LA Galaxy - what is left in the cupboard

Corner of the Galaxy has a list of the players that are currently on contract - see below.

One must remember that just because someone is off contract doesn't mean they can't be re-signed though the expectation is that very few would be resigned. Likewise, those on contract could still be moved by some kind of trade deal.

In any case, here is the list of who is officially still a part of the LA Galaxy.

1. Emmanuel Boateng
2. Bradford Jamieson
3. Daniel Steres
4. Dave Romney
5. Ariel Lassiter
6. Romain Alessandrini
7. Hugo Arellano
8. Michael Ciani
9. Giovani dos Santos 
10. Jonathan dos Santos 
11. Sebastian Lletget 
12. Joao Pedro
13. Gyasi Zardes - rumors he might be dealt away
14. Baggio Husidic - however contract will expire soon
15. Ashley Cole - however contract will expire soon

With this group what does the depth chart look like assuming Zardes gets traded.

Goalkeeper

1. Need a serious #1 keeper - Deal maybe for Bingham? (12/15/17) Deal rejected by MLS to move Ousted? (12/15/17)
2. Need a #2 keeper with at least some experience
3. Pick up a youngster with potential?

Defense

1. Ashley Cole - expiring contract but should try to extend - maybe LAG doesn't plan on extending his contract since they might be bringing in this Norwegian (12/8/17)? Jurgen Skjelvik is official. 
2. Michael Ciani
3. Daniel Steres
4. Need an actual right-back! Rolf Feltscher signed (12/19/17) 
5. Pick up a veteran defender for squad rotation and backup?
6. Dave Romney
7. Hugo Arellano
8. Pick up a young player with potential?

Midfield

1. Romain Alessandrini
2. Jonathan dos Santos 
3. Sebastian Lletget
4. Emmanuel Boateng
5. Joao Pedro
6. Baggio Husidic - expiring contract but should try to extend
7. Pick up a young player with potential? Servando Carrasco - not exactly young but I guess he adds some depth to the club as he has got MLS games and minutes under his belt 12/21/17
8. Pick up a young player with potential?

Forward

1. Giovani dos Santos
2. Need a ready for prime time forward who can start
3. Pick up a veteran forward who could be a super sub a la Alan Gordon
4. Bradford Jamieson - a developmental project with good potential
5. Ariel Lassiter - a developmental project with good potential

Have marked in underline the type of players (10 in all) I think they still need to get in order to fill out the roster up to 24 players (squad will be larger but spots beyond 24 probably aren't going to get many minutes) and be competitive next year.

All of this will have to be done within the MLS salary budget restrictions. And so how much money do some of these types of players cost?

A serious #1 goal keeper will be over $120k. Brian Rowe was getting $120k and he didn't get his contract renewed so a proven #1 goal keeper would probably cost more.

An actual right back will be more than $200-300k. Robbie Rodgers was getting $225k (unfortunately, he had a career-ending injury) and left back Ashley Cole was getting $350k (how much would he extend his contract for?)

A veteran defender could probably be gotten for around $100-200k?

A prime time non-DP level forward would go for at least $350-450k. Ola Kamara was the highest goal scorer who was non-DP and he got $450k while CJ Sapong another non-DP who scored lots of goals got $350k. I wonder if these guys over-performed expectations and may get raises when their next contract comes up?

A veteran super-sub forward would garner around $180k which was what Alan Gordon got at Colorado.

Young players with potential will go for less than $100k salary.

Hopefully, the scouting department at the LA Galaxy has improved and they can scour the globe and in the USA for up-and-coming talent and bargain proven talent.

If you are curious, the 2017 Galaxy salaries can be found here.

What would a straight up 4-4-2 look like in 2018?

Forward: GDS and striker to be recruited
Midfield: Boateng, Lleget, JDS, Allesandrini
Defense scenario #1
Cole (?), Ciani, Skejelvik (articles say he can play left back or center back), Feltscher
Defense scenario #2
Skejelvik, Ciani, Steres, Feltscher
Goalkeeper: to be recruited

Likely Subs:
Goalkeeper to be recruited
Romney (D)
Steres or to be recruited (D)
Pedro (M
Husidic (M)
To be recruited (F)
Jamieson/Lassiter (F)

LAFC builds out its roster

Nine. Nine on the roster as of 12/16/17.

At the Designated Player level:
Carlos Vela
Diego Rossi

From a loan:
Omar Graber
Rodrigo Pacheco

Drafts and Deals:
Latif Blessing
Laurent Ciman
Tyler Miller
Marco Urena
Walker Zimmerman

QPR - one novice soccer watcher's opinion

Come on you R's!

I may not be a West Londoner (I am a West Coast American) but am still rooting for Queen Park Rangers to have a good season.

Of course, good depends on one's expectations!

In my case, my expectations for the Rangers is to be solidly mid-table with the hope in some future season to take a whiff of the promotion playoffs.

My personal connection to QPR is only through the one match I attended when I was in London with a free evening while on a business trip. However, as I learned about the Queens Park Rangers, I have become a supporter for narrative reasons.

I have heard of their efforts to be a community based club. Events like the Game for Grenfell and the moving story below of QPR's efforts to help those with mental health struggles.


Powerful stuff!

And so I'm a fan. Regardless of how they do, I'll be a supporter. I'll keep a check on the score of how they do. If they appear on USA TV, I'll try to see them and so far I've seen parts of two matches when they have appeared on ESPN3. I visit the official web page now and then to see highlights and sometimes I'll even see segments of the 90 minutes full match replay.

As a realistic sports watcher though, one can see that on the field, it doesn't look good for the R's. They appear to be heading for a relegation battle. On the heels of past financial mismanagement, there are limits for the club. Nonetheless, they do have more resources than some clubs. Certainly one would think enough to be solidly mid-table. But as it is, they are now lower mid-table and on the edge of the relegation zone.

As a relatively new soccer watcher, I see that the really good teams can score a variety of ways.

Some clubs are so good that even if the opponents "park the bus" the better team can pass and dribble and make zig zag runs and put the ball in the net despite nearly 22 legs in the box playing determined defense.

Some clubs are so good that they force turnovers and quickly shift from defense to offense and make lightening quick counter-attacks yielding goal scoring opportunities and goals.

Finally, the other way I see good teams score is from set plays. A free kick under the wall! Or a free kick that bends to the top corner of the goal just beyond reach of the goalie. Or a kick into the box and one of the attackers gets a head onto the ball and puts it into the net or re-directs it to someone else who puts it into the net.

Sadly, when I watch QPR goal highlights, they tend to occur late in the game when the Rangers are playing from behind and the other team has shifted into park the bus mode. Often times these goals come from free kicks where the R's load up the box with their players and in the mad scramble they get a goal. It is nice to get these goals. Rather have them than not have them!

But simply don't see many goals where they causes a turnover and get out on the counter attack. Rarely do they get goals out of dominating possession and working the ball around and carving up a defense.

I suspect they don't have too many higher end offensively skilled players.

What makes for a skilled offensive player?

The things I have seen:

1. having the great first touch upon receiving the ball
2. seeming eyes in the back of the head awareness of where your teammates are and where the opponents are
3. the ability to thread passes right onto the foot of the guy in the best place to shoot and score
4. the control and power to quickly get off a shot accurately and put it into the net

These are the more obvious ones.

Well, it cost lots of money to get players who can do all of the above well. And it cost lots of money to get players who can do most of the above well.

Only for a handful of teams in a handful of leagues in world football have the money to get such players on a consistent basis. Everyone else has to make do with proven B/B+ players or find the youngster who someday might be an A/A- player. Thus, the scouting department and the player development department is key for clubs with more limited resources.

Fans might like to call for the firing of the manager when their team isn't doing well. In some cases that is a legitimate response. But if the manager isn't entirely responsible for player recruitment then the responsibility isn't all his. And, in clubs with more limited resources, you can only do so much.

Don't know how much Ian Holloway is responsible for player recruitment and for player development. I'll leave that question for really hard core fans. But from this fan's view, it does seem as if the players do play for Holloway. They do appear to be putting in a good effort for the shirt. But, unfortunately, sometimes your guys just don't have as much talent as the other guys team.

Matt Smith is the leading goal scorer on the team this season. But I suspect most of those goals are late in games when QPR is playing from behind. In these situations, the defense is sitting back allowing the less mobile Smith to have more opportunities. Washington and Mackie appear to work hard but they might simply not have the skills to be consistent B+ attackers. In the match I watched at Loftus Road, Sylla seem to have the athleticism to get to the ball but doesn't seem to be able to do much with it once he gets it.

QPR defense is doing pretty well considering most of the injuries this season has been on the defensive end. But clearly, the offense has been a disappointment. According to this web page, QPR scored 39% of their goals from set piece and 0% on the counter-attack. Wolverhampton, current top-of-the-table got 22% from set pieces and 10% from the counter-attack. Sheffield United (holding last playoff spot at sixth) gets a whopping 79% of their goals from open play and only 12% from set-pieces. My sense is that scoring from open play is a reflection of having more skill players who can manage to score in a dynamic fluid situation compared to the relatively static set piece situation.

Anyway, don't know enough about the QPR roster to know if Holloway has any realistic options to put up top in his favorite 3-5-2 formation besides some combination of Smith, Washington, Mackie, and Sylla. Of the midfield, Freeman, Luongo, and Scowen, they seem pretty solid but am not enough of an observer to know how they compare to other talents in the league.

Hope the club can continue to improve their existing players and maybe pick up an impact player in the next transfer window.

Its Liverpool - the incredibly obvious comments about the latest against Everton

When you see a 1-0 scoreline you get nervous that LFC would give up the equalizer. And indeed, it happened in the second half. It was so Liverpool!

The incredibly obvious comments:
Magnificent goal by Salah.
Mane should have passed the ball for the tap in and a 2-0 lead.
LFC dominated but didn't get the second, third, fourth goal they needed to put the game away.
Klopp probably switched up the team too much. With Coutinho or Firmino in they probably get those second, third or fourth goal.
Lovren should NOT have pushed the guy for the "soft" penalty. Just don't even give the ref the chance to make that call.

Liverpool FC Group E Champion's League Scenarios

Liverpool defeats Spartak = LFC advance as group E winners.

Liverpool draw with Spartak
Sevilla defeat Maribor = Sevilla wins group with 11 points and LFC advances as second place with 10 points.

Liverpool draw with Spartak
Sevilla draws with Maribor = LFC advances as group winners with 10 points and Sevilla advances as second place with 9 points.

Liverpool loses to Spartak
Sevilla defeats Maribor = Sevilla wins group with 11 points, Spartak advances as second place with 9 points, LFC has 9 points but finish third on tiebreaker (head to head scores with Spartak).

Liverpool loses to Spartak
Sevilla draws Maribor = tiebreaker scenarios!
LFC would have 9 points
Sevilla would have 9 points
Spartak would have 9 points
First tiebreaker = points in matches among tied teams
Spartak wins the group with 7 points
Sevilla finishes second with 5 points
LFC finishes third with 3 points

Liverpool should advance to the round-of-sixteen. But then again, the USMNT should have qualified for the World Cup!

Hopefully, LFC will put the game out of reach early. Go Reds!