San Jose Earthquakes 3 – Los Angeles Galaxy 2

Franklin is interesting for Rookie of the year but at this point I've gotta go with Kheli Dube from New England. Than again I don't watch all teams all that often.

I read we lost the reserve game 1-0. We just can't win anything.

Sam, are you Jonah Freedman? I swear, I read EXACTLY what you wrote over at SI.com.

How about this???

The soap opera that is the Los Angeles Galaxy just gets weirder and weirder.
A source close to Major League Soccer's glamour franchise tells me that Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Galaxy, made an unannounced visit to the team's locker room this past week and issued a grim ultimatum: Get things on the right track in the next two weeks or there will be dire consequences.

Like what kinds of consequences? Canning head coach Ruud Gullit? Cleaning house, perhaps starting with Landon Donovan? Firing team president and GM Alexi Lalas?

If I were a betting man, I'd say all three are possibilities, in increasing order of their likelihood. Leiweke rarely appears in front of the team, but when he does, the aftermath is never good. The AEG boss last addressed the team collectively last September as the team was similarly struggling, and within two months, former head coach Frank Yallop was out the door.

Seems like most of us are in agreement about a few key player choices. Tudela has impressed in the past. His build and ability to possess remind me of a (younger) Gennaro Gattuso. Could they be throwing Pete out there to showcase him as trade bait?

Other points:

- Gullit is a Euro, and in Euro football loyalty from a coach is a rare thing. Often it is the case that the starting XI won't be named until the day before the match, and in some cases the morning of. You MUST prove every training session that you belong in that XI, and if you make it, it might only be for that match. Then the whole vetting-out process begins anew. It is something that US-born players, who probably grew up as the star of their team and knew that even if they had an off day they were still a starter, is not accustomed to.

- Tactically, Ruud is trying to play total football with players who may not have the football IQ to do so. Franklin, being the "eraser" that he is, has had to use sheer physical talent to compensate for the mistakes of the others on the back line. Often i see Galaxy players standing around off the ball, not making runs to pull defenders away from zones in order to create space, not just for themselves but for the ball carrier as well. I saw this CLEARLY last year when Rangers FC came by the HDC. To a MAN the ten field players were in constant motion. Often I'd see them make runs that seemed to have no purpose, until the second runner filled that space and received a through ball in the space that had just been vacated by the defender following the first runner. It was impressive to say the least.

- Beckham DESERVES a target forward.

- A central midfielder who could make runs off of Buddle would be a great threeat, as the defender would be faced with the dilemma: stick with Buddle and allow the run to progress, or follow the run, and give Buddle the space he needs to score?

- We score a lot, but I'd like to see us defend a lot more. Perhaps our NEXT COACH could be a retired defender.

i don't why or how to say it...but i think i blame Xavier for the last two losts. his statement to the press about the team and especially about Gullit has helped the team in losing their fighting spirit, togetherness, and the will to win the game. heck...even Beckham admitted that the team were having a really bad attitude before the last week game. and eventually...they lost the game after that. and i think the game today is caused by the same thing - bad attitude! well...maybe a part of it.

no cheers this time.

These are my comments from a previous post. I'll copy them here. (Thanks for appreciating my humour, Jen, God knows my wife doesn't)So many problems.
BTW the LA Times reported that Ruud is selling his house in Hollywood Hills…good news ahead?
We all know the problems today. Let me gripe about player selection.
I was mad 20 minutes before the match when I saw Tudela wasn’t even on the f!@#$%^ bench. This guy has way more soccer sense than Vagenas (more on that in a sec) and Vanney..awful again, repsonsible for 2 goals at least (the third was too crowded for me to see.)
Does Pete have naked photos of Lalas or Bravo..I can’t figure this out. I have not seen a game in 2 years where Pete has outplayed Tudela on a bad day. Everybody is talking trade stuff, I have 2 ideas for a better use of Pete’s salary.

1) A really expensive caution pylon - won’t do any harm and might win a challenge with someone running at it

2) A german sheperd - why pay a huge salary for someone to run aimlessly at a ball when a dog will do it cheap. Also, Pete’s best play of the day i when he stepped over a ball (seriously). My dog excels at this…hell my cat does too. A dog would also be equally good at randomly moving the ball around with little success at pass completion.
So my trade choice Vagenas for a German Sheperd and Vanney for a pylon (or a cardboard cut-out of Franklin)
Kudos to Franklin. My buddies in Sec 133 call him the Eraser,…he removes the mistakes of the other defenders, and usually fixes his own as well. Glad to see him back.
Randolph had some good stuff…anyone else think he’s looking a little chunky, though.
Please, give us the Randolph, Tudela, Beckham, Klein midfield we need for playmaking.
The defense..man, I’m out of ideas at this point.

Hey NathanHJ,
For the most part I agree... I am seriously NOT a big fan of Marcelo or Paulo. The two dudes foul and chop excessively! Yes, we need a very capable central midfielder and an even better left mmidfielder.
So far, the three midfielders off the top of my head that have impressed me very much both offensively and defensively are: Ramiro Corrales, Stuart Holden, and Geoff Cameron. Their speed, their timing, the willingness to fight and to prevail - and not be stripped off the ball at every challenge.
I just want three slow, sluggish, and handicapped players off of our LA Galaxy team (namely, Pete, Greg, and Carlos) - and, to replace them with very capable, fight-filled, skilled Central Midfielder, Left Midfielder, and a Right Winger/Full-Back. I just Chris to play more right wing midfield and assist roles.