This is a pointless exercise because anytime we have this discussion apparently the suggestion that anyone can do a better job is absurd. I personally feel Bruce will be our manager until he basically decides he doesn't want to be anymore. Personally I'm willing to deal with the volatility in the short term (which we would have regardless) if it means we were making attempts to be more progressive and push the envelope. Honestly, I'm started to become a bit disillusioned with our direction. Even if the Galaxy straightened up and started playing marginally better, results aside from a club ethos I don't think we're promoting the right things, i.e. progressive football on all levels, including the second team and youth levels. You look at leagues in South America and players starting to come our of the DA, we could be making moves to play the same brand of attractive football on all levels, creating a system and unique style which defines the club. With the current regime though, tactically and from a philosophy standpoint I can't see that ever happening. The plan seems to wait it out, by more effective DP's, then hope they get hot at the right time and vastly outperform the sum of all our parts that aren't DP's and repeat. Excuse me if I can't see the evidence of well coached team with a philosophy. /rant
I have a theory on why Bruce believes in Leo. Bruce might be taking a page out of LA Clippers' coach Doc Rivers' plan. After getting bounced in the 2013 playoffs, there was disillusionment with center Deandre Jordan because at 6'11 you think he'd be defensive & rebounding force but he just wasn't; he sat on the bench during 4th quarters. Before the 2013-14 season began, new coach Rivers called out DJ in a good way, stating that DJ could be and will be a defensive force, that Rivers trusted in him and instill confidence in him. Throughout the season and playoffs, DJ improved his game particularly with rebounding and blocked shots. Now I can't find the source but I do recall Bruce saying something of similar effect regarding Leo, hoping to the have same effect as DJ. However, it does not seem to be working out as well as we'd like. But whereas Rivers was probably motivating DJ throughout the season, I just don't see Bruce doing the same. So if this is the case, Bruce needs to either start motivating somehow & someway. And if that isn't working, replace Leo FFS.
I'm ready to up my criticism game in regards to Bruce. A trophy less season coupled with more games that expose how incompetent, listless and idealess our team is and I'll be all in. Tonight better not be a sign of things to come for 2014.
We did look lie we were playing half-speed today. Yet we still were incredibly dominant. (I missed the first half, but the announcer kept going on about how much better the Railhawks were playing in the second half, so I can only assume we dominated that as well). I'm not sure we can read too much into this except that our finishing sucks, and Leo is worth one goal per game to our opponents.
I just wrong a long analysis in the gameday thread. Please check it out. I'm going to watch the replay, but I noted that once again, Landon was dropping deep to generate an attack. This is a giant problem. You're taking your creator and stranding him at the center of midfield. This has been going on for weeks. I noted it because I'm watching him like a hawk right now for the Nats. It's symptomatic of a few problems: 1) Husidic/Kenny Walkers are not attacking players. When you have them on, they are not additive to the attack. 2) Juninho is pretty much playing at Dmid - no creativity. 3) We are reliant on Ishizaki delivering a good cross - from the wing. The wing doesn't play to his strengths and putting a cross in - only works when Zardes figures it out once in a blue moon. 4) We occasionally strand Sarvas out on the wing - which doesn't suit him. We need more width in midfield and more creativity. We're still an attacking player short. That's also because our two target forwards have not worked out - meaning it's still Keanovan or bust. You can't ask Landon to generate the offense from the center circle, then also be around to receive Robbie's pass. We've got a tactical problem and a player availability problem.
Bruce could be the best coach in the world otherwise and he still should be fired simply for playing Leo for two seasons. His inability to learn from his mistakes is Suarezian!
Would the leagues allow LAG2 to simply with places with LAG1 ? Right now it is much more fun to watch "los dos"
all good points and all on Bruce The Galaxy looks like we are slowly slipping away from the rest of the "good" MLS teams. Seriously Bruce has seem to lost the plot and so has the rest of our management. Our transfers have been not been good enough. Honestly I'm starting to worry about the long-term for the Galaxy, before it was all short term results.
The results have not been good. I give Bruce a pass on the transfers only because he did accurately analyze what we needed and new-to-the-league guys are always a crap shoot. All three of the signings could still adjust and show why they were brought in. But I have to admit that except for Ishizaki, there have not been many positive signs to suggest they will work out. As to losing the plot, I think that with the emphasis on LAG2 this year, LAG is playing the long game. They think that is going to be their main source of talent going forward and are willing to take some lumps while it matures. And without going over old ground, signing Omar tied their hands from making any splashy moves. I have ranted about why I think that was an error, and thosde chickens are coming home to roost. That, I think, is definitely on Bruce or Chris. I doubt we will ever know who ultimately called the shot on that.
I'm reserving judgement somewhat until we reach the end of August. This season has just felt too disjointed to me and I can see why the new players may not be bedding in just yet. At the same time, the performances of the team cannot just be given a free pass. We've needed width and creativity for two seasons now and despite trying to fix it, we really haven't so far. I've mixed feelings on the impact of tying up our 3rd DP slot with Omar. I don't think he's been VFM, but at the same time, the idea that we need to sign 3 DPs to be a strong team does not sit well with me. It's tantamount to saying we only know how to solve an issue by throwing money at it. I refuse to believe that there aren't players to be had who could do a job without resorting to some glamour signing. Now, it's not inconceivable that one of the new forward signings comes good and if so, I think that's enough to push us up a level, so long as Omar gets his act together and Bruce finally realises that Leo is a lost cause. Bottom line though: if we underwhelm for the remainder of this season, I think we need to start making greater demands of Bruce. He's been a great MLS coach but we shouldn't allow complacency and stagnation to creep in.
Where I don't give a pass to Bruce is that I don't think he accurately analyzed the needs. He went strikers and wide when the biggest upgrade was needed in the center of the midfield.
Well, I think we have been looking for width for a long time. That was the rationale for Robbie Rogers' acquisition - at least for public consumption. The strikers did seem odd at first, but I think that Bruce saw we needed a real target forward to break down some of the pack-it-in defenses. Our strikers are skillful but small, so I understand why he went after Friend. Samuel is the one that is a question in my mind. There are really only three explanations that I can think of. Either Bruce figured he needed an additional striker for when Landon was off in Brazil. Or Bruce thought he would use LD as the attacking center mid and so needed another striker. Or maybe they just thought that Samuel was such a talent that they had to grab him regardless of unbalancing the roster. Maybe I am giving Bruce the benefit of the doubt on the moves, and you are correct that the midfield also is problematic - particularly if LAG is not committed to using LD there. As another Robbie put it: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy Ain't that the truth!
Husidic was just depth. I am talking about the fact that we needed an A+ CM with attacking skills to start over Juninho or Sarvas. It was clear that was what we needed after the end of last year. I have never been in agreement with the endless search for the perfect winger. Wings don't push you past a blunt center. Have to address that first. I think the winger obsession is misguided and won't address the problems. Same with bringing in strikers. Gonna have to be a hell of a striker to compensate for lack of dangerous service. And Bruce clearly has no plans to slot Donovan in at CM so there you go. Until something changes with the DP situation we're going to have tons of possession and not many goals.
I think Bruce's plan was just as you said, we needed a target forward and getting one would move Landon wide which would solve our problem there. Bruce likes the dual-5's. ---------------------Samuel------------ -----------Keane----------------------- Donovan-------------------Ishizaki ----------Sarvas------Juninho------- It's how we line up with G2 too Jamieson---------------------Mendiola ----------Sorto------Walker------------ The problem is Samuel/Walker just didn't work out (I'm reserving judgment on Ishizaki). But Bruce is showing enough flexibility to put Zardes up front and Donovan in the middle which seems to be our best choice right not. But it does leave us where we started. We need a target forward (if Zardes doesn't improve on his finishing) and we another wide player with some creativity. It wouldn't bother me at all if we dropped Samuel and Friend after the world cup (if we can) and tried to pick up another midfielder.
High quality play-making CM's who are good at breaking down defenses are highly valued rare commodities and so there is a lot of competition for them. Very rare to find one better than say Juninho for less than DP money. There are what, maybe a half dozen players in all of MLS right now that fill that bill well? Valerie, Morales, Ferreira, Rosales, sometimes Landon, Mauro Diaz,...? So yeah, it would be great add such a player but where does Bruce find these players and pry them away from their current teams given out current budget limitations?
I agree but hopefully for next year there won't be as much budget limitations. If the cap goes up like people are speculating and there is a good bump to the threshold for DP salaries we will really have no excuse. This offseason, for me, will be a referendum on our scouting network, or lack there of.
That has been my assertion. You're not going to get much better than Juni and Sarvas for non-DP money, which is hardly terrible. Sarvas had 4 goals and 6 assists last season, not bad for a CDM (also got an assist over the weekend).
hence why we have been going crazy for a DP CM. It's clear how much Beckham helped us there and he wasn't even a true CM! I hope Omar does another marvelous job against Belgium and then a couple more games perhaps P) and we can sell him, allow him to take his game to next level, and buy that CM we need oh so desperately. Meyer and Opare are fine IMO.
An overstatement. Beckham provided some assists and link-up play, but acting like he was the perfect solution is like saying the same about Juninho and Sarvas based on their possession or defensive stats. Beckham had a tuned-in Juninho, an in-form AJ, Gonzo minus the 80min+ brain splutters and (possibly most crucially of all) a perpetually injured Leonardo as the defensive complement to his wandering the field, hoofing glory-balls to all and sundry. As I have said many times before, at our best under Bruce, with Beckham in-house, performances dipped noticably when Juninho was, hurt, unavailable, or having the occasional off-day. If Beckham had been playing in front of Juninho, Gonzo and Leo in their recent incarnations, we'd have looked decidedly more "2008".
You just stated the reason that I objected, screaming and kicking, against the Omar DP deal from day 1. You need a better player there in one of the CM spots unless you hit a home run with another signing, like Valeri. The fact is, we have, on paper, great offensive firepower, but we struggle mightily to score. We have trouble creating good, clean chances. It's been that way since we decided that Sarvas and Juninho are a good enough starting central pair. I love both players, and I really wish they were good enough. But they're not. In combo, they equal a lot of possession and no cutting edge with Keane and Donovan stranded up top trying to create goals all on their own. It just doesn't work. We've seen it long enough to know it.
i never once said beckham was the perfect solution, hence why i said he wasn't even in his position. you want to say beckham lucked out with their form but how much of that was on him being on the pitch coaching and directing them as the match happened. He was an onfield leader constantly talking to Juninho and now suddenly Juninho has no one to talk to him. You want to say Beckham lucked out I say that he had good players because he helped them.