Well, it seems a few things have happened in the last few days. Guess I should catch up a bit.
The big news, for LA fans, is that Fish will be returning. LA fans are split by this move. They either love or hate it.I’m in the camp that believes no one is going to want to face the three-headed monster of Becks, Donovan and Fish. Of course, that assumes they aren’t injured and Fish doesn’t keep tripping over the lines marking the penalty area. My biggest beef is that with so much cap space being filled by just a few players, what’s left for the rest of the squad?
Chicago now has a shirt sponsor. To be honest, I’m surprised Best Buy didn’t insist their yellow tag logo be put on the shirt.
The MLS SuperduperDraft is tomorrow.I have a tough time getting interested. I don’t follow college ball at all.No one really knows that much about the players except from the combines. MLS teams really don’t scout players outside of their local area. If quality player in a non-MLS area is a stud, who would know? Baseball has scouts combing every tiny High School for talent.MLS doesn’t even come close.To prove my point, of the players in MLS who were drafted out of college in the last few years, ok, I don’t have the numbers but it seems to me that they are just as likely to come from the later rounds as they do from the early rounds. Someone put the numbers together and prove me wrong.Until a quality scouting system is put in place, I’ll worry about those guys when they come in off the bench for their MLS debut.
Speaking of the draft, Nick Garcia is worth a #1 pick. I’m still trying to figure out what that tells us.
We are starting to see more Americans heading to Europe….even England. Fulham (Eddie Johnson) may soon have five (yes, 5) American’s on their squad.As always, keepers are popular—Matt Pickens on trial at that scummy team in Green And Yellow.
One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is management giving teams time to jell. I said it a bunch last season when LA made a million moves to try and get the right combination. One area which seems to be overlooked in this area is coaches (managers). What’s bringing this up is the recent changes in Newcastle…but the same could be said about New York. The guy in charge needs time to get things right and if you keep changing things all the time, there’s never any time for the team to come together. Of course, this doesn’t explain what’s going on in Colorado, but there are always exceptions to rules.
Ok, enough for now.If I keep rambling and don’t post this, it’ll never happen. I’ll post again when I have the chance.
In 2000 Ipswich finally reached the EPL via the playoffs after several years heartbreak. They did this under the guidance of George Burley who’d been in charge at Portman Road for over five years and a squad of players who reminded fairly much the same season-to-season by selling only a couple of players to bigger clubs (like Keiron Dyer to Newcastle) to insure the bills get paid. Their first season back in the EPL Ipswich finished fifth and qualified for the UEFA Cup. This again was done with much the same core of players on the squad. That summer everyone in the media (and those the media asked) said there’s no way they can do anything without spending money….that the previous season had been a fluke. So, Burley and co went out and spent money….and were promply relegated.
I’ve always said, soccer isn’t like other sports where you can just plug a new player in a slot. The eleven on the pitch need to know each other and how to work with each other. It takes time for a team to jell. You can have the best eleven players in the world on a team, but if they don’t know the other ten very well, they won’t be as successful as a team of players who work together as a unit.
I’ve said all MLS season that the reason LA weren’t preforming well wasn’t because they were bad or that Yallop didn’t know how to coach. It was because there were far too many player movements. Too many trades. Yeah, the finger gets pointed at Lalas but I’m pretty sure he’s just a fall guy for the AEG brain trust.
We’ll see what happens in the expansion draft–my bet is that we lose Martino. But after that, I’m hoping there isn’t too much player movement this off-season. LA have a good squad of players. They still just need more time together and more time with Gullit (though I wish AEG hadn’t run off Yallop)
The good news is that AEG has scheduled all kinds of money making friendlies. I’ll be shocked if we don’t hear more scheduled for after the Christmas break. But in the long run, if these matches are in the off-season, all it does if give the guys more time together which will hopefully prove beneficial once the season starts.
It’s been an interesting week on the MLS Coaching front. Of course, LA now have a Dutch coach….a coach who I idolized as a player. The guy was awesome. My hope is that he can introduce Total Football to the HDC.
I was fortunate enough to group up in the Total Football heyday. While I lived on the other side of the North Sea, Bobby Robson had brought a taste of Total Football to Suffolk in the late 80’s when he signed Arnold Murhen and Franz Thijssen. The think of love about the style isn’t the obvious, ball movement, it’s the player movement. Players off the ball finding and creating space so the player with the ball can use them. That’s what gave me goosebumps when done well.
How will it work in LA? I don’t know. I do remember (fuzzy memory again here) back in the Rose Bowl days when LA were getting pretty close there. I don’t remember if Zambrano or Schmid were in charge at the time. It may have been ’98. Anyway, I hope he can bring some of it to LA. Sampson killed anything entertaining and Yallop was never given the chance to develop it.
Pele has been getting in the news while watching Ipswich go down to Sheffield Utd. He claims that MLS sold Becks as a goal scorer. Um, I know I’m getting old (another birthday this week) but I honestly don’t recall anyone saying that. In fact, I seem to recall everyone explaining to those who aren’t as familiar with the sport that he is a midfielder and is a great passer and freekick taker. Nothing about goals. Granted, there were many who made comments about his productivity in terms of stats when assessing his impact on the field this season. But then again, I’m not sure the average American sports writer can write anything without citing some type of stats. For me, I saw a different team when he was on the field. LA were much more organized and seemed to have more direction and flow when Beckham was getting touches. But what do I know? I’m sure Pele saw all the matches he played for LA and is more an expert on those things than I. Beckham, for his part, only said great things about Pele when asked to respond. What a class act.
Speaking of Ipswich, I loved this result.
Is it me, or are things in NY (ok, NJ) at a standstill? (Insert 60-90 day’s joke here.) Is Red Bull going to pull something amazing out of the hat? Firing Arena (yeah, I read the statement) just seems a bit drastic. Now they are making changes to the stadium plan…well, according to Ives who is one of the more reliable reporters–ad the stadium probably won’t be ready until 2010!!! Now, I’ve sat on this for a few hours and given it some thought. My conclusion is, this may not be a bad thing. Granted, there are things in Red Bull Land which need to be addressed. However, I think this shows a long-term commitment to the team and the league. Also, I’ve a feeling that Red Bull–who don’t do things half-way–are going to create one heck of a sweet stadium. I just wonder how much longer the Red Bull loyal can wait?
So, Seattle will have an MLS team sometime in the future–possibly before Red Bull moves outta the Meadowlands. Drew Carey will probably now get grief from my buddies in LARS but I guess I don’t really blame him. What’s interesting is where I read something along the lines of the team having fans buy shares of the club and allow them to vote on things. With Red Bull in NY, Chivas in…err, Chivas, Toronto doing something no other MLS team can–like selling 16,000 season tickets before the previous season is finished. Back to my point, there’s more investment from people who arefamiliar with how the game is run in other countries coming into the league. The league isn’t anything like it was in ‘96–and I’m not just talking quality of play. I’m just surprised it’s taken so long for the owners to realize things things. Maybe I’m not seeing the right picture but things do seem to be headed in that direction. I just wonder how much longer we’ll have to put up with matches on FIFA International dates?
Anyway, enough rambling for today. I’ve not been good about writing much lately…I’m blaming school. However, if you are interested in random comments and the occasional live match comments, check out my Twitter.
It’s been a day now since I heard about Yallop’s departure from the HDC. I still think it’s a mistake to let him go.Now, I’m afraid the AEG brain trust will make an even bigger mistake. Seriously, Queiroz did an awful job with the Metros.Why would he do any better in LA?Am I missing something here? Personally, I’m on a one-man crusade to see Cienfuego at the helm. I’m not even sure “Cien” would be interested, but who else is there that is familiar with MLS and the team?I know he was getting his coaching licenses before he retired from playing.
My belief is that the new coach has already been found and AEG are just waiting for a suitable amount of time to pass before making the announcement.
I wonder if I can talk my wife into a trip to Hawaii in February.I’m sure Beckham could fill Aloha Stadium by himself.
It’s Midnight, my team is losing and not looking like they’ll do anything except give up a couple more goals in the second half so rather than be a zombie the next day at work, I decide to go to bed. I guess I missed a good second half. Or at least a valiant effort. My Twitter on the right gives a taste of my thought process at the time.
What did we do before YouTube? Heck, a co-worker of mine came to my office to tell me he’d seen the highlights this morning on ESPN. It’s sure not 1996 any more.
So, LA lost. I’ll be willing to bet there weren’t many who gave them much chance of winning any silverware. But, the team came back and played well from what I read. It’s not the opponent was an average team…this was a Mexican team which has been winning every piece of silverware in site. The best team in CONCACAF.
But the thing which hit me the most was the fact that LA fans, the ones who have been with the team long before Beckham thought about heading to the New World, are heart broken yet proud of their boys at this loss. It’s taken twelve years but that’s the type of passion the league has been needing and it’s coming around.
So, the season is virtually over for LA. The best bet now is to focus on next season. Rest Beckham for as long as he need to be fully fit. If McClaren wants him, so be it. But give him plenty of rest so he’ll be 100% next season. Look at some of the youngsters and, heck, see if Cobi is willing to make one more tour. I know he has it in his legs if he really wants it.
Personally, I don’t blame Lalas or Yallop for the failure of the team this season. Lalas is simply a puppet and Yallop an employee who hasn’t had all the tools all the time to get the job done correctly. The blame rests with the money whores who own the team. Everything about this season was done to maximize the return on their investment in Beckham. Ok, they should at least break even, but it seems to me at this point they are getting that and more…much more. Of course, because of the salary cap we won’t be seeing any of that applied to the talent on the pitch…so, why ruin the team buy continuing this tactic? call Vancouver and Minnesota and reschedule their friendlies for next spring. Give injured players (in addition to Beckham) time off to heal. Let the youngsters gain some experience.
Of course, AEG still calls the shots and, well, I’m not too confident about things at this point.
So, let’s see if LA can build on this performance and get a good result in the Wooden Spoon Derby this weekend.
I’ve been hearing rumors to the effect that Lalas and Yallop aren’t exactly BFFs. It seems a lot of the recent trades (many of which I still don’t understand) are all the work of the ginger one. Now I’m finally hearing about it from a reliable source.
If you want my opinion–well, your reading my blog so your gonna get it–dump Lalas before he does much more damage to the team. My problem isn’t what he’s been saying to the British press–I actually enjoy the way he winds them up–it’s with his player/coach management. He doesn’t exactly have the best record there.
However, I’m sure AEG will see things different. What do I know?
As Ives said, don’t expect anything soon…but it’s gonna by playoffs or bust time once Spice Balls arrives.
