Landin's Fitness Level is not good. I know this is being discussed extensively so I think it needs its own thread. Let's be honest, Landin's fitness level is not good. We have signed this guy as the designated player making DP money. He has been here in Houston since August (10 weeks) and he is still "fat" (yeah I willl say it). There is no excuse for the way he looks. He does not look like a soccer player or move like one. Dom's guys have always been some of the most fit in the league because of the hard work they do in practice as well as playing in the hot humidity of Houston. It is really too late to get fit this year but should we even bring this guy back next year or return him to Cruz Azul? I don't think the Dynamo have spent their money wisely on this guy. I am sure the FO put some pressure on Dom to get a Mexican player DP but this isn't the right guy the Dynamo need to be spending MLS dollars on. Any opinions?
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good I think his fitness level is better. He is playing better, albeit slow improvement over the course of his stay so far. He holds the ball very well and passes well out of pressure situations. He has good technical skills. Not as good winning balls in the air as Ching because of a 2" vertical leap but he does OK. I think he has shown a good attitude. His main problem is that he is slow. Even if he loses a couple of pounds I don't think he will be much faster. He and Ching are both post up / holding strikers who need to be paired with a speedy striker. Which we don't have.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good ding ding ding, we have a winner. He really isn't that fat-it's just his body type. And even if he did drop the weight, I don't think he would be that much faster. That's just his game. I think he will start scoring, but I am not sure at the level of Ching in his prime.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good I don't know, I don't see that it's being discussed that much except by you. Have you ever seen him up close and in person? He is not fat, he's just a really big guy. And I don't think he's known as a super fast player anyway, he's just a good, skilled soccer player. I think you're being way too hard on the guy. Ching didn't score, Stuie didn't score, hey, even Oduro didn't score for the first time in two games... why single Landín out? If it's because he's a DP, you know he's not getting DP money, even though his deal does cost us that much. Give him a little time and patience, he'll be good. I saw Davis one time yelling at someone, it might have been Landín, I can't remember, but someone who had run forward and gotten offsides before Davis had passed the ball upfield. I didn't see it happen again, though, but that sort of game was probably frustrating to a lot of the guys.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good He looks like the same Landin that played against us with Pachuca. While he not fast over distance, he seems quite quick over short distances. He is a big guy, and has a good touch. What I'm not seeing is great vision and quick decision making -- but we have to give him time on that. It took Schellotto one whole hellish year in Columbus to get going with his teammates. Once he did -- he has been great. His fitness is improving. He was running allot against LAG. It seemed like his fitness is coming around to at least the same as Ching's.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread Can we identify again that he is not making 'DP money.' The DP designation was to cover the loan costs to the club.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread So are we going to start a Brad Davis Player Thread complaining about the fact that he doesn't seem able to go 90 minutes anymore...unless of course Corey Ashe is hurt and he has no choice but to play 90 minutes? Or are we leaving that one out because he isn't a big guy and fits the look of a football player? All this talk about Landin's fitness is much ado about nothing. I'm not saying his fitness level is spectacular but it's reasonable. He's had at least 3 really good games for the Dynamo that I can think of and he continues to improve. I'm quite certain that the FO didn't force Dom into acquiring Landin as Dom has been a known admirer of Landin since 2007. In any case, his loan agreement is through 2010 so you better get used to seeing him in orange. Next season will tell us whether he has a future with the Dynamo or not.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good If you DVR the game go to 43:57 in the first half of the game. They show Ching and then they show Landin (with a gut). This guy is 5 weeks into his stint with us and he is getting paid more than anyone else. He is not in soccer shape. If I was Dom I would assign this guy a dietician or something to get him fit.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread exactly-if he's stinking it up next summer then by all means go stone him, crucify, whatever. But give him some for adjustment. GBS, Guevara, Djorkaeff and even Blanco to some extent needed the time to adjust to the new league. Are sure about this-I think Ching and even Barrett get paid more than him.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread yup. see other fatty types like Salvador "Taco" Cabanas and Antonio "el Turco" Mohamed for reference. heck even non-fatty types: have you ever seen GBS' speed? GBS is on the verge of helping Colombus repeat the supporter's shield and i could probably outrun him in a foot race if you place a jimmy john's sub 40 yards away.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread My guess is that he's referring to the amount that we paid to get him i.e. the loan fees. But you are right, his actual salary is pretty low. MLS player's organization has it listed as $120,000 a year but that might be prorated. In any case, he definitely isn't making more than Ching.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread Landin makes $120K with us pro-rated. This calculates out to about $400K per year. Maybe Dom should make Landin hire his own dietician and conditioning coach with that kind of money.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread BTW Landín showed a lot of speed in the Monterrey game. And when he starts moving, he's like a train. Nothing stops a train.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good Dude, with these types of scruples I hope you don't have a daughter.
Re: Landin's Fitness Level not good Well, you said he wasn't fat that was just his body type. The TV doesn't lie or does the TV just add 10 more lbs to people? .
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread I'm not impressed by Landin. Maybe he needs a year, but right now I'm wondering if Landin can be anything special in MLS. It's not about fitness shape. He is kinda slow and not too agile. Big but slow strikers need to be great heading in crosses/CKs for goals... maybe the midfield is part to blame, but if Landin can't score goals off crosses he won't be of much help.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread i dont think landin has scored many goals in his career with his head. usually put ins
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread In any case Landin depends almost completely on midfielder serves to score. He may not be able to create anything on his own, so if he doesn't have stellar mid/flank play backing him, well, malo.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread I'd say that Landin depends on midfield support to score a hell of a lot less than Ching does. Landin is a lot better on the ball and actually has the technique to create space.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread agree^ he is good with the ball at his feet. alot better than ching. although the midfield does play a huge part in it. i noticed alot of our balls fed in were too soft or straight to the other team yesterday.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread The HD roster lists Landin as 160lb and Ching at 185 lb. They are both 6' 1". Do you think the weight is correct for Landin. When he runs, he looks like there is a rope tied around his forehead and somebody is pulling him back. I think he'll work out just fine.
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread They were actually calling him "fat" when he was at Cruz Azul also. So this isn't the first time. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=955105 He doesn't look fit here: but he also doesn't look like this:
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread Landin is slow, but it is not his game to outrun defenders. His game is to receive the ball, lay off to middies or wings and then get into position to finish. Lay off him, or else Luis will send out for you!
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread dude is a pork chop no doubt. my issue with him is his need to fling himself to the ground at slightest touch (with out the "im a midget excuse that moreno uses or the i only weigh 100 pds like kamara has) and his absolute unwillingness to jump in the air for a ball. we saw him do back flips so i know his feet can get more than 2 inches off the ground. maybe if we slathered the ball in sauce???..........
Re: Luis Angel Landin Player Thread I didn't notice the gut, but there are some things I agree on: 1) Fitness isn't where it needs to be for MLS 2) Lack of speed up top hurts the Dynamo (of course its better than having Speeduro out there that kills the Dynamo) 3) Landin hasn't been an instant success. In the end he's probably as effective as Ching is at this point. 8(