LA Galaxy report card

How has the new front office (Dennis te Kloese) and sideline (Gullermo Barros Schelotto) done?

Definite thumbs up on the willingness to run out the youth occasionally!
Cuello, Traore, Efrain Alvarez, and Araujo have gotten some minutes and have showed varying degrees of promise.

Polenta and Gonzalez signings have firmed up the back line so a thumbs up there. GBS and company were "stuck" with Feltscher and Skjelvik at the outside backs and remain a liability. It is too much to ask Traore and Araujo to get the lion share of those minutes at their stage of development. The defense is better but it has weaknesses.

The midfield signings remain a question mark. Corona, Antuna, and Favio Alvarez have had some good moments. However, I feel that more was expected. I had hoped Corona would provide some defensive cover allowing JDS to get forward more. But I don't think that has happened. And if Corona was supposed to occasionally provide some offense, I don't think that has happened either. Is he an upgrade over Kitchen? Yes. But did we expect more. Yes.

Antuna and Favio seem fit and lively but in the end, the two have combined for just 4 goals and 4 assists. Considering the press clippings they had coming in, I would have thought we would get more production from them. As it stands, center back Steres has 3 goals, more than either of them and center/left back Polenta has 4 assists equal to the two of them put together.

The Pavon move will be a big test of the talent scouting and player development. There are 11 matches left in the season. Am thinking we should hope to get some combination of goals and assists totaling 10 from Pavon. That is the kind of impact fans will be expecting considering all the fanfare around him.

In terms of tactics and game management, one has to question GBS at times. Yes, he likes to play attacking football and that worked to perfection against LAFC in that 3-2 stunner.

But one has to take into account talent on your side of the field. Given the injuries and suspensions that have occurred over the season, sometimes, given the options to picking the XI, it might just be the better part of valor to "park the bus" and try to grind out a draw. Sometimes the match-up against a particular opponent means you play more conservative as seen in the thrashings LAG suffered at the hand of San Jose and Atlanta.

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QPR season started off with a nice win! Expectations are low at the club as they are still under the shadow of the FFP ruling against them. Realistically, QPR has to concentrate on staying financially viable in a very competitive soccer landscape. Hopefully, their talent scouts and player development departments will be able to keep them in the Championship. As it is, they are in a financial pinch and getting relegated would make a bad situation worse.

Falkenbergs FF probably is at the low(est?) end on wage bill for the Allsvenskan. Their goal is simply to avoid gettting relegated. I'd say it is 50-50 regarding this. At the moment, they are outside the relegation zone! Go FFF!

Elfsborg is mid-table which is about where you would expect them as they don't have the resources of the big city clubs from Stockholm (Djurgarden, AIK, Hammarby), Gothenberg (Hacken, Goteborg), or Malmo (Malmo). Breaking into the top 6 would be punching above their weight and qualifying for European competition would be a spectacular season. Historically, they have often punched above their weight but it hasn't been true the last few years. They last won the league in 2012, broke into the top 6 in 2016, and got into Europa League in 2014.

In the global game of soccer following Elfsborg and FFF is following a minnow but enjoyable in its own way!

QPR budget is probably bigger than LA Galaxy but LAG is my home town team! Nonetheless, I do enjoy checking in on how QPR is doing since the only English soccer match I attended was at their home on Loftus Road!

Presidential Bracketology After Debates II

July 30 debate participants
Marianne Williamson
Tim Ryan
Amy Klobuchar
Pete Buttigieg
Bernie Sanders
Elizabeth Warren
Beto O’Rourke
John Hickenlooper
John Delaney
Steve Bullock

July 31 debate participants
Michael Bennet
Kirsten Gillibrand
Julián Castro
Cory Booker
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Andrew Yang
Tulsi Gabbard
Jay Inslee
Bill de Blasio

So where do they stand now?

Biden's has a level of loyal support among those Obama loyalists and Democratic voters who fear a sharp turn to the left. This voting block is probably about ~ 40%? Of course, not all 40% will support Biden because they might view him as gaffe prone, his age, or preference for someone else to carry the mantle.

I wonder how large is the block that wants a leftward move as articulated by Sanders and Warren? I suspect this group is between ~ 40%? Of course, Sanders and Warren together do not account for all 40%. Some in this group may feel Sanders may talk a good game but might not be able to get things done as he can come off as cranky. Likewise, Warren may appeal to true believers but how will she play with more pragmatic voters?

Thus, where does the remaining ~ 20% of the Democratic voters want to go?

Where does Harris (~ 10%) draw her voters from? If she dropped out of the race would they go to Biden? Or would they go to Warren/Sanders?

The same question for Buttigieg (~5%). Where do they go if he drops out?

If you add the top 5 vote totals at the 8/6/2019 RCP poll averages, they account for almost 80% of the votes. The remaining 20% are spread out among the rest of the field. Where do they go? And what is the percentage of "don't know/undecided" voters?

I think the top tier top five hasn't changed.

The scramble will be for the best of the rest because the next debate will have higher requirements for inclusion of which only 7 (marked in bold below) have currently met.

Left regional (~35%)

1. Warren 
2. Sanders 
3. Booker 
4. Ryan 
5. Gillibrand 
6. de Blasio

Governance centrist regional (~34%)

1. Biden 
2. Klobuchar 
3. Delaney  
4. Hickenlooper 
5. Bennet 
6. Bullock
7. Inslee 

Unconventional regional (~7%)

1. Buttigieg 
2. Yang
3. Williamson

New left regional (~14%)

1. Harris
2. O'Rourke
3. Castro
4. Gabbard

Those above in italics have met one of the two criteria. 

Thus, if I had to select a "bakers dozen" to make the next debate stage, this would be the list:

1. Biden
2. Warren
3. Sanders
4. Harris
5. Buttigieg
6. Booker
7. O'Rourke
8. Yang
9. Castro
10. Klobuchar
11. Delaney
12. Gabbard
13. Bullock