Monday morning midfielder

There really isn’t much to take away from Saturday’s debacle against New England. The Quakes looked listless and had absolutely no life, at least in the first half, which as we all know, was the half that mattered. And while there was plenty missing from their game, the two biggest deficiencies came in the form of leadership and confidence. The absence of Nick Garcia certainly played a part in the latter category. He may not be the best defender MLS has ever seen, but he is a leader, and there just didn’t seem to be anyone on the field taking charge of things.

I would expect to see Garcia back for Thursday’s match against Houston, but that’s not the only change I would make if I were Frank Yallop. The team looks a bit stale at the moment, and there seems to be little belief in the squad that they can score. For that reason, I think it’s time that Yallop started to give more minutes to guys who have come off the bench and done well. First, I’d give Ryan Johnson a start up top alongside Kei Kamara. We’ve seen the Ned Grabavoy-as-second-striker alignment several times now, and I can think of only one occasion (at Colorado) where it looked remotely effective. Johnson has good size, and is willing to take guys on. At the least he’ll bring more energy to the game than Grabavoy is at the moment.

And what to make of Ronnie O’Brien being subbed at half-time? Word from the Quakes is that the sub was tactical, and not health-related. Of course, the word “tactical” is often used as code for “He played like crap so he was subbed.” But I still can’t help but wonder if O’Brien’s knee is bugging him more than he or the coaching staff are letting on. Tuesday’s practice should reveal some things in that regard.

Player ratings: (1-10; 5=average)

Joe Cannon, 4 - What we had here was a failure to communicate.

James Riley, 3 - His homecoming couldn’t have been much worse.

Ryan Cochrane, 6 - Actually held things together.

Jason Hernandez, 5 - Time to move him back out wide, where he’s been solid.

Eric Denton, 4 - Fell asleep on the first goal.

Ronnie O’Brien, 4 - Looked out of sorts and out of sync.

Ramiro Corrales, 4 - Dominated by Shalrie Joseph in the first half.

Joe Vide, 5 - Did what he could.

Ivan Guerrero, 5 - Needs to get the ball more.

Ned Grabavoy, 4 - Anonymous.

Kei Kamara, 4 - Tried hard, but was ineffective.

Subs:

Ryan Johnson, 6 - Time to give this guy a start

Shea Salinas, 6 - Ditto.

John Cunliffe, NR - If Johnson isn’t the answer, then maybe Cunliffe is.