Saturday, February 21, 2009

Goals needed

Landon Donovan's stay in Germany is supposed to run through March 8, and although many on this side of the situation have speculated that Donovan is all but set for a transfer, recent articles on that side of the deal have all but indicated otherwise.

Still, Donovan will have a chance to show his stuff now. Bayern Munich have five games from now until the end of Donovan's loan, and with striker Luca Toni injured, Donovan may have his opportunity to play and show his worth.

I had expected Donovan to remain in Germany and I'm still holding out hope that he does. However, in order for that to happen he must show what he can do. And that means goals. If he's not scoring, he's not staying. And if he's not playing, he's not going to have a chance of scoring much.

Bayern play Cologne today and have a Champions League fixture against Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday. With Toni out, Donovan may start. Or Lukas Podolski may get the opportunity. Regardless, Donovan has to find the back of the net soon and probably often in order to win over support from the front office.

And even then, there are no guarantees that he'll stay. MLS might set the price too high.

With everything still up in the air, at least this loan isn't a soap opera.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LB,

When does Donovan's contract run out? I read something last night that said Donovan would come back to MLS and have a great season so as to tell Euro teams that he is available on a free transfer at the end of 2009. That came as news to me b/c no media outlets have said when his contract ends. Surely MLS would take the risk of losing both Beckham and Donovan on free transfers?

dallen said...

BAH

2-1 Cologne at the Allianz.

Observations:
Lukas Podolski was out of form and should not have started, especially against the team he loves and was bought by. F him.
Lucio needs to not miss games. DiMichelis is lost without him.
Klose's goal early on that was disallowed was a goal. In fact, it's mystifying that it was disallowed. I have no idea what the call was. It was a great header. Should have been 2-2.
Landon Donovan is lost where Klinssmann is playing him. He is playing way too high. He needs to be withdrawn so he can pick the ball up, turn and run at the defense. Putting him up top with Klose is retarded. It's how Klinssmann always plays his strikers and because of it he relies too heavily on Ribery and Schweinstager to create from the wings. When they are shut out, which has been their last two opponents obvious game plan, they lose.

Bayern aren't going to buy Landon. Nor should they. He's good enough to play with the team, but they haven't seen it because of the way Klinssmann has played him. I hope he goes somewhere like Everton or Tottenham with a good manager that will know how to use him.