I don't hate it and included the possibility as one of my proposed lineups: Polenta--Gonzalez--Steres--Araujo There are some potential negatives to moving our best cb out of the spine of our defense. I'm not sure that Giancarlo is a like-for-like cb. Is he as quick as Polenta at reading danger and closing down threats? Would Steres and Gonzalez be able to learn to work together quickly? But the potential positives are there as well. It gives us a position for Gonzalez without sending Steres to the bench. And Polenta could be a big upgrade at left back over the inexperienced Traore (and def over Skjlkllj). In fact a Polenta--Gonzalez--Steres--Araujo looks very good on paper, assuming we can get our midfield-control issues worked out. And playing lb might allow Polenta to go forward even more often than he does at cb. If he is judicious with those runs he might be able help us out even more offensively. He is more likely to be creative with his runs and passed, rather than just going wide and sending a floater in Zlatan's general direction. Of course if Polenta isn't judicious with those forays forward .... then not good. GBS has some decisions to make.
My 3-5-2 crashed and burned, so what do I know. But I would love to see: --------------------zLAtan Antuna----------Alvarez---------Lletget ----------Corona----------JDS Polenta--Gonzalez--Steres--Araujo -------------------Bingham
So I took one for the team and looked at the standings. I was surprised. Despite losing 3 in a row, we are still 4th in the west and 6th overall on PPG. If we can right the ship soon, we will be able to stay within striking distance of the top spots in the league....
But it's begining to look like "striking distance" may be the true measure of this club. I appreciate that this is worlds apart from where we were the last two years, but I think that early run with Zlatan fresh and weak competition may have been a bit deceptive.
Given the weakness at the bottom of the WC I think we make the playoffs. If so the biggest issue is what kind of team we are when that happens, not how we are playing now. This team is going through some growing pains as we continue to grow the roster, deal with injuries, deal with player duplication (adding a 3rd cb before adding a scorer or ob was questionable) and deal with choosing between promising rookies and legacy-contract overpaid mediocre vets. We even tried a completely new formation this week and we have just added a new player we haven't seen play. Plus given the DTK/GBS active track record so far we are likely to add at least one starter level player in the summer window as well. The point being - there is a lot of flux in this team. And it's likely to continue so we aren't looking at anything close to the final product. It's very unlike recent past seasons where rosters were pretty settled from the start, where "strategy" consisted of just moving chairs around the Titantic. This season the real question isn't how we look now, it's how are we going to look in July, August, and September. That all being said our roster does have a ceiling. Even with a good summer signing I don't see enough talent on paper for us to be a realistic SS or Cup contender. But by playoff time we could be a well-oiled top-3 WC team hoping for some breaks in the playoffs. Or we could be limping into the playoffs with and injured Zlatan, scoring woes and a coach making questionable tactical decisions. All is to be seen. We just know that the team will likely look different than it has up to this point. The real potential for this team is 2020, 2021 and beyond. Competing for MLS Cup seis will be more realistic after our new leaders have had time to replace more of the expensive deadwood we are carrying, say as hypothetical example - a million dollar defenders who shouldn't be on the field. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to the journey, hoping to see a fun, improving team along the way.
I feel you Cadaver! I actually had a major heart attack two weeks ago (I'm fine now, due to rapid response and 3 stents) - it came out of the blue while watching TV late at night. So this whole mortality thing isn't just theoretical any more. So come on GBS - get this team together quickly for me and the Cadav!
Oh man, glad to hear you are doing better. We gotta win this game for the surgically-held together!!!!!!
I was 10 minutes into John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight". I'm scared to go back and finish the episode!
I actually feel fine guys/gals other than a little more worried than before. I was very lucky to live close to Duke cardiology. From my 911 call to doc finishing up with stents and chatting with me was only about 70 minutes. My "surgery scar" was a tiny dot on my wrist, barely visible now. Amazing medical advances these days. Because of the rapid response time they say heart should recover fully. Just have to take a bunch of meds for a year. So don't worry about me - I survived watching Skjoikl "play defense" for a season and a half already, so I'm sure I can handle this.
OMG. @skydog, glad you're okay!!!! And you still have been posting frequently, get some rest!!! (If the Galaxy can give you rest). Glad you're okay.
Oh, man! I'm sorry to hear that but happy of course you're here with us and were able to make a quick recovery. Although, I have to medically insist you turn away from the television whenever the ball goes toward either outside back zone or someone takes a shot a Bingham.
LOL! For a second I thought you were going to say Game of Thrones Season 8 and I would have had to make some phone calls to have your HBO cancelled before the last episode airs. Glad you are doing better sir.
Thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks and thanks! Seriously, I appreciate the good wishes. Best group of posters on the internet!
Highlight Time Folks This game is an example of what happens when a win is more important than a draw despite the fact that the starters needed a rest. I have full faith that we will rebound. I am just hoping that GBS rests Zlatlan before he gets hurt and is forced to do so. Also Corona and Llegett need to be much better than they are. Without JDS they look lost. Corona after the whistle Zlatlan on the loss Corona in depth