The Galaxy and 4-3-3

By: Laurie | March 22nd, 2007

I just realized that what with the Scientology thing and the ghetto duds thing and the sperm thing, I’ve been devoting far more than my self-allotted 25% of the blog to Beckham-related fluff. So let’s talk about soccer.

Specifically, let’s talk about Frank Yallop’s switching to 4-3-3 this year.

I have a confession to make. I have a wholly irrational attachment to 4-3-3. (Which is, probably not coincidentally, the formation used by one of my favorite French teams, Olympique Lyonnais.)

I wish I could say that I have analyzed the makeup of this year’s Galaxy and have decided, given our players’ strengths and weaknesses, that this is absolutely the most logical formation. But…well…nope. I haven’t. (Although if MLS had let me watch the freakin’ videos from last year, allowing me to possibly determine what our guys strengths and weaknesses actually are? Well, then I would totally have this covered. But I digress.)

So it’s not a logical thing. I just love 4-3-3, in the same irrational way I love the color blue. Or frogs. Yes, frogs. Don’t ask why, because I have no idea. And ditto for my love of 4-3-3. It just makes me happy, okay?

Luckily for me, Frank feels that he has the guys this year to make the switch to 4-3-3 from last year’s 4-4-2. We already mentioned that he’d been thinking about implementing it when Beckham arrives, slotting David into the central midfield slot. But he hasn’t been waiting for Beckham.

So who plays where in this new formation? From Frank:

“We need a target up front and Landon (Donovan) plays well with that. Alan (Gordon’s) one, Nate (Jaqua) can play there. Nate can play wide. I think Alan is a central player and he’s good at that,” said Yallop. “Obviously our focus is making sure Landon gets what he needs to get done because he’s so dynamic in everything he does.” Another player who should enjoy the freedom and attacking style of the 4-3-3 is Santino Quaranta. Quaranta is a versatile player who can play on either wing or even up top.

Which doesn’t seem to be narrowing things down a whole lot, does it? For what it’s worth, it looks like the front three in the last game were: Kyle Martino (Robbie Findley 72′), Landon Donovan (Josh Gardner 46′), Nate Jaqua. And I guess we’ll learn more as the season gets going.

But at any rate. I guess I became a newly-minted Galaxy fan at just the right time, eh?