P/I/P: #05 - LA Galaxy @ Vancouver Whitecaps; 04/19/14; 4:00pm PDT

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by Geneva, Apr 14, 2014.

  1. JBZTV

    JBZTV Member+

    May 10, 2009
    But what you don't get is that we have wiggle room. This was always a move until the World Cup, and then we'd see what happened from there (when...hey, go figure...the transfer window is open and the guys we can probably get aren't worried about making their last WC roster.)

    But even say something crazy happened. Say tomorrow, Christiano Ronaldo held a news conference that he was angry at Bale stealing his spotlight and wanted to leave and he wanted to move to the LA Galaxy because he was marrying Jennifer Lawrence. Say there's absolutely no way that Omar is moving to Europe, for whatever reason. You really don't get that we could trade him to another MLS team for an international roster spot and a murky cash/allocation money deal? We traded Juan Pablo Angel, who was basically a rotting corpse with soccer balls bouncing off him, to make way for Keane. You really think we couldn't unload one of the league's top 5 defenders?

    That's what you're not getting, that we keep saying. There were no better options. There were no midfield saviors. We swung and missed, so we locked up Omar until the World Cup, because nobody wanted to make a big move before then.
     
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  2. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I call BS on this. =) Sorry. It's BS. Why would some team trade us for a defender who is only top 5 in MLS at his salary? There is a reason there isn't a single other defender in MLS on a DP deal. He's too expensive to trade.

    And if the play was ALWAYS until the WC---then keep Omar initially, don't re up him, get someone after the WC with your open spot. You have 6 months between the end of Omar's contract and the WC, that's all you are losing if that was always the play. Instead, you have a long contract, a player who isn't going to get bought, and a DP slot that is going to be filled at the PRIME time for getting a player---right after the WC.

    And please stop saying there was no player available. Bradley is playing in f'ing Toronto. You don't get a shot at players like that when your slots are full. We are lucky Chivas was owned and operated by nitwits or we would have paid a lot more of a price for that mistake.
     
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  3. Berks

    Berks Member+

    Dec 22, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Be prepared for Leo to start more games. Honestly, I don't know what to stay to this article, except for Bruce is burying his head in the sand:

    http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2014/0...-learn-mistake-against-vancouver-whitecaps-fc

    “I’ve seen the play three or four times,” Leonardo said. “Those types of plays just happen during games.
    “I really don’t know what happened."

    It was a particularly unfortunate turn of events for the 26-year-old Leonardo who, according to Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena, had played well to that point not only in that game but for much of the season.


    “Leo has played well,” Arena said of the 26-year-old defender, with whom he spoke about the play at the conclusion of Saturday’s game. “Leo was involved in a lot of plays in that game where he was actually excellent. However, he did make a crucial error.

    “You learn from it and you move on.”

    Arena said he had no concerns about Leonardo’s ability to recover from such an unfortunate sequence.

    “He’ll be fine,” Arena said. “He’s been around here long enough. He’ll be fine.”

    Leonardo said he’s already done that. He admitted it was easier for him to recover from that mistake than it was from the Galaxy’s CONCACAF Champions League rematch with Club Tijuana, which scored three goals in the first 26 minutes and went on to eliminate the Galaxy from the competition.

    “That game was harder for me,” Leonardo said. “After this one I was OK after about two days or so. You just come back.”

    So, even Leonardo knows he played crappy.

    Sigh.
     
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  4. LEM-LAG

    LEM-LAG Member+

    May 28, 2011
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    I bet Leo will have two good games before one of his brain farts cost us points. Deja vu...

    The race for the Shield has been very tight the past years. I'm sure one of the few reasons we didn't win it last year was because Leo costs us too many points. Cudicini was an other.

    It's so irrational and unfair Opare didn't get the start when he came back from injury. He has been so promising last year, now he doesn't even play with Los Dos.
     
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  5. The Cadaver

    The Cadaver It's very quiet here.

    Oct 24, 2000
    La Cañada, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It is too painful, but if you go back to last year you will find Bruce defended Cudicini up until the day he was dropped. I think Bruce sees it as part of his job to keep criticism in house and shield his players from outside attacks.
     
  6. FlapJack

    FlapJack Member+

    Mar 3, 2006
    Los Angeles
    And that's exactly how it should be. And even then if he sends Leonardo packing, I hope Bruce says all the right things about "it was time for a move...unfortunately it didn't quite work out...".

    I have to say that upon reading Berks's post about Leo and Bruce above, it struck me just how young Leo is (he seemed older than 26 to me with him being around so long). And there is some truth in those words no matter how cliché they are. Players have to forget a lot of that. With the bye week, we sure like to criticize here at Big Soccer and it's clear we have nothing better to do.

    Anyway regarding Leo, at 26 he's a lot younger than I think of him, and when you factor in he's had several major injuries in his stint with us and you look at game time or starts he's had, he's just not as experienced as it seems he should be. At 33 games going into this season, he's played about one MLS season for us. He's started 1/4 of the games that Omar has or AJ has (and 1/8 of the games as Todd Dunivant, 1/3 Gargan). And before MLS - when he came from Sao Paulo at age 22, I don't think he'd seen much first team action at all. In his 4 years he's played in front of four different #1 keepers. As a defender he should continue to improve as he becomes more experience, and his best soccer years are probably still in front of him. When he's mistake free he does play at a very high level which makes him so frustrating. And he has a wonderful mix of athleticism and skill on the ball. I think he'll always be prone to the kind of mistakes he makes, but I would expect their occurrence to continue to diminish. And at $100K he's really quite reasonable. I'd still like to see Opare brought along. But I'm going to say, If I was GM that the prospect of having Leo as an LA starting CB in 2016 actually seems like a good idea. Suck on that, Big Soccer!
     
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  7. Berks

    Berks Member+

    Dec 22, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Totally don't disagree with you, and I also think it's lame to throw someone under the bus in the media. Though with Cudicini I think the compliments got vaguer and vaguer over time. Hoping it's the case here too.

    I wish he hadn't done the quotes at all, but if the reporters asked, guess he had to say something.
     
  8. Berks

    Berks Member+

    Dec 22, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think the challenge is that he's being compared to other CBs that have been less mistake prone, even in their first seasons.
     
  9. phoenixhazard

    phoenixhazard Member+

    Oct 26, 2010
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    when it comes to Leonardo, I feel like the last sane person alive
     
  10. FlapJack

    FlapJack Member+

    Mar 3, 2006
    Los Angeles
    No doubt. But when I remove the emotional turmoil, the shouts of ridicule, the cries of despair, and look only at the situation with my manager's hat on it's pretty evident. You have a young inexperienced athletic player who's mistake prone, but in-between mistakes he can play very well. At 26, he's played the equivalent of one MLS season. Do you jettison a player after one season of games? Clearly he's shown something in practice. And Opare's played 6 games. How many mistakes can you really make in 6 games? Don't get me wrong. I think Opare looked very promising. I'm just saying, although cliché, in this case the coach-speak "you have to put these things behind you and continue to improve" isn't just lip service. There's very much some truth to it.
     
  11. phoenixhazard

    phoenixhazard Member+

    Oct 26, 2010
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Look, Leo is not a bad guy and he isn't TERRIBLE. but he makes mistakes that cost us BIG matches. He is 26, that's not young but not old either for a CB. He can get better and I am all for keeping him and nurturing him. I blame Bruce yet again for all those mistakes, especially in CCL!, because it is his job to recognize Leo can be mistake prone at this part of his career and he should have played a tried and tested partnership for those big matches, AJ + Gonzo. It really pisses me off how poor Bruce is at picking his first xi. F**! Look at the damn CHampions League, look at the changes Mourinho made this week! He went with his older guys, even though they didn't play a big part of the season, because he understood that experience matter ALOT in those kind of matches. Bruce doesn't have a f*ing clue
     
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  12. FlapJack

    FlapJack Member+

    Mar 3, 2006
    Los Angeles
    I definitely agree with this. Perhaps a little sheltering would have been better. But I suppose with no Dunivant and Riley and Gargan being new faces, maybe Bruce didn't know what the heck to do in the back. He should have checked with us at Big Soccer.
     
  13. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    If Leo were making the normal mistakes then I would agree with the idea he just needs more experience. But he makes mistake on routine plays - mistakes that make you go 'wtf! How did that happen??'. And worse he seems not to get it. His quote here - "I've watched the play 3 or 4 time. These kind of plays just happen in games. I really don't know what happened." should scare the shizzle out of you. A normal response would be "I have to do better at shielding the ball or at least clear the ball. Next time I promise you I am protecting the keeper from being put in that situation." But nooo, apparently these things "just happen."
     
  14. phoenixhazard

    phoenixhazard Member+

    Oct 26, 2010
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    well this isn't the first time he has done this, not even close. Pre-season is there for a reason
     
  15. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why do people keep mentioning Bradley? Are LA fans really envious of the Bradley deal? Makes sense for TFC, where he was instantly a huge upgrade to their midfield. For us? Not so much.
     
  16. phoenixhazard

    phoenixhazard Member+

    Oct 26, 2010
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    can't say but i'd imagine most of us here think we could have gotten Bradley if we had a 3rd DP spot open. He would have probably improved our squad 10 fold as well. You can argue that we have good centermid already (juninho, sarvas, husidic, even ishizaki) but bradley is MUCH better than all of them and would have provided that creative spark deep that we still need oh so badly.
     
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  17. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    Not sure I agree. LA hasn’t had a history of overpaying for DPs and rarely pays transfer fees. If you include his transfer fee Bradley’s amortized annual cost would be more than Robbie & Landon combined. Mike would need a pretty killer year and/or Keane & Donovan would need pretty crap years to justify that.
     
  18. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, Bradley is on another level than anyone we have in the center right now. You can argue whether or not we would have got him if we'd had the spot (not guaranteed) but with his age and skills he's an A++ building block for any team.
     
  19. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He's not a 10-fold improvement over our current midfield, which is tops in MLS. The addition of Bradley would be an upgrade for sure, but not such orders of magnitude that it would've made sense to pay what TFC did.

    I get the whole "Chamipons Live in LA!" thing and folks have certain expectations for the team, but that's mostly branding/sentimental nonsense, not the basis for a long-term strategy for team-building. Sometimes it'll make sense to splash on big name and sometimes--I'd wager the majority of the time, even--it won't. In itself, the ability to throw money around is not worth celebrating nor is it the hallmark of world class football club--it just means your team has money. Madrid chases superstars like a shameless groupie and have 1 La Liga trophy in the last 5 years to show for it.
     
  20. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bradley is a solid 2 step upgrade from our current central midfield pairing, which struggles to unlock defenses. He provide both defense and offense, outlets, organization---box to box player who never stops running. I don't think he would be anything like a trivial or small upgrade over Sarvas or Juninho. I'm not one who says he should be starting for a Top 5 European Team like some, but he's a dynamo at MLS level and will be for many years. Worth the investment, to me.
     
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  21. The Beautiful Gamer

    The Beautiful Gamer BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 26, 2008
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don't be so sure that a team wouldn't be willing to pay Omar's salary. DC paid for Sean Franklin when everyone was sooo sure that he was just way too overpriced. If another team in MLS found out that LA was willing to let this dude be traded I would give up a year's salary if he was not scooped up dang near immediately as a DP to play elsewhere. If the idea of a John Terry or Sergio Ramos as MLS DP doesn't sound insane then I guarantee that a younger and likely cheaper Omar Gonzalez doesn't either. Also if LA hadn't signed him when they did, not only would you have likely had to continue to read snarky articles about LA sucking now because they were unable to sign a DP in either the winter or summer window but you likely would have been reading about Omar walking for free in January. The front office would have never lived such a fail down. Especially with how the whole Magee/Rogers deal played out that season.
     
  22. The Beautiful Gamer

    The Beautiful Gamer BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 26, 2008
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #347 The Beautiful Gamer, Apr 24, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2014
    Two words..."Tim Lieweke". When he left LA everyone was in shock and figured had he been here we would have signed the greatest DP of them all by now. It took him a while to back up his talk but the guy helps bring in Bradley, Defoe and DeRoe in the same year and only needed 2 DP slots between the 3 of them to make it happen. Nobody gave a crap about Bradley being on this team until he was suddenly on another team. So yeah, good old fashioned green-eyed envy if you ask me.
     
  23. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nobody had a clue Bradley was available. Believe me, there'd have been people screaming for it if we'd had any idea he was open to MLS.
     
  24. jmaestro

    jmaestro Member+

    Mar 27, 2008
    Bakersfield
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It sounds insane.
     
  25. napper

    napper Member+

    Jan 14, 2014
    Fullerton
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not envious. And, the Bradley-Bekker pairing doesn't worry me.
     
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