Why wouldn't Stevie like.Jovan. Stevie's legs were shot and he wasn't starting, on a regular basis, for Liverpool any longer. Yet Jovan, Pete and Chris brought him in at over $5mm and apparently did so against Bruce's recommendation. After Gio, he was the worst Galaxy DP signing.
To his credit Stevie G. really tried in the second year and got a respectable stat line by the end. But yeah,... after reading more on the player in question, apparently he plays dirty, gets tons of red cards and might be a problem in the locker room. I think I'll pass. No wonder Gerrard is willing to let him leave.
You are probably right, but if you look at JPA's total 2011 stats including Chivas, they are very respectable. He just never meshed with the Galaxy.
It has been a very disappointing last couple weeks. I don't have any confidence in any kind of playoff run. They just don't know how to defend a lead. Also I don't think Bingham is a top flight goalkeeper. Let's hope in the off season defense and goalkeeping become a priority.
I blame this more on GBS. Defense is a team commitment that just doesn't exist on the galaxy. He has 3 quality defenders in Polenta, Gonzales and Steres/Romney. But we only want to attack, it's tactical naivete and reminds me of many Sunday league teams I have played on. It won't matter how good the defenders are if they are all pushed up.
So.... Ibra. 30 goals. An astounding season, only overshadowed by Vela's even more astounding season. We've never had a goalscorer the likes of Zlatan. But He's 38..... so do we move on? (Assuming of course he wants to stay...) Part of me thinks yes, despite knowing it's extremely unlikely we will replace him with a single goalscorer to produce close to his level. The man is a world-class performer even at this end stage of his career. Problem is, this team is... 'this team'. It's not good enough. And right now, it doesn't feel like we have any ceiling room left. This is just who we are. So... is this team, 'this team' because of Ibra? IF it is, then I'm of the mind that we have to move on, because despite him being personally amazing, the overall team isn't good enough. I only want Zlatan if he makes the Galaxy a better TEAM.
I am open to him staying or him going. It depends on where he wants to be. Regardless we need to fix our defense. If fulbacks are important for GBS then he needs to find some that can get up and down without breaking down this team. They also need to serve a decent ball. If Ibra does go then we can build a team that keeps the ball more which will help the defense. Build around Pavon and Dos Santos. We have some dead weight we need to shed Kitchen Juninho Skeljivic These 3 are getting paid pretty well for what they do. Its an easy choice. I would trade 1 of Romney or Steres.
It's hard to say no to Ibra after the season he had. Realistically who can we get that would get us that type of production? The introduction of Pavon has really helped some of the early offensive problems we had this season. Our midfield is very dynamic and runs a lot which makes up for Ibra's lack of well running. Ibra is a goal scorer, and I think even at 39 he'd get us 20+ goals. If he wants to play another year, I honestly see no reason not to sign him him. Same for Pontius actually. We need a back up striker, and if Pontius can stay fit, he fills a lot of spots for us. Our main issue this season, and the last two seasons were defense. Gonzalez was signed to fix those issues, but unfortunately he caused more damage. If we can trade Gonzalez or cut him in the offseason, we really should. Thankfully Skjelvik is gone after this season so that is 1 million in cap freed up. We should be able to get 2 good defenders for that price. I'd also get rid of Feltscher. Just isn't good enough. This leaves us with Polenta, Steres, Romney, and Araujo. We realistically need a new centerback, and a left back. I think we can be alright with Araujo and Romney for the right back spot. Romney can also double as a back up left back too. If we are scouting the Peru national team, I really hope we go for Carlos Zambrano. He is not playing in Ukraine which is a little worrisome, but I think we can get him for under 500k and he would be a good option for us.
Yes. Without Ibra this team is just as bad as the Onalfo and Schmid Galaxy. We are an identity-less, direction-less organization whose entire stratagem is steeped in the old MLS 2.0 "we buy big names". Though to be fair te Klose is attempting to change the culture, but like you said there’s a lot of legacy deadweight that will take time to shed. With a year under his belt and a playoff appearance I hope to see hime take more control from the old guard who have failed to transition the Galaxy in the post-Arena era.
I agree with Skevin that these are definitely the 4 we need to keep around on defense. Polenta, Steres, Romney, and Araujo Polenta and Romney can both play leftback and centerback and we need the flexibility. Araujo out right as the first sub and Steres in the center as a starter. We need to lose these 5 Kitchen, Skeljvik, Gonzalez, Feltscher and Bingham We need to for sure upgrade the goalkeeper and right back spots. This is paramount for 2020!! We need a for real shot stopping national team caliber goalkeeper and also a "defense first" right back. Ibra will likely retire so I am not looking for him next year; and if for some strange reason he does want to go again, you only give him a 1 year extension and he must be willing to lose his DP status or we let him walk. And I say this with nothing but love and respect for Ibra, but he is not the future. Because we don't have to upgrade Pavon to DP just yet, we can keep him under his current deal. Drini is the one that is likely going to need to be traded though. He is just too injury prone for his own good. This will free up 2 DP slots. You can then go and find a new DP level Forward and Winger. We could look like Barcelona or Argentina if we just add those 4 spots with real quality. LA Galaxy 2020 potential 4-3-3 lineup ---------------------New DP Forward -----Pavon-------------------------------New DP Winger -----------------------Llegett/Favio ------------Corona----------------------JDS --- Romney------Polenta--------Steres-------New RightBack/Araujo ---------------------New GoalKeeper
We keep Ibra IF we can get a back up for him who can ideally take over in 2021. No back up, No Ibra. His legs won’t last another year starting every single game. The only player who can deliver like Zlatan? Ronaldo. Don’t see it happening, and I would rather focus on building a good core first. Start with Polenta and lock down JDS. Those are our captains and the start of an MLS Cup contending core.
Yep we definitely can't or shouldn't attempt a Ronaldo addition without a good team first. Beckham is going try to get Messi for Miami, so we have to try for CR7 when the time comes but first we need to have a team to put him into. Otherwise we would just end up repeating what we did with Zlatan if we did somehow end up getting him.
Higuan is younger, would be familiar with the system, and since his brother is in this league already, he'd probably come over without a lot of convincing too. I would certainly be cool with him joining. Out of curiosity I checked and CR7 will be 37 by the time he is out of contract with Juventus so he would be Ibra part for sure if he makes the jump by in 3 years.
On the who to let go front, I have kind of cooled on Joe Corona. Not sure who to replace him with in a perfect world, but I wouldn't stretch to keep him either
Yea I kind of feel that same way on that. Our midfield of Lletget-Dos Santos-Corona has been solid, but we still have both Alvarez's that are being benched because we essentially are playing 3 box to box mids. If we can get a good trade for Corona, I'd be open to it.
Plus we still have Juninho as a spot sub so we really can afford to lose him if push came to shove. Maybe we even get someone cheaper in a trade?
I think we should keep Corona. I don’t think he should be a starter, but Jona and Lletget are going to miss games for international duty, and with Lleget’s injury history I think having Corona on the roster is a great depth option. Ideally we bring in a TAM defensive midfielder who can win balls in transition and protect the back 4. That’s our biggest weakness IMO. Give Jona the freedom to find the ball and control the game.
Yes, if we have money I would like to add a true DM. Jona as a box-to-box midfielder with Corona as depth, and Lletget sharing the 8 position with Favio would be cool. But another rebuilding season is coming... Just speaking of starters I think a new RB, a new CB, a new LB and a new winger (Romain is gone to me) are our top priorities. New striker if Ibra is gone too. And as I said a new DM if we still have some money. And a new GK would upgrade the team too IMO. Goodbye Bingham, Rolf, Skjelvik, Kitchen, Romain and Juni. Keep Gonzalez as depth but if he's gone I won't feel bad. Corona, Steres, Romney and Pontius are good depth. Antuna can come back only as a depth option too.
Maybe I'm just discouraged but I don't think our problems are going to be fixed by new players. Our defense isn't so bad that we should be giving up four goals in consecutive games.
I think GBS played with a high press at Boca (I could be wrong). Most high press teams press based off their CF knowing when to start the press. Zlatan is unwilling or unable to press. So we defensively have 10 men. I think the lack of a true defensive midfielder allows us to get absolutely killed in transition. If Zlatan retires/leaves and we bring in a mobile CF who can help work defensively, we’ll be much harder to play against. Add in someone a DM with a lot of range and ball winning ability and I think our defensive problems start to solve themselves. The problem then is replacing Zlatans production. I’m not sure that’s possible.
I wouldn’t be opposed to keeping Feltcher if the plan was to keep him there to push Araujo. The money we’d have to spend to get a good RB would mostly likely guarantee Araujo doesn’t play. I think Araujo is a future national team RB. He’s only 17 and has a lot of room to grow, and I think with more consistent minutes he’ll start to show that. I’d keep Romain if we can negotiate him to a TAM deal. When healthy he’s a top 5 winger in the league. His age/injury isn’t worth a DP slot, but it’s worth risk if it’s for TAM. I’d be cool with Bingham leaving if we actually find a legitimate upgrade. If it’s someone with the same profile, I don’t think it’s worth the risk. Our defense did him no favors the past 2 seasons. I’d personally like to keep Juni at the club. Even if he only plays Los Dos and Open Cup games. I believe his salary is very reasonable so him leaving isn’t really making room for anything better. IMO one the biggest reasons for the poor past 3-4 seasons was gutting our core MLS vets. Losing Omar, Juni, and AJ was HUGE. We lost a big part of our culture when they left. Keeping Juni here should hopefully bring some of that back. I’d love to see him in some capacity at the Galaxy when he retires. Gonzalez is an interesting one. He’s definitely not been good enough. If that’s just who he is now as a player, then I hope we find a club willing to take him off our hands. However if that’s just a combination of a lack of minutes in Italy, joining mid season and having to acclimate and a new environment when he’s expected to perform on day 1, then maybe giving him another chance after a full preseason isn’t such a bad idea. I’d drive Kitchen and Skeljvik myself. Their salaries alone could pay for Romain’s max TAM contract. What do you guys think about bringing Antuna and/or Favio back?