Araujo played well the only time he competed for the senior nt. It was against el salvador, but you can only beat who you played. And for the u23s he performed well against the dominicans. Not so much against mexico. But it was a 1 game sample on the road against a tough opponent. It was also 2 months after he got covid while in his offseason playing at altitude. Weigh it. I'm sure scouts have, as well as him still being a teen, and having a stronger season than ever, being around a top 20 player in the league per some metrics. Don't know how that couldn't raise stock.
Not impressed by Cabral and Grandsir, again. Very slow improvement. I missed the Seattle game, but I read a lot of good reviews on Sega. I think he was once again one of our best players against Vancouver, probably the most consistent through the entire game. It's nice he adapted very quickly.
I think he really "arrived" in the team. Hope that Cabral and Grandsir can adapt their game in the upcoming games as you can (at least partly) see that they know what to do.
Debbie Downer visiting again: How often do we see players really change their level of play significantly within a season? Most of our great players were great when they arrived, our average players were average players when they arrived, our mediocre players … well, you get the idea. So Im less of a believer than most in the “just settling in” theories. Sure it exists, but not to the extent claimed. And it seems to be used more often for weaker players. Really good players (in any sport) tend to hit the ground running. For example I don’t believe Sega is playing well because he settled in better. I think he has settled in better because he's a really good player. In fact, off the top of my head I can’t think of a Galaxy player in recent years who improved significantly within a season. DePuy is an example of the opposite - this is the second season in a row where he started season strong and then got worse as season progressed. And Chich of course has improved remarkably - between-seasons. So neither player meets the “significant within-season improvement” criteria. Help me guys/gals: anyone have any Galaxy examples from the last decade? Players (new or existing) who moved from poor to marginal, marginal to good or good to great, all within a single season? I’m sure there are a few but I bet they are rare. So what’s the point? To say we can’t get better? Not at all. The point is to be more realistic - to look for small improvements from game to game. Does a player learn to handle a certain situation better? Is a player learning to read the game better? Are we seeing an increased overall level of effort from a player? Fewer mental check-outs? These small things add up, especially when they are happening across the team. For example my hope for Cabral in 2021 is that he goes from “non-entity” to “occasional contributor.” And he took a tiny step in that direction vs VAN so woohoo! Unfortunately my hopes for Grandsir are limited to hoping he gets lucky. If every player makes small improvements (except Bond - he’s already perfect!) we will have a good season. That’s it - my random thought for the day.
Allesandrini is a example of a player that started off very slowly, to the point where many of us placed the bust moniker on him. However, as we all know, he did evevtually turn things around. Hoping the same for Cabral and Grandsir.
The difference is alessandrini was a good player in ligue 1. Cabral was a good player in ligue 2 and grandsir not at all. Maybe they made a good scouting read on cabral and he'll come around, but grandsir is who he is. Might want to try dunbar more there.
Quit raining on my parade! Another player that got better over time was Sarvas. Yes, he played a different role, but IMO, he also had a rough start in adjusting to the league and it seemed to take him a season to do so.
Mike Magee was pretty mediocre until he became the best goalkeeper this league has ever seen. Ishizaki took maybe 7-8 games to really gel with the team in 2014. Just give Cabral and Grandsir some more time
I'm glad we're going after young guys. It's a crapshoot sometimes but so is signing older guys as we've learned. I think we're striking the right balance having a star DP in Chicharito who is still showing he has some pedigree to put on display and young DP like Cabral. He's gonna get screamed at a lot over the next couples seasons, but he'll be a better player for it. Onto my late kneejerks for this match, which was weird from minute one, playing Canadians in Utah. Also, I like this cool throwback thing the Whitecaps are doing, where they field a team from 2008 MLS. Really, it's hard to overstate how tough it must be to play under these conditions and it showed. We were able to really flex some muscle at times against a weak team, though overall we really tried to make a meal of this match. Aside from winning, Chicharito getting a goal along with someone else is a great outcome. I think it was a good time for him to score, but also time to get another attacker on the scoresheet (and I'm happy to see it's Alvarez). Hands-down the best game I've seen from Grandsir. He looked active and full of confidence and made several good charging runs. Starting to see the potential with him. I also though Cabral was improved in this match. I thought Jonathan looked pretty dang rusty. He spoiled a 4-3 counter by taking a shot from the half-way point (?) and gave up a really easy header off a set piece. Hopefully he gets back to form soon.
Taking the Magee example one step further, when Magee left the Galaxy in 2013 and went to Chicago (for family reasons), he went from a great role player to the MVP. All in the same season. And just to give an opposite example. David Beckham went from outstanding in the first half of 2008 to a tank job in the second half. IMO, trying to get out of his contract. Personally, I think Skydog's premise is valid for experienced players, but is certainly not true for younger or new players. Did Omar improve in his rookie season of 2009. IIRC, he made a number of mistakes early in the season, but by the end he was the rookie of the year.
Gordon had a wild ride from goofball to hated to legend. But, that was over multiple seasons and teams. Gyasi took time to develop. I know I wrote him off before Robbie gesticulated some sense into him. Pando has a unique story. When Lletget first arrived he played with blinders on. He’s adapted his game twice since then. But, I agree, that for some guys, you can see that they are not at this level, as far as vision and ability go.
The funny thing is that I actually prefer the old Seb who was fearless and would routinely take defenders on and more often than not, and beat them. 100x better than the neutered Seb we have now.
Well Magee’s was a case of him getting a lot more opportunities when he went to Chicago- I hated it when he left. He did have a blinder of a season though and agree he was a player who surprised everyone. Beckham isn’t an example of a player who got a lot better within a season. I obviously wasn’t saying players can’t improve or have great seasons or get in sync with their teammates. We wouldn’t watch if they didn’t. But a lot of the players being mentioned like Juninho and Sarvas were very good players before the came to us. The technical skills were there. Cabral otoh doesn’t have great technical skills or a good shot so he depends on almost entirely on his speed to get behind the defense. But if he figures out how to time and shape his runs, and hustles his ass off he can be effective for us.
The facts that I clarified were that Feltscher scored against LAFC and that Araujo locked down his starting position under Schelotto. It's not an insane opinion to think Araujo should've started against LAFC in the playoffs, but you are probably overstating how much of a legendary gaffe not starting him was given he fell asleep and lost Ruidiaz just this weekend. Schelotto was a bad coach for a lot of reasons, but not because he was structurally in favor of older guys or something. I mean, I agree generally with your point. I think the recipe to win though is to have the right mix of homegrowns, DPs and some league vets, which seems to be what Vanney is shooting for. It's not a coincidence that young teams haven't done well in the playoffs (or tournaments in general), but someone will crack the code.
Yes, I agree. In MLS of the recent past, if you were importing someone, they were expected to contribute right away. It's a different paradigm, now. So we should get used to thinking of these like other young signings. There will be some up-and-downs. Gyasi's probably the best example. Like 2 goals his rookie season, then broke the scoring record for homegrowns the following season and scored in a final.
You are partly right but as you mentioned it is not just about the player but it's also about how he gets involved in the game by his teammates/coach. If you can see that a player has a certain skill level but performances poor (especially when he gets to a new team) it is not always the point that the manager/coach overestimated him but that they need to find together. Of course it does not help the team now or at all if that takes like 3 years but you will also find some examples in other leagues where it worked out quite well over time. Still you are right it is a difficult topic if you pay a high transfer fee and players earn a lot of money and do not help or improve the team after a certain amount of time.
The lord of the Galaxy then giveth and he taketh away. There was no reason to take it away when you have Giancarlo Gonzalez starting at rb. Of course part of GBS' failure was playing (especially) defenders inexplicably out of position. He utilized big Dave Romney at lb. Now look how much of a rock he is in the middle for a stout Nashville d. Araujo was frequently employed as a wing when he's really a rb/rcb. Last year Dunbar impressed in his debut, then you pretty much didn't see him the rest of the season, even though Galaxy struggled, the sub-standard wings being among the biggest reasons. I do agree that a mix of youth and vets is the recipe for success. The teams in bigger markets and/or have a lot more money can build more around dp's/am$ and those who don't vice versa. The latter are starting with a handicap, so can't hold them to as high of a standard. Still, it's not a big sample to point out academy teams haven't won a title yet. Neither has LAFC. They've only won a supporter's shield like academy teams. And LAG haven't won in the last 7 seasons, which is around the time the academy revolution started. LAG can be the more the dp/am$ model, but fitting in academy players around that can help them maximize it, and when a dp/am$ guy doesn't work out you have to know when to break the rule. Just try the academy guy then at least. LA should be able to produce talent. It's only the most fertile area in the country.
Romney played LB throughout his career (Romney himself said it was his favorite position, though not his best one), so probably not totally inexplicable playing him there, right? Re: Dunbar, a lot of Galaxy fans wanted to see more of Dunbar, so again, that's not a crazy opinion. But like I said before, acting like he was the answer to the Galaxy's struggles or would've saved Schelotto is overstating the point and putting a lot of pressure on a rookie. For instance, I don't really get the point about the Galaxy's "sub-standard" wings, given one of our wingers was an MVP candidate. One of the other players who spent time there was Alvarez, so again it's not like Dunbar was being passed over for 50 y/o Luis Figo or something. The single biggest gap the Galaxy had in 2020 was not having our DP striker -- if Schelotto had either Zlatan or 2021 Chicharito, we probably make the playoffs. So it's interesting that academy grad Ethan Zubak who played 20+ matches in 2020 escaped your analysis. How'd he do filling the gap of a high-paid, seasoned striker? The Galaxy have struggled recently for a lot of reasons but not specifically due to some structural bias against young / academy players; that's just a lazy narrative (bringing in "old" stars etc.). Having a well-run team allows you to bring players into the first team successfully not vice versa -- your academy kids are not band-aids for your troubled club. Sample size is irrelevant because the factors involved are not random. There haven't been a lot of World Cups, either, but only 7-8 teams out of 100s have ever won it, which is remarkable consistency within a small sample. The reasons young teams are disadvantaged in tournaments is because any single mistake is more costly and experience (both of the competition itself and the team) actually matters a lot. Young teams usually don't stay together long enough to build the experience together to make a Cup run. There are factors that matter when it comes to building a winning team. The Galaxy academy has produced talent, even if the first team hasn't always benefited from it. I mean, Jose Villareal made 70 appearances for the Galaxy, but someone who profited from them moving abroad convinced much better players like Mendez and Llanez that they wouldn't get time in LA, now they're in obscurity. Kobe Hernandez-Foster is the latest to bypass the first team to go abroad to the Bundesliga. There's a lot of finger-wagging about this when it happens in LA because everyone's gonna assume he was stuck on the bench behind some old guy, but that's literally the name of the game -- clubs are going to try to poach LA talent while it's still free. The latest regime has been better about this, but it'll always be a challenge, frankly. For this reason, I think it's a good goal the Galaxy to do what lots of bigger clubs do and establish itself as a regional attractor of top, young talent.
What I like is it's going to give our Academy a higher profile in terms of being a stepping stone in a career. If it's known European teams scout our Academy, the overall product goes up, which can only help us.