Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Paying the bills

So I'm busy writing several different preview stories for several different outlets, but I wanted to pass along one thought that I'm following.

The local teams here in SoCal are going to struggle to compete this season. I'll give you the full breakdown when the story comes out, but overall I just don't see Chivas recovering from their injuries or the Galaxy having the necessary depth to compete for a full 30 games.

I do like the Galaxy better than some others. Last year's disaster won't be repeated. I think the team can be average, which is better than the slop they put out last season. Tony Sanneh seems like a reach but it's not like we didn't see another 37-year-old defender come in and perform admirably here at HDC before. Claudio Suarez was washed up several seasons before he joined Chivas USA and he did okay for them.

Yeah, I get that Suarez is a legend and Sanneh was a decent to good player at his best but Sanneh is the type of player that will help ease the Galaxy along and gives the youngsters someone to learn from.

Still, you have to factor in how many games Donovan will miss and how many games Beckham will miss and how difficult it will be when Beckham arrives, and all that will test the Galaxy.

Chivas' problems, well, all you need to know is Carey Talley and Jonathan Bornstein have seen time at central defense during the preseason and could actually start there at some point this year. Both players are valuable to the team but NOT at central defense. If they brought in Abel Xavier on trial, you know they are panicking.

And if Alecko Eskandarian, Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo are not healthy in March, what makes you think they will be able to get healthy and stay healthy once the season is in full swing?

Well, I'll develop those thoughts into a column this morning and hopefully will be able to chime in here on stuff throughout the morning. Until then, I have to go find me some coffee. I ran out yesterday and I'm not coping well.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, your job must suck that you have nothing remotely intresting to say about either franchise.

Friends with Nick Green?

If only Ives Galrcep covered Los Angeles......

L.B. said...

Your life must suck for various reasons...

Who is Ives Galrcep? He's not related to Ives Galarcep, is he? Well, I don't think Ives has two girls at home he takes care of and a multitude of other non-soccer responsibilities and duties while trying to maintain a freelance career. And I have people who pay for my opinions, I'm not going to just dump them on here to compete with Galrcep.

Next time you think about posting a comment, don't.

Anonymous said...

As a Galaxy fan I agree with you LB.

If Omar has a rookie season like Franklin then we'll be average. But one or two injuries to our back line and we're done for the season. To add fuel to the fire that is our defense, Ricketts looked amazing in the first half at the AZ game, but like clockwork, got injured. So I don't think we really upgraded at the keeper position when you consider we'll likely have Josh starting at keeper in the home opener.

Our midfield is old and our strikers are the same (no complaints there). I see this team doing better than last year's, but thats like spraying febreeze on a turd.

As always, I appreciate your blog. I think it's telling that these mongoloids take enough time to write a comment on a blog that they think they shouldn't read. If you don't like it, then move on.

Cheers LB, keep up the good fight sir.

Anonymous said...

(In PEPE's voice)
"You're a DICK, Luis"
LMAO!!!

I'm kidding Luis. I agree with what you are sayingin terms of injuries, but you have been wrong before. This WILL be one of those times! Te cuidas Bro.

MIchoacano

Anonymous said...

My life sucks, too.
-David B. from Milan

Anonymous said...

We'll see how things go at the end of the regualr season. Don't bet against the goats.

Damn, Luis. You almost sound offended.

ELAC.

Anonymous said...

The Galaxy could struggle at the beginning of the season but improve throughout the season.

Anonymous said...

Chivas USA will struggle for sure, Lawson Vaughn is always injured, there will be some injuries because of some players overachieving and the medical department is not very good I think. I have seen some training sessions and I also think Preki is not balancing out the work rate very good.

LB: keep up the good work, great blog.