PHOTO: ISI Photos
SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose Earthquakes manager, Mikael Stahre, insists his team is “on the right track” despite dropping three points against a David Villa-less NYCFC at Avaya Stadium.
The 2-1 loss, which is the club’s third consecutive (league and friendlies combined) since their 3-2 opening win against Minnesota United, adds fire and legitimacy to the questions surrounding the Quakes early deficiencies. However, the Swede feels his side, who took the field after two weeks of regular season inactivity, is heading in the right direction.
“I think, in general, we are on the right track, but it’s always harder to lose,” Stahre said at a news conference. “It’s about to win games, but time to get past this game and move forward.”
The Quakes, whose success has been heavily interdependent on stoppage-time magic for the past half decade, have turned to the method time and time again this season. In the 75th minute, while trailing 2-1 and in dire need of stardust, Stahre opted for subbing Quincy Amarikwa with defender Harold Cummings, the Bay Area side’s only substitution of the match.
The Swede’s substitutions or the lack thereof has resulted to be a target for criticism. Yet, Stahre feels his lone substitution, which was solely tactical based, maximized the Quakes probabilities of overturning the score in a second half they dominated in possession and chances created.
“It was important to keep the momentum and actually we created a lot of chances, that’s why,” he added. “Also, we kept our goal scorers (on the field) and also we added Quincy (Amarikwa), then we changed the shape, playing three players in the back.”
The Black and Blue, who after three matches sit 10th in the Western Conference table, acknowledge that their start of the season is far from ideal, but call for patience with the new integrations.
“We have new players and we have a new philosophy from our coach,” defender Florian Jungwirth said. “It’s quite a new eleven, so, sure it needs time to develop. But we have now lost two times, which is not good, but I believe we are on the right path and we will surely get the right results in the coming weeks.”
In the coming weeks, the Quakes will take the pitch regularly starting with an away bout against the Philadelphia Union. But more crucial towards possible success than regularity can be Stahre’s willingness to adjust tactically. After all, the introduction of discretionary TAM has only made Western Conference tougher and San Jose have plenty ground to make up in it.
