San Jose Earthquakes training report: Glad to be back from the Emerald City
Tuesday’s training session at the Nutrilite Training Facility had a little bit for everyone in attendance. For those that like to watch full field scrimmages, the Earthquakes obliged with a spirited affair featuring many of the usual suspects. If you are more into watching sweet shots on goal, the end of session finishing drills were a spectacle of great shots and some amazing saves. And to the few that have already closed the door on the 2011 season, the wonderful late-summer like weather was suitable for soaking up a few rays and basking in another gorgeous Northern California day.
Taking turns on the two squads that contested the intra-team scrimmage Tuesday morning were the regular phalanx of Earthquakes strikers. Setting the tone early was Golden Boot hopeful Chris Wondolowski and his partner Khari Stephenson, while the always active Matt Luzunaris and long time guest player Kamani Hill played foils to the starters. More often than not, it was the defenses that looked sharp during the scrimmage, but the scoring opportunities did materialize for both sides. Helping lead opposing teams were a couple of newly healthy midfielders, Ramiro Corrales and Bobby Convey. The latter player especially looked no worse for his recent injuries, though no word was given as to whether Convey would be fit enough to see the field this Saturday against visiting FC Dallas. Corrales looked back to his normal self, and has a strong chance to get back into the starting XI for the Earthquakes last regular season game.
Ike Opara and Alan Gordon were not a part of the full field scrimmage, which essentially signals the end of their playing time with the Earthquakes this season. Opara is definitely targeting the offseason as a time to strengthen his body ahead of the next campaign while Gordon has repeatedly expressed an interest in resigning with the team and awaits contract negotiations to secure his services.
Anthony Ampaipitakwong also sat out the scrimmage, and it appears his lingering groin injury will prevent any thoughts of him making a comeback before the season finale. Ampaipitakwong joins Opara and Gordon in the category of players that will look to rebound from disappointing 2012 seasons with much better efforts in 2013.
Lastly, in an abbreviated conversation with head coach Frank Yallop after training, in which most of the conversation was dominated with the final thoughts on the 2-1 loss in Seattle, the signal that the Earthquakes will continue to use their same core players in the weekend match against FC Dallas was abundantly clear. With an overflow crowd expected at Buck Shaw Stadium Saturday evening, coach Yallop made it clear that he wants to put on a good show and see out the season with a win.
Update the years for the season: We want to do better in 2012, after a disappointing 2011 (though to some, the return of Frank and JD means you’ll probably be able to just cut that line and paste it back in next year).
I have a little different view of the state of the club than maybe a lot of folks. Despite the disparity in the records, I feel like the team actually improved on the whole in 2011 over 2010. In the last 3rd of the season, they have repeatedly outplayed teams or at least played them even, even when on the road. And good teams too, like Seattle, not just bad teams.
They have also gone to more of a possession game, which I think has more potential over the long ball / defend approach that they often used last year. They do need to figure out how to stop giving up the late goals however. Not sure what the answer to that is. Fitness issue? In any case I hope they continue to keep pressing and try to get the elusive padding goal rather than bunker like they tended to do last year.
And then if you look at the group of players that is contributing to the Quakes reasonably good form of late, there are a lot of young players: Beta, Morrow, Baca, Ring, etc. These guys are doing well and they are going to get better. Then you add in all the players who were often unavailable this year due to injury or other: Ike, Lenhart, Attakora, Gordon. Then on top of that you factor in the FO’s supposed committment to sign some high-value players in the offseason. If you take all these things together, multiple by pi and divide by the GNP of Zimbabwe, factor in some good fortune that maybe they didn’t really get this year, and stand and look half sideways, you can see that the Quakes could be a strong team next year.
I agree in that the raw materials are absolutely there, and that the team is playing a way better brand of football now than before. As I’ve been saying for months, I don’t mind the results right now. i just wish the team would come out and say that we should expect difficulties because the team is in a transitional state, but we all have the chance to see the real rebirth of the Earthquakes. I just hope that the momentum keeps building and that the team continues to build on that foundation, which is still, IMHO not complete. There are lots of off field things the team still needs to do, like continued expansion of the academy, and building a proper scouting network abroad. Just my two cents.
jazzyj, I understand what you’re saying, and when I’m optimistic mood, I too see good things that give me some hope. Still, you have to wonder why a team with this quality of players has consistently underperformed. Three or four more wins in games we should have won and we would be battling for that final playoff spot now. We can all think of more more times than that where the Quakes should have put the game away but didn’t. How many goals were given up during the final 15? How many leads were squandered? I’ve lost track. It all comes down to a lack of mental toughness and I can’t help but feeling that the coaching has had a lot to do with that. I realize that the front office has decided to give Yallop and Doyle another chance next year, and that there’s not much point in going on about it. Yet that’s what puts me back into a funk when I start fantasizing about a better outcome next season.
Michael, yeah, on balance I think you have to look at this year as a failure despite pretty good form over the last 3rd of the season. But if you take the foundation that is there right now, and get back some key players like Ike and Lenhart, and then add some high-value acquisitions on top of that, we could be looking at some significantly different results.
If you look at goals scored and goals allowed I think there is only one team that has scored fewer goals than the Quakes. And Quakes are mid-pack in goals allowed. So I’m less inclined to hang-wring over the 1-0 leads that slipped away than I am to rue the missed chances to go up 2-0. I have to think that Lenhart could have made a difference. You can say that any goal that you concede is due to lack of mental toughness but OTOH at some point there’s a good chance the opposition is going to score and you’d better not expect to win matches 1-0 all the time. They were real fortunate to win a lot of 1-0 games last year, but I think there was some incredible good fortune at work there, and that should be seen as an aberration and not the norm.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I’m deferring to both you and Michael on this one, because you have a greater depth of understanding of these matters, but I think I agree with the view that at least part of the late leads slipping away are the result of us not finding that second goal rather than us failing to prevent the other side from scoring. It also turns out that statistically, more goals per game are being scored in MLS this year. It’s simply going to get harder and harder to keep another team off the scoreboard.
MikeG – know what you mean about not being able to edit typos – have that problem myself.
jazzyj – that’s a really good point about our being unable to score that 2nd goal in games where we were up 1-0 or tied 1-1. It’s interesting that MLS seems to be going against the world trend over recent decades for lower scoring and a more defensive set of tactics. Makes for more exciting soccer, that’s for sure. Only time will tell, I suppose, if there is a persistent problem with Yallop’s coaching approach, or if this year was just an aberration. I’ve not hated on Frank before this year, but out problems have gotten me to thinking in that direction.
So if the Quakes do spend some money for several higher quality players, what positions do you think we need the most help in? I would think another striker to be sure, plus someone who could make an impact on the right wing. If rumors that Convey won’t be back bear out (I hope they’re unfounded), that would be another big hole to fill. Finally, while Morrow has been solid recently at left fullback, Corrales is getting up there and it’s hard to say how much longer he will be the strong presence he’s been these past four years.
Poor grammar on my part. I meant to say that both of you have a greater depth of understanding of the game than I possess. I wish I could edit posts here… :-)
3 losing seasons out of 4 and there’s still a debate that FY & JD are good at their jobs, how is this possible?
the team is lead by 3 blind mice when you throw kaval in and what you get in return is a last place team that would be relegated in any other league in the world and when i say reglagated i’m talking about all the way down to third division. as a STH who actually watches the games i won’t be renewing my seats next season or into the future until at the very least we see a change in the soccer operations side of the team. i don’t even care about a stadium but do care about the product on the field which is lacking to say the least.
i will say kaval has done a good job regarding the game day experience at buck shaw but once the game starts it’s pure trash thanks to our coaching staff and the players our gm picks for this team. that the stadium is “sold out” is a fabrication of giving away seats every week. we know the STH’s around us and we laugh about how many new faces sit in our section every week. seems like these new faces don’t come back either, they get a free seat enjoy the pre-game experience but since they aren’t watching the soccer nor care about soccer they don’t and won’t come back hence the new faces every week.
the whole bobby convey thing in the paper today is just another example of poor management, you have a excellent player who’s talent is squandered by poor coaching. the next high level player to not come back imo will be opara in an effort to cut more costs, granted ike’s been injured and hasn’t performed but imo he’s top shelf talent. that caleb porter a former clash player and an ultra successful coach in college at akron was not approached for the coaching job with the quakes is another failure of the FO, that he’s taking a gig with the U23 national team along with his job at Akron is a sign he was available and in play and the quakes FO failed yet again.
the only positive thing this season would be wondo winning the golden boot 2 years in a row, for that i would be very happy for wondo but i wouldn’t give FY or JD any credit if he does so.
call me a hater if you wish but i speak the truth.
I think Yallop and Doyle have had mixed results. I’m sure even they’d admit that they didn’t do a good job this year. I would hope they would anyway, and not try to pin it all on the players. But 2010 was pretty good and 2008 was pretty good. 2009 was another down year. At this point I’m just not sure that removing Frank and Doyle is going to make things better. It could get better, or it could take a new regime a year or two to figure it out, and then the Quakes are bad for another couple of years.
The other positive thing for me is that the club started playing better in the last 3rd of the season, though the results haven’t quite followed. I mean they are going on the road and playing good teams like Seattle and LA even if not outplaying them. Only the really good MLS teams are able to do that consistently – go on the road and outplay their opponents. Not to say that the Quakes are at this point a “really good team” but it’s an encouraging sign. They didn’t implode this year. They kept working and got better, and started to play a better brand of soccer.
The Convey thing, based on the recent article, is disturbing. But we have to realize that we are getting a completely one-sided version of the story. Maybe they could have handled the situation better, and I think Doyle may be not very kind to players who he thinks are “under-performing” relative to their salary. But honestly, what would you do with Convey next year? Continue to pay him almost twice as much as any other player on the team? His performance hasn’t really warranted that, though I think he’s a very good player and has played well from 2010 on. I would offer him a new contract at a salary maybe in the low 200k’s. I think they might have gone even lower than that, but I think in principle that’s the right call. You offer to pay the player what you think he is worth to the team. If they’re not interested, you have to move on.
In any case, I will be sorry to see Convey go, but it’s probably the right thing for both parties. But IMO he is the owner of the greatest single game playoff performance in Quakes history. Better than Landon in 2003 MLS Cup, better than DeRo or Dayak in 2001, better than anyone.
jazzyj, mixed results…seriously? do you work for the FO?
“playing better as of late” and $4 buys you a cup of coffee at starbucks, or just the $4 bucks. playing well and losing losing losing all the time or giving up ties in the last third of a match is not acceptable. that our coach won’t use his subs when we are getting over run by the opposing team is unacceptable. that our gm brings players in like zura is not acceptable, that we pay sealy as much as we do is unacceptable. that our president resigns these 2 clowns to multi year contracts is unacceptale, that he bores us with his writing every week on how great the team is doing is unacceptable.
regarding convey, he’s a left winger and our coach has refused to play him there this season; how is that convey’s fault? how does he lead the team in assists in 2010 and only get a few this year…oh its because he was being played out of position (a yallop trend) and or just outright benched for a more seasoned player like baca (that’s a joke). i talked to convey at the west brom game and he said he’s was 100% ready then but the FO was making up stories on pseudo injuries as an excuse not to dress him knowning they weren’t bringing him back for 2012 because of his cost and probably his outspokenness but not because of his lack of ability. convey will land on another mls team and be an allstar again in 2012 and we’ll be crap again.
good luck bobby you are a great player, thanks for trying your best while a quake, it’s not your fault this team is broken.
Big picture, moots, big picture. Objectively, would you call 2010 a failure (one fluke goal from reaching MLS Cup)? How about 2008 – great pickups Huckerby and Lima, they went on a run and almost made the playoffs first year? To me, it’s 2008-2011, in order, pretty good, pretty bad, good, pretty bad. Maybe it’s just me, but when you have a combination of good and bad, I would call that “mixed”.
As far as “playing better as of late”, the results haven’t been stellar, but they’ve played 7 of the last 9 on the road, won 2, tied 4 and lost 3. Not great, but not bad for what has been largely a “road” sequence of games. But I look beyond the results and how the games are flowing. They are generally out-possessing and “out-chancing” the opposition, even when on the road.
Sure the team has made mistakes: Zura, maybe they could have handled the Convey situation better (but bear in mind you are getting *one side* of the story), Sealy, etc. Every team in the league makes mistakes. And they’ve made some good moves as well. Over the last 2 years, they’ve acquired some good young players. The team that’s been playing reasonably well is in general a very young team. The lineup that strongly outplayed Seattle for most of the match last week had only a few players over the age of 26, and several first or second year players: Beta, Ring, Morrow, Baca, Dawkins.
jazzyj, you are good loyal fan and the venom i have is for the FO, sorry to be taking it out on you.
big picture for me is 1 playoff apperance in 4 season and a losing record over these 4 season. staying with the same coach & g.m after such an abismal record is bad management by the ownership group and the team president. not making a change because they don’t want to buy out contracts shows the fans a lack of respect. that kaval said we will continue with yallop & doyle as they have been a part and will continue to be a part of the teams success is pure fiction, the record speaks for itself.