Maybe. But st least there are no more excuses for Gio. He’s got a point man to play off of. Our defense should be solidified. His brother should be free to roam more with kitchen in defensive mid, Lletget should help. I’m an eternal optimist. I’m hoping to see quality dos Santos minutes this season.
I'm not sure Kamara will help Gio's scoring that much since he is not an assist man - he only had 3 helpers last season and a measly 2 the season before that. But Kamara is a finisher so he should help Gio's assists go up. In any case simple regression to the mean makes it very likely that Gio will be better statistically than his atrocious last season.
Let's just hope the Galaxy start strong and don't tank during the WC. It's my guess that if they do, its much more likely that Gio will check out again. IMO, this is especially true if he and Mexico have a relatively successful WC in Russia.
Not at all. Zardes' ability to read the game and make intelligent movements and decisions, both on and off the ball, is solid. His shortcomings as a player aren't mental (aside from having the yips last year) but from the technical side of his game.
You need to say my name two more times to summon me. In all seriousness though, there's a ton of speculation to do if we're trying to get an estimate of what we're looking at cap wise. Lots of new guys without much info on what we're paying them. Without going much into my specific estimates, my guess is that we'll need about $1.7m in allocation money to buy down what we currently have. That's also assuming we buyout Ciani and give Kamara a raise to about $750k. Given that we've spent $1m in allocation to acquire Kamara, Kitchen and Bingham, and there is $1.2m of TAM for MLS teams in 2018 and 2019 (and you can pull up TAM from 2019) and $2.8m of discretionary TAM (a huge turning point for MLS, by the way) and at least $350k of GAM from the league (I'm too lazy to look up what it might be), it seems like we still have a decent amount of roster flexibility. By my count, we have 16 senior roster players, assuming Ciani is cut and that Hilliard-Arce is off-budget (as signed senior roster players typically are, despite being above minimum senior salary). I think a Pontius signing makes sense (even in a bad 2017 season he out produced Boateng in less minutes) and then some younger players.
Bummed to see Zardes go, but I'm glad this deal got done. Straight-up, Sigi and Curt kicked ass this off-season. Sigi said his goal was to get all pieces in before the official start of camp and he did. That'll do, Sig. That'll do.
Gio had 12 assists in 2016. I think Kamara being an actual goal threat will open space for Gio to operate behind him. That SHOULD help Gio get something similar to 2016 stats (14 goals, 12 assists).
Kamara has good speed in the box and moves well. He will occupy the CB and free space. That may help Gio goals go up. To get Gio mojo back. I think you gave to bring the joy back, make competitive and surround him but good driven ppl. Bittersweet feeling with the Zardes/Kamara swap. I know Zardes limits but I know what he can do. I don't blame last season on him. Rotten season. Gets injured comes back to a mess. He was also trying to get back onto the NT that was I'm a mess. It's adds to another player that we invested a lot of time and money in. I feel like he deserved another season. We needed a proven striker and we have him. Kamara is very good. Only 3 players have scored more in MLS then him since 2016. He can occupy the CB. He moves well and finishes. This is what we needed and really ties together a good off season. On paper we have a good starting 11. Now it's up to Sigi to show it on the side lines.
Any Galaxy fan want to go to the jersey launch party tonight?im a season ticket holder but can’t attend it’s from 6-9 at the Novo at LA Live. I think I can rsvp someone else from the link sent to me. If interested send me a pm and I’ll give it a try.
Pretty sure he meant Kurt Schmid, our new Director of Player Personnel and Scouting and not Curt Onalfo, our former Breaker of Spirits, Destroyer of Dynasties.
As a defender, he had decent awareness. But as an attacker, he had very low tactical awareness. That was at least as big a liability as his lack of touch. Just had to watch him, and see how little offense he created to see it.
I have to call BS on this. Gyasi has good to very good tactical awareness especially when he plays with tactically aware teammates like on the USMNT. He is very good making diagonal runs to draw defenders and positioning himself to receive a pass. He is excellent at initiating the attack and running at defenders. To be fair his first touch is still lacking and he isn't physical enough to play with his back to defenders. His ability to cross the ball has improved significantly but it still isn't great. On the other hand when he played for the Galaxy He had to deal with Gio the last 2 and a half years. Gio never lets an opportunity to dribble and maintain personal possession of the ball go unfulfilled.
Zardes had a terrible year. He failed to attack defenders and generally looked lost as a forward. Numerous times he had one on ones where he just stopped and looked for a pass. He never seemed to really want it last year. This from a guy who came into the league boasting about the goals he would score. His confidence looked shot. He is a workhorse as a midfielder, but a timid forward. I think this trade will be good for all.
I agree, between the injury and everything else going on, his confidence seemed shot. He said he felt a lot less pressure playing with the NT and it showed last season. Hopefully a change of scenery gets him back on track.
As I wait for the livestream of the jersey event to start 45 mins after its announced time, I'm wondering if the Galaxy will regret not just making this event open to the public rather than restricting it to STHs. Also, the link to the event from the homepage goes to a random YouTube video?
They are supposed to be streaming live via youtube but, nothing yet. According to some people in the chat, they have been letting in general public who waited in line. I'm glad I had to work today so I didn't go. I hate waiting...
Seemed like a decent crowd there on the live stream. I like the “since 96” marketing campaign for the year. Everyone saying the right things about last year and this. Sigi hinted we may not be done (not sure if this is just the expected Pontius signing or maybe more or other. A lot of our ex players have enjoyed food in their retirements.
I’d like to petition one of Lletget or RA to dye their hair blond or shave their goatee or something.... Total twins.