Javier is more than a joke. He is a distraction. The fine thick froth being worked up by fans and pundits detracts from the real reasons for our troubles wearing suits and sporting whistles and clip boards. Chich is but a symptom of what really ails us and this dude is being scapegoated. He makes everybody forget Galaxy was a sad joke of a circus before he came here. He is simply the new clown in town. From Javier's point of view it must suck to be him right about now. I would retire. Make a heart felt announcement, work it out with the suits and bow out. Chivas is not going to buy him and I would not beg them to. I would talk to the wife and explain that we are through suffering the slings and arrows and taking arms against a sea of troubles and we booking a flight home. F all this indignity. But it would mean little to Galaxy. That would just get him, off the hook. We would still have our FO, GBS and the shit show and little to look forward to. As the dude from the Times puts it regarding our death spiral. "even if the team rallies to make the playoffs this fall, then goes on a long run once there, it won’t mark a step forward as much as it will mark another season hovering in place."
And personally think that there's nothing worse for sport teams than having fans who become apathetic and DGAF anymore one way or the other.
I agree with the all but two points in your post. First, as we saw with Zlatan, the Galaxy were a team with a questionable defense and no clear style of play led by a coach who can't seem to reach his players. That didn't change when the Galaxy signed Chicharito. That being said, his play and effort has been abysmal. He has been less effective than borderline players from GII. This is on him and isn't the result of some suit trying to gain cover for crappy decisions. Second, as we saw with Juan Pablo Angel, a change of scenery at the end can let a player go out with his head held high. With twice the minutes in 2011, on a much better Galaxy team, JPA was almost as bad. Yet after his trade to Chivas USA, he scored 7 goals in 9 games for a team that was in disarray. As much as I abhor his play for Galaxy, I have no personal animosity to him and hope he can bow out on his terms.
“It is said that the darkest hour of the night comes just before the dawn.” Thomas Fuller said that. Let's hope he was right.
And yet this a major component of any sports fandom. It affects different sports in unique ways depending on how established the sport is. Soccer is not a highly stable nor established sport here in the States with lots of more entrenched leagues drawing folks for attention and their money. It is why having teams around MLS with a high degree of perennial suckytude is concerning in general besides the love for the crest in our Galaxy's case. Having high caliber championship level teams around here in LA, does not help. We lost the fair-weather fan a long time ago. The casual fan? ditto. The regular fan has put Galaxy in mothballs indefinitely or checks in once in a while especially currently when attending matches is verboten. The serious fan is still wondering what the hell is going on and of course the hardcore fans are here for the duration. But as you go down the list the groups get smaller and smaller and that affects the overall health of the sport, the league and ultimately our team. This is how things go to pot. All this to say FIRE EVERYBODY NOW! and lets start fresh. Lets not continue to do the same thing over and over and expect something better.
I agree. And I didn't mean to seem like I'm throwing Hernandez under the bus. He hasn't covered himself in glory, both on or off-field (he ducked what would've been his first post-game presser after the home loss to Vancouver) but at the same time, this FO all but dragged the guy here kicking and screaming. I'm sure a lot of champagne was spilled when Klein and co. got their man, but they basically brought the guy in under duress, throwing so much money at him that it'd basically be stupid to turn down. But that's not a recipe for success, as a starting point.
Oh you know the champagne flowed and the bonuses for landing the guy were passed around. Good times. And just to be clear, I do not think anybody around here is being frothy about Hernandez. Just voicing their opinion. I should not have used that expression in this space. I guess its a carry over from reading mostly spanish language postings from other sites that are downright hateful to a visceral level regarding Javier. And I dont mean foul language but well thought out character assassination posts that make a grown man blush. Some surprisingly from mexican sites.
Yeah, the Mexican media is the most vitriolic and ravenous, which really should not surprise anyone that's lived in SoCal and follows football, IMO. Everyone was banking on the attention singing Hernandez would bring from the Mexican fanbase / media, but seemed naive about how venomous that same attention can be if things aren't going well (te Kloese, at least, should know better).
I understand not suffering fools gladly but these people are on another level when triggered. Vicious! Imagine what the Mex media and fans would do with a team in our condition and our coach!? They would go completely medieval on the team and everybody involved. A massacre.
You know there are serious issues with the #LAGalaxy when Chicharito declares himself out of a match on social media. Everyone knows the club likes to control that kind of information. What's going on here?https://t.co/ssaulklzkU— Mike Gray (@MikeGrayAFC) October 28, 2020 He's done here. What a joke. Hell, he makes Gio look like a great signing by comparison.
A disaster of a signing. Always tough to follow a guy like Zlatan, but this? He didn’t even try. He came here saying this was his retirement. What a joke!! Meanwhile, Zlatan is in Italy making Serie A defenses look stupid.
The Chicharito saga is really bizarre, man. There's been a story going on with him since before we signed him, that Chicharito's career has gone downhill since he adopted a new "life coach" named Diego Dreyfus, who may also be sleeping with his wife. He's also apparently become a huge asshole, more concerned with money and social media than playing football. I had heard some of this before from Mexican fans around the time of the signing, but really just that he was "past it". The gossip really seems to be picking up steam with his bad performances. To give you an idea of how bad it is, there are jokes and memes trending now about Hernandez's son being his life coach's kid.
Sounds like Chicharito and his wife may be getting “Raniere’d”. I don’t know if he is a victim or a greedy f**k. Who can tell from a bunch of rumors? Either way the Galaxy need to immediately cut ties with him, his wife and his possibly cuckolding guru.
Rumors aside, what I found really troubling was Twellman's comments about Chicharito in the locker room. Twellman said how quiet and resigned Chicharito is around the team. Apparently Chicharito holds himself at a much higher status than that of the MLS and the teammates. He sounds like he has an Ibra complex, but at least Ibra cared about the club and wanted to do well. Chicharito straight up seems like he doesn't want to be here and came for the paycheck. What a joke this has become.
Ibra trained his ass off for months to rehabilitate his injury before coming to the Galaxy. Yes he was often arrogant and a pain but he was always prepared and man did he produce. 2nd highest goals per 90 in MLS history I believe, missing 1st by a hair. I have no idea how Chich can take Galaxy and live with himself. And I have no idea how we could have vetted his attitude toward playing for us so inaccurately. A double clusterf**k - us offering and him signing.
Weird. Chicharito promises to do better...#LAGalaxy #MLS pic.twitter.com/ZVgdki4A6o— Corner Of The Galaxy (@GalaxyPodcast) October 30, 2020
Weird is a good descriptor. He sounds beaten down psychologically. Hope he gets it together, for his sake and for ours.
On a human level, yes, hope he gets to a place that's good for him. On the sports level, get over it already! Best of luck to him though. Hope he's not in some weird crap with that life coach. Reminds me a bit of Gavin Belson and his life coach in the show Silicon Valley.
Sounds like the Galaxy PR team got a hold of him and wrote the statement. We fired the coach so everyone gets a 2nd chance.....
I can't read Spanish, so I am only going by your post, but my initial reaction is that he has been paid a boatload of money to play to the best of his ability. I am not a lawyer, but it seems like this type of admission is close to admitting that the he is in breach of his contract. Even if he isn't, it seems morally wrong and his lessor paid teammates should be (use your choice of explicative) angry that he might have cost them a chance at being in the playoffs and getting the bonus money associated with that. Now on further reflection, I am sure the translation would be something to the effect that his heath has not been what he wanted and he promises to do better when healthy. I would appreciate a paraphrased translation. Bottom line, as much as Ibra can be an ass, his willingness to take a lessor contract while he proved his ability to play or not was ultimately a more honest approach IMO.