I am amazed at how many new players we need to get. Here is what I am assuming: (1) Memo to Chivas (2) Kirovski traded to ? (Sampson said he is looking for a #10 and a partner for Ruiz, and these are the only two positions Kirovski plays. He is too expensive to keep as a reserve. Maybe trade for allocation money?) (3) Suarez leaves (4) Saragosa leaves (too expensive to buy contract) (5) Ruiz does not leave For the sake of argument, assume a (newly-expanded) 28-player lineup of: 3 Goalkeepers 9 Defenders 10 Midfielders 6 Forwards Given my assumptions, we have 17 players, and need to acquire 11 more!! Here is how it is roughly distributed by position. Blank spaces are open slots. I went with a 4-4-2 since Sampson is looking for a forward to go with Ruiz. ---------------------Ruiz---------Ngwenya ---------------------Moreno------( ) ---------------------Gordon------( ) Victorine---------------- ( )-----------------Jones Gardner------------------Grabavoy -------------------( ) ( ) --------------------------Vagenas --------------------------( ) --------------------------( ) Broome-----------Marshall-------------Califf----------Albright ( )----------Thompson-----------Aloisi-------------( ) ( ) ---------------------------Hartman ---------------------------Popik ---------------------------( ) The starting defense looks pretty good. But we have no depth and that should be the focus of the lower end of the draft. The forwards situation is OK and not where we should spend money (if we had any money). Maybe Sampson finds someone. Maybe we keep Kirovski. Personally, I think focusing on prospects would be better. Find a TI with promise and trade for Jamil Walker from Chivas. The midfield situation is atrocious. We need new starters in three of the positions and someone to spell Jones and replace him in a couple of years. We need to get Centeno or Ramirez + get a Saragosa equivalent on loan + get a TI + get lucky with our first couple of draft picks + maybe get a midfielder for Kirovski. If Sampson can do all this I’ll forgive the 4-5-1.
I dunno if I agree with your depth chart and off-season moves...good analysis. I am looking for Kiro to stay on and start unless we get a great forward who absolutely must start in which case he doesn't fit into the equation. However, in the playoffs and late in the season, he seemed like our spark and one of our best players for the most part.
There should be plenty of salary cap room for great additions to the team. Keep Kirovski, let Ruiz go, try to keep Saragossa, get an excellent midfielder for the CAM position, a good one for CDM, some more affordable ones, and of course a game-breaking striker. The major, expensive holes to fill are at attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, and striker. IMO, these positions are the three cornerstones of this type of formation.
Anyone have any information on the incoming SuperDraft? Any good young studs coming through in any of the positions we need help in? What is our draft pick situation anyway?
Don't know if there are any exciting players in this year's draft, but according to the Draft Order Thread in MLS News and Analysis, we pick 10th out of the 12 teams in each round, but due to prior trades and deals, we'll have the 6th and 8th pick in the first round (10th pick in each subsequent round). Don't know if that is accurate or not, but the 6th and 8th picks could allow us to pick up some decent players...
A few of suggestions: 1. Check out Bonji's College Scouting thread on the MLS General board. Solid work and lots of good info. I do not know how to link to threads, but perhaps some good samaritan will do that. 2. NCAA Men's Soccer final four at Victoria Street Dec. 10, 12. Come on out and see the best four clubs in US college soccer and see for yourself. 3. If the scouting combine is at Victoria Street again in January, come on out - absolutely free chance to see the best prospects in action before the Superdraft.
And one more opinion about this year's crop of prospects - from Mark Connolly's op ed piece on MLSNET: "Good thing Chivas USA has its own feeder program because the current crop of players is looking less than stellar, making this year's SuperDraft weaker than it has been in past years." Don't know if he's right or not, but that's one observer's view.
please tell me you're a girl. If not, please refrain form using good young studs in any sentence. (jk) I think we get EZ and Matt Taylor for Suarez and Memo.
Saw the title of this thread and thought it was about the Bunny Ranch (or whatever it's called) outside of Vegas. I don't see Sampson making too many more changes to the existing squad. New players will be brought in but most of what's on hand will be around when training camp opens.
Nooooooooooooo Please dont tell me we have to sit through another disappointing year with Vaegnas and Victorine leading way I'm scared.... someone hold me!!!!
I forgive you my child! Just don't let it happen again. BTW, hoefully we get some of those young and talented athletes on to play with the G's
So, I did a little research to try to get a better understanding of what the roster limits will be for next season, what classifications our current players fall under, etc. SO, if the Galaxy keep their current roster, and MLS doesn't change any of the current rules (I know, both are big "ifs"), then this is where we stand: Next season, each team will be allowed 28 players on the roster: 21 senior spots and 7 developmental slots of those 21 senior spots, 4 may be Senior Internationals and 3 may be Transitional Internationals Currently, we have 21 players on the roster - of those 21, we have 1 SI (Ruiz), 2 TI (Ngwenya and Saragosa) and 6 Developmental. Ruiz, Ngwenya and Saragosa will all maintain their current TI status for next year - Ngwenya's got one more year as a TI and Saragosa's got two. Three of our Developmental players will become too old and need to graduate to the senior roster or be cut. They are Chris Aloisi, Allan Gordon and Scot Thompson. So if we keep those three players, that means we currently have 18 senior spots and 3 developmental spots. Allowing us to add 3 senior spots and 4 developmental players this off-season. Another wrinkle is that we have 3 SI spots and 1 TI spot open, so we'll need to cut one of our current players to get all four of those spots filled. I'm guessing that Scot Thompson is probably the odd man out... The upshot of all of this: Even without cutting any players, we have a lot of open roster spots (and with Bo's retirement- a lot of money) to go out and get some quality players. And if we can find any decent players in the superdraft, we'll be able to bring them on with our open developmental roster spots. Now it's up to Dougie and Stevie to find us some quality players. Keeping my fingers crossed...
Good post. I faded about half way through but managed to get through it all anyway. I really hope Saragoza stays on board with us. I've been hearing all this about him being too expensive, I'm scared Sao Paulo is going to come calling as they'll be losing some major players soon I'm sure.