Well thought I would start this; with our most pressing issue roster: According to Galaxy Blogspot (http://thelagalaxy.blogspot.com/) We have 26 players on our roster: Goalkeepers - Donovan Ricketts, Josh Saunders Defenders - Alex (not arrived yet), Gregg Berhalter, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant (not arrived yet), Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Yohance Marshall, Leonardo (not arrived yet). Midfielders - David Beckham (on loan), Chris Birchall, Juninho (not arrived yet), Jovan Kirovski, Chris Klein (not yet arrived), Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis, Clint Mathis, Michael Stephens. Forwards - Tristan Bowen, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan (on loan), Alecko Eskandarian, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan, Mike Magee. We are aloud to have 24 players on our roster (20 senior players and 4 Development Players). Looks like we will need to cute 2 players from the squad. Sanneh isn't on the roster; so my guess the next two to go are Kirvoski and Jordan. But this is assuming that Esks is coming back. If not Kirvoski probably stays.
kirovski and jordan would be my guesses. i'd add klein to that list, as well (or that klein will be waived upon/just prior to beckham's return. i also think that esky's got some health issues that require a question mark next to his name. i really hope he's ok and can stay, but there are only so many concussions a guy can take.
Isnt it the case ,that neither the roster spot of Donovan or Beckham will count until they actually return? I think this was the case last year no? That would mean that at the moment we are actually in compliance with the 24 person limit. If Donovan returns as we expect him to before the start of the season we would need to shed just one spot. Beckham isnt supposed to be back until after the World Cup.
I think you are right Becks shouldn't count; I believe he did count last year cause they still expected to have him in March. With this time he can come back on the transfer window and be okay. I do think we get a $200K reduction on salary cap again just like last year.
Esky was at Training Camp today according to his Tweet. My guess is that he is going to give it a go. I can't imagine that Bowens will make the roster, right? Can't they just loan him out again to make a roster spot available?
I don't think loaning him out means that you don't use the roster spot. In any case, it doesn't matter since he's generation adidas.
It's probably worse than that. Assume the Bowen (ga) and Marshall are on the dev roster and Stephens is on the senior roster (which is reasonable for a first round pick). That means we have 24 players for a 20 person senior roster. We would have to cut Klein, Kirovski, Jordan and ??
Right. The Brazilians have not made the team yet. AND if they do beat out Lewis, Klein, Kirovski or Jordan, would that be BAD thing??? After all, every one of those guys represents a spot where LAG could use an upgrade. Competition for roster spots in camp is a good thing. One other thought. Isn't one of the Brazilians a defender? It could be that Dunivant or Berhalter are the ones on the bubble. And there is always the possibility that these "extra" players could go in trade for allocation money or a draft pick.
Dunivant is too good to let go unless we get something significant for him. Even if he isn't the left back starter, he would provide great depth at that position. Berhalter is more expendable for a couple reasons - first he is on the edge of being too slow to play for us in that position, especially when Franklin could slot in there, second he, unlike Dunivant, isn't worth anything in trade value. I guess third reason is that Berhalter will still be expensive I imagine b/c of seniority and NT experience.
Actually I think two of the Brazilians are defenders; one is a CD the other is a LB that can play wing. I believe the 3rd Brazilian is a central midfielder. I actually like Dunivant and think he could even provide cover as a Left Wing; so saying that; I could see Lewis not making a spot either. That being said; I wonder if we couldn't provide Klein and Lewis as trade bait and upgrade our striker position.
One thing I will say about this training camp roster: It's amazing how stable our roster is going into a season. There has been only very minimal turnover. As a Galaxy fan, especially over the last 5 years, I seriously don't know how to deal with this. Usually our offseason and training camps involve a roster overhaul of epic proportions. It's nice to be starting from and advanced roster position where everyone on the team pretty much knows each other and their role on the team. A final question- Did we ever find out why Eddie Lewis seemed to fall out of favor at the end of last season? He barely featured down the stretch. Yet I never read any real reasons for it. Intersting to see him back again. Makes me think that it was an unannounced injury last year.
"Tony Sanneh was not invited to camp this year." Forgot where I read it. LAG blog? Ives? Nick Green quite possibly.
i thought they characterized one of the brazilians as a "left-sided player" that could play either LB or LM? dang these roster sizes are small. i feel like even if we kept everyone on the list, we still don't have enough in the way of effective strikers or wing players.
Like Haley's Comet The Galaxy season is apon us. Can the Galaxy possibly start the oldest team in league and probably soccer history this year? Eddie Lewis (36) thru most of the season Clint Mathis (33) Bday before season starts Jovan Kirovski (34) Bday before season starts Greg Berhalter (37) thru last part of season Chris Klein (34) Bday before season starts David Beckman (35) by the time he comes back Donovan Ricketts (33) thru half of the season Dema Kovalenko (33) thru last part of season Tony Sanneh (39) thru most of the season Median Age: 34.8 years of age. Hopefully the new brazilians pan out and are something to get excited about. with no becks and possibly donovan some starting spots are up for grabs this training camp. Guys that should "not" be on the team come late March 10'. Either by wavie, release, or trade. (T) for trade value Tony Sanneh Jovan Kirovski Chris Klein (T) Bryan Jordan (T) Alan Gordon (T) Y. Marshall (T) and/or L. Griffin Defence: flat back 4 - berhalter shouldn't start anymore. Like Sean to move into CB role. Midfield: only one spot for sure DB. Hopefully brazilian is next Cienfuegos. or make trade this year for CM/AM to lead the attack. Fowards: Esky is key. he can go we are good. he can't and we have to make a move for an out and out striker. Here me out here. Razov. could be a real killer with our offense and if he is relatively healthy.
by the way, this is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to hear Mike Magee say (from the Green article): "My goal is to have more goals," he said. "Last year I think I sold myself short a little bit. I'd been hurt the couple of years before that so my main goal was to stay healthy. I was a little bit (too) content when things weren't going my way, maybe when I wasn't in good form. This year I could set my goals a little more higher, score some more goals and become fitter and help impact the team a lot more than I did. "
Sanneh hasn't been invited back so that's a good sign. Agree that perhaps it's Berhalter's time to step aside and have Sean in the middle. We could really use the speed there. Your push for Razov really surprises me.... I'd agree that IF he could stay healthy he could still maybe be a threat but i have zero confidence in that ability. I actually have zero confidence in either Buddle or Esky to stay healthy and be useful either. Hope they prove me wrong, but our fears for these players last year turned out to be well founded. We just can't count on these guys to stay healthy or produce. As I'm sure Bruce is already on this, ANY of the older players are more and more expendable... IF they can be replaced with better players. Younger players are not hard to find, but BETTER players are. As we all applaud Bryan Jordans hustle, we need players that can actually produce, not just hustle. I too hope the brazilian trio works out. i know, from enough years of seeing it happen, that it doesn't always work that way. so i will withhold any real hopes until we see how they are working out. But here's to hoping....