Steven Gerrard: What he can expect to find when he arrives at LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer http://www1.skysports.com/football/...e-arrives-at-la-galaxy-in-major-league-soccer
Letting Steven Gerrard go was a mistake - if he 'does a Lampard' it will be humiliation for Liverpool http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/letting-steven-gerrard-go-mistake-4943194
Oh, right. I forgot about that - I'm used to LA being in the knockout stages, albeit briefly. And if LA plays the Railhawks in the Open Cup here in Cary I'll try not to go to the game. Both times I attended it has been a disaster.
I have yet to post my opinion on this move as I have been "offline" for the last two weeks or so. So I am sorry if I repeat anything that has already been said. IMO this is a good signing by the Galaxy. Not great or bad. Just good. Overall, I'm rather satisfied by the move as I think we are getting a player who will come and give his best. I think it is hard to sign a great DP in this league (especially in the eyes of Galaxy fans) because the expectations are somewhat deluded. I'm not surprised to see some here disappointed with the move because they feel he is not "the best ever." Yet it baffles me to think what exactly us fans were expecting. Getting a player of Gerrard's caliber is awesome. Every other team in the league would love to have him on their team. If they say otherwise they are straight out lying. Yes, he is not what he once was but he is a leader who is going to be such a great asset both on and off the field. Sure you can name other players who might be younger or more exciting but the reality is that not every player wants to come to the MLS. So for our FO to be able to continue to bring in players of Gerrard's caliber they deserve to be praised instead of looked at with disdain. I know many of you will disagree with my sentiment. That is fine. But I think it is important to remember that we have done a pretty good job since the Beckham signing of acquiring DP's (outside of JPA). So I think we should trust Bruce on this one. I too am hoping though that there is an increase in DP slots. It would be nice to sign another attacking player who is capable of doing what Landon did in that he could play out wide or even up front. I hope we get a few more signings soon!
It's obvious you're late to the table. Most of the LA Galaxy Bigsoccer regulars were generally negative about the Steven Gerrard signing until the new members who know Gerrard much better came on here and told us how good he really is. We are now much more excited, and I thank them for their insights! Really looking forward to Gerrard in an AM role setting up and scoring lots of goals.
You really should get over the Leonardo hate, it is getting old. He was a starting CB all season on the team with the least goals against. There is a reason Arena keeps playing him and apparently has him in his plans for the future.
While what you say has some validity, it remains self-evident that #22 is far ans away the weakest link in out back six and needs to be upgraded badly. Bruce's blind spot not withstanding.
??? I can't tell if you are being sarcastic? Most regulars were quite familiar with Gerrard and his quality and happy about him coming to the Galaxy. There was some initial pause due to his age (he will be 35) and because he has generally been moving further back in the midfield as he gets older, and those remain valid concerns. Nor is he a fast winger or a classic #10 that most of us thought were our most pressing needs but there was little doubt about his quality on and off the field. It's like you always expected to fall in love with a brunette and a beautiful redhead shows up. Doesn't mean you won't fall in love with the auburn haired lass- she's just not what you expected.
No, I wasn't being sarcastic. My impression early on in here was most LA Galaxy fans were a bit subdued about the Gerrard signing, thinking he wasn't really a good fit. I was kind of surprised by the negativity, and with me not being an expert about Gerrard's past and current form... well, let's just say that the new members on here really have made me more excited, with the new information and positive reviews about Gerrard. I disagree that there is still a concern for him being played as a DM. He will be an AM, as he should be. Arena has said as much and the new posters have backed up that thinking and demonstrated why. The difference in pace and skill between the EPL and MLS will allow Gerrard to shine as an AM.
@joshmartinez122 touched on something in his post that I'm quite relieved about. Whatever the merits of Gerrard or your opinion on veteren big names coming to the league, what this does signal is that we are still actively seeking big signings and have the resources to obtain them. This was an underlying fear I'd had since the departure of Tim Lieweke. Things have changed at AEG and when we were trying to sign Kljestan on a short term loan, my fear was that he would be the next intended DP. With Tim gone and less coming out of AEG about ambitions for the Galaxy, I had started to wonder if Uncle Phil and his company had that same interest. This signing reassures me that such ambitions didn't leave with Lieweke.
Just wait. 2017 will roll around LA will extend Gerrard’s contract for a year and sign Gyasi to a DP contract after the former gives a MOTM performance in MLS Cup 2016 and the latter wins the game and the golden boot for the season. LA2 will sign Jozy Alitdore and these boards will devolve in to post after post bemoaning the fact “we’ve been left behind, by more ambitious (though ironically still MLS Cup-less) teams” Nick Hornby had that line, something like “the permanent state of a football fan is misery” With Galaxy fans it seems the permanent state is envy, sadly of demonstrably inferior clubs.
Ah yes. Who could forget the melancholy on these boards that we weren't making the kind of exciting moves we were seeing at NYRB? There were even people posting line-ups of their starting XI and how they were so much stronger than us...!
You misread me. I said the initial concerns were that he has been playing further back in the midfield for Liverpool and for England. I've already posted in this thread that I thought Bruce's intention to use him closer to the strikers was a good one. I agree that it will probably work in MLS. Maybe not perfectly since it may cost us some defensive protection but it is vital that we get a creative passer close to Keane and Zardes. Their continued high level of production depends on it.
Hardly self evident. And when we lose Omar to some European team, we may need to build our central defense around Leo, which I'm sure will put all the usual Leo haters (which seems to be nearly everyone on here) in a panic.
How did I misread your post? I inserted the bolded text to more closely match your original response to my post.
What we need is a downtown stadium with a capacity of 60,000, a Mexican star that'll draw 10,000 new fans to every game, 17 kinds of craft beer served everywhere, and then we can all grow greasy handlebar mustaches, including @Berks and @Geneva, and then let Gerry Brown build a bullet train from downtown LA to Seattle (stopping in Fresno, of course) so that we can stuff the stadium with bloated, ghostly-white hipsters, all of whom are convinced that the Supporters Shield trumps MLS Cup.
I have all the same concerns about Gerard that i had the first time i heard her was rumored to be coming to LA. The problem was never what position he was going to play, it is that no matter what position he plays its going to shake up our very successful midfield pairing and not address our need for wide attackers. As I did from the beginning, I'm thrilled to have SG, I just think that he may not be the best fit fit the team the way that we are structured, and I have concerns about how the team transitions from what we were in 2014 to what we need to be in 2015. In other words, i think your post is a bit of a straw man.
I think your concerns are valid. But I also think that a restructuring was going to be needed regardless of whether we signed Stevie or not. This team was slow and long in the tooth. I love Sarvas but believe he is wearing down. Dunivant can't be counted on as an iron man anymore. Ishizaki doesn't bring 90 minutes to any game. Baggio has no speed. The list goes on. Better we have a skilled and star player to rebuild around then not. But we'll have to see how much Bruce decides to tackle in one year.