Going to give time to the homegrowns or find more creative players. They both have some major positives to them that are hard to let go. Hoping we get to keep both. More likely to keep Lletget I'm guessing since Zardes actually has offers.
I'm still not as high on Zardes as most. I'd actually be for selling him if we get a decent chunk of the fee, while his reputation is still on the up. He's HG though so that's good value. Gerrard needs to go. Nobody is bigger than the team. We should have learnt that when Beckham was here. Especially if Juninho doesn't want to partner him. I would be for going cap in hand to Penedo. I also think there are blinders on over Leo. He looked better IMO because our defence was worse. He had a couple of classic giveaways the other night. Omar should probably also go unless we can renegotiate his contract. Good player but no longer worthy of a DP slot or TAM. I'm tempering expectations for next season. It will either be a rebuilding year or a hard slog accommodating Gerrard. Hopefully Gio and Giovinco have opened the door for a better quality of player in their prime coming to MLS. Hopefully the decrepit scouser doesn't prevent us from taking advantage.
The only way Gerrard isn't playing for us next season is if he is injured. He isn't going to just walk away from $6.3 million a year. Plus I'm sure he has a new house here in LA, his kids are in their little private schools, and so on. And there is no way Bruce won't start him next season, again barring injury. Bruce is loyal to a fault to old vets and will play them way past their prime. He did play Buddle repeatedly, right? And Kirovski before that. Old farts are Bruce's achilles heel. I would give a 0.1% chance that Gerrard admits to himself he can't compete in MLS and works up some sweet front office gig back at Liverpool. So expect him back on the field next season.
Penedo was an above average to good keeper, and seemingly a nice enough person, well worth the $160K, but seriously ******** that guy, he hung us out to dry. Had he stuck around we probably still wouldn’t have won MLS Cup, but we sure as hell wouldn't have lost that game on Wednesday. Besides, if MLS/America has anything in abundance it’s quality goal keepers. I’d rather give Rowe a shot next season.
My personal goals would be: 1. Try to restructure Omar into a long-term non-DP deal. 2. Try to sign Zardes to a bought-down with allocation/tam money quasi-DP deal. 3. Try to sign Lletget with the Buddle/other salary-dumps money. 4. Offer Ricketts a drive to the airport and sign a new keeper (get Kennedy from Dallas?) 5. Offer Gerrard a high-level position in AEG. Sweet-talk/bribe/blackmail Juninho into staying. 6. Sign a new central midfielder DP and a really good right back. --------Keane--------Zardes Lletget-------------------Dos Santos ---------Juninho-----DP Rogers--AJDLG--Gonzilla-----RB --------------New Keep I know all of that's unrealistic, but that's what I would try...
Exit interviews are in progress. Looks like we’ll get to see sooner rather than later who’s getting the boot.
I like the others, I don’t quite get this one though – purely a way to get him the money promised without having him be part of the team proper? I don’t get the sense Gerrard has any special affinity for the Galaxy, unlike Beckham, who seems to genuinely still care about the club.
"We need more Robbie Keanes."Bruce Arena on what kind of players the #LAGalaxy need to bring in for 2016.— Adam Serrano (@AdamSerrano) October 30, 2015
Current RosterForwards: Edson Buddle Giovani dos Santos DP Alan Gordon Bradford Jamieson IV HG Robbie Keane Jack McBean HG Raul Mendiola HG Jose Villarreal HG Gyasi Zardes Midfielders: Rafael Garcia Steven Gerrard DP Juninho Baggio Husidic Sebastian Lletget Ignacio Maganto Mika Vayrynen Kenney Walker Defenders A.J. Delagarza Dan Gargan Omar Gonzalez Leonardo Tommy Meyer Brian Perk Donovan Ricketts Robbie Rogers Dave Romney Brian Rowe Oscar Sorto HG Andrew Wolverton Retirees Todd Dunivant Likely Cut or Traded Wolverton Buddle Maganto Perk Ricketts Meyer Walker Vayrynen Mcbean This means we need at least the following new acquisitions this offseason,... 2 Goalkeepers 2 D-Mids 1 Solid backup Leftback 1 more solid backup Forward 1 Solid backup Rightback 2 Centerbacks The number one question is who is available that we can realistically get for 2016? Gerrard will likely stay out his deal unless a position at Liverpool opens up somewhere so that move will likely not happen. Can Omar's current contract be negotiated is the next big question? I honestly think it can. Gordon's also I bet. As a matter of fact it would be nice to know who needs new deals. Is the earlier suggestion of bringing back Sean Franklin or Kofi Opare a real possibility? Can we get Dan Kennedy or another national team Goalkeeper from the CONCACAF ranks? As we are often called the Evil Galactic Empire, I read a great quote today on Facebook to our haterz who are so happy to see us out of the hunt for 2015 , "The rest of the league should be afraid because the Galaxy just needs to retool and not blow up the team. You can't win. If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Be afraid MLS! Be very Afraid!
Keane has 73 career MLS goals...he's 20th on the MLS all-time leading goal scoring list. He scored 20 goals this season. He could break the 100 goal mark before he retires. All hail Captain Keano! And to think, a few months ago I was thinking he was having a pretty quiet year!
Of course if the Galaxy cares more about soccer than perception, they don't need to care what Gerrard thinks, they simply (or not so), just buy out his contract. Its a sunk cost, so the analysis should be are the Galaxy a better team with or without Gerrard on the field. If our common perception is accurate that they are better without him, then buying him out makes planning for next year much easier and offers much greater possibilities.
I doubt Franklin or Opare are coming back anytime soon, although I'd love to see a back line of Franklin-DLG-OG-RR. I feel like we should be able to find a better keeper than Kennedy.
I'm surprised that Franklin's named has popped up so many times when I remember folks being ready to see the back of him. I was one of few that lamented his departure initially, but haven't really looked back sense. AJ and Gargan have been better attacking FBs.
For me at least it was his salary. $250K for a right-back that wasn’t all that great getting up the pitch was an awfully expensive asset. All things being equal (i.e., no stupid salary cap) we would have started the game on Wednesday with Sean at RB, AJ & Omar in the middle. I’d take Sean back at <$200K if it meant moving AJ central. I wouldn’t move heaven and earth for him though.
I think the main thing was that we didn't want him at the salary. Everyone felt he was a good player (although his crossing got criticized a lot) but under the cap at the time, his salary didn't fit on the team so it was kind of a "Well, if they are willing to pay him that much, great."
I agree, Gargan was a pleasant surprise although this has been a tough season for him. If he's fully fit, I'd be happy with Gargan-DLG-OG-RR and hopefully adding some quality depth. Of course Bruce's love affair with the OG-Leo pairing in the middle will most likely prevent this or any other lineup involving AJ in the middle from happening again regardless of who we add to the roster.
I thought Franklin was a strong defender who was starting to develop offensively but who couldn't get in a good cross. I haven't seem him play much this year, but his offensive stats are significantly down from 2014 and his time with the Galaxy. Consequently, I wonder how his legs are holding up. This year he and AJDLG have more or less similar offensive stats.
Conflicting reports about Omar Rumors dating back a couple months that Omar Gonzalez will head home next season with an LA-born goalkeeper coming to Galaxy. We'll see.— Scott French (@ScottJFrench) October 30, 2015 and Asked Arena about Omar G.'s DP status next year; he said LA would do "same thing" as this year. Will such a mechanism exist? "We will see."— Scott French (@ScottJFrench) October 30, 2015 The former makes it sound like Omar to Dallas with Kennedy coming this way (and I would hope a lot of something else), I’d take Kennedy and Castillo Also apparently AJ needs surgery to fix a groin problem that’s bothered him for the past 5 months, might explain some of AJ’s dip in form.
I don't take anything Arena says too seriously if for no other reason that we need to have the option to keep Gonzalez to improve our negotiating position.
I wonder if Gerrard would consider converting his final year of contract into taking a player/coach role that required more coach than player. *Just Pipe Dreaming Over Here*
If Sulley Muntari can be lured away from the glamorous life of Saudi Arabian pro football, he could be a steal. His value's dropped precipitously since his falling out at Milan, but I think he's still extremely underrated if you go by his outstanding performance against Germany in last year's WC.