@Hammarbyfotboll pic.twitter.com/jLWfK5uP0q— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) November 26, 2019 Doesn't AEG own Hamnarby?
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5UrKtlHMwk/ Don’t know if it’s just a joke but their 31 year old right back Mats Solheim made his own announcement video after.
Acosta is a very talented LB, like if he finds his form a top 3-5 LB in MLS talented. His problem, is as Doyle says, odd the field stuff. This is probably his last chance as a professional. If GBS can solve that issue, then we’ve solved our LB problem for potentially 5+ years. However I’m never optimistic on players who are off the field problems suddenly figuring it out. If GBS/DTK can turn it around then its a big win for us. If they can’t, it’s only a loss for us if we don’t have another LB option.
From my understanding of most pressing systems, the striker is the person who initiates the press. There’s certain triggers, like if this person has the ball, or the ball goes to this part of the field where the forward then starts the press and the entire team follows. With Zlatan not being able to press, the other team could easily just play it to an open CB and if let’s say Pavon steps up to pressure, the full back is wide open creating an easy open pass. If Zlatan could press any CB receiving the ball, the passes the opposing team would have to make become much harder, giving us a much bigger opportunity to win the ball in transition. In theory it would work, and solve a lot of problems for us defensively. I’d love to see what Pavon could do if he’s consistently getting the ball in transition with opposing defenses out of position and back pedaling. He reminds of Landon in those situations.
Depends on the type of press. Guardiola's version for example, doesn't rely on the striker leading the charge. It's about movement and positioning. You win the ball against one of his sides, you're invariably facing pressure from two or three other people. Indeed, the false 9 position expects the forward to roam to the flanks and midfield, acting as much as an outlet as a presser. Dutch "Total Football" (incidentally, the root of Pep's philosophy as ingrained into Barca culture by Johann Cryuff) literally demanded players be well-rounded and switch positions throughout the game, transitioning seamlessly between attacking and defensive duties. Had our attacking service been more dynamic, we could have operated a pressing midfield by virtue of Zlatan keeping CBs occupied with his very presence. As it was, teams often focused largely on marking him, in the knowledge that our wings and midfield pre-Pavon, would struggle to put in good crosses and through-balls on a regular basis.
So in that system Zlatan didn’t/wouldn’t have the legs to switch positions. He just kind of stands there and waits for stuff to happen. This is the year GBS needs to really show the fans and front office how he wants the team to play. The excuse he had last year was he was “stuck” with Zlatan and had to try and play to Zlatan’s strengths, not necessarily the team’s strengths.
This would be a HUGE win if we some how pulled off, provided we don’t entirely hamstring the rest of the off season in making it happen. He’s a really good player, who could probably go to Europe, but wants to stay in the US to get citizenship. I think Atlanta will give him a big raise and he’ll stick around, but if they don’t, he’d be an amazing pick up.
It's not just pressing from the front; it's about all the things strikers in the modern game do to help a team control the game that Zlatan doesn't do anymore. -Zlatan doesn't press opposing CBs or block the passing channel so the first line of defense isn't broken -Zlatan doesn't run into space behind the CBs for throughballs, which allows CBs to push up and compress the space the midfield has to play; this also makes it easier to counter -Zlatan doesn't really hold the ball up, which is crucial if you want to play a possession game and advance the ball through CM (where we are strongest) -Zlatan's main service came from crosses, which immediately put us under pressure when the cross is unsuccessful So whether you want to press or sit back and counter, Zlatan doesn't really offer you the option to build a gameplan around either. The gameplan we had was probably the best we could've had with him, which is feed him as often as possible. And we did: Zlatan was more assisted than any striker but Vela.
We did not select anyone in the first round of the entry. Remember if selected this round you take the player at their current salary. If selected later you can negotiate a contract
https://us.as.com/us/2019/11/27/futbol/1574816042_466510.html We've been linked a few weeks ago with winger Ricardo Centurion, who just ended his loan to San Luis and came back to Racing, his Argentinian club, but may be on the move. Today he said he was called by GBS a few months ago to come to LA but he declined for salary reasons. His career is not in a good shape, maybe Guillermo will try one more time?
I can see GBS talking to him before LA finalized the Pavon deal, but with Pavon stating his favorite position is left wing, why would the Galaxy bring in another wing/midfielder, especially one who did not do well at San Luis (with 1g and 0a). I think that they would be better brining in Kai Koreniuk from GII and saving the money for a more impactful defensive player.
From the article, it seems like he wanted DP money, so it makes sense he was the Pavon backup. The word around Danilo is that he has a ton of off the field issues. Centurion has the same rep. Do we need two of those players on our roster?
Greg Seltzer on MLSSoccer.com speculates that the Galaxy are a logical landing place for Mario Ballotelli who is apparently fed up with racist comments from itailan fans. Now nobody should be attacked for his race, so I can understand why he might want to leave. On the other hand, Ballotelli has had issues with it appears most every club he has played for I remember his showing up the Galaxy in a classless play that caused Mancini to pull him. His current club is at the bottom of the table. I can't see anybody wanting him much less gambling tons of money on him. Cavani despite being 3 years older, would appear a much safer choice.
I was pretty upset at Mario when he did that, but I do believe he thought he was offside and was just playfully giving the ball back. Still was a stupid thing to do even if he was offside. Plus that incident happened 8 years ago now. Mario was 21. I am not excusing it especially if it was intentional, but a lot has changed since then. Mario has matured at least a little bit too. Signing Balloteli would be a big get for us. For all his shit, Mario is a baller of a player. He is a 1 in 2 goal scorer basically in every major league, and is still in his 20s. He could literally be our striker for years to come.
He was once on-track to be one of the best strikers in the world. IMO, Ballotelli is still a legit world class striker and he's in his prime years. Of course, we all know the issues with his personality -- but this would almost be like getting getting Ibra in his prime.
Undoubtedly still a talent and since leaving Liverpool, he seems to have rediscovered his form, scoring steadily in France. He certainly has the talent to dominate in MLS and if his attitude was right, he'd be a no-brainer. Sadly though, he still left Nice under a cloud and I'd be concerned that a player at his level and his age, with his attitude, might not be coming to Los Angeles for the football. We've had plenty of players in MLS that considered themselves above the league, or simply didn't respect it enough to acquit themselves. After Gio, I'm not sure I want to risk being having a DP slot occupied for multiple years by a guy who doesn't care.
Agudelo out of contract and spotting in LA with Lletget. I personally don't really rate Agudelo, but as a domestic option off the bench...? LA Galaxy midfielder Sebastian Lletget hinting at the Galaxy signing Juan Agudelo | https://t.co/AiqF1t5OIE #NERevs— NERevs Reddit (@NERevsReddit) November 27, 2019
He’s on like $600,000 a year, so I hope he’d be more than “an option off the bench”. Agudelo is the classic case of extremely talented play who has never lived up to his potential. I don’t think he ever will, but if we get him in round 2 of the Re-Entry draft (we’d probably have to trade up) we can renegotiate his contract. He’d be a good option as a back up for maybe our real target in the summer (assuming it’s a player currently in Europe).
I'm reading on Twitter Gustavo Barros Schelotto has recently scouted Joaquin Piquerez, a 21 years old left-footed Uruguayan, currently playing in Uruguayan top flight for Club Atletico River Plate. He plays as a left winger but can also play at fullback from what I saw. Con destinto en la MLS ? @PiquerezJoaco interesa a Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Dt de @LAGalaxy. Ya hubo contacto con su representante @Marcovanzini_8 pic.twitter.com/xhqw91mkiA— Emiliano Salomón 🎙📻🎤🖥 (@13emisal) November 28, 2019
I listened to the episode of the Scuffed Podcast yesterday with Matt Doyle as the guest. They went over all of the young American players in MLS. Matt Doyle said that Danilo Acosta is the most talented LB in the entire US Pool, he just needs to get his off the field stuff together. Pretty much what we knew, I haven’t seen enough to claim that Acosta was the best LB in the entire US pool based purely on talent, but it’s exciting to think that if for whatever reason this year Acosta decides his time to focus and produce, we potentially have one the best LBs in the league. I gotta imagine his salary his relatively low, so even if it doesn’t work out we aren’t completely screwing our budget (cough cough Sklsjsjdhsj). Also Happy Thanksgiving everyone.