The Return of Past Ghosts

Credit: San Jose Earthquakes

Old ghosts return to haunt the Quakes upon their return to life this season. After a summer window that saw unexpected and welcome moves, a pair of disappointing results opened up the second half of the season.

Littered across those two games were issues that plagued the Quakes during their last run of poor form in May.

With some caveats announced with their summer moves, expectations needed to be adjusted coming into the MLS’ restart. However, rather than being tied to the transfers, these issues appeared to be nothing new.

One of the issues that plagued the team all season was a lack of depth, and especially quality depth. Entering this season, the front office shed plenty of high-quality depth, from Mark-Anthony Kaye to Josef Martinez. Early-season success papered over this glaring issue, but it’s returned despite these summer moves.

Another issue that appeared during May came via team selection from Arena. While team selection issues are tied to the roster, there is a reliance on safe options. Most players are pigeonholed into their roles without any chance of being moved around. 

The Orlando game showed an overwhelmed team, but the Galaxy game was one the Quakes should probably have won, with or without the penalty.

Their great start gave them enough runway to survive this spell, but they need help and need it soon.

Players missing time with injuries, suspension, or other circumstances hurt the team over this past week. While the team, somewhat, bounced back against the Galaxy, the thinness of the roster still presents a very real problem.

Saturday’s Cali Clasico underlined this issue perhaps the best. With Luka Jovanović still not with the team and Preston Judd injured, there was no ideal option at the striker position. Ultimately, Arena chose to play Jack Skahan in the Judd role, which produced nothing of impact.  

Entering the season with only Judd as a pure striker option always meant that any ceiling was limited. That lowered potential reached the rest of the roster, with no position outside the wings possessing the necessary reinforcements for a full season. In fact, the team’s success thus far seems like a miracle given how threadbare they are.

For as fun and intriguing as the recent moves promise to be, there still remains plenty of work to be done. If Arena hopes his team can make a deep run, it needs more depth.

As currently constructed, Arena’s team has shown itself to be a very talented regular-season team that can punish opponents. However, the lack of quality rotational options on the bench means that when opponents throw different reads at them, it becomes hard to counter. When anything goes wrong, a lack of game-changing subs makes it hard to regain control of the game.

The addition of Angus Gunn gives the team a good replacement for Daniel, while Jovanović promises to be a piece for the future with the chance to help now. More moves like Darius Johnson bring in veteran players who allow for more flexibility. While their two summer moves inspired hope in this fanbase, the front office can’t be content with just those transfers.

With more free time coming up as some MLS clubs take part in Leagues Cup, the front office should use this time to add more pieces.

More depth allows the flexibility that can make deep playoff runs possible. 

Just as the issue up top showed the problems with the roster construction, so did Arena’s decision to play Nick Fernandez alongside Beau Leroux present a different problem. A lack of creativity with the players at hand hinders this team.

Being creative with this roster doesn’t mean changing a system that clearly works; rather, it means being open to moving around players. Returning to the Jack Skahan example, asking him to play the striker role over Timo Werner is a clear misreading of the situation. Choosing to play an attacking midfielder by trade over the prolific goalscorer in that role nullified the threat of the Quakes’ attack.

Without Ronaldo Vieira for the game, Arena decided to play Fernandez in that role over Ian Harkes. One of the bright spots of last season came via the Harkes-Leroux partnership. For the first time in years, the team employed a midfield duo that matched each other well and gave them more dimensionality. 

Fernandez off the bench may have helped the team, but choosing not to start with a tried-and-tested duo hurt the team. One only needs to look at how much better the team flowed upon Harkes’ introduction. 

Team selection and the creativity that comes with it can be amplified with a roster that is both deep and talented. While plenty of talent exists within this team, the lack of depth means that Arena can only make certain moves. Perhaps needing to get as many points as possible means that only a select number of players will see playing time.

Figuring out how to rotate a roster this thin will help keep players fresh and understand what options exist off the bench. Perhaps Arena and his staff want to wait until the transfers are all completed before making any changes to the system. While logical, the season is far from over, and making sure they see the playoffs comes before anything else.

No warning bells need to be alarmed just yet, but Arena tweaking with his system a little bit would help down the stretch. Plenty of time remains for everyone involved to understand what the ceiling of this side is.

What this past week should represent for this team is a set of wake-up calls. The train remains far from even coming close to derailing, but there have been some shakes.

Figuring out what is possible with the roster now prevents any derailment come October.