Greg Lalas Says LA Doesn’t Deserve the Playoffs

By: Laurie | October 2nd, 2007

You need to check out this article from Greg Lalas, brother of Galaxy GM Alexi, on why it would be bad for MLS if the Galaxy make the playoffs.

I agree with him that LA probably shouldn’t make the playoffs. (When you can play well for only 10-20% or so of your season and move on to the post-season, something’s wrong with the system.)

But that’s where we part company. Or: What he says actually really pisses me off. Because Greg pretty much blames the Galaxy players for the ugly middle part of the season.

Because this is the new order in MLS: big names who bring big pressure. They bring klieg lights and paparazzi and reporters from far afield and silly Beckham cams. The players — and the coaches — have to figure out how to deal with it all. If they don’t, there’s always the USL.

The DPs that have come to MLS are here to make the league better. Beckham has done that. He’s a fantastic player who can help L.A. when he’s healthy. Cuauhtémoc Blanco has done the same thing for the Chicago Fire.

Difference is, Chicago’s players haven’t crumbled in the Blanco spotlight. They’ve stepped it up. For example, Chad Barrett has made huge leaps this season. He’s having a career year, with six goals so far, benefiting from Blanco’s visionary passing abilities and learning from Mexican legend how and when to make his runs.

Let’s see… Last I checked, Chicago was also struggling to make the playoffs and were having a worse recent run than LA without Beckham.

And their management didn’t trade off half the freakin’ team to get ready for him, leaving the team in preseason form in late July. And the powers-that-be at MLS didn’t rearrange the entire schedule around Blanco, overloading the team with a number of games that no physical entity could survive intact. And Blanco wasn’t played injured in order to save two other teams and their coaches.

Yes, everybody’s made mistakes, including the players. But I think that in the end, most of the Galaxy players and Frank Yallop have done and are doing better than most teams would, given the amount of crap that’s been thrown their way. Look at the young players who never expected to be starters — players like Mike Randolph and even Josh Tudela — who have had it thrust on them because of the actions of MLS and the Galaxy front office. They’re stepping up and getting the job done.

I think Greg Lalas is just blowing hot air for the joy of seeing his name in print.

Must be a family trait.