[USFootiefan1980]

Originally Posted by duckstrap

Cut, like 3/4 of the squad and start again.

See but this is part of the problem, too. You can't keep over hauling a team and exspect them to succeed. There needs to be some continuity.

[whip]

Originally Posted by BuffloSoldier

The hiring of Ruud Gullit as the new coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy works on several levels in Major League Soccer.

On a macro level, the latest attempt at a European coach (with little real experience in US Soccer) trying to navigate league waters when history shows it rarely works well.

But on a micro level, this may be the last stand of Alexi Lalas. Like professional sports as a whole, if you don't succeed, get to packing. And a Lalas-led Galaxy have not won a thing since he took the helm in April 2006. As the face of the Galaxy organization, Lalas was a likely impetus for the hiring of Gullit to replace Frank Yallop--with whom Lalas, in the best of times, seemed to have a strained relationship with.

Now Gullit will have a support mechanism to assist in his MLS education; Paul Bravo will likely shop in the supermarket for the groceries--if you want to use Bill Parcells' metaphor from a few years ago. Bravo will likely have a large choice of who's exposed in the expansion draft, and those players the Galaxy will target in the draft.

I have little doubt that Gullit can handle the job tactically as a head coach. The main questions come from his ability to man-manage (Gullit and Alan Shearer's freefall is a negative highlight) and Gullit's ability to work with what the team can get personnel wise.

Gullit has not done well in his last two stops, mostly for the negative outcome of the latter question mark. His stints at Newcastle and Feyenoord saw signings fail, and victories were hard to come by.

Let's say the Gullit experiment fails; he leaves or his fired in a season or two, which may or may not pre-date the departure of Lalas from the Galaxy. Alexi Lalas will have a role in soccer in the United States in some fashion for decades to come--he's too good of a public figure not to be there. Television screams as his best platform, but at this point Lalas seems to want to play a part off the field for a club.

This screams of Lalas' last chance to rebuild his name as a head of a team at this level. Failure, and my guess is that a job at this level of control never falls to Lalas again.

The whole matter revolves around one question .....Is Ruud Gullit a real coach or the man need to have all the stars of the heaven to have a succesfull team ?

[siino]

Ruud Gullit is a better coach then Frank Yallop without a doubt. He knows a load more about the game, played at the highest level, and understands the realities of having a superstar on your team. I expect success and LA should be glad Yallop is gone, quite frankly he wasn't a good coach and wasn't right for the job. All of you people praising him are crazy. This squad they have no is not very good, its squads like these that make me never want to watch the MLS. If you are smart LA Galaxy, you look south for players. You go to South America and Middle America. This attracts people from Southern California and the team is a lot more exciting then this bore of a squad they have now. The defense is plain awful and the midfield is decent. Attract some more playmakers and maybe you'll get some more fans because right now I, along with millions others, don't want to watch dull squads that aren't exciting (majority of MLS) compared to Europe.

[mschofield]

Gullit does start well. And he clearly has an incredible understanding of the game (sexy or not). But I think a central problem anyone coming from a Euro system is going to have in MLS is that you can't whinge to the board and bring in a couple players. He's going to have to get more out of what he has, and that's never been his thing. There are a lot of Euro managers who would adapt very well in MLS, but not sure he's one who's well suited. OTOH, they need a massive figure as manager to balance the Beckham, Lalas profiles, and he is that.
I guess the bottom line will be next year's performance. To date, not sure he's been more than an attractive nuisance as a manager. He is not, however, afraid to shake things up. Not sure what the value of that is in his current situation, but, it's LA, Becks and Air and lexi, should be fun to watch from the outside.

[socceriscoolusa]

Originally Posted by siino

Ruud Gullit is a better coach then Frank Yallop without a doubt. He knows a load more about the game, played at the highest level, and understands the realities of having a superstar on your team. I expect success and LA should be glad Yallop is gone, quite frankly he wasn't a good coach and wasn't right for the job. All of you people praising him are crazy. This squad they have no is not very good, its squads like these that make me never want to watch the MLS. If you are smart LA Galaxy, you look south for players. You go to South America and Middle America. This attracts people from Southern California and the team is a lot more exciting then this bore of a squad they have now. The defense is plain awful and the midfield is decent. Attract some more playmakers and maybe you'll get some more fans because right now I, along with millions others, don't want to watch dull squads that aren't exciting (majority of MLS) compared to Europe.

agreed, MLS isnt even as good as central and south america either, even with their nice stadiums and uniforms you can see the difference in quality and skill between the MLS and a league like Columbia's league.

I still think its fantastic to have a guy who's poster I still own and who played on two of my favorite teams of all time coaching a local team, very exciting in that manner.

[soccerballz1]

Originally Posted by Darknote2

I'm not so sure about this one. I think Lalas has been fine at the helm. You can't blame him for the crap that I have to see on the field every weekend. I'll put that on the guys on the sidelines. His job is to buy the players that the staff are asking him to get. He can't be the scape goat for their failure. He's gotten us more attention and raised the attention on soccer in this country more than anyone else by some of the moves he's made. People are upset with the way the Galaxy have preformed, but they were never going to be a good team this season. Hell, we weren't winning before he came. I said it before," I'm not satisfied with backing into the playoffs and winning the MLS CUP."

darknote, let me ask you a question - what do the earthquake, red bulls and galaxy have in common? their demise after the arrival of lalas.

2003 mls cup champions - earthquake. 2004 earthquakes after the arrival of lalas? 4th place in the conference and a loss in the quarterfinals.

2004 metrostars - 3rd place finish and a loss in the quarterfinals. 2005, 2006 red bulls after the arrival of lalas? two consecutive 4th place finishes and two consecutive losses in the quarterfinals.

la galaxy 2005 - mls cup and open cup champions. 2006, 2007 after arrival of lalas - two consecutive 5th place finishes and did not qualify for the mls playoffs.

coincidence? maybe, but in any other industry, lalas wouldn't be able to find work with his resume. lalas is an abysmal general manager and a shameless self-promoter. he and gullit have a tenuous relationship at best, and it remains a matter of time to see who will get the ax first. my money is on gullit whom lalas will throw under the bus if and when things go south with the galaxy in the playoffs, and they will.