Entering October, the San Jose Earthquakes rebounded after a disastrous July and August, giving themselves breathing room. Seven games separate the team from the postseason.
For those remaining games, key questions for Arena and his team will be asked and potentially answered.
After halting a terrible slide, the Quakes returned to a sort of normal form, going unbeaten since the end of August. As positive as this turnaround looks, questions remain about this team’s ceiling entering the playoffs.
Starting the season as one of the more fun attacking sides, the post-April slide shook the faith in this attack. In recent weeks, they’ve returned to a decent offense, but doubts linger. With Löwen and Tsakiris in great form as creators, they still rely on Preston Judd for nearly all their goals.
Arena built a defensive monster to start the season and made their structure the team’s calling card. A shift to a back three rejuvenated a backline that spent three months getting tormented. While their defensive woes appear to have eased, the potential for a return remains.
Finding more consistency as they near the postseason remains top of the Quakes’ wishlist.
A number of questions stand in their way of a potentially deep run.
Alone Up Top
Leaving the transfer window with only one real option at striker, as Arena refuses to give Jovanović a shot, gives no room for error. Accounting for 30% of the team’s goals, Judd gives them a real threat, but it also means they have to live with his ups and downs.
Credit: San Jose Earthquakes
In an offense where he only needs to focus on scoring, Judd plays his best. Earlier this season, everything revolved around him, with Tsakiris and Werner feeding him. It’s not surprising that as soon as Werner returned, the Quakes’ top scorer returned to the scorer’s sheet. This new-look frontline benefits a player like Judd, as it lets him finish plays without having to help in the buildup.
Like any striker, Judd remains prone to scoring droughts, whether for a few games or a longer stretch. Additionally, in the playoffs, teams gameplan for players directly, so defenses will look to kill passes to Judd. The striker showed that his physical playstyle lets him keep posing a threat when defenses hone in on him, but those traits don’t necessarily mean he will score.
Other options on the roster also offer little confidence, given their playing time or fit. As a Swiss Army knife-type player, Bouda had a great season, but he’s not a pure scorer. Jovanović remains an unknown, and throwing him out to the wolves in a playoff setting may hurt his development.
Arena’s changes help a player like Judd, but the overreliance on him may prove to be the team’s downfall.
If he enters any sort of drought in the playoffs, the lack of another consistent option opens the door to potential stalls.
Between The Sticks
Since joining the Quakes, Gunn has become the team’s scapegoat, especially after he took Daniel’s spot. To be fair, the Scottish keeper played so poorly that he appeared to be the worst keeper in MLS.
Similar to Judd, Gunn benefited from the shift to the new 3-4-3 and may have saved his season. The new back three gave both Gunn and the team the defensive solidity they lacked. With Munie and Roberts tracking runners and Romney playing as the last line of defense, Gunn had more reassurance.
During the team’s bounce-back, starting with their game against Houston, the keeper recorded two clean sheets. In fact, since that Minnesota game, Gunn went from averaging 2.5 goals allowed per game to 1.2 following Arena’s changes. During this period, Gunn showed greater confidence, even flashing signs of being a top-tier MLS keeper.
Unfortunately for the Scotsman, that poor start leaves fans holding their breath whenever opponents get shots off. His underlying numbers still show a keeper struggling to stop shots. This trend shows on the pitch, as most of his struggles come when opponents get any sort of opening.
Switching keepers for the playoffs makes no sense, and with a contract lasting until 2030, the Quakes are stuck with Gunn. Having shown signs of life lately, the prospect of Gunn returning to the keeper who gave up 15 in his first six still scares fans.
Unexpected Change
Since Almeyda managed the Quakes, every subsequent manager tried to make a two-man midfield work. The duo was to consist of one more box-to-box midfielder and one purely defensive.
After cycling through players like Eric Remedi and Judson, the Quakes found a strong option in Ronaldo Vieira. A dominant presence in the midfield, the former Sampdoria man did well to provide cover to the backline. While his passing and ball-carrying abilities leave much to be desired, that was never why they brought him in.
Credit: San Jose EarthquakesDespite the formation changes, a midfield built in an image dreamt of by previous front offices clearly doesn’t work. Beau Leroux’s emergence as a dynamic force in the midfield necessitated a different look. Playing a purely defensive midfielder alongside a player of that level handcuffed the side’s playmaking potential.
To truly unlock this team’s attack, Arena needs to play a deeper-lying midfielder who can offer another look to a team full of attackers. Adding another passer in the midfield gives the team a safety valve to relieve pressure when defenses collapse on the front line. Ian Harkes or pushing Lowen deeper gives Arena a playmaker who can unlock defenses.
Vieira has played his role perfectly so far, but Arena needs more creativity, especially if He keeps the 3-4-3. Adding a real playmaker next to Leroux in the midfield would open up play for the bevy of playmakers in the front three.
As the Quakes barrel towards the playoffs, important questions will be posed, and answers will be needed. After recovering from a nose-dive that threatened the season, the focus needs to be on positioning for the postseason.
Finding a way to answer these vital questions may be the difference maker the moment the team steps onto the pitch in mid-November.
