Midway through the MLS regular season, we highlight comments compiled from Football Every Day’s matchday interviews, with the second part of our San Jose Earthquakes midseason review focused on the Quakes’ offense. Our first part, on Avaya Stadium, can be found here.

If it’s fair to compare any aspect of the current San Jose Earthquakes to the 2014 MLS’ last-place Quakes, their attack has transformed the most since last year’s season-ending fifteen-match winless streak. In those fifteen games, the Quakes scored just twelve times and went goalless in their final four matches, a run lasting three-hundred-and-ninety-four minutes. Now sixteen games into the 2015 season, the Quakes have scored nineteen goals and more importantly, won seven games.

Don’t be mistaken, the Quakes’ attack is still very much a work in progress, as their 19 from 16 record implies, but they are well along the path toward a much-needed revival. A new generation has stepped forward in place of aging, experienced stalwarts such as Sam Cronin, Khari Stephenson, Yannick Djalo, and Atiba Harris in the midfield. Cronin left to the Colorado Rapids for allocation money while Djalo finished his loan from Benfica and Harris was let go. Only Stephenson has stayed on and hasn’t appeared at Avaya Stadium yet with his two league starts both away.

Matias Perez Garcia was signed in July of 2014 but was injured soon thereafter and sidelined for the end of the season. Only this year has he become an established starter and often the root of the Quakes’ attacking creativity. He has six assists so far this season and no other Earthquakes player has put in more than one. In part, it’s because he has taken over the duties as the club’s set-piece taker and assisted Clarence Goodson’s header from corner in a 3-1 win over the LA Galaxy last weekend.

“He rarely makes a bad decision on the ball, Kinnear said of his second designated player. “When there’s good movement and we’re passing the ball, he plays better too. It goes hand in hand.”

Garcia has lightning quick acceleration and is dangerous when running at men, too. Kinnear said after the Quakes 2-0 win over Columbus, Matias “is a smart player— he picks the right pass and you have to try and find his pockets to get him the ball. Sometimes he has to drift wide to try and get it because the middle can be so clogged up.”

Per MLSSoccer.com, Kinnear said: “We’ve definitely seen more glimpses of [Matias’ contribution]. You can point to the Columbus game [when Perez Garcia had a pair of assists]. Even before the [Crew] red card, I thought he looked the best player on the field. Even in the Dallas game, before our red card, I thought he looked very good. … His play in the last month and a half has been right up there.”

Wondolowski added: “[Matias] just adds another dynamic. He opens up a lot of things for other players. That’s something special that he has.”

Fatai Alashe’s midfield role is mainly defense-first, but the twenty-one-year-old is also an initial distributor for the Quakes’ attack and responsible for getting the ball to Matias. “The kid is going to do big things, no one doubts that at all,” Chris Wondolowski said of Fatai. “He’s got an engine — can cover a lot of ground. You can tell he’s getting confident on the ball, he wants it…he’s getting the ball, he’s switching it almost every time — no bad touches.”

The Quakes’ offseason climaxed with the signing of Designated Player Innocent Emeghara. A pacy winger of the Arjen Robben mold who had featured in Serie A, Emeghara immediately added a new dimension to the Quakes’ attack. Early on, however, the issue of individualism on the pitch began to surface. First in the Quakes’ 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, Kinnear said: “we’ve got to sometimes be a little more unselfish — and that obviously is when you get closer to goal.”

Wondolowski echoed similar thoughts. “At times we were too individualistic,” he said. “You have to really move and pass the ball to break them down and we didn’t do a good enough job of that tonight.”

After the Vancouver win Kinnear again mentioned it and Wondo said: “We have a saying, ‘eleven as one’ and when we do that we’re a very good team and when we don’t and rely on someone to try and make a play we’re a bit predictable and easier to defend.”

But then Emeghara was injured (before the Vancouver game, for reference) and the problem trickled away. In part, that may have been due to the impressive renaissance of Shea Salinas. The 29-year-old winger made his second start of the season against Vancouver after a string of substitute appearances. “I guess I haven’t started in games that we’ve won in a long time. It was nice to be a part of that,” Salinas said after the game. “I was thankful that I had a lot of energy,” he told Football Every Day. “It was something I prayed about a lot before the game.”

Salinas has started every league game since. As Wondo put it, “[Shea’s] great with the ball.” On the day, Kinnear said: “I thought [Salinas] was very good. He was picking his spots to come inside and received the ball well and when he did receive the ball he didn’t lose it, which was a real good thing. … We talked to him at halftime about driving at [Vancouver’s defender], cause he’s good when he’s running at people, but I also thought he was good when he was coming inside and keeping the ball for us too.

“And it’s not because a guy hasn’t played for three games that he’s not a starter anymore…and obviously with Innocent [injured], it gives Shea an opportunity. Now, what does he with the opportunity is the most important thing. I think he took full advantage of it today.”

Shea scored in the Quakes’ 2-0 win over Columbus Crew in their next home game and Kinnear said: “It’s nice to see the guy get rewarded with a goal for his nice work and his good play.” In passing Kinnear also mentioned, “[full-back Jordan Stewart] and Shea seemed to be working pretty well together. “

All in all, the Quakes are quick on the break and as the season grew, also became more comfortable in possession. But the final touch is a different matter. The Quakes’ finishing has been on and off this season and after the Vancouver game, Kinnear said: “Our last pass was just a little bit of a pinch off — we were letting ourselves down and letting them off the hook.” Slowly, it has begun to improve but Kinnear still gives finishing the odd mention in his post-match press conference.

After Vancouver, Wondo said: “I thought we played well all the way up until that final pass or shot, I thought the way that we moved and created those opportunities was fantastic but we weren’t sharp enough in the final third until we got that goal….I still think we’re a work in progress in that final touch.”

The Quakes’ two young forwards Adam Jahn and Mark Sherrod, who have together split the majority of the time up front in the Quakes’ 4-1-4-1, are perhaps to blame. Both 6’ 3’’ target men, Kinnear clearly regards them as similar players. Last weekend, after the Quakes’ 3-1 Cal Clasico win, Kinnear said of his halftime substitution of Jahn for Sherrod: “There’s not much tactics going in putting a six-foot-three guy for a six-foot-three guy.”

Both have suffered from patchy runs of form. In regard to Jahn’s performance against RSL, his first start of the season, Kinnear told the whole story in three words: “Well, we lost.”

But the next week against Vancouver, Kinnear was full of praise for his front man. “It was important for [Jahn] to take his licks today because he had to to be helpful for us,” Kinnear said. “I think he did that well. He’s a bit of a battering ram and he keeps his game simple, he provides a great service for us.”

Sherrod got his first start against Dallas. Until Sherrod’s unlucky red card, Wondo remarked of his performance: “I thought he did great. He works hard, holds up the ball really well, [he has] a very great presence in the air and I was able to connect with him.” Since, he has made multiple appearances and rotated with Jahn.

But neither Jahn or Sherrod are finishers or poachers. That’s Wondolowski, who began the season up front. He has continued to be by far the Quakes’ most prolific finisher, with eleven goals in all competitions so far this season and is second on the MLS scoring charts. Against Orlando City, he notched his hundredth goal for the Quakes. “It’s a number, but a number where some of the best guys in this league have reached,” Wondo said. “To be synonymous with those names, it’s pretty unreal to be honest.”

But beginning in the match against the New England Revolution and then versus Salt Lake, Kinnear experimented with Wondo in an attacking midfield role. While he’s obviously still there to score when needed, he originally struggled with a more involved role. “I didn’t get on the ball enough and wasn’t able to connect enough for us especially in the offensive third,” he said following the latter game. “I’m a bit disappointed in that and I like this role. We tried it out in New England and I still think I have a lot more room to improve, but I like it.”

On the changes, Wondo later said: “Just keeping my game simple, just one-two touch, it’s not a whole lot different, just further down the pitch. I still need to make better runs and better times runs. Second forward, midfielder, whatever you want to call it I just need to make better timed runs to open it up.”

Wondolowski has definitely improved in the new role, but sometimes maintains a forward’s mindset and fails to drop back on defense. With Garcia also patchy in the defensive area, it can at times leave the Quakes vulnerable and Alashe stranded. Regardless, new adjustments will be required next month as Wondo packs his bags for the US Gold Cup campaign. As he left the Cal Clasico on Saturday, he gave his coach a small hug in farewell.