Lost amidst the hoopla of last week's David Beckham ceremonies was this tidbit on why the Galaxy has been shuffling re-shuffling its deck all this year.
Alexi Lalas was asked why the club made so many changes.
"There is always pressure playing for the Galaxy unlike other clubs but this is an environment that we didn’t prepare for adequately in that we didn’t identify the players soon enough that would respond to that and so what we’ve done in the past month we feel is gone out and found players who not only can perform in that but want that type of pressure, that want the eyes of the world on them."
I'm not sure who specifically he was thinking of but this year alone Lalas and Frank Yallop have gotten rid of Nate Jaqua, Robbie Findley, Shavar Thomas, Tyrone Marshall, Nathan Sturgis, Ian Russell and Santino Quaranta.
So if what Lalas said was accurate, most of the aforementioned players just couldn't handle the responsibility of playing before a worldwide audience and thus would have made the club look bad.
Well, glad those incapable-of-performing-before-the-world guys are gone. Otherwise, Tigres might have won by six or more goals on Tuesday.
5 comments:
So what Alexi is saying is there is pressure playing for the Galaxy, but I guess no pressure on him, since from what he is saying is it is his lack of moves prior to the season that caused them to make so many moves in one month. You need a special decoder ring for Alexispeak
The problem is not the guys he got rid of who weren't performing, but the guys he got rid of who could have done much better, specifically Ihemelu, Nagamura and Hartman.
There is a reason I've taken to calling Alexi the "Mouth of the South(land)".
I agree with the second anon poster. Getting rid of key/very solid players in exchange for either extremely modest upgrades (Hartman for Cannon) or complete busts (Jaqua, Quaranta, Russell) during the off-season (or 2006) was a serious problem.
How much better would the Galaxy have started 2007 if they had had Ihemalu and Gomez (not that I'm THAT impressed with Herc - it took him a long time to adjust to MLS defenses no longer not knowing who he was)?
And then what about dishing for Edson Buddle? Who? A guy who hasn't had a decent season since 2003?
When the Gals got Beckham it was January. They couldn't seriously find the right combo of folks until about a week ago?
Can someone refresh my memory on what Alexi's past accomplishments are? Let's see... leaving San Jose like a CEO leaves his first wife, making Bob Bradley wear a suit and then firing the best coach in MLS, failing to get Metro into the playoffs and then coming to LA where a team not of his own making won the double in 2005 and missed the playoffs for the first time in its history in 2006 and looks even worse in 2007.
And this is the players' fault for not being up to playing in front of a crowd or reporters?
What?
I'm not an idiot, but I apparently play one when I take on my Galaxy Fan persona. At least according to Alexi.
The Mouth of the South(land) strikes again.
i'm getting tired of him...plain and simply he is a guy who loves making a deal for the sake of making a deal
Alexi "Clueless" Lalas. Soon to be looking for a new job. I guess he can always go work for the clueless Chivas organization...
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