Hard pass on Bale, the last thing this team needs is another winger. Find a top level Center Back and pay him, every MLS cup winner in the last 5 years has had a great defense. Then find a solid GK. Build the spine of the team and find some runners for the wings. It's not rocket science.
You probably right that teams that win silverware are built around a strong defense. However, I think that Chivas II has shown that you can build a winning team around a strong, possession oriented, high scoring offense and a so so defense. The key is limiting the amount of attacking chances the opponent has and scoring first. To that end, the Galaxy need another player who can create scoring chances for Chicharito and Pavon as well as score a meaningful number of goals (12 minimum). I think that the Galaxy could do that with a very good attacking midfielder or a wing. Given the Galaxy's existing roster, I think that the quickest path to a winning team is to add a strong wing with 3 interchangeable 8s, in a 4-3-3 lineup. I believe, Jona, Seb, and Joe have shown that they can do the 8s job as a group. Could Bale fit that role? No question about it. Can the Galaxy find a way of signing him this year, doubtful at best. I think that they could find another player, perhaps at the high TAM mark to fill that role.
I guess I am cynical. LAFC keeps losing in knockout games because great defenses in MLS beat great offenses. In the playoffs the referees just don't call that many fouls and you can get away with a lot. I personally am tired of Galaxy teams that lack character and bite. We need Nigel De Jong or Dema Kovalenko, not another fancy footwork winger. Beckham, Keane, Donovan all played defense and all were ferocious competitors, not sure that is Bale at all; I personally like him, but you know "Wales,Golf, Real Madrid" does not inspire me with confidence in a Galaxy shirt.
You will get no disagreement from me that Beckham, Keane and Donovan were fierce competitors. And yes Landon was a warrior who played his butt off getting back on defense. He was a lot like Morris is for Seattle today. But Beckham playing defense, who knew? IMO he was clearly a worse defender than Allessandrini. I remember him waving at attackers as they ran by him in 2008 and years of watching him lead the defense against set pieces by marking the outside corner of the 18 near absolutely no one. After 2008, he also had the luxury of having a strong defense behind him and Juninho next to him in 2010 - 12.
I guess we're linked with Javier Pastore, a 31 y/o Argentine attacking mid currently playing at Roma. He has 25 apps between 2018-2019, which is not super reassuring. Would he really be any better than a young, no-name South American that would surely come cheaper?
I don't know that the Galaxy can sign him given the fee Roma is likely to ask. I like the idea of someone like Daniel Sturridge, who is available on a free because of his suspension for providing his brother inside information about him transferring to another club. It seems his best option is Serie B currently. He plays right wing and is a secondary attacker. He probably could be rented on a TAM contract for the rest of 2020.
Have to disagree on this based on his time with England and his Post-Arena efforts. Pre-Arena, sure, but Beckham was trying to do too much because the team was a dumpster fire and there was no coaching going on. After Arena though he had a clearly defined role, the team had a strategic and tactical plans in place and as you rightly point out a very solid defense. The 2012 playoff series against Seattle was a masterclass of midfield defending from Landon and David.
In an ideal world, we could trade Lletget for a competent centerback, sign Pastore on a free TAM deal who would immediately be our #10, and get someone like Sturridge in on a TAM deal to play RW.
A name I see popping up is Dutch CB Jordy De Wijs. We were linked with him in January. He's just been relegated from Championship to League One with Hull City and seemed to have a strange season : very strong before the COVID break, was given the Captain armband, and completely sucked after, leading to his club's last place and relegation. He's 25 and looks like a very strong CB, left-footed, the comparison with Jelle Van Damme is obvious. It seems like a risky move but if it pays off, credit to DTK. https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/674001220/american-dream-lonkt-voor-jordy-de-wijs
Honestly give him a go. Doubt he’d cost that much and he was decent when hull were doing alright in the championship.
Woah. The Ecuadorian national team tried to bring in #LAGalaxy manager GBS to coach the team but he has declined the opportunity. https://t.co/hhisp1RuDU— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) August 6, 2020
I think somebody famous said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time...." But I would infer that means GBS has been given some reassurance that LAG is not on the verge of firing him. So there's one possible upgrade that is not likely to happen at least this year.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of GBS, it probably would be very difficult to get a manager to come in right now due to covid and the league's uncertainty. PLUS looking at our team, we have a lot of things that need fixing. That is a serious task for any manager. I'm hoping GBS can at least get another center back in before we play again (if ever in 2020). I would like to see this team play 4-5 games without months of breaks between before I pass my judgement.
Weird. For the price he's valued in Transfermarkt he would be ideal for Feyenoord. He for a long time was leading the Eredivisie ranking as best defender ahead of de Ligt until he got injured. We need a CD, but cannot spend much.
Thanks for coming in and providing your insight. Always welcomed and appreciated! Some of the fan base is worried that he’s coming in from a team that gave up a lot of goals. 87 or something including an 8-0 loss. Can you give us a little more insight into him? I keep hearing he’s a talented CB, but his last season was Hull doesn’t sound promising at all.
Jordy was a PSV talent, but needed play time and was loaned out to Excelsior Rotterdam, a low flying modest club. He managed to play so well he was ahead of de Ligt in leading Dutch soccer magazine Voetbal International, until he got seriously injured. Lost track of him since that injury. However he can't have forgotten how to defend like he did.
Higuain rumors still going strong. Juve do want to move on from him so I can actually see this happening, but I am not sure how financially this works for us. Higuain makes $15,871,136.00 a year currently. I mean can we even afford half that and he'd obviously be a DP? Also even though this seems smart to give Chicharito a move aerial threat next to him, this is exactly the same mistake we made last season. Offense really isn't the issue. Defense is a massive problem that needs fixing asap.
Good question regarding how the money would work. Higuain would surely be a DP, but the Gs already have 3 DPs. Maybe drop one to TAM only? Also, wondering if this is just the usual linking of every player to the Gs. Wish SoCalYid was still around to provide some insight to all things Italian.
Did MLS add a 4th DP? Give me a break. BTW, this is REALLY what the G's need, another attacking player. Now we can look forward to losing games 8 - 6. This is another abject failure by DtK and GBS to address the true weaknesses in the squad.
Keeping Pavon should be our top priority (well, maybe our second after getting good defenders). If Higuain coming means Pavon's gone (this summer or next year with Pipa taking his DP spot), I'm not high on the move.
Actually we DO need another attacking player. Or two. Desperately. I’ve mentioned this before but Chicharito is our only player who has scored more than 3 goals in a season (well in the last half-decade - Lletget scored 7 way back in 2015). From last season we’ve lost 40 goals (Ibra, Antuna, Favio and Pontius) and 26 assists (same 4 + Polenta, who had an impressive 6 assists from cb). Chicharito, even if healthy, isn’t going to replace that offensive output. So don’t worry about us losing games 8-6 — we only have 5 total goals in our first 5 games. (see @73Bruin in other thread) The truth is that we need additional offensive firepower AND an improved defense. Better coaching could get us up to a so-so defense. But I don’t think our current roster will ever produce consistent offense - teaching defense is easier than turning non-scorers into scorers. The latter almost never happens.