Rossi ain't leaving La Viola, too good, too young and he's worked hard to get back to Italy. He spent years trying to get a club to sign him, so I doubt he leaves so early. If Fiorentina don't make the CL another club will come in for him that's in the CL.
The G's should try to get Adudoo, Rossi, and Subotic If they can, the Galaxy truly will be the most loved team in the MLS.
Never say never, but yeah, you're likely right. Rossi's dream was to play in Serie A and now that he's there, don't really see him leaving anytime soon.
I think he'll play in the MLS someday though. Also I think his hobbled strike partner is more likely to turn up in the next 3 years. Not sure I would want Gomez though, bit of a poacher and has been the benefit of significant service for years. He's been injured a lot but you could clearly see the difference between Rossi and Gomez when they shared the same pitch, Rossi can create his own chances and finish them off whilst Gomez is heavily reliant on service.
I think we need a poacher badly, we don't have a pure goal scorer on our team. That would be perfect to allow Landon to play more of a playmaker role on the wings and Keane to drop back deeper as a sort of #10. How many times this season did a keeper make a save that just hobbled out in front of goal and we did not have a single player attacking that?
Well, when he actually would be willing to leave I think Keane will be on his way out. I don't think he'll leave for around 3 years at least, he just got there and he cost €20m ($26m) and makes €8m ($10m) pre-tax. He's still in the National team frame and likely will be the next two tournaments after the World Cup. There's many who add more to the game then a presence inside the box. His goal tallies have been inflated over the years playing with two of the most productive midfields the past few years. I think DP money should be spent on my dynamic forwards like Zlatan or someone similar. That and I don't think we need a poacher. Keane isn't a #10 and as he gets older it will be harder for him to play as deep. We need a player to play in the hole which will allow Keane to play higher up the pitch and pull defenders. He can finish better than he did last season, I think part of the problem came from him having so much on his plate. Having a natural #10 or attacking midfielder occupying those spaces he can concentrate on just being a forward, which could add years to his career.
Way to edit your post and for someone to delete mine. LA is an incredibly diverse city and bigotry is not needed here
I used to be the biggest Freddy Adu fan around, but I believe that ship has sailed. He has had multiple chances in MLS, and I'm not sure what is wrong, but I don't think we have the time or the roster space to waste on him.
I think McBean could turn into a Will Bruin type of player and I wouldn't mind having that come off the bench. The problem is that he'll never be a full-time starter for us since if you have 3 DPs, 2 of them really ought to be forwards. MLS math has a funny effect on player choices. Generally, if you have a choice between an equally good forward and winger you would take the forward since the position has more impact. However, when DPs are taken into account, it's much more likely that winger will actually turn into a starter, so from a development perspective, it's not clear that you want to focus on forwards. I don't know if Iloski is all that, or if McBean is keeping us from offering Iloski a contract, but if that's the case, I'd be willing to give up McBean.
Bag away Bruin apologist...Eric Avila is a UCSB Gaucho! He scored the winning goal in 2006 to beat UCLA for the national championship.
From the other thread regarding Nicolas Maurice-Belay: "He can be very frustrating because of his utter uselessness in front of goal, but I like him. He’s a solid pro, not a world beater - he’s pretty much found his level in a team aiming to finish between 5th and 10th in Ligue 1. He had a very good first season at Bordeaux in 11/12 and then struggled to find his rhythm last year after some injury problems (knee and then some sort of muscle tear), but he’s back in decent form this season. He’s very fast and a good dribbler - he can counter attack very quickly with the ball at his feet. He’s more the sort of wide player who aims to take the ball, cut inside and punch through defences (he earns Bordeaux a fair few free kicks) than the sort who’ll get to the byline and swing balls in, although his crossing is perfectly ok. His major achilles heel is his shooting. I’ve lost track of the number of times he has burst into the box or borne down on goal on the counter only to unleash a piddly little dribble of a shot straight into the goalkeeper’s hands. He can be immensely frustrating because he gets into so many good positions and then invariably wastes his chances. Career stats of 8 goals in 273 appearances tell you all you need to know for such an attacking player." So it doesn't seem like Bruce is scouting traditional wingers. From the sounds of it he'll fit right in not being able to hit the target. Hopefully if it does happen he'll find scoring form with the move.
Apparently statistically he was one of the leagues best dribblers a few years back just below Hazard and Gervinho. If he can give us a similar dimension to Gervinho at Roma, not Arsenal, then that would be useful.
Okay - I misread the google search results. I remember watching UCLA lose that game to UCSB, but didn't/don't remember the details.
Eric Avila, along with Conor Casey, were rumored to be Bruce Arena's targets during the draft but ultimately got Colin Clark after Avila was snatched by Chivas USA. I can't imagine how much better this team would have been with either Casey or Avila than Clark who we got nothing from. But hey, this season wasn't Arena's best in terms of bringing in players with the exception of Penedo, right? Also, that Belay guy from Bordeaux sounds like the type of winger we need IF donovan and keane are our forwards. We don't need someone to swing in a cross but rather someone with lightning counter attacking skills who can cut in or shoot (though it sounds like that isn't his strong suit) or slide in a through ball. I don't know if he's willing to leave France yet but if he does, he sounds like a major improvement to what we have. That being said, Clark was known to be injury prone and to contribute little in the goal department so I hope our scouting is sophisticated enough to bring in players who will contribute and not rot on the bench.
Gauchos will never forget! We've only two national championships in all sports-ever. UCLA has like....a billion!
Good point. If we continue with Keane and Donovan up top, we need more flankers who can attack and cut in and make those deadly diagonal passes on the ground into space, and not so much run to the end line and whip in crosses...
I guess that's why we're playing our wingers on the opposite foot, Zardes on the left and Rogers on the right.
I assume this is the prelude to a Mastroeni retirement announcement. Perhaps the Galaxy have pushed it along by indicating he will likely be made available in the re-entry draft: Adam Serrano @LAGalaxyInsider 21h Pablo Mastroeni still debating whether or not to continue. Will speak with his family who are still in Colorado. #LAGalaxy #USMNT #Rapids
i'd take him if he wasn't such a whiny b*tch. he won't get DP money with us and i'm certain he wants that
Exactly! This is why I think Rogers, despite having come okay games, hasn't impressed. Who is he crossing to? Donovan and Keane. I can't remember the last time they scored a header off of a cross. Rogers is too timid to cut in and take a shot or attempt a pass. I'd like to see him work on that during the offseason but it's nice that we're looking at other solutions. Oddly, Bey sounds a lot like Zardes. Good on counters because of his speed, can occasionally make a pass but lacks finishing in front of goal.
Yeah he really annoys me. He was garbage for years, now he's hit a rich vein of form for club and country and he struts around like he's Drogba or something. Sometimes Keane and Donovan's chipping off during matches can be annoying but they're nowhere near as bad as EJ. Like you say he's probably fishing for a team to pay him DP money, I think he would go anywhere in that case.
He's a natural winger though and he's one adept at cutting inside. Even though Zardes can play on the wing he doesn't have many of the technical skills you'd associate with an wing forward, he's just really fast but a lot of times his touch is heavy, he doesn't great vision and he can't read the flow of the match quick enough to make the right decision. His finishing might be substandard but from what I've seen he'd add a more natural wide presence. I think if Zardes is going to make it he'll have to find his game through the middle. Zardes can play on the wing but there are potentially more effective wingers out there.