Quakes, Galaxy have taken different paths
Our own Robert Jonas, moonlighting for SB Nation, has turned in an incisive piece on the two paths taken by the participants in last weekend’s California Clasico, the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Check it out to see his take on the state of the Quakes.
finally an article out of robert where he’s somewhat critical of the fo and how the team is run. glad to see you are not totally brainwashed. with that said you didn’t mention franks poor coaching as part of the problem and doyle not knowing what the heck he’s doing as another part of the problem. saying that the teams situation is just the fo’s cheapness is a third of the story.
- how many times do you have to see frank play players out of position even when we have a semi healthy squad to think he’s making a mistake?
- how many times do you have to see frank not sub late in games when we need fresh legs to think he’s making a mistake?
doyle’s hands are tied regarding spending for a dp i’ll give you that. but who’s responsible when it comes to trading for 2 injured players and a player out of shape like he did with TFC this year or shipping mcdonald away when it was unclear if opara would ever be healthy this season? can you blame the fo for this?
look at what chivas is doing this year? they are a maligned organization much like the quakes but with a new coach and fresh ideas they have taken thier team a long way this season. i’m all for a new stadium, 3 dp’s and an fo that isn’t as cheap as ours is but tha’s probably not going to happen any time soon so in the meantime let’s get ride of our gm and coach so that we can at least use the players we have effectively.
fire frank, fird doyle!
Sad but true
Comrade Das Moots is right.
Frank is a terrible coach. This season, he has often played his best guys out of position. He continues to run out players who are no longer good enough for MLS. Frank plays a long-ball strategy because he wants to, not because Lew Wolff of David Kaval tell him he has too. Yes, the team could spend more money, but if Frank and JD are clueless, we’re going to continue to have a lousy team.
This website asked fans to “Take a Walk in JD’s shoes, who would you sign?” Overwhelmingly, the fans said that we need an attacking midfielder. That’s 70% of fans in a six way poll. That represents a massive vote of no confidence in our attacking mids. But JD went out and got us a striker! Yeah JD!! At least JD has started to look in places where he might find a bargain, so that’s good, and JD and Frank have been drafting well, which is also good. But
But we play ugly, boring, negative football. Only in the last three weeks have we even tried to play a possession game, and we’re playing better! Big surprise that! If we had started the season this way, and stuck with it, we would no doubt be ahead of where we are in the table. How many games did Frank play Bobby Convey at left back and Ramiro Corrales at left mid? Whatever you think of Convey (I’m a fan) his best position for OUR team, his biggest impact for THIS club is at left mid. That’s where he should play, every game. Wondo is a withdrawn striker, but Frank has lined him up at right mid, left mid, and center mid this season. What’s with that? Last match against the filth, Frank played Khari Stephenson at forward. He’s an attacking midfielder, and that’s by far his best position for us. This team needs a target striker. We have only one healthy and available target striker, but Frank left Matt on the bench and played Khari out of position and went with a central midfield tandem of Baca and Corrales? Really?
And these errors are on Frank and JD for putting up with it.
Fire them both! We need a real coach and a real GM. I don’t want to hear excuses that ownership is cheap. They are spending a ton of cash trying to get the stadium deal done. They brought OUR team back from extinction. Most of our on-field problems are down to poor coaching and a lack of fitness, which is also part of poor coaching.
Fire Frank and JD! Today would be good.
- Mark
I definitely agree with your comments about playing so many players out of position – it hasn’t worked all year.
I was just wondering if you could expand a little on your comment about the cash the team is spending to get the stadium deal done. What are they spending the cash on? Where are we on the stadium? I haven’t heard anything in such a long while.
Ta, NG
What can one expect from an ownership that erroneously believes that even $50-$60 million in today’s dollars is still somehow way too expensive for an MLS SSS here when a modest, standard MLS SSS ala Toyota Park and Rio Tinto Stadium costs in the $110-$120 million range in today’s dollars in less expensive states? :(
I have pondering this also – Livestrong Park cost $200M…
Good to hear the critical analysis, Robert. This should be a time for soul searching. While the ownership is small minded and penny-pinching (as their history with the A’s will show), it is also true that success in MLS is possible with small market teams with mid-level payrolls. Excellent coaching and a smart player acquisition policies are the keys. Lew Wolff and his willingness or ability to spend more money are not going to change anytime soon, so it would be better to focus on practical changes that might improve the situation more quickly, such as firing the coach and GM. I’ve completely lost faith in Frank Yallop’s ability to manage this team at this time. Failure should have consequences. Chivas USA continues to have issues with its ownership, but bringing in Robin Fraser there has led to a notable improvement with the same size payroll and under the same ownership group.
DC United web site is now reporting that McDonald just resigned with them…..hmmmm John Doyle I think you have some explaining to do on that mid-season trade.
Enough with the Yallop and Doyle bashing. They’ve found some great players on a budget and won a lot of games last year. Eastern conference champs. It must’ve been all the work Ian Russell, as I’ve seen yallop’s previous success attributed to kinnear. If we had dawkins, opara and lenhart we’d be a different squad. These are the guys that “discovered” wondo, gjertsen, beitashour. Picked up cronin and busch for very little. They aren’t ruining the franchise, its just not our year.
I’m sure i will be called a front office apologist and not a real fan because i “don’t hold my club accountable” and maybe that’s true. for those of you demanding a better coach and gm, i’d love to see who you suggest as replacements.
I remember watching Colorado beat San Jose in Commerce City last November. And Colorado winning MLS Cup in Toronto. So unless I’ve totally lost it, I don’t think you are accurate to call the Quakes “Eastern conference champs.”
Whatever man. Eastern conference finalists. Guess that makes my point of view irrelevant and calls my fanhood into question. Did i get any other facts wrong? Was my grammar ok?
who said all that brewmaster??? point is, they were mediocre all season and squeaked into the playoffs…from there they had a masterful performance in new york, and played a strong game vs colorado…..2 strong games doesn’t change the fact that they were mediocre ALL of last season, and that that mediocre season was their best thus far….just sayin
i hope that brew in brewmasterflash doesn’t really stand for kool-aidmasterflash ’cause you my friend seem to be
quite drunk on it. so in 4! yrs. one LUCKY run to the post season and you’re happy with that?!… wish i had you for a boss….
I’m not happy with it, i’m just willing to leave the strategy, formation, player selection and tge running of a franchise to people that actually know soccer. I’ve never played or coached at a professional level, how can i criticize someone for something i don’t know enough about. We dont know what the owners have given them to work with. I’ll just sit back, have a beer, and enjoy the game. Guess im weird. Agree to disagree.
You are
no clue about pro soccer I guess
@Pietro Not everyone wants to dissect the game down to the level that coaches are required to do so. Some like to sit back and watch a good game of soccer regardless of what formation and tactics help achieve that. I know plenty of Quakes fans like brewmasterflash that can differentiate good soccer from bad without dwelling on the details. Heck, I’ve talked to some fans at Buck Shaw that don’t so much mind the results as long as the games are entertaining.
Having said that, any and all criticism, when backed up with even the simplest of suggestions for correction, is highly encouraged from the readers of Center Line Soccer. Many of us do have backgrounds in the sport and can plainly see issues on the field that are hopefully also noticed by the actual Quakes coaching staff. They choose to act according to their own plans, and supporters can, and should, voice their opinions whether in agreement or in opposition. Overall, the fan-base becomes more enlightened by the continuing dialog, and a higher level of accountability standards of the Quakes staff is achieved by supporters.
Displeasure at the current state of affairs is best acted upon by *both* demanding better on-field performance and in voting with your wallet at (or away from) Buck Shaw. Nothing could be worse for the future prospects of the Earthquakes then for supporters of all opinions and involvement to go silent with apathy.
C’mon pietro. Does my opinion upset you? I know plenty about soccer, played all my life, watch it all weekend. I just have enough respect for someone to not ask for them to be fired from their job. Especially one in which i have no experience. I love to see the quakes win, hate watching them lose, but i think yallop is a good coach. I have yet to see someone offer a quality alternative to him.