A playoff contender in the East is a bit of a misnomer. DC finished the season with 5 loses and a draw. Hardly a team that was a threat to make the playoffs. It may in fact be too soon to tell with Olsen but the early evidence is not good at all. P.S. I know you were. No need to lie to the poor guy though. It's ugly and not likely to get any better for them. Tough love.
As far as Sarvas go, he looks good and glad that he will push for playing time early but he is going to get plenty of time in the middle with Beckham gone for the Olympics and more time while Donovan is off with the USMNT.
Eh, not that big of a deal, really, as his ability on the ball is pretty evident. You're right that it's very early in the season, but I don't think that makes it impossible to say that the guy has quality. It could be that he ends up causing a particular kind of problem for the team, wilts half-way through the season, becomes a red card machine, or causes problems in the locker room, and if any of those happen, he'll then be a liability, but he'll still likely be one of the most-skilled players we have. Caveat: I haven't see Villareal.
The thing is - he's not just looked better, he's looked great. That's why I recommended rotating. Now's the time to try that stuff out, and luckily, both he and Magee are good enough to do it. See how they both do. And you have fresh legs!!!! So to me the real question is: who do you start? So far it's been Magee. Don't expect that to change against the Revs unless training goes interestinly over the next two weeks. But at the 60 minute mark I wouldn't be surprised if he trots off again, and Sarvas trots on. Supersub.
The long passes over the top are going away when this happens. I'm very curious to see how our passing game operates while he's gone. We're going to be back to Landon and most likely Sarvas, driving the offense.
I'm not ready to declare Franklin a problem. He's a little off form. The season is less than a fortnight old. We could bring in any non-DP Right Back and even if they matched Franklin's best, they would hit a similar dip in form at some point. I don't think he's looked awful TBH. He's had some brainfarts. I've witnessed the greatest defenders in the world having iffy spells. Declaring him a problem this quickly is kneejerk in my opinion. Especially weighed up against his Galaxy career to date.
Him looking great in 83 minutes doesn't mean he is great, nor does it mean he's not. I'm just saying we haven't seen enough of him to say he's worthy of a starting spot on the field. He had a decent shift against RSL and a good sub appearance against a bad DC team. That's not enough time to judge. That's what I'm saying. Form can be temporary. There are a countless number of players who make good starts who end up not being as advertised. I'm not saying that Sarvas is or isn't one of those players, I'm just being wary of overrating players on non significant minutes. Even last year there were people calling for Lopez and Cardozo to be starters. People thought Cronin would be a fantastic keeper because of his stellar performances in the (2007?) US Open Cup. Abel Xavier was lauded around as one of the best defenders in the league initially. Cornell Glen, Santino Quaranta, etc all had fantastic minutes to start their Galaxy careers only to fall by the wayside. Again, I'm not saying he's not start quality. I simply think that it's too early to tell. As well, he may be good enough to displace Magee, but he's not the best non-DP on the roster. That's a stretch considering we have the likes of Dunivant, Gonzalez, DLG, Franklin, Juninho, and Buddle on the roster.
I don't think anyone is saying he's starting the next 32 games. I'm saying he's a candidate for literally the next game. That's it. And I think that is based on current form and 83 minutes. I'm fine with Bruce going into training and seeing what the guys have got. Against the Revs, the only spot he's potentially taking is Magee's. If he can't play on the left, then he's still a sub.
I'm not saying that he should necessarily get every start from here on out, but I'm going farther than Berks. IMHO he's the fourth most skilled player on the team, next to Becks, LD and Keane. So, yes, I mean more skilled than Buddle, Juninho, Magee, Dunivant, and all the rest (again not counting Villareal because I don't have any sense of his skill level). We may never have the right place for him to deploy him in a way that plays to the team's strengths and his strengths and doesn't expose the team's weaknesses. I think Vancouver has this exact issue with a slightly different type of player in Davide Chiumiento. I have to commend Bruce on noticing and signing Sarvas.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyDcj3OS8bM"]LA Galaxy MLS Cup Ring Ceremony - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh8gldICMTg"]Locker Room Reaction: LA vs D.C. - YouTube[/ame]
I agree with this. Unfortunately when you're a defender, people only remember the big screw-ups that lead to goals, but to call Sean "awful" ignore all the times he was in good positions to win a header or cut out a dangerous pass or successfully cut out an attack on wings. Given he's done that and gotten forward pretty aggressively shows how active he's been. In fact, I think his close ball control and first touch have improved. Hopefully he'll bounce back from some of these gaffes (he had one early last season, too).
I agree with this. It's also important to point out (and this shouldn't have to be said after 2011) that Magee is a very, very good player. He's among the best at holding the ball and dribbling out of tight spaces, has a nose for goal and is a more clinical finisher than Keane right now.
A more clinical finisher? I have a hard time believing that. I think Magee is reasonably good finisher when unmarked and unhurried, but thats about it. Stats wise, Magee has 0 goals on 5 shots versus Keane's 2 goals on 13.
I love Mike Magee, but I don't think that describes him. I don't think he's a good dribbler out of tight spaces. Not many guys in MLS are period. Watch Cardozo - he's an excellent dribbler out of tight spaces. Sarvas seems to be that way too. Juninho has a bit of that skill. Latin players in general are more known for this. Mike Magee? No. He does get dispossessed when he doesn't pass quickly enough. Sometimes instead of dribbling he draws the foul. What he IS good at imo is keeping possession through midfield through simple one-touch passing/triangles. That is why he is an upgrade over someone like Stephens right now - who just isn't as good at that, but is better defensively. Magee is very good at interchanging with Todd and Juni/Becks/Keane to keep the ball moving and making the simple, easy pass that maintains our movement. That is very very crucial, I don't want to minimize it. How many times have we seen bonehead passes that are too ambitious/off target? I would also agree with he's a good finisher right now, but no way is he better than Keane in general. Robbie Keane can make something out of nothing. Magee needs the assist. Mike is ALSO good at bouts of off the ball movement. He makes good runs, and makes himself available - then finishes. So, what I'm trying to say is: Mike Magee is an above average MLS player. He had a phenomenal year last year. BUT, if Sarvas can deliver what Magee does PLUS give us more creativity and ball possession through dribbling skills, he could be an upgrade. Magee +off ball movement +finishing +simple one-touch passing +retains possession -defensive pressure -retaining ball when pressured -playmaking -crosses (though he does deliver peaches every once in awhile like Sunday) Sarvas (still TBD, based on limited time) +simple one-touch passing +retains possession +dribbling out of tight spaces +playmaking ? crossing ? defensive pressure ? finishing ? off ball movement -can get caught on ball/dilly dallies -not playing centrally, where he'd prefer to be
If you count the disallowed goal where Magee successfully chips the keeper (something Keane didn't do in 2 one-on-one opportunities in the same game) then he has a more deadlier strike rate than Keane does right now. His one-touch finishing is also very good. I'm not trying to claim Magee is an overall better scorer than Keane is; over time I'd expect the numbers to bear out in Keane's favor.
Absolutely. Remember 2009 & 2010 when we employed Magee primarily as a striker? He's a technically proficient player with a decent football IQ for MLS who doesn't really excel at one particular aspect of his game. He is solid enough at many aspects though, to make him a dependable component. Then again, my biggest criticism of his play before last season was that he seemed a little timid and wary of accepting responsibility. That's something he seems to have gotten over. Perhaps I'm underselling him...
And he still isn't active or aware enough defensively. He gives our opponents too much space, doesn't come back with a vengeance when he is stripped of the ball, etc. Donovan and Becks are more likely to get back and make a defensive save than Magee. Like his offensive play though. He's improved a lot.
Meanwhile, St Peter is writing in our respective reports: "March 22nd, 2012: Implied that there were flaws in Mike Magees game and therefore committed blasphemy... recommend reincarnation as Chivas USA Season Ticket Holder..."
One thing that impress me with Magee is his ability with his two feet. In our roster, who is better than him to pass and shoot with the left and with the right foot? I will say Donovan, maybe Keane, but who else? I don't see.
Finally had a chance to watch the game. Given the talk hwew, I focused particularly on Magee and Franklin. I thought Magee had a good game. He's not great on defense but he does a lot of little things around the box. Right now, he just needs to be our fourth scoring threat and I think the role suits him. Franklin was an odd case. He was not only playing far up the field, he was in the opponents box a surprising amount of times. This must be intentional, but I'm not sure what Bruce was thinking. But he and Juninho made a number of dangerous mistakes in our half. And while Boyens wasn't terrible, he's not able to make up for those mistakes. Hopefully this is just something that takes time to get sorted out.