What ?? where were you last year? saying the same thing about Sigi? Sticking with Sampson now, only shows the organization has confidence in his pathetic skills as a manager. sometimes a team needs some new blood to play for, it happens in every sport after the halfway point in a season. And if you wait to think they are going to fire Sampson.... they won't. the organization will forget & forgive a loosing season if the finances are there and the loosing isn't present from week to week. Safe to say... if he isn't fired by the end of the season it will 99% positive he will be the Galaxy manage next year too. and how I personally am looking forward to another trophyless season.
Sorry....not sure what a Donkey year is but I believe we lost at home last year so I guess a Donkey year is about a regular year. Beat us at home with our full lineup and I'll give you credit. We are a completely different team with Donovan. Although we didn't go and beat the best (second best maybe) team in the league last night we would have lost without him. He has missed almost 40% of our games this year. And last night he may have played a bit tired because most likely he was exhausted from all the matches he has been playing. The Moreno I watched last Sat and the one I watched against Chivas in your first game out here is not the same Moreno regardless of his goal totals thus far. He looks slow and uninteresed much of the time. He definitely was not threatening against us. But as you say he's scoring...you can't knock output. At best I would say he is inconsistent. Moreno - 8 goals in 1565 minutes (5 goals on PK's) Donovan - 6 goals in 1077 minutes (2 goals on PK's) Herculez - 4 goals in 530 minutes So to sum it up. Donovan has played around 500 less minutes than Moreno yet scored 1 more goal from the run of play. Herculez has played 1001 less minutes and has one more as well. Take out those 5 pk's and Moreno has scored less than Peter Vagenas our defensive minded midfielder...yea...that's a great year for a striker. Gomez is fantastic...agreed. Your schedule argument may be a good one. We'll see how it plays out. Our guys are mailing it in eh? Well...they are playing for Mr. Sampson so that is no surprise. I agree they lack initiative...we are just not gelling as a team. Much of that has to be placed on the coach.
Your team had an 18 game unbeaten streak at home. That means that DC was more successful than 17 other teams that tried to beat you at HDC. It is tough to win at HDC, but we have gotten 3 straight wins there. This is all fine and good. But last year we won MLS Cup with Moreno having lower scoring output (7 goals, several pks among them) during the season. Moreno makes our attack tick. He gets lots of assists and draws lots of pressure away from other players. If he has already scored 8 goals this season. And Gomito has already scored 8 goals this season, they are 4 goals on their way to making up for the Eskandarian deficit (10 goals). And we will have greater contributions from other players (Quaranta, Adu, etc) to make up for this deficit as well. As I mentioned before, we have played a difficult schedule, as well. You have had multiple games against Chivas and RSL and Colorado (maybe only one) as well. DC has played only one game (@Chivas) against those three wretched teams. Perhaps Jaime and company will pad their goal stats against those teams, like Donovan has. But the main point is not to compare which team is better (DC or LA). I am not the guy who started off on the rivalry tangent. The main point was to point out that your team doesn't even try to win on the road. And that is ridiculous considering how crappy a lot of the teams in MLS have been (at least early) this season and how lavishly your team is sprinkled with creative/attacking players (Donovan, Pando, Herculeeeez, Kirovski, Ngwenya, Grabavoy, Naldo, Albright, Vagenas, Jones, et al). As a fan of neither team in the game I was watching Wednesday night, it was a miserable display. And that is sad for the league.
Agreed....you didn't start the LA v. DC comparison....I may have helped to heat that up given that it is quite alright for us G's fans to beetch and moan about our team to ourselves but having you come in here and ride us for our poor play (lack of desire) and inability to win on the road required someone to hit back. We have been watching a miserable display from the Galaxy for quite a few games now and it is tough to watch. We can only hope Donovan and Herculez can rescue us. You are right that the bad play is not good for the league...but I would argue that the league has suffered a bit this year due to WCQ and the Gold cup. Both the Galaxy and NE were different teams before qualifying started. The biggest problem with the league is that there are 2-3 players that make a team. When they are gone the team is not the same. Atleast Chicago put on a great display last night in their loss and hopefully DC will do the same tonight.
I don't usually post on another teams Board after a match but in light of what is quoted above I wonder what you all thought of the crap that went on last night. The LA flopping and time wasting for the last 30 minutes last night was shameful. I understand the tactical reasons to slow the match down and take your point on the road but I've never seen a more outragous display. Unfortunately the Ref was clueless and played long even to the point of only allowing three minutes of added time when there had been almost 10 minutes of players lying on the field.
I don't usually post on my team's Board when an opposing fan gives a legitimate critique, but in light of the utter hypocrisy above I wonder ... WHY WEREN'T YOU HERE ON 7/5 TO ADMONISH YOUR TEAM'S FLOPPING THAT COST LA 3 POINTS? Or do you not remember that: your guy flopping to the ground after incidental contact 3 seconds b4 the end of injury time? Fvck off, troll!
You're not posting. You're whining. And as much as we love to whine about the state of our team, we don't much care to hear it from others, regardless of their apparent post-graduate degrees in field sports.
do you seriously expect anyone to take your post seriously when you use such hyperbole in the absolute?
So, no response to my point about egregious forms of unsportsmanship by your team? So you're just a troll out to get your rocks off by starting a post as if it were a Penthouse Forum letter and proceeding to feign indignancy. That's just straight up ig'nancy. Real original, there: demonizing the bigbadwolf that is LA. Why don't you go practice your creative "Beat LA" chant that makes every sports team wilt in shame... Can others (plural) do the trick and flame this guy the way he deserves?
Galaxy fans invite the hate and gripe with all their hating and griping. We got a result. On the friggin' road. And I truly believe that if Sigi had to deal with the schedule and players absences that Sampson has this year - our record would be worse. Did everybody miss the start of this year when we actually had our players and they were clicking together? Or wait - it's just cooler, and easier to bitch when we don't keep winning like that even when we don't have the players who got those wins in. Sampson picked Ugo, gave Herc a chance, got output from Vagenas before Pete got hurt - and benched Pando (and the Costa Rican defenders) for lack of output. I'm just sick of the posters here who don't even realize the paradoxical juxtaposition of applauding a Sampson move (developing the young 'uns) while advocating tossing the guy.
We are the highest paid team in the league. We are barely at .500 and all of our wins have come at HDC...none on the road with or without Donovan. Other teams have less caliber players but play as a team. How about the 'Quakes? Their best player was taken from them and given to us...yet they are still a better team. Are there any other teams in the league with a worse record away from home? Why did it take Sampson so long to start playing our young players? He was forced to play them due to Nat team callups and injuries. Even a broken clock is right twice a day and Steve is our broken clock. How many times did he play Naldo before figuring out the guy just wasn't getting the job done? Sampson does not have a good track record and he isn't doing much better with our team. Lots of teams have had to deal with missing their starters...not just us. That is no excuse for a team with players the caliber of ours. We have some very good players but are lacking a coach that gets them to play as a team. I hope in the end I am wrong about Sampson. We are about to find out how good of a coach he is...by the time we come back to play at home the picture will be much clearer. No more excuses for Sampson now.
Not that I want to go over all of this again, but my complaints against Sampson started before he ever dropped a cone at the HDC. We had a team in first place -- admittedly an ugly team -- but a team in first place. I don't think Sigi's a genius, but I don't think he deserved to be drop kicked while doing his job. And Sampson's treatment of Herzog was a completely unsurprising replay of his horrible management skills. I've given Sampson credit for reinvigorating Vagenas and for the Ugo selection. And I think Ugo's got nothing but a great future -- which doesn't mean we can't complain when he gives up a boneheaded pk that levels the score. And a few good moves do not exonerate a fundamentally flawed coach. I mean, even Hamilton would fire him if he didn't have some iota of knowledge about what he was doing. EDIT TO ADD: And let's be realistic about our early wins. It's not like we were tearing up the league. So excuse us irrational ninnies for complaining all over these internets but, from what I remember of the bible, that's why jesus made them.
Most of our salary IS Donovan - so the highest salary thing is pointless when he isn't playing for us. Have you actually added together the combined salaries of the last few line-ups Sampson has rolled out? They're actually LOWER than the players on the teams we're playing against. Having good players on the Galaxy has HURT the team this year. We have so many internationals that our team has been decimated with WCQ and Gold Cup. Did it ever occur to you that it's hard to get players to play like the team when you don't have them around? How is Sampson supposed to gel a team that doesn't get to practice and play together? Sampson's terrible track record? Run that by me again? Before MLS kicked into gear of providing the USMNT with quality options, this guy had wins against Brazil, Argentina - and a point out of the Azteca - with ten men. Even with '98 - he had a winning record. But no coach could survive that political fallout.
Crime and Punishment - let's have first one, before the other. I have no clue what Sampson did to Herzog. Would you care to explain your accusation? How is Sampson "fundamentally flawed"? What does that even mean? And why couldn't you have just described what it meant. Sampson did not fire Sigi. So being against Sigi getting fired (I was, by the way) doesn't condone lining Sampson up for slaughter. I'm not excusing Sampson, either. But the double standard kills me. Ugo gets juked by Adu in stoppage time and gives up the game winning goal. Ugo commits a stupid hand in the box - giving up the one goal that keeps the Galaxy from getting the win. Yet Ugo is a young stud who deserves to realize his potential? While, because of the results of the mistakes Ugo made, the guy that spotted his potential should be crucified? All the folk fawning over Herc? Who gave him that chance? Sigi dropped Herc after 2003, didn't he?
OK. That's funny. But while this may be the height of obnoxiousness, I'm just going to cut and paste a post of mine from quite a while ago...
Oh, great - your criticisms of Sampson - at least the majority of them, date from the last millenium. You haven't moved past that? Um, one of the most valid criticisms of Sigi was that he didn't give the young kids a chance. In MLS, the total wins matters less than having players ready to go for the playoffs. It's just funny that you're all "Steve must plan for the future, but deal with the immediate" and totally overlook the fact that he IS doing that better than Sigi managed.
Thanks for your reasonable attitude and response. I appreciate your objectivity. One of the things that I like about MLS is that you are starting to see teams that play a coherent system and whose results don't rest at the feet of one or two elites. DC and KC were two examples last year. DC really did not have a true national team player on their squad last season (Earnie Stewart) - well, outside of Nellie. But we really put together a system that worked. KC did the same. Yallop also put together a good package in San Jose (whether LD was playing or not). Bob Bradley/Dave Sarachan and Peter Wilt had a good system in Chicago for a number of years. Steve Nicol has done pretty well with some limited players (Jay Heaps, Brian Kamler, Frankenchino, Avery John, etc) over the years by stressing shape, discipline, team defense and counterattacking. I think that there is still a coaching deficit in MLS, because most teams have the talent to have a much more cohesive team philosophy than they do. You watch Columbus, LA, Colorado, Metrostars . . . and only see a muddle.
Uhh, wasn't it YOU that brought up the point at Azteca? Before you criticize someone for living in the last millenium, look in the mirror. As I see it, the only good things that have happened THIS YEAR were a a series of results at home against the worst clubs in the league. And, if you haven't noticed, Sampson's record is only the worst of any coach to ever sit on the LAG bench.
Oh, so the victory against FC Dallas? I guess they qualify as one of the worst clubs? Cadaver - you speak of both your hate for the team's best player and how you apparently wish he'd never made the pass that led to the team's goal last game because you want this coach gone so badly. You're also the one who takes a media Fan versus Fan (where loyalty and devotion to a team are supposed to be on display) and turn it into a Galaxy bashing opportunity. Nice. I'm so happy you represented Galaxy fans well. I brought up Sampson's national team past to merely point out that it consists of more than '98. It might just be possible that this guy can coach, despite the national team having one bad tournament. C 'n C hits up with personnel issues that seem so bogus - Herzog was talented, but aging and slow - and the end of the season was taking a lot out of his legs - should he have played merely out of politeness? Agoos? Fine for MLS, but in 2002, his weaknesses were exposed on the world stage. Arena taking Goose was one of HIS mistakes. Now, I'll argue that Arena is a better coach, but he's also got better players than Sampson had. For those who have conveniently short memories about when our team started to struggle this season - look at the players we lost to call-ups and injury. When the hell did this board turn more whiny than San Jose? Don't say, "When SJ started winning more than us" because they've had two championships and yet the Sturm und Drang of this place has never been so bad. Fine. I go back to what I said in the first place. The Galaxy are awful. The players all suck and its their coaches fault. Their fans, however, are amazingly quality people. Devoted, faithful, encouraging, positive people with incisive discourse on the team's tactics and potential. Just come on the boards here and enjoy. Happy now?
I was taking you seriously, but this is a deal-breaker. Herzog completely disappeared and ended up leaving the team early immediately after Sampson's arrival. This cannot be disputed. Yes he was aging -- as I said -- but if you don't think he was the most creative player on the squad at the time then we either clearly disagree or you're just being contentious. And if you can think of why he suddenly stopped playing upon Sampson's arrival other than Sampson's decisions, please share them. And re: Agoos. (which I mentioned as a throwaway point on his managing skills) Who the hell is talking about 2002? Read what I wrote. All I'm saying is that after playing every single minute of qualifying for '98, Sampson did not give Agoos a single minute of field time -- even after we were eliminated, i.e some portion of the Yugoslavia match. And, yes, in this instance it would in fact be out of politeness -- or respect, or gratitude, take your pick. And don't think I wouldn't start David Regis 100 times out of 100 over Agoos. I would and I've said so. But given Agoos' history -- who was the last player cut from the roster in 1994 and who was for better or probably worse a key player in qualification -- I think that decision was just awful and completely indicative of the type of coach and manager that he is. So yes, these are personnel issues. I think he's a bad, bad, bad manager of players and that is bad for the club. And I love this club, so I want him gone.
If you don't think my discontent represents the views of a significant number of fans, you must have had a banana in your ear when the team was bood off the field after the last home game. (Or maybe you were cheering Freddy's "brilliance.") No, I will not Pimp for Steve and this team the way its playing. I won't Pimp here or anywhere else on the internet. Loyalty and devotion to the team does not require me to put on rose colored glasses and deny how gawd-awful they have played on the road for a year (under Sampson) and how uninspired and dispirited they have played at home recently. You are right. They did look good against FC Dallas. But other than that, a cream-puff early schedule has apparently fooled you into thinking Sampson can coach.
Femfa, I appreciate your attempts to rein in the "black/white" Sampson attacks w/ a more nuanced approach to the team and the coaching situation. You're right; most ppl think any shade of grey is pitch black. And you're right: it is a positive that he is giving the young'ins a chance. I don't think that that is what ppl are complaining about. It's the fact that our team is not gelling. It's got no chemistry. It simply is not playing good football. That is undeniable. In fact, I see teams playing down to our level against us. It used to be the opposite. It seems like you're starting to go a little overboard on your defense of Sampson. True, it's not black and white; there's a lot of grey.