Other MLS games and Teams/Players [R]

I think I will always be a Galaxy fan at heart. Been watching too long and gotten too attached. But your instincts are right - as the team gave more and more of my favorite players away and moved to the "rent-an-aging star for a year or two" approach it did make it feel like a different team and I started to waver. And when Curt took over and we game away AJ and started playing really ugly earlier this season I was getting very close to the end of my rope. But I still never quite switched allegiances. I watched all the games but ff'd through the ugly parts back in March & April.

But now Alessandrini and Ema and VD are showing me signs of The Galaxy Way - playing with heart, never giving up, just flat being better and smarter than your opponent. That has made them easier to watch and root for and I'm still a Galaxy fan.

I think this season going forward is going to be a test for all of us. Our schedule gets significantly more difficult. That's not be trying to be negative, its just an honest assessment of our overall talent, our coach and our upcoming schedule. Hopefully our summer additions will be great (and better than our opponents summer acquisitions) and get us over the hump.

But it is true that my love for Atlanta's style of play is real. Have you watched them? They have very technically gifted players, keep the ball on the ground, are constantly moving and are playing some very beautiful soccer. And they are the closest team to where I live. But so far I have no emotional connection to them - I just like to watch them play.

 

If this is a philosophy they're building, it bodes well for their youth academy.

Georgia United were one of the most highly regarded set-ups in the country and it was a great move take ownership of that outfit and incorporate them into the club as a whole.

I've been very impressed with Atlanta's direction this season.

 

You should root for whomever you want, that's my philosophy.

I have watched Atlanta, and I watched the game you were referencing after I saw your comments. I thought they looked good, but I wasn't blown away. They have constructed a good team, creative players, plus MLS vets holding the line in the back. Almiron looks like a little kid out there.

I watch a lot of MLS after the fact on MLS Live, on spare evenings, although a lot of time it doesn't have my full attention. I will keep a keener eye on Atlanta.

 

With a tight salary cap league in MLS its hard to keep a hold of players, especially if you keep winning. Several years ago we talked about the upcoming season being a rebuilding year. Arena good and bad kept pushing that rebuilding year back but that means cutting players to make room for others.

Unfortunately we have cut some good/useful/core team players for bloated older players but this season was always coming. Arena wasn't going to be able to get it right every time and he was going to leave eventually.

The FO will learn. They are showing signs of learning from their mistakes even though its very slow and was evident. Sometimes being at the top so long makes you think every move you make is a good one.

 

I watched their game on the weekend, and they looked great. I was about to say it's pretty warped to switch allegiances to a new team just based on their style of play, but I see they are the closest MLS team to you, so I'll give you a pass.

 

I still maintain we are better off now than with the team we had last year. We really are in rebuilding mode now. Last year was trying to hang on for another year.

 

Its crazy when you look at our respective lineups, that we were tied with last years' squad on points after 15 games.

note: you can also sub Jelle and Cole for Steres and Romney here... and Rowe for Kennedy

 

Hey it's just my opinion. But this is an expansion team and they lead MLS in scoring with nary a long ball per game. That's something I think.

As you say Almiron is small and I might add, has a goofy smile. (And I remember he got knocked down like a rag doll on one play in that game and I think he came out soon after.) But he has 8 goals and 6 assists from midfield, almost the same as Alessandrini (8 goals and 7 assists). So that is strong. Then there is Martinez (back from injury) with 7 goals in 7 games. Asad is 1st in MLS with 9 assists (plus 2 goals). Villalba has 6 goals and 4 assists and Gressel 3 goals and 5 assists. That's 26 goals and 24 assists from only 5 players.

As a point of comparison, only Alessandrini on our team has more than 2 assists.

 

Reminder to self - don't feed the troll. But damn it, you are so good at it.

 

Giovinco does it again - this time in the 4th minute of a game that was allotted 3 minutes of stoppage time. See last highlight on the page.

https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2017-06-27-toronto-fc-vs-montreal-impact/recap

 

Dempsey had a similar last second goal, to gain the tie for Seattle. They know how to make things dramatic.

 

The main difference is switch out Keane and Gerrard for Alessandrini and Pedro. I said at the start of the season, and still say we're way ahead now in that department. Yes, we are substantially weaker at RB this year, but that is a position that can be much more easily filled than the DP star midfielder position.

 

Yeah, I've enjoyed watching Atlanta since the opening game of the season. I even posted about it on here but was told that their fans were scum (aka mini Seattle) and thus makes the team unwatchable. haha.

 

And they have K. Jones sitting the bench! Pretty sure he'd be starting for us...

 

Kudos to the Chicago Fire for their turn around:

Taylor Twellman

✔@TaylorTwellman
As of today, @ChicagoFire are the front runners for Juan Quintero if he signs in @MLS. What a turnaround 2017 has been for the [Fire]. #MLS

They are an exciting team right now.

 

Extra Time Radio today speculated that if Fire get Quintero, Juni becomes surplus to requirements. I would love to take him off their hands.

 

As would many other teams in MLS. Sigh.

 

Both Gio and Jelle selected for the MLS All-Star Game by Chicago's coach. Surprised Romain didn't make the cut, but he's less "marketable."

https://www.mlssoccer.com/all-star/2017/rosters/mls-all-star-team

We all know Jelle will try and take out Real Madrid players, right?

 

Agree a lot of teams would like to have him but his current salary might scare them away. Juni is currently making a healthy $700k so he would have to be a DP or the club would have to have a lot of MLS "funny money" to bring him to non-DP status. He's also on loan from Club Tijuana for what that's worth. Can you be a DP while on loan? MLS rules are too complicated for me.

 

Romaine is the definition of an "All Star" in this league and our MVP. He should be there.

 

Agree he shouldn't play. But my preference would for him to be chosen and then the club refusing to release him b/c of injury. Maybe that wasn't an option but he deserves the honor.

I think even TT (?) said during the Man U match that Alessandrini was "one of the best, if not the best" player in the league. Something like that. I just remember being surprised at the "possibly the best player" accolade at the time.

Or maybe I just dozed off and dreamt it. Because I also thought I heard Onalfo say in his interview something about having higher ambitions than just being the LA Galaxy coach. And there is no way even Curt is that far removed from reality, right? RIGHT?

 

Basically it works like this:

His salary would be $700k.

I believe he got his green card while he was with us so wouldn't count as an international.

He would be DP money at that rate, so we'd have to shift out JVD, whose money could be paid down with the little-known Allocated Belgian Fund. Juni could also have some of his "Everyone Assumes Brazilians are Good Allowance" transfered to the ABF, getting him below the cap.

We can get him in more solidly without using a DP slot by using our once-every-five-year "Multiverse Transcendance" card, to alter his life history to make him a HGP under Project Nike. You might ask why we don't just alter Messi's history to make him a Galaxy player for his entire career, but that apparently violates the rules regarding the "MT". These rules are complex, opaque and not published on the MLS website. A bit like the Targeted Allocation Fund.

We could now trade our DP slot for "The Magic Knees" perk, to restore Jermaine Jones to his former glory.

This is just my interpretation though. I'm sure Bruce Arena would read this and laugh at my squandering of these mechanisms.

 

There's usually a monetary bonus for them being selected, so the player would be selected and then pulled by the club. This will still happen for a couple players I'm sure - they'll spring an "injury."