You guys look to have as much depth at forward as the Metros did at the begining of the 2004 season (not to be negative, but look how that turned out). Gordan, Moreno, Kirovski, Ruiz, and Ngwenya. All (maybe not Gordan, since he is unproven) are at least starting quality. Do you think some will be traded or will leave? I'm most concerned about Ngwenya, I think he needs more playing time to develop.
I think Kirovski will keep playing as Midfield. He was a spark that we needed at the end of the season.
Until our second leading scorer either (a) scores more than once every six games, or, and work with me on this one, (b) actually PLAYS AS A FORWARD, the Galaxy are not deep at forward.
I don't know that I put Moreno in the "starter" quality column. Mostly he started because there were no credible alternatives. His reputation rests on ONE GAME where Herzog set him up again and again. Once Andy was benched, Alejandro disappeared as a scoring factor. I like his effort and he certainly is a personable guy. I've got nothing against him. But LAG is a pretty weak squad if he is a regular starter.
Moreno may be out of contract https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153718 probably is if he truly is the "Alejandro Morena" that's been playing for Monterrey Tigres (indoor soccer)
Moreno should've been traded when he was hot...plain and simple. I love Ale, but honestly, though he works VERY hard, the guy is slow, not tactically gifted and his shot is lacking. Sure, he scored 5 goals on 5 shots and had a FANTASTIC 5 game run...but the fact of the matter is that when Carlos is in there, he's pretty useless. In 2002, he complimented Carlos well, as he never really contributed other than feeding him the ball. I mean, Alejandro played in 12 games and started 7...and we were very successful when he was just shoveling the ball to El Pescadito...but plain and simple, we aren't successful like that anymore. That success with him up top, aside from those few games in the late first half of the season, after Carlos was injured in the Rapids game just didn't come afterwards. We had enough forwards, his peak left him and we could've gotten a decent player in a trade with him... Here's how I see our current forwards: 1. Ruiz - Automatic during the start of the year until the injury...I think he'll begin to get his head in the game after a lackluster (at best) second half to last season, and a fire will be lit under his ass if we show he's not just a shoe-in. Don't get me wrong, though, he's stubborn and I'm just being optomistic... 2. Kiro - Showed some great ability in the withdrawn Striker role. Should remain there, though with the void left by the departure of Andi in the central midfield, we might see him move back EVEN FURTHER... 3. Joe - Tons of potential and hopefully his striking and first touch will get better, over in the Bundesliga. Showed that he belongs up top and not on the flank, though on paper, he doesn't look too TERRIBLE there... 4. Gordo - Alan seems like a decent player, but so far, all we've been hearing is praise from members of the Timbers' Army that hasn't really reflected his performance on the pitch. Sure, the MLS defenses are better than those of the A-League...but honestly, not by THAT much... 5. Alejandro - Shows some flashes of brilliance and works his ass off, but quite frankly, I don't see him breaking into the First XI, well at least not in front of Joe... By the way, I am now checking to see if I got all of the forwards on the G's online roster...they have Chris Albright and Ty as forwards! Wow...Albright moved back to the defensive line A LONG TIME AGO! And Ty as a forward? Must be my eyes playing tricks on me...
The Galaxy has a lot of forwards right now, but I'm not sure its depth worth having. Carlos Ruiz, well, there's no denying his talents, but he needs somebody to play next to him, not behind him. I remember Sigi saying that Carlos and Joseph were a good fit and Jovan and Moreno were a good fit but not Carlos and Moreno and Jovan and Joseph. Sigi kind of threw that out the window once the team got hit by injuries but he knew the styles each player had. Carlos needs to have a strike partner, plain and simple. He needs to have someone running next to him. The Jovan as a withdrawn striker/attacking mid thing will not work next season. I say leave Jovan back there and give the starting nod to either Gordon or Ngwenya next season, whoever wins the job in camp. Of course, if the team signs some Central American forward, then all this goes out the window.
Someone mentioned Moreno's reliance on Herzog's service, and I think that is key to everything our striker's are able to do. Rember the Conference championship vs. KC? Not a single ball in the second half was played on the ground. The G's just LOBBED the ball from our defensive third, hoping that whoever was marking Ruiz would trip or something. When Herzog was playing (or, dare I say it, when Grabavoy was playing with Herzog, to cover on defense), there was more build up, more midfield play, and more passes to the feet of our forwards. Regardless of who is up front, if our seemingly 8-man midfield keeps tripping over eachother, we ain't gonna score. And I have great hopes for Alan Gordon. He played like 10 minutes all season, didn't he?
Why not play cobi as a foreward, and kiro as an attacing mid unyil we get somebody!!!! Cause Cobi is fast and we don't have many fast forewards!!!!
Ngwenya is about twice as fast as Cobi. So is Ruiz. Cobi just isn't nearly as fast as he used to be. He can still look fast, because he handles the ball well, and has the cojones to go right at the defense at full speed, but he just can't turn like he used to.