What the hell does Lalas care? He'll be elsewhere in a year or two. The track record doesn't lie: two years in New England; a year with NY; a year with KC; "retirement"; a few years with LA; GM of SJ; GM of NY; GM of LA. Throw in the ESPN cameos - while in-season - and you have a guy who probably isn't cut-out for long-term planning. Bring on Klinsmann. I love watching LA fail, but come on: the Quakes need a healthy rival next year
If LA were to offload Donovan there are only two teams that are an actual possibility, New England and DC (I don't see him moving within the West). They are the only teams with the parts that could be traded while keeping their DP. What is the status of Shalrie Joseph and his contract? A pairing on Beckham and Joseph in the middle is a scary thought.
Donovan isn't going anywhere. His wife works in TV, he's not moving. MLS will change the rules to make it happen. Unless she gets sh*tcanned from her sitcom, can't get work, and then decides that she'd give it a go as an actress in London
Assuming that this rumor is true, and assuming we have all the same players back (and healthy), what formation do you think Klinsy goes with?
Aren't the rumors of Klinnsman taking over Tottenham Spurs a little stronger than him taking over LA?
So who will it be from Germany 2006? Klose? Ballack? Podolski? Schweinsteiger? You can bet if one of these guys comes over, it would only add more profile to the league, invite more players to come from europe, and convert more eurosnobs.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2754178,00.html http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=395384 http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008321652
"AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) has invested $250 million (about £125 million) in the Beckham project and expect more in return." Load-of-crap.
Only in LA, huh? Are you really that out of touch? Those things have already been happening in NY/NJ since the league started. So like every thing else in America, it happens first in New York and is then copied by LA. Although NY had the good since to suck when hardly anyone was watching. LA on the other hand...
Right. As long as the red-headed idiot is in the equation, there's not much hope for the Scum. If Klinsmann can manage to get rid of him, then things will probably be different.
Lalas is done. I can pretty much guarantee that he'll be fired, if not very soon, by the end of the season. Lalas is a joke. He took a half way decent nucleus that rallied to make the playoffs last season, broke it up so he could rebuild with players who were either completely unproven youngsters (Findley, Harden, Veris, etc), or players with vastly overrated "potential" (Jaqua, Martino, Quaranta). Then, early this season, when the reality that this "strategy" was failing miserably slapped him on the face, Lalas knee-jerked into trading for players who were very close to being (or arguably already are) has-beens (Pavon, Xavier, Klein) We can talk all we want about all the injuries, but the bottom line is that, beyond Becks and Donovan and perhaps Cannon, this LA Galaxy team is horrible. There is just a complete lack of true quality top to bottom. And that is Lalas' fault. And even though you can give the excuse that he's been dealt a losing hand (with all the crappy players), Yallop has been horrible as well. When the LAG had Jaqua, Jaqua would stink it up at his natural position of center forward (getting in his teammates way half the time) a lot of the time (probably just not a good fit for LAG, since Jaqua was decent for Chicago and has since been decent for Houston). But what did Yallop do when Jaqua was stinking it up at his own natural position? He put Jaqua at right sided midfield, just so he could stink it up even more! Then there is the latest "tactical" decisions from Yallop - making Becks play the full 90 after playing a full 90 the previous day for England in London, with the super long flight in between. And not recognizing that this injury plagued collection of no-chemistry crappy youngsters/over-the-hillers was giving up a flood of goals, and badly needed some huge bunker defensive 4-5-1 tactics, just to get things together. I say let Klinsmann be coach and GM (and hire an assistant GM to handle business matters), and let Klinsi just run the show, both on the field and in acquiring players.
I agree that Neuville could be signed for non-DP money, but I don't think that Klinsi would be attracted to such a player. At 5' 7" Neuville is not a target striker (always has worked as a withdrawn forward). With Becks whipping in crosses, the Galaxy should be pursuing a forward who can knock these crosses 'on' goal consistently. I can't logically see Klinsi getting Neuville before the transfer window closes, so LA probably wouldn't be able to sign him until next season at which point he'll be 35. Regardless of my opinion, here are some stats on Neuville: http://www.oliverneuville.de/?301A0A4620206 Year Club GP Goals 2007/2008 Borussia Mönchengladbach 3 0 (54 min. in 3 games) 2006/2007 Borussia Mönchengladbach 16 4 2005/2006 Borussia Mönchengladbach 34 10 2004/2005 Borussia Mönchengladbach 32 12 2003/2004 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 32 6 2002/2003 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 33 4 2001/2002 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 33 13 2000/2001 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 34 15 1999/2000 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 33 4 1998/1999 FC Hansa Rostock 33 14 1997/1998 FC Hansa Rostock 17 8 http://www.borussia.de/de/profis,107,0.html# This link has some film highlights. Click on Oliver Neuville's name, then click on the "Film ab!" button.
New York! Please! Nobody cares about what is going on with the freakin New York New Jersey Metrostars RedBulls! Look at how much media attention this whole " Beckham/Galaxy Sucks" dilema is attracting around the world. Yea, like what, your horrible attendance? Thanks to the L.A. Galaxy and Beckham you average attendance increased! Nice try! "West Side is the Best Side" Now go home Rookie!
And you're nuts if you think it wouldn't be an even bigger story in NY. The fact that the Galaxy sucking is a story has nothing to do with it being LA, and everything to do with David Beckham being there.
Could they not get rid of Lalas, and keep Yallop anyways. I do think Lalas needs to go his mouth has been quite leaky now a days, and its not helping us much.
I think it would do Lalas some good to get fired. Seriously. It would be a good lesson in humility. At what point does he finally become accountable vs. axing yet another fall guy coach or walking away to the next job? I don't think it will happen though. His philosophy on the business of soccer (soccer players as "entertainers" - e.g. "don't bore me", he tells the players) is right in line with AEG's. That's why he's their boy.
My god.We're talkin about Klinnsmann to coach an LA Galaxy with Beckham, Shevchenko possibly coming to DC United as soon as next year, and a DC Fan sticking up for New York. Has hell froze over? are dogs n cats playing together in peace? Would anyone have believed any of this a year ago?
i don't think any amount of years could have prepared me for the uber-fanboy that is LA Soccer Nation.