I am still confused by the firing of Sigi, mid-season, with the team leading the division. I haven't seen anything from Sampson's era to make me feel good about the team overall. 4-wins under Sigi; 2-wins under Sampson and too many ties and losses. IMO, tell me where I err, the Galaxy do not have enough "banger" in forward and midfielders. Guys that can take a lick and keep going; or give as good as they get. Carlos, a great player, but flops too much and does not get the calls. He seems to get fustrated as a result. Califf is a great defender, but was his reintroduction into the lineup a good thing or did it break a fine balance with the existing defensive lineup? Last year at SJ the Galaxy collapsed and gave up a 4-goal agragrate lead to loose to the Earthquakes. This year they had problems scoring goals in the second half of the season and especially on the road. Why? Maybe Gordon has promise, if he gets any playing time? I see some promise in Joseph N. It is a pathetic shame to be in the MLS cup 4-times and win only once and miss out two years running to play the championship on the home turf. I'll be honest, I don't have answers, but it really ticks me off to see the team falter the way it did this year. Marcus
THe first thing that needs changing is a GM who doesn't make player/coaching choices based on his percieved effect on ticket sales.
just some suggestions 1. Let's start with that 3rd urinal left of the hand dryer in the east end restrooms. Signed up to take a piss... not a yellow water rafting trip with a few dozen of my favorite drunkards. 2. The speed and accuracy of my beer pourer... is nobody out there scouting new tap talent in the " tug and spill " league? 3. Can LAG please get rid of some of these parking einsteins who need a calculator to make change for a 20. 4. the targeting ability of those ticket takers.... they look like DMX wearing a wig using a laser guided tech 9 in an under budgeted black/asian buddy cop movie. "Hey Shaneekwa, lets hit the ticket and not my package, I would someday like to produce offspring and at the very least keep my balls from glowing." 5. oh and a new GM, a new Coach, some new good players, and a real FO with vision and talent... not this current version of shirt fillers.
Re: just some suggestions Funny sh-t. Well, look, we're stuck with Sampson for the time being. And Hamilton too, unless ticket sales collapse next year. Everything else can change. 1.th much difficulty, I say it's time to let Carlos go. If your star player is putting out 75%, well, that rubs off on the other players. And that's where we're at, 75%. Carlos' 75% is better than most player's 100%, but it's dragging the whole team down. That's the big move. 2.Ayoung #10 needs to be brought in. We need a Cien for the next five years. Ned? maybe. Or maybe our off-season acquisition. But it needs to be done. It isn't Memo, that's all I know. If those two moves are made, I think the team can shake out of the crap of the last two years.
Re: just some suggestions You may be right about Ruiz. But we definitely shouldn't let him go. Gotta get some value for our best player. Trade maybe? I'd trade NY's Honduran for our Guatemalan...
The Galaxy could be tremendously better with 2 or 3 player changes compared to 7 or 8 recommended by others. If Ruiz does not want to, or cannot give 100%, then a new big target forward is needed, perhaps Gordon or Moreno can fill that void. Allow Cobi and Torres to switch roles, Torres starts, and Cobi comes on in the 70th minute or so. Acquire a good natural left midfielder, or allow Broome to move up, and acquire a left back, Sasha is not, and never will be a good lefty, so do not try that mistake a 3rd time. If Saragosa stays, allow him and Pete to man the middle, if Saragosa goes, bring in Grabavoy, and keep Pete in the middle.
Already got one. Name's Ned Grabavoy. In his brief time on the field, showed more promise at that position that any Galaxy player I can remember for some time. Someone please let Steve Sampson know this...
Hey dude, i totally agree with you. I think that maybe he should've left after the season or probably before the season ever started. I think Sampson id OK but you need to work with players in an off-season to really know your team. I hope we can get rid of some guys like Albright, Suarez for starters. I think that Ruiz will stay but he hasn't been in good form and he really showed it last night when Guate played Mexico. He looks out of shape and unfocused. Perhaps it's something personal. I don't think Sampson will let him go and Ruiz doesn't want to go. He has said before he wants his contract to be something perminant with LA and not with Rojos (municipal)
Yeah, what was up with Ned Grabavoy's mysterious disappearance. I kept thinking he was injured or something but he wasn't. He just wasn't playing for some odd reason.
i tend to agree with the cadaver. the galaxy have a ton of talent, but aren't playing as a team. players have no idea where other players are, the whole team seems to play hospital ball... seriously when was the last really nice series of passes from the galaxy? there was the grabby/ruiz goal against san jose months ago. the problem really isn't talent, nor is it coaching (yes, sigi deserves some blame), but it seems to me more of an attitude that has pervaded the galaxy. mediocre play has very little effect, the team still makes the play-offs every year. mediocre players aren't in jeopardy of losing a starting position. (remember at the beginning of the season when we were all thrilled that each position had genuine competition? what the hell happened?). we have a spirit of "just barely above average" that needs to be eradicated, like liverpool's "spice boys" and arsenals "boring-boring-arsenal". as a team the galaxy has never had a major overhaul, just incremental upgrades of two or three players at a time. after 9 years it's time. it's not that these players aren't good, they just aren't working in LA. the new coach hasn't had any impact, admittedly he hasn't had much time. all the more reason to start fresh and rid the team of it's poor attitude. i think a great team could be built around grabby, gallo and tmarsh. there are probably 3 or 4 other players on the team that under the right circumstances could continue on. the big problem is i don't think sampson is that type of team builder and seems to not be a big grabby fan. in fact i fear we may be in for our thomas rongen (dc united) years.
Trick, this is one I respectfully disagree with you on. Ned Grabavoy on the left flank is a band-aid on a much bigger problem. This team had no quality flank midfielders all year (sorry Cobi, but its time to become a part-time player). Did Ned play well on the flank when pressed into duty? Yes. Is he a wide player? Absolutely not! He is the No.10 this team thought Memo might be. He needs the ball at his feet in the middle of the park. Next year he needs to play behind the two forwards (whoever they might be), and this team needs to either 1.) acquire some quality flank players (John Thorrington comes to mind) or 2.) change the system to suit the personnel. For example, play a 3-5-2 with Califf, Suarez and Marshall in the back, Albright and Broome as "wing-backs", Saragos and Vagenas in front of the back three with Ned behind Ruiz and Kirovski up top. Both Albright and Broome have the pace and the motor to play from 18 to 18 effectively, much better than EZ did on past Galaxy teams, and not unlike Hejduk for Columbus this year. The current roster is heavy on defenders (Califf, Marshall, Suarez, Albright Broome, Thompson, Aloisi) ball-winning defensive midfielders (Pete, Saragosa, Sasha), and forwards of all sorts (Ruiz, Kirovski, Moreno, Ngwenya), but we've got no Ronnie O'Brien, Steve Ralston, Chris Henderson, Chris Klein type who can change the game from a wide position. Cobi didn't score a single goal for us this year. Hell, I'd take a Brian Mullen or a Josh Gros or even a Justin Mapp. This team lacked service from the flanks all year, which was painfully obvious when Herzog would drift wide and whip in dangerous crosses while he could still run. He just didn't have the wheels to get up and down for 90 minutes any more. Bruce Arena can get away with playing a classic box midfield becuse Beasley and Donovan cover more ground than anyone on our roster. Sampson doesn't have those type of players. He either needs to get them or adjust his system accordingly.
Re: just some suggestions TJ, you are a Complainy McPlainplain, but you tell it like you think it is, which is great. We'll probably see one third of your suggestions in #5.
that last one was funny. made me fall out of my chair. i've taken three different friends to a game this season and it never failed. the lady spilled the beer across the counter everytime! and whats with the friggin pizza? Im convinced those little glass heaters they're kept in are fake!
I agree with you about our lack of flank play. And Ned might very well be the #10 we need, but since I only got to see him play very limited minutes out left, I can only be confident in his ability to play that role. Where he plays next year (and God help us if we let some other team take him in the expansion draft) IMHO, depends on who we bring in during the off-season. BTW, Beasley and Donovan can cover more ground than our entire roster minus speedy Joe...
Betta get on the line with Sigi and use the players they have to the fullest, they have good players, Ruiz, Ngwneya, that German guy isnt bad but I think that firing Sigi was juyst pretty rediculous.
1. New coach and coaching staff. Andreas Herzog would be the ideal choice. 2. Make some trades, acquire some more european players. 3. Please call nike and tell them to make the Galaxy some professional kits with a new shield.
I think watching the game yesterday was a very good reminder of what the Galaxy must do! KC and DC are so far superior to us right now, it's scary. They play with speed, quickness, combinations, deft touches, etc. We play a plodding, slow game, with little skill. First and foremost, the Galaxy MUST find a 1996-1999 Cienfuegos for the middle.
Amen to the Cien comment, but yesterday showed me only one thing. We would have given DC a better game than KC. Their midfield was horrible, they showed no creativity. Their forwards never saw the ball, except Matt Taylor who wet himself several times. And Nick Garcia showed his true colors once again. We may be slow and deliberate, but we could have held the ball better, and I know the Fish would have more chances than Wolff or Arnaud. The only thing that kept KC in that game was Dema Kovalenko. And to top it off, Novak showed Gansler how to really bunker and counter attack.
your description of KC yesterday could be a word for word description for the galaxy's performance against KC a week ago (and for that matter most of the 2nd half of the season). our midfield was horrible, they showed no creativity. our forwards never saw the ball, except ruiz who wet himself once ('cause he really only had one real chance). and vagenas showed his true colors again. sorry, but DC would have rolled over us just like they did KC.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that has noticed the demise of the Galaxy coincides with Cien's retirement.
Once again, what we do is this: Get rid of the worthless players that at their best can only score 1 goal a year on a lucky play, and are not standouts defensively either. This includes Victorine, Vagenas.....hmmm who else? I guess losing Albright wouldn't be too terrible but I am beginning to like him, although he is an offensive back, not very stable on defence at all. Get rid of the long ball waiting for the defence to make a mistake. That strategy will get you 1 goal a game at best, just not good enough. Establish midfield play. We need to look for players in midfield, and they need to look for forwards. Can't just skip this aspect of the game. I hope Grabavoy is ready, but I am certain Sampson will get rid of him. Give Sampson half a season, and when we're in last place, get rid of him. Then we can start the true rebuilding process. Nothing short of a complete rebuilding of the team will do, everythign short of that are just temporary fixes.
I think it is rather simple. We need to pick up a few solid Defenders who can play calm under pressure and not panic and make a mess of things on the D line. We definitely need midfielders. A few young creative playmakers. With Herzog gone, we have no midfield. We are fine up top unless Ruiz or Kirovoski leave, we always have Moreno though. I am not so concerned about the strikers but we need quality players to feed them the balls. If we can find some good young international talent to bring in, we can bounce back. IMO the defense and midfield have been our problem areas for a few years now. It showed during match vs KC.