Lenhart and his ‘Stache Might Start Against Philadelphia
By: Chris | April 28th, 2011
Frank Yallop called for a players only meeting Monday at 9 am. Yallop was thoroughly disgusted with the way the team played in last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Chivas USA. In a game Yallop described as a must-win, he felt the team played poorly and without fire. Yallop also hinted at some drastic roster changes for this Saturday’s match against Philadelphia, “There might be a few [new] guys starting. We’ll see.”
Bobby Burling reflected on the meaning of the players only meeting on Monday.
“I’ve been playing sports since four or five years old and this is one of the tightest groups I’ve been a part of,” Burling told MLSsoccer.com. “It’s easy in that setting to come in and say, ‘OK, we need a meeting.’ It’s hard to call a friend out, but to get it off you in the right setting is what you need to do. This is my fifth year [in MLS] and I think I’ve had one of those every year. Whether it’s ‘players-only’ or ‘captain’s meeting,’ whatever you want to call it, it’s just something that needs to be done, needs to be said. Nothing came out of it that wasn’t already known. It was just to harp on the little things and try to get the mentality back to where it was last year.”
It’s a time when players can talk freely amongst themselves about problems they may see with each other and hopefully come out of the meeting without being too hurt, but more importantly being able to discuss with your teammates what all the players have seen and how they believe they can fix things.
Regardless of what transpired in the locker room, I think Yallop should stick to his idea of making some dramatic roster changes for the Philadelphia game. The Quakes were on offensive fire the first 4 games of the season. Yallop said he liked what he saw of Ampai on the right side of midfield when he was playing against Chivas USA. He also believes that Lenhart can be the target man up top who can hold the ball for his teammates or take quality shots on goal.
One of the things the team is lacking in the attacking third is decisiveness. Forwards and attacking midfielders need to spend less time trying to dribble into the box when they can take a shot from around 20 yards out. Convey, Dawkins and Ampai can be the driving force of the offense from the left, mid, and right sides, respectively. Luzunaris and McLoughlin have impressed when they have been playing while Sealy and Johnson, not so much. Maybe it’s time to put some of these guys into the game with Convey, Dawkins and Wondo and see what they can do.
I think everyone can agree that the defense so far this year has been less than stellar. But even though the backline has been porous so far, we’re only 6 games into a 34 game season. There’s plenty of time to rack up 12 more shutouts like last year (We’ve already got that one against FC Dallas). It may be time to move Corrales to the bench in a support role. I know he’s the captain but he’s also going to be 34 in a month or two. Corrales has not been able to keep up with attackers on the left side of the field if he has to track back from midfield, which is what happens in a 4-3-3 system. Normally the holding midfielder or left midfielder would cover, but Convey is not a great defender and Cronin hasn’t been the rock like last year. Leitch is also getting older, he’s 32 right now. Tim Ward was the right and left back sub last year and he did a good job, but he’s been out with a hamstring injury so far this season. Maybe it’s Ward’s presence on defense that has put them out of sorts so far this year. The Quakes also have a young defender named Victor Cortez. There hasn’t been much talked about him so far but I’m pretty sure he’s been playing in the reserve games. Maybe it’s time for Cortez to be tested in a live game.
Yallop has plenty of attacking options he can play with. Finding the right combination is what his job is and hopefully he can figure out a strategy for the long term of the season. Busch and Hernandez will hopefully iron out the defensive problems.
GO QUAKES!
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