Still no shake to the Quakes

Jeez, now I'm pissed off. Just pissed off. No good reason of course, but the San Jose Earthquakes are now, officially, completely lost. Last night in their first US Open Cup game, they lost 1-0 to the Charleston Battery and bounced out of the tournament after just 90+ mins. Frustration doesn't even begin to describe what the Quakes are about now. At a 3-5-6 record, you have to start asking what's wrong. Last year, the team was flying high and could do largely no wrong as game after game they came back and took points they would have left on the table. But this year, it was known injuries would give this team a rough start and for awhile, it looked like they would be ok. Well alarm bells, injuries are gone, all starters are available, and the team has yet to win a game by more than a one goal difference. Not to mention this year goonie time has been to get the tie, last year it was mostly to get the win.

Now I could complain about refs and whatnot, but as I'm watching these guys, I think it's just sheer stupidity. During the game against Colorado, I kept asking myself why the Quakes weren't getting the 50-50 balls. During SEVERAL games, I asked why <insert players' name here> made that ridiculously stupid pass to nobody and see the ball go off for and opponent throw-in, killing the offensive push in the process. Yallop has finally realized the 4-4-2 formation that was used all of last year isn't working anymore and introduced a 4-1-4-1 (!?!), but formations aren't the problem I think. It's getting back to basics. Last year, we saw the potential of this team in a goal scored @ Chivas when five passes completely baffled the defense and the goal was low hanging fruit. Perhaps it led to a false sense of EPL type passing because I see the Quakes time and again try to pull it off instead of, y'know, SHOOTING THE BALL AT THE NET! I see Cronin, Martinez and Jahn starting to realize this and they are getting some good cracks at the net, if they keep it up, some are bound to go in and maybe they can turn the season around.

Somehow though, I feel like all these Men's Warehouse ties are going to strangle the Quakes' postseason chances.