Sir Landon Of Donovan

[Catamount]

Can Sean Franklin play centre back too?

Tony Hibbert would add new dimensions to your game and would only cost $1.5 and Landon Donovan.

Have a word lad.

Rookie of the year at center back. He played in the bottom half of midfield for us, which I personally think is his best role. He's a very accurate passer and had at least 280 degree vision. Sorry. Wrong forum. He's one of my boys.

 

[chicoazul]

We'll keep Sean Franklin. Young extremely fast, superb in the air, and a great reader of the game. Sorry, totally biased evaluation since he played for us at the high school level.

Rookie of the year at center back. He played in the bottom half of midfield for us, which I personally think is his best role. He's a very accurate passer and had at least 280 degree vision. Sorry. Wrong forum. He's one of my boys.

Is he a good right back though? He sounds a bit of a loose cannon who would wonder upfield to grab the glory.

For just $1.3m and Donovan you can sleep easier at night.

The names Hibbert, Tony Hibbert. Spread the word around your fellow Galaxiers.

 

[Brownie]

Dunno if anyone has heard but apparently we have this upcoming youngster at right back in the youth team. His name's Anthony Hibbert I think? Something like that anyway, very highly rated by those in the know at the academy.

 

[TX Bill]

Wow....lots of good posts in this thread on a variety of subjects. Me likey.

My opinion on just a few things:

1) MLS IS Championship standard. Only difference is that the full roster of at team like say Crystal Palace is quality from top to bottom. Not so with MLS. Due to salary issues, etc...depth is at a premium with every MLS club. On average, I'd say you have anywhere from 10-13 players that are good MLS standard. After that, you see a significant drop off. It is getting better (geez, compare the squads you see now to what we saw back in say 1998) As a Dynamo season ticket holder, I can tell you that we'd have no problem hanging with Palace, Forest, etc... The problem would be hanging with those caliber teams for an entire season. A few injuries to key players and we'd be done.

2) The NCAA Division 1 college product IS NOT a good stepping stone to the professional ranks here in the USA. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the only stepping stone right now. But until MLS comes up with some sort of academy system, where players can be identified at young ages, and nurtured under the watchful eyes of professional coaching, we'll keep seeing the same old, same old in this respect. NCAA college ball is all about running for 90 minutes. Tactics are probably next to nil and technical ability is a plus if you happen to have it but you're not really going to improve it in the NCAA's. You can't compare the coaching to a professional set up either. Nor can you compare the season (20 games compared to 40+) to a professional set up. (This all coming from someone who played D1)

3) Donovan will get better as he players with and against world class players on a weekly basis. How could he not?

 

[jdeezy]

Wow....lots of good posts in this thread on a variety of subjects. Me likey.

My opinion on just a few things:

1) MLS IS Championship standard. Only difference is that the full roster of at team like say Crystal Palace is quality from top to bottom. Not so with MLS. Due to salary issues, etc...depth is at a premium with every MLS club. On average, I'd say you have anywhere from 10-13 players that are good MLS standard. After that, you see a significant drop off. It is getting better (geez, compare the squads you see now to what we saw back in say 1998) As a Dynamo season ticket holder, I can tell you that we'd have no problem hanging with Palace, Forest, etc... The problem would be hanging with those caliber teams for an entire season. A few injuries to key players and we'd be done.

2) The NCAA Division 1 college product IS NOT a good stepping stone to the professional ranks here in the USA. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the only stepping stone right now. But until MLS comes up with some sort of academy system, where players can be identified at young ages, and nurtured under the watchful eyes of professional coaching, we'll keep seeing the same old, same old in this respect. NCAA college ball is all about running for 90 minutes. Tactics are probably next to nil and technical ability is a plus if you happen to have it but you're not really going to improve it in the NCAA's. You can't compare the coaching to a professional set up either. Nor can you compare the season (20 games compared to 40+) to a professional set up. (This all coming from someone who played D1)

3) Donovan will get better as he players with and against world class players on a weekly basis. How could he not?

Agree on 1 & 3, but feel as though we Yanks tend to be a bit harsh on the college game. Agree on many of the main arguments/drawbacks, as a matter of fact I think it'd be impossible to argue against these very obvious flaws of the collegiate structure. However, it seems as though context is often ignored creating somewhat unrealistic debates.

For one, we rarely highlight the fact that about as many of our Nat stars have gone the college route as the other way around (Dempsey, Davies, Bocanegra, Friedel, to name a few). While this may change in the coming years, it's unfair to completely discount this fact to date.

Also, while it's great to highlight all the success stories of the European academy systems, we rarely discuss the unfortunate reality of the flip side. For every Messi, there are countless young men who do not go on to illustrious professional careers. In their case, unfortunately, the luxury of a top education as a fallback is not part of the deal.

Of course, the more obvious disconnect is the professional infrastructure, or lack thereof. And while MLS is growing & hopefully can be part of the solution for player development, it's also worth noting the financial trainwrecks currently taking place across the pro football world. Not saying the youth systems are even remotely the primary cause. But it does seem a bit unrealistic to highlight all the "betters" of Euro systems w/o acknowledging the other side. And quite frankly, given America's inherent capitalist nature & history, it may not be the worst thing to not yet rely completely on "businesses" to mold our youth. Just sayin....there's a bit of a heartless devouring beast lurking within our corporate model, to be fair!

Btw, been lurking for some time (as I'm sure many other fellow Yanks have) but absolutely love the site & team.(y

 

[TX Bill]

Agree on 1 & 3, but feel as though we Yanks tend to be a bit harsh on the college game. Agree on many of the main arguments/drawbacks, as a matter of fact I think it'd be impossible to argue against these very obvious flaws of the collegiate structure. However, it seems as though context is often ignored creating somewhat unrealistic debates.

For one, we rarely highlight the fact that about as many of our Nat stars have gone the college route as the other way around (Dempsey, Davies, Bocanegra, Friedel, to name a few). While this may change in the coming years, it's unfair to completely discount this fact to date.

Also, while it's great to highlight all the success stories of the European academy systems, we rarely discuss the unfortunate reality of the flip side. For every Messi, there are countless young men who do not go on to illustrious professional careers. In their case, unfortunately, the luxury of a top education as a fallback is not part of the deal.

Of course, the more obvious disconnect is the professional infrastructure, or lack thereof. And while MLS is growing & hopefully can be part of the solution for player development, it's also worth noting the financial trainwrecks currently taking place across the pro football world. Not saying the youth systems are even remotely the primary cause. But it does seem a bit unrealistic to highlight all the "betters" of Euro systems w/o acknowledging the other side. And quite frankly, given America's inherent capitalist nature & history, it may not be the worst thing to not yet rely completely on "businesses" to mold our youth. Just sayin....there's a bit of a heartless devouring beast lurking within our corporate model, to be fair!

Btw, been lurking for some time (as I'm sure many other fellow Yanks have) but absolutely love the site & team.(y

Hey glad to have you here on GOT.

Yeah, I might have been a tad harsh on the college game but I've always been a proponent of an academy system that ensures that a player who may not make it through can still get some sort of college education as a fall back rather than the college system itself being a feeder to the MLS.

Unfortunately, I don't see it being any different than it is right now for quite a long time so we can only try to improve the college game because MLS will benefit.

 

[OHIO Patrick]

Most MLS teams have just started there academy teams, and I do know the Columbus Crew has a relationship with Brad Friedel's Academy in Cleveland.
I know people have been down on the College game, but would you turn down a Free College education? Depending on the school it's better than signing an MLS contract, your average college costs are 30,000.00 US dollars and going up, so at 4 years that's 120,000.00 tax free.
I know it's hard for some to believe but there are people that you can hire that will contact coach's put video together so that your son or daughter gets a scholarship. I know some parent's that did it and there son got one and so did the daughter, it's not a Ivy league school but who cares, if you think there rich your wrong, mother is a nurse and the father is a Navy SeaBee.

 

[NHRevs]

Wow....lots of good posts in this thread on a variety of subjects. Me likey.


1) MLS IS Championship standard. Only difference is that the full roster of at team like say Crystal Palace is quality from top to bottom. Not so with MLS. Due to salary issues, etc...depth is at a premium with every MLS club. On average, I'd say you have anywhere from 10-13 players that are good MLS standard. After that, you see a significant drop off. It is getting better (geez, compare the squads you see now to what we saw back in say 1998) As a Dynamo season ticket holder, I can tell you that we'd have no problem hanging with Palace, Forest, etc... The problem would be hanging with those caliber teams for an entire season. A few injuries to key players and we'd be done.

This.

My Revs and TX Bill's Dynamo were probably the 2 best (consistently good) teams over the course of the past decade. Those teams could have done quite well over any Championship squad in a one off, but the squad depth was scary bad.

 

[Grogtank]

Wow....lots of good posts in this thread on a variety of subjects. Me likey.

My opinion on just a few things:

1) MLS IS Championship standard. Only difference is that the full roster of at team like say Crystal Palace is quality from top to bottom.

Doesn't this naturally make MLS less than Championship standard? Maybe I just rate The Championship too high. I see performances in this years FA cup and can't see any MLS side doing the same. Look at Leeds a League One side knocking out ManU. How about Reading knocking out the Red [Poor language removed]?

3) Donovan will get better as he players with and against world class players on a weekly basis. How could he not?

Absolutely agree. Though I give credit to Catamount for making some interesting points.

 

[TX Bill]

Doesn't this naturally make MLS less than Championship standard? Maybe I just rate The Championship too high. I see performances in this years FA cup and can't see any MLS side doing the same. Look at Leeds a League One side knocking out ManU. How about Reading knocking out the Red [Poor language removed]?



Absolutely agree. Though I give credit to Catamount for making some interesting points.

Yes, I guess it could in terms of the entire setup. My post was more in terms of 11 v 11 but I see your point.

 

[dabes2]

It's very difficult to compare MLS's level to England's system because of the lack of depth. And there is also a high level of parity, so it's not like Holland or Portugal where the top teams are completely different from the rest.

I would say the collective talent of the 16 MLS teams would be like taking the first 11 of:
- 2 premiership teams.
- 6 championship teams.
- 4 d1 teams
- 2 d2 teams
- 2 d3 teams

Mix those guys up together and spread them out over 16 teams and that's what you've got. In a nutshell, very good players like Beckham and Donovan are trying to set up guys like Allan Gordon and Mike McGee.

 

[NHRevs]

It's very difficult to compare MLS's level to England's system because of the lack of depth. And there is also a high level of parity, so it's not like Holland or Portugal where the top teams are completely different from the rest.

I would say the collective talent of the 16 MLS teams would be like taking the first 11 of:
- 2 premiership teams.
- 6 championship teams.
- 4 d1 teams
- 2 d2 teams
- 2 d3 teams

Mix those guys up together and spread them out over 16 teams and that's what you've got. In a nutshell, very good players like Beckham and Donovan are trying to set up guys like Allan Gordon and Mike McGee.

For example 2006 NE Revs 1st Choice Lineup (this was, I think, one of the best MLS squads in recent memory -- but I am, indeed, biased)

Matt Reis -- #3 US keeper at the time (behind Keller and Howard) Championship / Premiership
Jay Heaps -- MLS lifer Championship / League 1
Michael Parkhurst -- now in Danish Superligaen (starting) Premiership / Championship
Avery John -- Trinidad & Tobago international Championship
Shalrie Joseph -- best holding midfielder in MLS. Would probably be a starter for USA if not cap tied to Grenada. Revs turned down multimillion $ offer from Celtic for him. Premiership
Jeff Lawrentowicz -- defensive M - Championship
Khano Smith - LM - now in League 1 Lincoln City
Clint Dempsey - now with Fulham
Steve Ralston - original MLS player - missed his World Cup chance due to injury - Championship / Premiership
Pat Noonan F Championship / League 1
Taylor Twellman F Championship

Obviously, some of these guys, their records speak for themselves, others are my opinion. Dempsey, obviously, and Joseph are the only 2 who are really capable of holding down starting spots in the Premiership. The others I've tagged are or were more "useful squad players"

 

[GTTF]

Landon Donovan still likely to return to MLS

 

[Goat]

Im 99.99% sure he will be gone next Month.

 

[heatmeiser]

Landon Donovan still likely to return to MLS

As it is, Liverpool's second side has the American all-time leading scorer only through mid-March.

I stopped reading right there.