I am not saying your analysis is wrong but I think AEG believes that having a name star on the team does more to drive revenues (their priority) than a winning team (within reason). AEG has always controlled the major DP signings (read megabucks) and you can see this in the signings of Beckham, Gerrard, Gio, and Chicharito. Zlatan is an exception because he came over on the cheap to rehabilitate his career. Were better players available for less money than these 4, almost certainly. But its unclear that they could be projected in advance to generate more revenue, especially for Beckham. I think you can even see the financial analysis in the decision to cut Gio and sign Zlatan to a DP contract in 2019. Gio (due to his injuries and lack of impact) was no longer a draw while Zlatan was one of the biggest draws in MLS. Consequently, I don't believe that AEG will follow your model. This leaves it to DtK and the rest of the front office to put things together with less than a full set of tools.
And we can't complain about this too much. A lot of coaches would love to have a few star players to build upon, even if they aren't perfect. But boy, do we do a bad job of building a team. Assuming Pavon is leaving at the end of the year and Chicharito and Dos Santos are staying, we have: ---------------------Chicharito---------------------- -----------------------X---------------------------------- --X---------------------------------------------X--------- ---------------------------Dos Santos---------------- ----------------------X------------------------------------- X--------------X--------------------X---------------X-- ---------------------------X-------------------------------- There's not a single player on our team who I am satisfied with at one of those other positions. No player I am happy with at a position. No player I am satisfied with at a position. Just a bunch of players I can tolerate at their positions. These kinds of players should only be one or two of the starters, not the entire rest of the team. We have so far to go.
I may be missing the thrust of your argument, but LA has always been really adept at picking up big names on the cheap. Beckham, Gerrard and Zlatan were all free transfers (they paid a lot in salary for Becks and Stevie G). Ironically it seems the more we pay the less return we’ve received. It’s not universally true, JdS and Romaine cost money and were solid while Gerrard and Angel were free and not so great. Anyway it was a lot easier to accept big name signings when the front office was really savvy and Bruce had a system in place that – for the most part – was able to accommodate the latest marketing acquisition.
I could only wish that all of these x's were players who were going to be out of contract and DtK had a clean slate to sign new talent, but I don't think that this is the case. Lletget and Steres were both signed to new contracts with Lletget being a TAM signing. Pipo is reported by TransferMarkt to have another year left after this season. I would imagine that Corona has another year as well. They will get Katai's cap and TAM back, so that is a plus.
I was trying to say that AEG cared more about revenue than winning and have a history of signing big names who were much more likely to sell tickets and/or merchandise than they were contribute to championships. Obviously, they wanted to do both as they did eventually with Beckham but the priority was generating revenue. FWIW, I have read that Bruce did not want Gerrard or Gio and seem to remember that Tim Leiweke said that he and not Bruce had final control over DP signings. He was replaced by Dan Beckerman, the former CFO, in 2013 and I can't imagine that he had less power.
Highlight Time Folks The highlights kill me. Should have been a hat trick with the last goal being the difficult one. Hopefully he found his touch now. I said it before and I will say it again this season is a wash for me. I just want to spend it trying out the best lineups possible because doing so might actually see us upset some people in this tournament. ---------------Javier --Pavon--------------------Wild --------------Corona ---------Dunbar---Llegett Insua------Steres-----DePuy----Araujo
Perfectly stated. The key to our successful years was a decent defense. While the current state of the game demands attacking fullbacks, defense is still Job 1. A quick rhyme: When our team has a solid back four, we won't lose because they can't score.
Is Dunbar a central player? I admit that my knowledge of him is limited to about 60 minutes a few days ago but he looked like a player that would find comfort at this level first on the wing. Where he played pretty well.
If you're gonna get all lyrical gangster on me let me add a verse. Scoring one, two or perhaps three not worth a damn, if the other team opens up a can on our beloved Bingham. Now alot of talk on Llegett and the way think about him is pre-injury and post-injury. He just never came back to that level of being fast, fleet of foot and always going at defenses and quick with the through-ball or cross or shot on goal. Same thing happened to Zardes although to much deeper level and effect. I had a moment of clarity some time ago early last year and stood, put my hat on my chest, bowed my head and made my peace with Llegett.
Yes, remember when Seb first came into the league. The one quality about him was his willingness and success rate at taking 1-2 defenders usually out on the wing. We haven't seen that Seb in like 1.5 - 2 seasons now. Not sure if it's due to coaching decison or him, but it's disappointing.
Based on the way he cut in and distributed I think he might be able to pull off a number 8 role. But throwing him out wide under Pavon in a traditional 4-3-3 works as well.
I think that's about right. It's easier for young players to play on the wing, particularly if speed is part of their game.
Which suggests pushing him farther back in the midfield. His best position might be the Dos Santos position, but I wonder if he could transition to a more defensive midfield position. It's not his game, but it could keep him starting and otherwise I don't see him as a starter in the long run.
Regarding lletget, it's coaching as well. What exactly is his role on this team? What is he being asked to do? It was very clear under Bruce what everyone's role was, not so much anymore. It's hard to separate what is lack of ability and what is lack of organisation.
At this stage i would not look down my nose at the attempt. You will remember that's what Sigi tried to do with Zardes in his day. I believe Sigi walked him back at one point to right back. I kidded with a friend that the next time we see Zardes he will be between the posts. That's when I knew Jozy was on his way out. But again, I am not against the idea of attempting to re-purpose Llegett. I don't know if it'll work or if Llegett will be on board with that but when life gives you lemons you have to try the lemonade or trade for oranges before they rot. You know?
So far at this point in the tournament the team to show they can take it all the way to me is Porter's Columbus Crew guys. Really balanced and much improved team. Zardes is running amok and that new guy they have Lucas Zelarayan is really exciting player to watch.