Or were they on par? I think performances were often under par, and individuals under achieved, but results for the best part were general ok. Difficult question really.
Unfulfilled promise plus an imbalanced attack. Had the injuries to Robbie not occurred Gyasi I think the team finishes 1st or 2nd.
I think overrated. The casual fan saw the big names on the roster and rated us higher than a fan that realized we had $6mm in name recognition not adding anything on the field.
Our season was very confusing. In the west, we scored the most goals, and conceded the 2nd least amount of goals, and yet we still only had 12 wins which is tied for 6th worst in the conference. On paper, it would seem like we dominated the league, but in reality we just had a few matches where we scored 3-4 goals. Our problem all season was consistency. I think our start DP Gio kind of summarized out season. Some matches Gio was unplayable, and then others he was completely lethargic. We didn't deserve anything this season. Bruce has to focus a bit more on youth next year in my opinion. The aging legs of Gerrard, Lawrentowicz, and even Keane cost us points this season.
Both. We should have been better until we saw how unbalanced the attack was. With Zardes uninjured though I think we had a shot to take the Cup. The latter half injuries did us in and Bruce figured out the right line up (which he did) too late.
Lopsided. The back line and other certain players like Lleget, Donovan, Gordon and Boateng came into form at the right time. It was unlucky that Donovan and Boateng had injuries or the team would still be playing (and overachieving since so much weight was placed on the back of Gordon). But as a whole the team underachieved. The millionaires seriously let the team down this year.
Overachievers. I'm surprised we got this far, and put in a few good performances before the end. Our lack of depth (!!) was exposed as soon as Boateng and Donovan went down. Bruce still over-relies on older vets. Bringing in Laurentowicz at halftime when you need a goal says it all. The better option would have been Mendiola. And where is Jack McBean, the heir apparent to Gordon, who proved his worth and the worth of target forwards? Are we going to let him go after all this development effort? Are we going to get something in terms of compensation at least if we do? Keane was not ready after his injury and his status forced his way onto the field. Gerrard created chances and played much better than I expected, but still I would have rather not subbed in two central midfielders and not moved Lletget and Husidic to the outside. We needed wing speed and chance creation or a dangerous forward and we had no options. We have some good young and prime aged talent, and that should be the focus for our planning for 2017 and beyond.
Underachievers. This was designed to be a team of stars, the best collection of attacking talent the league has ever seen. Given how old the team was, this was also a win-now team. ----------------Zardes------Keane----------- --X--------------Gerrard------------Gio -------------------DeJong------------------- Well, we didn't win now. Despite being a good player, DeJong was gone midseason. Gerrard and Keane were not even starters in the playoffs and are both likely gone in the off-season. Strategically, this was a disaster. We built a team that we are going to have to rebuild next year. Two lessons: We can't just sign a bunch of star players, throw them on the field, and expect them to mesh. We need to get younger and faster. Most importantly, we need to build young depth that we have enough confidence in to play in the playoffs.
I think there is a future with some of these players: Zardes and GdS, the back line minus Cole, Lletget, Boateng. I'm not sure if Mendiola, or Lassiter or BJIV are going to cut it in the first team, but I'd dearly love to not always be the slowest team on the field... Keane- thanks for the memories! You go down as one of the greatest to play here! Gerrard- sigh... I'd really hoped for so much more. thanks for trying and all the best back home. We drop DPs Keane and Gerrard and bring in some younger talent, and we may have something. MAY... it's of course not as easy as just speaking it. Bruce..... I teeter back and forth with blaming him. No one is going to win the cup every year, and those 5-6 years from 2009 to 2014 were an aberration, not the norm. With his record, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but on the flip side, we haven't looked convincing for the last two years and probably none of us really thought the 2015 0r 16 galaxy capable of winning the cup. And they've proven on the field what we saw and felt. It's hard to escape the fact that ALL of that basically comes down to the guy pulling all the strings as both GM and coach. The players we have and putting it all together is on him. That said, it's a fool's game to think that bringing in "someone else" means we will do better. I dunno...
We were unwatchable for most part of the season we probably didn't deserve anything. However I thought we were unlucky not to win the Open Cup. The injury to Zardes really changed this team. Had he not gone down, who knows, but we'd be better. Also I think the loss of NDJ was unfortunate for the team. His anticipation skills were unbelievable. Perhaps he would of closed down on Gashi and we would of advanced with a 0-0 score line. What's unfortunate is that it was clear the league had targeted NDJ as a villain and he was never going to get the benefit of the doubt by he officials; plus we have a ridiculous disciplinary committee that can retroactively apply those biases if the on field official does not. Unfortunately because of the Holden tackle from years ago, in another league, marked NDJ as public enemy number one. I think he received more red cards in his half season in MLS than he did in his entire career leading up to this season.
Before Gyasi got injured and NDJ left, we were underachievers. After, we barely over achieved. But, always disappointing not to win a trophy.
It is both. We had productive seasons from Llegett, Boeteng, Rowe, the whole defense (Van Damme was a beast). Dos Santos had a good season, just not consistent. I thought our role players like Husidic, Mendiola, Gordon, did well when the team needed them. The injuries were a problem, Keane, Zardes, couldn't be a factor at the end of the year, and Gerrard, well it probably helped not having on the field as much. I am grateful that Landon came back to help, wish he would continue. Our goal differential was great, as a well as goal scoring and goals against in general. What got us this year was momentum, TOO MANY TIES !! We could never really get a streak going between the ties and injuries. The rest of the league sucked too, so everything stayed close points wise. But those ties that should have been wins, just too many dropped points. I am very hopeful for next year though. It seems that this will be the off season that we say goodbye to Keane. I hope we get a chance to honor and thank him for being one of the Greatest Galaxy players ever !!! The best DP signing in league history, no one will ever touch his productivity numbers, and no one will ever reproduce his impact on our club. Robbie Keane "The King of LA" Long live the King
I would give Lleget the same rating as Van Damme at 8. Keanne and Gerrard would have a 3.5 at best. Due in part to injury and possibly age they were poor this year and I suspect they were also downers in the locker room. They were a clear let down at the end and could not be relied on when needed. Dos Santos a 5.0 at best. He is a multimillionaire who was paid to perform and he did not except in spurts. He let the team down in the final. Magee 6.5 really? same as Gordon? I would give Gordon a 7.5. He was the back bone for the team this year. Robbie Rogers a 5.5? Lowest rated besides Gerrard? His whoscored ratings are among the highest in the league in his position and also were consistently higher than Cole on the left. He was also a key part of a solid wall on the back line and led the defenders in touches, assist, key plays after successfully adjusting for the team's sake into a new position. I would have rated him the same as Cole and maybe .5 higher because Rogers did more than Cole.
I wouldn't. He did well in the middle but earlier in the season he had numerous games at wing and playmaking positions, where his end-product was zilch. Keane scored 10 goals in 16 games. He was nowhere near as good as in previous seasons but he was nowhere near a 3.5. He scored 14 goals in 27 games with 4 assists. He was inconsistent, not terrible. He was a bit-part player who came off the bench late in games until Bruce buckled and dropped Keane for the playoffs. He scored two goals, one of which came by way of an opposing defender kicking the ball into him. He was decent in the role given but unspectacular. You're asking me to give two guys that got 10 and 14 goals 3.5 and 5 respectively and Gordo 7.5. Love the guy but that makes little sense. Typo - should be 6.5 (corrected). I have very little confidence in him as a pure defender. His main strategy at both ends of the field is to stall play until support arrives. Whoscored stats don't count the times he was caught out of position or elected to layoff the ball to a winger instead of going for a cross himself. It also doesn't show the many times that Cole used his experience to marshal players into less dangerous positions or his capacity to know when to stay back or bomb forward.
Nice write up! Always god to see others thoughts on things. I wouldn't read too much into the Whoscored rating, there are lots of points going on there for different things. I probably wouldn't have gone so high with Lletget, and he definitely wasn't on par with JVD like mentioned above. Steres I thought may have rated a bit higher. I think he is a limited player, but does well with that. I just can't get over people rating Boateng highly. Yes he may be young, and yes he is lightning (And yes you point out well that he struggles when players cope with it, and actually when needing to do something technical), but he was poor. That recent game where he bagged two, and one was great footwork to get through, that is too clear in peoples mind. The rest of the season he didn't deserve to be getting any more game time than he was. IF that performance is what he can progress to, then yes, he would be a fantastic player, but if this is a flash in the pan performance every season, then his involvement has to be questioned. I think I feel more strongly about Boateng not performing that well this season, than I have done about criticising Dos Santos' inconsistency.
As unpolished as his technical skill were Boateng was important because he actually attacked our opponents. Most of our team were content with passing the ball around and hoping someone else would do something. And even when Boateng made a bad centering pass - and there were lots of those during the first 3/4's of the season - at least he gave us some time out of our own half. No one else on the team could work the ball forward consistently. And he did improve toward the end and stepped up in the playoffs when healthy - more than I can say of Gio.
Boateng became much more visible and important after Zardes went down. No one else in the front 6 provided that kinda high energy play so Boateng became much more involved by necessity.