Galaxy lose Gullit and Lalas, do they need patience or a fresh start?
Galaxy owners take charge, Gullit and Lalas out, buzzwords are ‘fresh start’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘playoffs’. Cobi Jones takes over as interim coach.
Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG (Galaxy owners):
“We are stepping up and doing what we need to do to straighten this thing out.
There are two good people that for different reasons aren’t part of this organization today, and that’s a shame. The fact is, the players have to look deep inside themselves and understand they have to be responsible for some of this.
Am I angry we find ourselves in the situation we find ourselves in? Yes. This is not a fun week. The Galaxy hasn’t made the playoffs for a couple years. Punting on this season is not acceptable. It starts Thursday.”
On Thursday LA Galaxy take on Chivas USA with the Galaxy on a seven-match winless streak. The Galaxy were in pretty good shape this season before the recent winless streak left them at 6-8-5 with just 23 points.
Gullit will be succeeded on an interim basis by 37-year-old Cobi Jones, a first-year assistant who retired following last season after spending his entire pro career with the Galaxy.
Leiweke on Ruud Gullit:
“I think this was a tough move professionally and personally for Ruud. I don’t think it was working out for him and his family. I have no issues with Ruud, I appreciate what he’s done for us. And we move on.
I appreciate Cobi’s stepping in. The one guy’s loyalty and passion over there I don’t question is his. I think we have eliminated any and all excuses now. No one can point any fingers.”
Leiweke on Lalas:
“I think because of the Ruud situation, it was an opportunity to once and for all look for a fresh start. Alexi’s been with us a long time. I’m very appreciative of everything he’s done for the Galaxy. That one is painful. We haven’t made the playoffs for two years running, and we’re headed for a third year. You can’t blame Alexi entirely. I do think we need a fresh start.”
So what’s really happened?
Galaxy aren’t doing as well as their owners expected after the investment they’ve made in the last two years. They’re trying to stem the rot now instead of giving the manager another season, which basically amounts to them losing faith in the manager’s commitment to the club and/or his ability to lead them to the playoffs and beyond. With Lalas, my guess is that he went because he backed the manager, but any number of things could have happened behind the scenes.
What now?
The bar just got raised for the next guy coming in – any manager who’s ‘expected’ to make the playoffs and then fired for not bringing in the results isn’t going to come in when he sees that just bringing in a new manager is not going to solve the problem.
Too bad you can’t get non-performing players to ‘resign’ or better yet, fire them.
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This is hilarious. MOney can not buy you championships.
Sincerely,
August 11th, 2008 @ 22:13Los Angeles LAkers
Sigi Schmid must be laughing his ass off.
August 12th, 2008 @ 11:01The investment that the Galaxy have made is in Beckham – and that is exactly the reason they are now coming back down to reality.
They have no quality finishers to latch onto Beckham balls, and absolutely no quality defenders to push back attacks. They have sacraficed team cohesiveness for star power and the opportunity to move the MLS forward publicly. Right now, 2 huge steps backward, but 3 giant leaps forward for the future of the team and MLS.
August 12th, 2008 @ 13:38Who givz a dam bout galaxy
August 12th, 2008 @ 14:22Brian: You’re a little off there. The Galaxy have been scoring a ton of goals this season.
In my opinion, the fatal error the Galaxy made was signing Carlos Ruiz as another attacker instead of getting a really solid center back to organize their defense to a point where it was marginally respectable. They’ve really had one of the worst defenses in MLS for the last couple of years.
August 12th, 2008 @ 14:57Who cares about the MLS! the league is a joke! it’s a bunch of college players who don’t have any skills. Who don’t know how to finish a play and more importantly, play at a professional level. They setup an All-Star game to play a mediocre english team to prove what? These are their best players? It’s so painful to watch an MLS game. I have to turn it off after 10 minutes. They can’t put 3 passes together to save their lives. It’s more boring than a 4 hour baseball game to watch. Two or three international stars that are past their prime will not improve this league. It’s a novelty act that is there to attract fans to make some money, not to bring this league on the same level as other pro leagues. They need to bring in national talent and stop thinking that the US colleges will provide that.
August 12th, 2008 @ 17:56P.s. I meant to say international players.
August 12th, 2008 @ 17:59what investment? beckham? oi come on, beckham has already reached his peak time. they need someone younger, around 25 years old that we can call it as investment. but pls, does LA Galaxy has such reputation that can attract such a player like carrick, hargreaves or even diaby, at least? (all of em are quality player, ok?)
August 13th, 2008 @ 07:14