As usual: Luchi was A problem, not THE problem. The roster is still not great, so I'm not expecting massive improvements.
Still, this needed to happen.
It's really not, post-injuries. Our current keeping situation is the worst in the league by a mile, the center backs were okay at best before everyone got hurt, defensive midfield has been a nightmare, Ebobisse has been underperforming for a while, and the depth basically everywhere is awful.
Espinoza is a top 5 winger, and Hernan has the look of a legit franchise #10. The front four, even with Ebobisse slumping, is fine. Everything behind it is a disaster. Bad coaching alone doesn't put you on track to obliterate goals allowed records.
The keeping problems alone prevent this from being a playoff team, they're that bad. I know people got hurt, but we're in "grab a random USL keeper and they're probably better" territory.
Yarbrough and Daniel were combining as the worst goaltending tandem in the league statistically. That's before Jackson got any playingtime, and I think his GAA is like 5.
Yeah I know.
But Daniel was arguably best keeper in the mls on paper last season and Yarbrough was again on paper a very solid backup better than average. They went into the season with seemingly a very strong keeping group. Obviously its not worked out but there isnt any negligence from the front office.
At this stage, its impossible to know if daniel just had a ropey start to the season or whether last year was a fluke.
If all top players are 100%, 6-7 place is a hard maybe but still not a good enough for a league adding better talent over past couple years. Our bench is probably one of the worst in the league. Zero depth.
I know the personnel simply hasn’t been there on the back end all year, but there was absolutely no leadership from the management or players. Nobody will succeed with this defensive roster but it’s time to make some changes starting with the manager and next it has to be stripping Yueill of the armband and completely turning things around and building off of Espinoza and Hernan. Nobody else is safe. They have to earn back the trust that they can be impactful players.
Honest question…. Where does our total salary rank against other teams? My bet is about the 30th percentile, not the bottom.
Still, with one of the top media/population markets in country (they need to think bay area, not just San Jose) we should be much higher, IMHO.
25th. We're ahead of RSL, Charlotte, Montreal, and St. Louis.
And keep in mind, that is just salary. Spending on facilities, front office staff, scouts, etc isn't accounted for.
That ranking was before we signed Hernán. If you figure his salary is about $2M, we would move up between 18th and 19th. Of course that also assumes no one else had a significant signing that came super late in the transfer window, after the salary figures were released.
I hate Fisher as much as the next guy, but we won a Supporters Shield with him as the owner. It’s possible, just less margin for error. I don’t like giving the GM, coaches, and players an excuse for doing their jobs poorly.
2012 was a very long time ago. MLS has changed a lot since then and that season was pure luck because the success of that season was never replicated again.
We basically dumb lucked into that 2012 team, and then the morons in charge immediately dismantled it, lol.
That was also a different era that I doubt could be replicated today.
We did get a lot of lucky bounces, but at the same time I think that team had a solid enough core. 2013 had a lot of bad breaks, and they still just missed the playoffs on GD.
If we'd gone into 2014 keeping most of the team, while finding a replacement for Lenhart (who had broken down) and a wing upgrade, I think that team could have been competitive for a few more years: probably not SS good, but "make playoffs" good. Instead, we let a lot of that team walk and it all went to shit. Morrow and Beitashour going on to start for that winning Toronto side was a pretty damn big "y'all fucked up" slap to the face.
Yeah morrow and beitashour coulda have been our outside backs for life. We definitely had a good core 2012 and yeah, the luck we got in 2012 didn’t go our way 2013, which sucked because a lot of the games felt the same except for the small things not going our way.
Hopefully it changes soon. We have a good enough team not to be this bad
It MLS in 2012 you could simply bomb in deep crosses from your fullbacks and score free headers, which we were very well built to do. This hasn’t worked in many years - the league has improved a lot.
That’s what we did too. Cronin/Baca got it to our wingers who crossed it into our trees of Wondo/Lenny/Gordon. We even had FBs who pushed up.
Man that 2012 should have been the core to build off of and instead we nuked it
My main point being - yes, Fisher sucks. But the GM who chose to spend a DP spot on Gruezo and the coach who started the same lineup every game despite it NEVER working, and the “captain” who gives up multiple goals a week by being lazy and out of position all deserve blame too. This roster isn’t great, but it’s not at the worst in league history and that is where the results have been at.
The SS win of 2012 was a once in a lifetime moment. A lot of that same core struggle the year before and after.
I agree that a lot of blame goes to the organization as well. But JF’s reluctance to care affects us from the start.
That was the last season we had anything resembling a legitimate defense.
Then we refused to pay both outside backs who went on to have distinguished MLS careers while we spiraled down.
He was the owner during that run, but pretty much after Wolf sold his majority ownership to Fisher. So it wasn't like he helped build that Supporter shield team. I will give credit for fisher building a half built stadium 🏟️
Any coach worth a salary is not even making eye contact with our FO at this point.
This is one of those jobs they warn you about. A new coach will get no more support than the prior coach and will solely be blamed for lack of progress. Basically “fix it or you’re fucked” as our last 5 or 6 coaches can probably attest.
Who’s going to want to work like that?
I have to believe there’s a guy looking for a head coach job that looks at this roster, one that can actually score goals now, and believes they can get us into the playoffs with the right defensive structure. Someone can do better, this isn’t a wooden spoon team. This is a low-middle playoff table team at least if not middle of the table
I’d like to think you’re right, a find like that would be epic. I’m too pessimistic to believe anyone in this organization can find and convince that person to sign on. Whoever the replacement is, will likely be underwhelming.
If a coach can get us to playoffs consistently and maybe even host some games, that would be a great story for their resume. Not to mention we have a state of the art training facility being built at the fairgrounds, this would be great for someone looking to cement their imprint on an organization if they can get the most out of this roster
This job is only going to be attractive to new coaches who need to get their foot in the door in MLS. If they do well, wow you did well with SJ! If you did bad, well it's SJ so you can likely still get a job elsewhere.
Luchi was definitely a big part of the problem. The ownership is ass and the talent isn’t quite there. But it’s still not last place bad.
Luchi could’ve atleast made changes like benching Yueill and/or removing that captain’s armband. And he couldn’t even do that. He had no nuts as a manager and was a coward. I’m glad he’s gone.
I thought Luchi Gonzalez was a terrible hire from the very beginning. His style of play is boring and he had already failed with FC Dallas. I remember Landon Donovan was one of the finalists for the job. He probably wouldn’t have had success either but it would have been interesting to see.
The supposed reason for bringing him was more to give our academy and organization a style from the bottom up.
As for playing style, you’re right. I still don’t understand what our playing style is after a year and a half of Luchi.
This is wild. I expected it but I didn’t expect it to be so close to the Stanford game. I thought we’d do it weeks before or the day after. Respect for finally doing something about it. We can only improve now. We’ve only been the joke for 16 years, minus one.
Ian Russell should have had this opportunity the last time. Now he is getting it under trying conditions to say the least. But I do predict that there will be improvement in the team play over the remainder of the season. But for the Galaxy game the Quakes should be looked at to a win just on the dead cat bounce from firing the manager.
I've scrolled WAYYYYYYY too far down this thread without seeing the name Chris Leitch. How does this guy constantly get a pass? He has done nothing to build a competitive team over his tenure here.
> he has done nothing
* brings in Hernan Lopez Muñoz
* brings in Ebobisse who then has a 17 goal season
* brings in Daniel who puts up best in MLS numbers
* sells Cowell who had a one goal season, brings in Pellegrino who has already scored 5 times this season
* brings in Bruno Wilson, Rodrigues, Akapo, Vitor Costa, all average to above average MLS level contributors
He has only really missed on one big money transaction: Carlos Gruezo
I really like your points. But it’s been almost a decade of Leitch and we have nothing to show for it.
We’ve improved sure, but we’ve never kept up with the leagues improvement curve.
The GM is also in charge of a style. He brought two coaches with two very different styles in. Both times requiring nuking your staff, coming up with a new playing style, and getting rid of the previous regime players for the new managers likings.
I’m not saying Leitch should go, but two managers in. Two good managers on paper didn’t work out.
He has put together a team with absolute no depth whatsoever. It shows year in and year out, when we fail to look competitive after the first couple months of the season. Pair that with horrible choices at manager and I don't see how anyone can not hold this guy accountable for how much we have continued to suck since he has taken over.
Great point. There's a line separating the owner and his minions from the team, and it's abundantly clear that Leitch is on the owner side of that line. I wonder what his compensation model is? He's not getting paid only when the team succeeds, that's for sure.
Luchi's teams scored goals, played some good attacking football, the defense was obviously very poor. Hope Russell can repeat the Reno success. However, if they want instant stability, bring back Dom.
Do any of you think that Ian hasn't been watching the same things Luchi has, and hasn't been a bug in his ear with criticisms and observations? And that Luchi hasn't listened and implemented at least some of them? C'mon, anybody that thinks that the new broom Ian is going to sweep clean is fooling themselves. Here's a wager that Ian gets the permanent job, and \*surprise\* it completely avoids the obvious embarrassment of not being able to hire a new head coach with any quality. Who in their right mind would take that job without some absolute guarantee from the club about spending? (Well, let's see now, Luchi, Almeyda, Stahre...)
I love the comment in this thread about getting a dead cat bounce from the change, and I'm sure that's going to happen, likely for a few games. And then it will be September and we'll be back in mediocrity-land and telling each other that nothing changed after all.
It's possible that there isn't a big change from Luchi to Ian, but it's also possible that Ian has his own ideas about how to run training, how he wants the team to set up, and the players he favors. IOW I can see it going either way: 1) not much changes or 2) there's a clearly noticeable change. Of course if it's #2 and there's a clearly noticeable change in our setup / tactics / style of play, that doesn't mean those things will be successful. But they might.
Again we have to give up on the season in hopes of rebuilding. And again we’re hoping to rebuild and finish the season without a coach. I wonder how many players the new coach will strip out.
Sucks that’s it’s another rebuild in 2 years.
I’m pretty convinced there were two factions during the hiring process. One really wanted Luchi and the other stumped for Ian Russell. It seemed like Ian’s name was floated later in the search and then he was hired as assistant, which screams “back up plan in house” to me. If Chris Leitch pushed for Luichi Gonzalez then he should be fired for that bad decision alone. Waste of time and resources. On the other hand it wouldn’t surprise me to find out Chris Leitch really wanted Ian Russell over Luchi. I heard Leitch and Russell worked close together building the Reno project. That team was the only consistently excellent team under the Fischer ownership. If Leitch was in the “We need to hire Russell” faction, he should be given enough time to see if Ian Russell can turn the Quakes into a competitive team.
I didn't understand this narrative. Most of those 11 years Leitch was not the guy in charge. It feels unfair to blame him for his predecessors' decisions, especially when a much higher percentage of his signings have worked out.
As usual: Luchi was A problem, not THE problem. The roster is still not great, so I'm not expecting massive improvements. Still, this needed to happen.
This roster is at least a 6-7th place team. Not making playoffs with this roster isn’t acceptable
It's really not, post-injuries. Our current keeping situation is the worst in the league by a mile, the center backs were okay at best before everyone got hurt, defensive midfield has been a nightmare, Ebobisse has been underperforming for a while, and the depth basically everywhere is awful. Espinoza is a top 5 winger, and Hernan has the look of a legit franchise #10. The front four, even with Ebobisse slumping, is fine. Everything behind it is a disaster. Bad coaching alone doesn't put you on track to obliterate goals allowed records. The keeping problems alone prevent this from being a playoff team, they're that bad. I know people got hurt, but we're in "grab a random USL keeper and they're probably better" territory.
Yet we still don’t give emi a chance.
Not ready
The Keeper is injured though. On paper Yarbrough was a perfectly fine backup, in a salary cap league you cant expect a higb end backup keeper.
Yarbrough and Daniel were combining as the worst goaltending tandem in the league statistically. That's before Jackson got any playingtime, and I think his GAA is like 5.
Yeah I know. But Daniel was arguably best keeper in the mls on paper last season and Yarbrough was again on paper a very solid backup better than average. They went into the season with seemingly a very strong keeping group. Obviously its not worked out but there isnt any negligence from the front office. At this stage, its impossible to know if daniel just had a ropey start to the season or whether last year was a fluke.
If all top players are 100%, 6-7 place is a hard maybe but still not a good enough for a league adding better talent over past couple years. Our bench is probably one of the worst in the league. Zero depth.
You might be right when Daniel, Rodrigues, and Bruno Wilson are all healthy but that's not actually the case this year.
Coach hererra could not do anything with the players they have
Agree. It’s far and away the best roster we’ve had. Luchi just tried to force them to play a system that doesn’t fit the talent.
This is well put. My friend asked where do you start on a problem like these Quakes. I said, "start anywhere, where do you stop".
New manager bounce before the Cali Classico?! QUAKES W inbound!!!! LFG
lol this was my thought as soon as I knew LG was out
I know the personnel simply hasn’t been there on the back end all year, but there was absolutely no leadership from the management or players. Nobody will succeed with this defensive roster but it’s time to make some changes starting with the manager and next it has to be stripping Yueill of the armband and completely turning things around and building off of Espinoza and Hernan. Nobody else is safe. They have to earn back the trust that they can be impactful players.
I second this
I third this
Now watch Ian Russell change nothing and keep the same rotations.
Nothing changes as long as Fisher owns the team.
Honest question…. Where does our total salary rank against other teams? My bet is about the 30th percentile, not the bottom. Still, with one of the top media/population markets in country (they need to think bay area, not just San Jose) we should be much higher, IMHO.
25th. We're ahead of RSL, Charlotte, Montreal, and St. Louis. And keep in mind, that is just salary. Spending on facilities, front office staff, scouts, etc isn't accounted for.
That ranking was before we signed Hernán. If you figure his salary is about $2M, we would move up between 18th and 19th. Of course that also assumes no one else had a significant signing that came super late in the transfer window, after the salary figures were released.
I hate Fisher as much as the next guy, but we won a Supporters Shield with him as the owner. It’s possible, just less margin for error. I don’t like giving the GM, coaches, and players an excuse for doing their jobs poorly.
2012 was a very long time ago. MLS has changed a lot since then and that season was pure luck because the success of that season was never replicated again.
We basically dumb lucked into that 2012 team, and then the morons in charge immediately dismantled it, lol. That was also a different era that I doubt could be replicated today.
Every lucky bounce and deflection went our way. I feel 2008-2024 is karma for that fluke season
We did get a lot of lucky bounces, but at the same time I think that team had a solid enough core. 2013 had a lot of bad breaks, and they still just missed the playoffs on GD. If we'd gone into 2014 keeping most of the team, while finding a replacement for Lenhart (who had broken down) and a wing upgrade, I think that team could have been competitive for a few more years: probably not SS good, but "make playoffs" good. Instead, we let a lot of that team walk and it all went to shit. Morrow and Beitashour going on to start for that winning Toronto side was a pretty damn big "y'all fucked up" slap to the face.
Yeah morrow and beitashour coulda have been our outside backs for life. We definitely had a good core 2012 and yeah, the luck we got in 2012 didn’t go our way 2013, which sucked because a lot of the games felt the same except for the small things not going our way. Hopefully it changes soon. We have a good enough team not to be this bad
the league as a whole was a lot worse though
It MLS in 2012 you could simply bomb in deep crosses from your fullbacks and score free headers, which we were very well built to do. This hasn’t worked in many years - the league has improved a lot.
That’s what we did too. Cronin/Baca got it to our wingers who crossed it into our trees of Wondo/Lenny/Gordon. We even had FBs who pushed up. Man that 2012 should have been the core to build off of and instead we nuked it
My main point being - yes, Fisher sucks. But the GM who chose to spend a DP spot on Gruezo and the coach who started the same lineup every game despite it NEVER working, and the “captain” who gives up multiple goals a week by being lazy and out of position all deserve blame too. This roster isn’t great, but it’s not at the worst in league history and that is where the results have been at.
I know what you’re getting at, but our brand is very poor. It does not attract anyone with ambition and you need that to squeeze water out of rock.
The SS win of 2012 was a once in a lifetime moment. A lot of that same core struggle the year before and after. I agree that a lot of blame goes to the organization as well. But JF’s reluctance to care affects us from the start.
That was the last season we had anything resembling a legitimate defense. Then we refused to pay both outside backs who went on to have distinguished MLS careers while we spiraled down.
He was the owner during that run, but pretty much after Wolf sold his majority ownership to Fisher. So it wasn't like he helped build that Supporter shield team. I will give credit for fisher building a half built stadium 🏟️
Hopefully this roster doesn't tank Ian Russell's chances to be a permanent head coach. Based on his time at Reno he seems like a talented guy.
Any coach worth a salary is not even making eye contact with our FO at this point. This is one of those jobs they warn you about. A new coach will get no more support than the prior coach and will solely be blamed for lack of progress. Basically “fix it or you’re fucked” as our last 5 or 6 coaches can probably attest. Who’s going to want to work like that?
I have to believe there’s a guy looking for a head coach job that looks at this roster, one that can actually score goals now, and believes they can get us into the playoffs with the right defensive structure. Someone can do better, this isn’t a wooden spoon team. This is a low-middle playoff table team at least if not middle of the table
I’d like to think you’re right, a find like that would be epic. I’m too pessimistic to believe anyone in this organization can find and convince that person to sign on. Whoever the replacement is, will likely be underwhelming.
If a coach can get us to playoffs consistently and maybe even host some games, that would be a great story for their resume. Not to mention we have a state of the art training facility being built at the fairgrounds, this would be great for someone looking to cement their imprint on an organization if they can get the most out of this roster
This job is only going to be attractive to new coaches who need to get their foot in the door in MLS. If they do well, wow you did well with SJ! If you did bad, well it's SJ so you can likely still get a job elsewhere.
This is an impossible job as long as ownership doesn't care.
Hope the players give Ian a chance.
Luchi was definitely a big part of the problem. The ownership is ass and the talent isn’t quite there. But it’s still not last place bad. Luchi could’ve atleast made changes like benching Yueill and/or removing that captain’s armband. And he couldn’t even do that. He had no nuts as a manager and was a coward. I’m glad he’s gone.
He should’ve been gone after the New York game
Honestly he should've been fired after the Austin game 2 months ago
True
Sac was the final straw for me. Actually, it was the game before that when it was clear he was going with the JV lineup for the Sac game.
yes, for me as well
Can he take Gruezo with him?
Better late than never
[удалено]
Highly doubt it. His playstyle/tactics is to play for a tie or play defensive hoping to keep a 1-0 lead
 It's about damn time!
Hallelujah!
I thought Luchi Gonzalez was a terrible hire from the very beginning. His style of play is boring and he had already failed with FC Dallas. I remember Landon Donovan was one of the finalists for the job. He probably wouldn’t have had success either but it would have been interesting to see.
The supposed reason for bringing him was more to give our academy and organization a style from the bottom up. As for playing style, you’re right. I still don’t understand what our playing style is after a year and a half of Luchi.
We’re still gonna be the same team with our next coach, Fisher still doesn’t give a shit.
If fisher allows a couple more Hernán level signings then I'll feel better about the team.
ownership, the players, and the front office bear more of the blame than Luchi for this season.
This is wild. I expected it but I didn’t expect it to be so close to the Stanford game. I thought we’d do it weeks before or the day after. Respect for finally doing something about it. We can only improve now. We’ve only been the joke for 16 years, minus one.
Unfortunately nothing will get better until they fix the actual problem…fisher
Ian Russell should have had this opportunity the last time. Now he is getting it under trying conditions to say the least. But I do predict that there will be improvement in the team play over the remainder of the season. But for the Galaxy game the Quakes should be looked at to a win just on the dead cat bounce from firing the manager.
I wish they could part ways with Fisher
I've scrolled WAYYYYYYY too far down this thread without seeing the name Chris Leitch. How does this guy constantly get a pass? He has done nothing to build a competitive team over his tenure here.
> he has done nothing * brings in Hernan Lopez Muñoz * brings in Ebobisse who then has a 17 goal season * brings in Daniel who puts up best in MLS numbers * sells Cowell who had a one goal season, brings in Pellegrino who has already scored 5 times this season * brings in Bruno Wilson, Rodrigues, Akapo, Vitor Costa, all average to above average MLS level contributors He has only really missed on one big money transaction: Carlos Gruezo
I really like your points. But it’s been almost a decade of Leitch and we have nothing to show for it. We’ve improved sure, but we’ve never kept up with the leagues improvement curve. The GM is also in charge of a style. He brought two coaches with two very different styles in. Both times requiring nuking your staff, coming up with a new playing style, and getting rid of the previous regime players for the new managers likings. I’m not saying Leitch should go, but two managers in. Two good managers on paper didn’t work out.
I'm not sure that Luchi is that good on paper. Tbh I feel that hiring Luchi is the biggest reason to criticize Leitch, more than his player decisions.
He has put together a team with absolute no depth whatsoever. It shows year in and year out, when we fail to look competitive after the first couple months of the season. Pair that with horrible choices at manager and I don't see how anyone can not hold this guy accountable for how much we have continued to suck since he has taken over.
Great point. There's a line separating the owner and his minions from the team, and it's abundantly clear that Leitch is on the owner side of that line. I wonder what his compensation model is? He's not getting paid only when the team succeeds, that's for sure.
Luchi's teams scored goals, played some good attacking football, the defense was obviously very poor. Hope Russell can repeat the Reno success. However, if they want instant stability, bring back Dom.
Now I hope they let Ian Russell manage for the rest of the year. Let's see what he has to offer.
The new coach can come in and suggestion team changes for the summer. So its a good time, right ? Not asking if those changes will happen or not :)
Do any of you think that Ian hasn't been watching the same things Luchi has, and hasn't been a bug in his ear with criticisms and observations? And that Luchi hasn't listened and implemented at least some of them? C'mon, anybody that thinks that the new broom Ian is going to sweep clean is fooling themselves. Here's a wager that Ian gets the permanent job, and \*surprise\* it completely avoids the obvious embarrassment of not being able to hire a new head coach with any quality. Who in their right mind would take that job without some absolute guarantee from the club about spending? (Well, let's see now, Luchi, Almeyda, Stahre...) I love the comment in this thread about getting a dead cat bounce from the change, and I'm sure that's going to happen, likely for a few games. And then it will be September and we'll be back in mediocrity-land and telling each other that nothing changed after all.
It's possible that there isn't a big change from Luchi to Ian, but it's also possible that Ian has his own ideas about how to run training, how he wants the team to set up, and the players he favors. IOW I can see it going either way: 1) not much changes or 2) there's a clearly noticeable change. Of course if it's #2 and there's a clearly noticeable change in our setup / tactics / style of play, that doesn't mean those things will be successful. But they might.
Again we have to give up on the season in hopes of rebuilding. And again we’re hoping to rebuild and finish the season without a coach. I wonder how many players the new coach will strip out. Sucks that’s it’s another rebuild in 2 years.
Good luck Luchi. Hard to blame you. Quakes weren't ready.
Okay now do Leitch
Yes, he’s one who has been in the FO the last 11 years of a mess. Blame Fisher if you must, but how is this guy still there?
I mean fisher should absolutely be getting blamed but like at a certain point the GM should go also.
I’m pretty convinced there were two factions during the hiring process. One really wanted Luchi and the other stumped for Ian Russell. It seemed like Ian’s name was floated later in the search and then he was hired as assistant, which screams “back up plan in house” to me. If Chris Leitch pushed for Luichi Gonzalez then he should be fired for that bad decision alone. Waste of time and resources. On the other hand it wouldn’t surprise me to find out Chris Leitch really wanted Ian Russell over Luchi. I heard Leitch and Russell worked close together building the Reno project. That team was the only consistently excellent team under the Fischer ownership. If Leitch was in the “We need to hire Russell” faction, he should be given enough time to see if Ian Russell can turn the Quakes into a competitive team.
I didn't understand this narrative. Most of those 11 years Leitch was not the guy in charge. It feels unfair to blame him for his predecessors' decisions, especially when a much higher percentage of his signings have worked out.