Hey, didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I was just feeling ornery at the time. I think my dismay is that we still seem fixated on getting "names" - I would rather we focus on filling holes and addressing positions of need. But I guess with Zlatan leaving... I actually have always thought Chicarito was a much better player/person than Gio. And yes, no comparison.
Sorry, it wasn't you personally. You just happened to touch on a point that's become increasingly irksome.
I know we don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on this bit, but for me, the revolutionary change to defense is finding a striker that contribute to defense for longer portions of the game. I feel Steres is a good MLS defender and Bingham is a good MLS goalkeeper. For me, the big priorities on defense are: 1) Find a striker that can contribute to defense 2) Upgrading LB 3) Upgrade / Lock-in the starting CB pairing 4) Upgrading RB 5) Upgrading D-Mid / GK 1-is in progress; it looks like we're looking at right right types. 2-is done. Insua is an unknown and even if you want to call Acosta an "MLS reject", I think they can be upgrades to Skjelvik. 3-Looks like we're targeting Zambrano as an upgrade, but I also don't think we're doomed if Steres and Giancarlo are starting on opening day. Maybe with more consistent minutes, Pipo finds his footing. 4-Probably the area I'm least excited about starting the season with Rolf @ RB is not ideal, but with Araujo I also feel with have solid depth. 5-Nice-to-haves. The summer time would be a great time to go shopping and shore things up in these areas. But for me we're in a good place to start the season defense-wise. I would still focus on finding a solid back-up striker.
Don’t discount Danilo Acosta. From what a lot of the “experts” and “analysts” he’s probably the most talented LB in the US National team pool. His issue is off the field stuff. We took a gamble on him, but if GBS/DTK and staff can help him mature we have an excellent LB on our hands. I think keeping Feltcher was the best option for the future. He’s serviceable, but someone Araujo can surpass on the depth chart. I think it’s important to make sure our young players see a clear path to the starting line up. I thinking GBS see Araujo as the future starting RB as soon as this year, not much of a point in wasting money on another RB who probably won’t end up being as good as Araujo.
skydog's not wrong, but I have to agree with your assessment - GM is working on the right things- which is way better than we've seen in the past. Seriously, if we had checked every box on that list the whole of LA Galaxy Big Soccer might have been unable to speak intelligibly for a week.
Well Im hoping all of you with faith in our defense are right and Im wrong. I’ll happily eat crow if it means we quit losing games 3-2 and 4-3.
Grant Wahl is talking like it’s official? https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/01/17/chicharito-la-galaxy-mls-javier-hernandez-mexico-sevilla
I'm in a wait-and-see mode, myself: the biggest change I need to see is if Schelotto can put together a game plan that will allow his team to control games and limit the amount of time the opponent has the ball in dangerous areas of the field, while still feeding our striker. Because if he can't do that, it doesn't matter who we have on the backline.
Sounding pretty official. Hernandez comes with 100 goals in top European leagues. For comparison, Josef Martinez flopped in Europe.
Assuming he's actually signed, that goes a long way to making our first team look decent. I see: -----------------Hernandez--------------- Pavon---------------------------------Katai -----------------Lleget--------------------- -------------JDS----------Corona--------- Insua----Gonzalez---Steres------Rolf -----------------Bingham------------------- As our current best XI With Alveraz, Acosta, Kitchen, Sacha, Araujo and maybe Cuello as people I feel ok with getting minutes. We still desperately need (highest priority): -Stud center back -Backup Striker/center forward. Still would like: -Another quality wing attacker -quality defensive minded central midfielder -jack of all trades that can play MLS minutes without embarrassing himself/team. -would like a better goalie but that's not happening this year. We are 6 weeks out from opening day. We are looking ok.
Roger Gonzalez is confirming the deal has been signed Can confirm Chicharito to the Galaxy, but official announcement likely coming next week and not this week.— Roger Gonzalez (@RGonzalezCBS) January 17, 2020 If you are a season ticket holder, your tickets likely just got more valuable. Unlike some European stars who get some locals, but are mostly great for attendance in their once-a-year visit to other cities and for int'l attention, Chicharito is likely to pull in new fans locally.
On the one hand a solid striker, definitely fills a need. On the other hand at the rumored salary he’s getting is on par with Zlatan and I don’t think he comes close to Ibra’s totals.
They took Chicharito's name off of his locker in Seville. The front office flew the promo team to Spain a couple days ago. They have a handshake agreement and the only thing they didn't have was the signature on paper which is another reason Klien went so he could call Uncle Phil up to ask him to open up the AEG checkbook just incase some last minute backend deal gets requested prior to pin being put to paper. This of course is the reason an announcement was delayed this week. I fully expect to see this made 100% by early next week. Maybe Tuesday after the 3 day weekend.
Nope. I'd say he's getting $4million a year for on-field production and $3million for off-field production....
That was always going to be hard to match. Even with those goal totals, he couldn't will his way to the finals. Hopefully we can build a more complete team
Because of the type of player Chicha is this will allow us to not be so predictable. How many times last year did we just run down the flanks and cross it into the box for Ibra to win it in the air? When Pavon came that opened up space on the leftwing because he could play the ball on the ground and cut in while Ibra stretched the opposing defense to the right. This didn't work as well on the rightwing because we had Antuna making the runs but then missing sitters. Katai will be taking that spot now. And as awesome as Ibra is he missed quite a few tap-ins. Javier has made a career out of not missing those. I think we are going to see a much prettier playing style this season.
Great news! I'm very excited to see how he does. Pavon, Katai and Kljestan should all be decent at getting him the ball in the box, Pavon with crosses, both aerial and on the ground passes, Kljestan with thru balls, Katai with whatever he does to get his assists. Assists specifics: Pavon burns by his man with flair and consistency but is bit iffy with aim on his crosses. High volume crosser * meh aim = solid assist numbers. Katia is Serbian so you would expect him to be a technical passer. However his season averages of 6 assists over 26 starts at CHI is just ok. But he also averaged 9 goals per season so his overall offensive numbers are very good for a winger. Kljestan was pretty poor for ORL the last two seasons and actually pitiful last season with 1g & 3a in 13 starts & 26 app). But he absolutely killed in for three years with the NYRB where he averaged 17 assists (!) + 5 goals per season. Be interesting to see if we get something in between his ORL and NYRB performances. We should be an exciting offensive team if everyone stays healthy!
I think the one thing we can all agree on is that GBS has now had time to get the team he wants and this season there are no excuses for him. Time for him to deliver....
The deal is done!!! https://www.latimes.com/sports/socc...h-galaxy-to-become-highest-paid-player-in-mls
I think Sasha suffered from crap supporting players in Florida. I mean seriously, if the dude can't get a minimum of 8 assists out of a team that pretty much only uses national team caliber players as starters on offense, then it might be time for him to hang up the boots lol.
Although he likely won't be the "bargain" that Zlatan was as a DP, I think the millions spent will be infinitely better than the millions spent on Gio's production last year. p.s. Anyway the Galaxy should just always have the highest paid player in the league, and the rest of the league should just be grateful when our team shows up to town. That's how it should be.
Yep. Just making the playoffs isn’t going to cut it. I’m not expecting MLS Cup or a Supporters’ Shield, but at a minimum a "bad Arena season".
I'm glad to see it’s a three year deal. Maybe the front office learned after the dos Santos half-decade contract.
“This is the biggest signing for @MLS since David Beckham”@stuholden reacts to @GrantWahl's report that Chicharito has signed for the @LAGalaxy. 👀🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/PlUht2bCRO— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) January 17, 2020