Anyone else have the feeling Ned could be with another MLS team by the end of the season and by this time next year he'll be the next Joe Franchino, Brian Ching, Brian Mullan (or one of a couple others)? In other words, a player we wish was was still on the Galaxy squad.
Ned is from INdiana, right? Maybe he'll be looking to move back to the Chicago area. That would suck. What's the deal? Is he an ************** at practice or something? WHy isn't he starting?
Ned went to school at IU, but his home is in Joliet, a southwestern suburb of Chicago. Salvaging Ned's career is only one more reason I hope Sampson gets run out of town on a rail ASAP.
I am resigned to the fact that Ned will not play for this coach with this roster. His skill set is limited and he is so far down the pecking order as that attacking central midfielder, that we should see if we could get some real value for him. I'd send him to Chicago for John Thorrington (we need wide players) or Will John or even Chad Barrett (two decent young forwards). John and Barrett are both Developmental Players as is Ned. Barrett, of course, played at UCLA and Thorrington is a SoCal boy too, so maybe a swap to local markets would help everyone.
yep, that's what I meant, Chad Barrett, the guy that plays centre forward and is playing brilliant in the reserve league.
We don't want to come within 5 miles of John Thorrington. He trained with us last year, IIRC, and has nothing to offer this team. Last season, Ned did play out wide a few times, and did quite well for himself, in a Damien Duff, tough-little-train-that-could kind of way. I really don't get the hold up.
We had Armas...but gave him up in a trade involving Campos (or was he left unprotected in the expansion draft?) which allowed us to get Hartman back.
Well let's see, John Thorrington has more goals that Pando, and now that he is fit, he would be much better suited to playing wide on this team than most of the players on our roster. He would be an excellent long term replacement candidiate for Cobi. BTW, do we have a Cobi replacement or do you think he's playing another ten years? Gardner looks to me like he can be the guy if the future on the left, but.... I've said it before and I'll say it again! Ned Grabavoy cannot play out on the wing in this league or any other. What delusion mind thinks that he can play wide in a Damien Duff kind of way? Are you kidding? We don't have single player that can hold Duff's jock! Ned cannot defend to save his life. He makes Paul Scholes look like a good tackler. He doesn't have the pace without the ball and he can't run by players with the ball. What Ned does have is excellect technical skill and vision, and just enough cleverness to be terribly effective in the middle of the field, so long as he has cover behind him. Ned makes other players around him better because of his hustle, passing abilities and unselfishness. Unfortunately we have too many guys on the roster like that (Landon, Jovan, Cobi, and Pete). Guys that play wide have to go box to box, defend when the outside back goes forward, beat guys wide one on one, and serve the ball into the box for others. The only one of these things Ned does well is serve the ball when he gets a little time and space. Unless SS2 or Dougie are going to move those other guys, Ned would be better served on another roster and we should do our damndest to get some value in return for him.
Done, then. We all agree to take Peter V out of the next game! Seriously, I can't believe the corner Sampson paint himself/us into by making Vagenas captain. I'm sure he's a cool guy, a terrific team player, etc. But he doesn't have the juice or the creativity to do what he's doing.
no pace w/o ball, can't run by players w/ ball, can't tackle, good vision. sounds like beckham... seriously, stop taking things so literally. we don't need the real duff or the real scholes. i would like to note that becks plays exactly as you have described ned and has been effective on the wing w/o actually saying that ned is as good as beckham. since we like to play 2 defensive midfielders in the middle, they can cover for cobi and ned or whoevers on the wings when they push up to attack.
i wouldn't mind any combo of peterV, nagamura, pando in the middle as long as they know they know they're there as defensive mids..
please, not Pandon't, its not fair on the people sitting in row Z, they shite themselves when he lines up a shot, and when he strikes it someone gets their nose broken. It isn't right for people to be in fear for a full match, soccer is meant to be enjoyable.
Beckham is an uderrated defender, while Ned is an overrated youngster. You're still trying to jam that square peg into the round hole. The transfer window is open and we have a chance to make this team better, not reshuffle an incomplete deck.
Correct . . . Armas was protected, HARTMAN was unprotected. Chicago picked Hartman and Danny Pena (also unprotected) as their two expansion draft picks, and we then had NO keeper because Campos was still playing for his Mexican club team and wasn't available to the Galaxy until July. The Galaxy needed Hartman back . . . Armas was the price, it's what Chicago really wanted. THEN . . . with Armas leaving for Chicago, the Galaxy now needed Pena back . . . so Chicago returned Pena and took Campos when he resurfaced from his Mexican club season.