It was a really nice goal in the last game. Diop made the right play to start a quick counter, Zubak flew down the left side and made the perfect cross, and Dhillon was in the right place and coolly finished. Zubak seems so much more comfortable out wide. I wonder if he has the defensive skills or athleticism to be a wide player?
Just finished this game against NYRB 2 (yes I'm one week late), and it was a pretty entertaining game. If you have time, watch it, it may be our best game of the season. I pretty much agree with you. Mendiola has worked his way up to the first team and that's deserved, he's been our best offensive player this season. But I still didn't figure out what's his best position on the field. Dhillon scored an important goal but missed a few good opportunities. In a certain way he has some similitudes with Gordon IMO. Hernandez has also impressed me during the last few games. Left-footed player with good skills, he reminds me a lot of Jose Villarreal but fights a lot more on his wing. And what a cross for Dhillon, it was perfect. On the defense : by playing with the first team, Smith has clearly made a step forward but has still a lot to learn IMO. The more I see him and the more I see Turner (my enthusiasm with him has gone down), the more I think we should have wait one more year with Smith and give him the starting spot at RB with Los Dos instead of throwing him on the pitch in MLS. I still think Castellanos could be a solid player for us. Just 19 years old but could be first team ready at the end of the 2018 season. One player who is almost first team ready (and should be at the end of this season) : Arellano. But despite being left-footed the loss of quality from him when he's playing LB is big. He's a CB, maybe a versatile CB, but definItely a CB. Give him a chance when Van Damme will leave.
Great GII game this Saturday! Join us! I have $5 tickets available! Free parking---$2 Beer and $2 Tacos!
So they followed my advice and moved Zubak to right mid. Lassiter on the left and Jo. Villarreal and Jack McBean up front. Zubak had a nice Zubak kind of assist but otherwise it's too early to tell. Arizona was pushing down our right side so maybe there were defensive problems. Lassiter used his speed to have a few breakaways but his ball skills let him down. Villarreal and McBean seemed kind of listless. We were trying to build up through the middle which ended up with us pushing the ball wide which left McBean out of the attack. And Villarreal, I don't know, I think he needs to be somewhere else to find the spark again. The defense wasn't terrible but they are making a bunch of little mistakes that might get punished at the next level. They still need time to grow.
3-0 loss to Seattle. Horrible giveaways by Castellano and Sneddon resulted in two goals. I don't know whether it's carelessness or they haven't adapted to how fast the game moves at this level. The USL might not be the most skilled, but there are a lot of good athletes. Zico Bailey played right back. I believe he is a senior this coming year and is well regarded (as is John Hilton who is behind him at right back). Again, I felt he was behind in terms of the speed of the game but was playing hard and I'd like to see him again. Started in a 4-3-2-1 and then shifted more to a 4-4-2. The attack was never dangerous but that might be because the midfield never managed to control possession or get an attack going.
That's what we get without Arellano, the anchor of our defense. Castellanos is a great player in the air but not confident enough with his feet. This is an area where he needs to improve. The midfield and the attack are terrible. Vera, Fuji and Zanga are average USL players. Covarrubias has been a little bit better than them since his return and it tells you a lot about the level of our midfield. We can't manage to control the game with this guys. That's what happens when Mendiola and the Villarreals are with the first team (and Aguilar has been injured for a while now). Same problem with the attack : Dhillon, despite his two recent goals, has been terrible with a terrible touch. Zubak might be better on the wing, and Amaya is Amaya : a skilled player who often makes the wrong choice. These guys are miles behind McBean and Lassiter, you can't expect a lot of goals from them.
Just watched Los Dos lose another one, this time 2-1 at home to the Colorado Switchbacks. Again, crappy defending on the first Colorado goal. The Galaxy tied on a shot by Dhillon that was poorly played by the GK. And then... Sneddon comes out but can't get to the Colorado player who heads it in. There can't be too many USL teams that are worse than Los Dos. The USL level in general is way, way lower than MLS. Sometimes I think that players are signed because they either need some warm bodies or the coach has a personal connection with a player.
Seems Curt & Pete’s strategy of promoting so many GII players not ready to start for GI has had the knock on effect of signing too many players not ready to start for GII
This does seem to be it. And 15 of the 18 last night were academy products so we've committed fully to the plan. I watch the game and it was uninspiring. Bailey and Jor. Hernandez were the 16 year olds and at least showed a little spark. But at the same time, they looked 16 and so have a long way to go, if they ever get there. But Jon. Hernandez backs up Peretz48's point. He's 20, played for a community college and then signed with us this year. Why? He doesn't seem to be a special talent. Basically filling space. When they signed Sneddon, it also came out of the blue. Admittedly, I don't follow the youth that closely, but he wasn't someone who was getting a lot of national attention the way Lopez was. Maybe the plan is that many of the young players will improve to the level of Covarrubias (a solid USL player, but nothing more) and this will be a base that will support the better prospects. But we're a couple years out from there, and like you say, we rushed the plan.
Stop playing Sneddon. I stopped counting the number of gaffes he has made. Start Kempin if we already have two keepers for the first team, and if not, play the young Lopez. He'll make mistakes and learn but I can't see how Sneddon can be valuable to the first team. For how much I criticized him, I think Engola looked solid during the last few games, and more comfortable with the ball. Covarrubias was good too, but you can say our midfield is at least questionable when Cova is your best player. And we should really try Zubak as a winger. But I read on Twitter that he's suspended for the next three games...
Lopez started over Sneddon on Saturday against RGV FC Toros and earned the shutout. Sneddon was on the bench. There's no question Lopez is considered the higher upside keeper (called up for USYNT squads etc) even though he's much smaller than Sneddon, but Lopez is a couple of years younger than Sneddon and they've been trying to bring him along slowly. Up until recently, I believe Lopez was still age-eligible to play Academy games and they were getting him reps that way. It was telling that they brought Lopez to DC as the backup GK when Rowe and Diop were both out and Kempin had to start.
1-0 win at RGV FC. Lopez started and had a very good game, and earned the shutout. Once again credit to Engola, who was our best defender. I thought him and Zanga have been a little bit better during the last couple of games, maybe they have acclimated to the league? Covarrubias had a very solid game and earned a place in the USL TOTW. The 16 years old Jorge Hernandez was once again very interesting on the right wing. He did some very nasty things during the first half, dribbled a lot of times the opposite defenders and earned a few dangerous free kicks. He was more anonymous during the second half TBH. An other 16 years old, Jonathan Estrada, scored the game winner after a terrible pass from an opposite defender and a good first time ball by Dhillon. The goal wasn't exceptional but that's a good way to score your first goal in the USL. Otherwise he looked anonymous.
The 1999 academy class always looked relatively week and so the 2000's were to be the first "big" class and we're actually starting to see that play out. Four 2000's have shown up with G2 this year. Jorge Hernandez Jonathon Estrada Zico Bailey Jake Arteaga Arteaga isn't getting much time, but the others are and they don't look out of place. Of course, it's a long ways from a USL player to being a good USL player, but it does look promising.
GIIs came back in the second half and only lost 3-2 to Sac Republic. Not bad considering that they had a very short bench that only included two field players. I guess the Academy players were unavailable because they were out playing in the US Soccer Development Academy playoffs in Indiana this weekend. https://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2017/...xy-iis-comeback-vs-sacramento-falls-short-2-3
Just finished the 2-3 loss against Sacramento. Once again a bad performance by this team. Castellanos was responsible for the first two goals, a handball in the box leading to a PK and not pressing enough the passer on the second goal. Overall he had a bad game, and still reminds me a lot of Omar : big player who's solid in the air, but not very good technically and needs a player who can makes for his mistakes next to him (like AJ). This man has been Arellano during the first games of the season but now he plays with the first team and Castellanos looks more vulnerable. Engola has very suspect technical abilities but has been solid in 1 vs. 1 defending during the last couple of games. The Zanga - Covarrubias pairing offers nothing going forward. Zanga creates nothing, he's good at running against the opposite defenses and outplaying them physically but he can't make a dangerous pass. We would be better with Jaime Villarreal or Miguel Aguilar here IMO (but the second is injured). Dhillon had a nice goal after a good run behind the defense. He's been clutch lately with two goals and one assist during the last three games, and is relatively fast for a man of his size, but I think he took a lot advantage of the weakness of USL defenses. I don't think this teams lacks a "fighting spirit", to me it's just a lack of talent. For example just after Sacramento third goal, they didn't give up and made a great play which resulted in a PK, which Amaya missed. They seem to care but they're clearly missing guys like Arellano, Jaime Villarreal, McBean or Lassiter.
Good lord. Down 3-0 in the first 20 minutes again? This team makes the first team look like the 2011 Galaxy.
Every year the 1st team has one game where we get absolutely blown out. I think G2 just took an ass kicking for both teams.
Happy 4th everyone! In the spirit of the holiday, I decided to relive the difficult times at Valley Forge by watching this game. It's hard to know what to say. Castellanos simply makes too many mistakes. Turner was moved from RB to CB and he was terrible there. But later they moved him back out to RB and he was still bad. Jon. Hernandez was playing LB and he was bad. Normally I'd say Zico Bailey had a mediocre game at RB, but I think that counts as exceptional by our new standards. I'm not sure what the answer is. There is supposed to be a USL2 starting in 2019 and I expect us to drop down then, but what to do in the mean time? I know it's not about winning, but losing 9-0 is not good for our players. Maybe the answer is to do nothing and just take our lumps for a few years. But I'm starting to think the answer is to go in the other direction. Make this a reserve team not an extended academy team. Go out and sign players from elsewhere in the USL. We'll find a few good reserve players like Steres and Romney and we'll have a solid team that we can selectively add young players to. What puzzles me is that we are adding in outside players who are youngish but are not that good. Castellano is 19 and didn't make it at Atlas. Turner is 21 and didn't make it at Orlando. Hernandez, 20, was one of ours but hasn't distinguished himself before and isn't distinguishing himself now. Finally, Munoz needs to go. I think we need someone who is separate from the Academy, someone with more professional experience. While Los Dos is about developing young players, it needs to be seen as a professional team because that is the culture we are trying to instill in the players.