of the three center backs Flo was odd man out. I do sense (from limited observation) that Alanis is a dramatic improvement over Cummings and therefore warrants a higher salary.

I agree with hc897 that we should not take too much from one game, especially the first game during which experimentation is likely occurring. Lima started, for example, after everyone assumed he was in Matias' doghouse.

Back in 2005, the last time the Quakes started with a 2-2 draw at home (and went on to win the Supporter Shield, like I expect them to do this year ), Danny O'Rourke was a key cog, as I recall. He was displaced after several games by DeRo and the rest is history.

 

If he ends up taking , I will agree that he was overpriced.

So far though , he helped the Quakes to a valuable point which didn’t happen until the 5th game last season. If he pulls out more goals and or performances like that which will give the team points in the standings, his salary will have been worth it.

 

Flo, the one who made Zlatan irrelevant (and prevented him from winning the golden boot).
Why are we experimenting with him on the bench? Didn't we run this experiment last year to start the season?

 

Which is when we came to our senses and played Florian.

 

If I had my own bobble head, maybe I could tell you.

 

The Quakes need solid defenders, and you have to pay something for that. I have no issue if Alanis cost more than Cummings so long as he delivers. Goodson was criticized for costing 300k when he was signed (a laughingly small amount in retrospect), yet he was among the league's best defenders when he was fit, and made the team better. Seems hard to believe Alanis would be all that much more expensive in any case.

With regard to Jungwirth, I don't think the Quakes defender of the year award is a quantifiable evaluation of player talent. It's a nice thing and says that they value his contributions, but it doesn't inherently mean anything with regard to how good a player he is. That isn't to say he's a bad player, but on a team that didn't make the playoffs, it's hard to consider any of the defenders truly remarkable.

 

You would think the winner of the Defender of the Year award is better than the other defenders on the team.
It's great if we got a player who's better than Florian but now we have one of our best players on the bench not contributing to the team.

It's like if you have a team and everybody sucks except one player and you go out and replace that one player with a better player. Yeah, it's great, but it would have been better to replace one of the other guys.

 

You said yourself Alanis replaced Cummings, not Jungwirth. Jungwirth didn't play in one game for a whole host of possible reasons. One game does not a season make.

 

No, I don’t think so. They’re stil on the hook for his salary budget hit. I believe they can apply for$250K roster relief credit paid out of pocket for a replacement player if they want to.

 

I listened to Bobby Boswell’s podcast today with guest Sam Cronin. Bobby said that Victor Bernardez was the best CB in the league. I don’t know which year(s) he was referencing, but To me, that was a Wow.

 

Victor was a great defender. Too bad he couldn't have been younger when the Quakes signed him because he would still be playing.

What is Cronin doing now?

 

I doubt they were talking about 2017 when Florian won defenders of the year. However we did make a tragic mistake by not keeping victor one more year. He could have made 2018 just a bit less painful. He wanted to play another year as well.

 

He got a lot of love on the board, but I think he was largely overlooked around the rest of the league. It seemed clear that he was a top defender in the league when he joined the Quakes. His ability to recognize and break up plays before they became dangerous was exceptional, and his pairing with Goodson was truly an all-time great situation.

I hope that Alanis can bring some of those same qualities to the team, but I wasn't overly impressed with him from the get-go the way I was with Bernardez. Outside that stellar goal, of course. Defending in MLS has gotten harder over the years, of course, so I am curious what a mid 20s Bernardez would play like against modern MLS offenses. But I have a feeling we're going to be waiting a while before we see defending at that level on the Quakes again.

 

haha good question, i can't remember if Cronin mentioned what he is doing now. He was originally from North Carolina, and he may have moved back there. I guess I'd have to re-listen to the podcast in order to answer your question!

 

ALANIS RETURNS!
Chivas already informing Oswaldo Alanis that he will be back in the club after Alexis Pe ñaa's down, he is currently a player with a lot of rhythm and an excellent level in MLS.