So Much For Sexy Football

AEG shows both Alexi Lalas and Ruud Gullit the door

Much more knowledgeable observers — Grahame Jones, Ives, and the Galaxy blog at The Offside — of the situation were on this when the story broke earlier today so I don’t have too much to add other than to see Tim Leiweke and the folks at the soccer end of AEG are so pissed at the Galaxy’s collapse that we might’ve had a Richter Scale reading for the way that anger shook Galaxy HQ.

While Lalas was an incompetent hack, unfortunately for Galaxy fans and Beckham acolytes, being rid of Lalas a Gullit at this stage of the season is unlikely to have that much of an effect on the rest of the season. Fact is, with all their money tied up in Becks, Landon, and Carlos Ruiz, and a scouting operation that, if it even exists at all, is worthless, this doesn’t do that much to solve the Galaxy’s immediate problems.

Interim coach Cobi Jones is no more capable of turning mediocre journeymen like Greg Vanney and Peter Vagenas into reliable defensive midfielders than was Gullit. Nor can he coax competent D out of a back four that’s just about out-classed every game. Other than playing so conservatively that it’d make Italian footy seem daring, I don’t know that there’s much Jones can really do. And, with the all the cash being thrown to Becks, Lando, and El Pescadito, I doubt cattenacio light is what AEG had in mind when they inked said players to those deals.

Fixing this mess ain’t gonna happen overnight, but there’s plenty of time to at least get it straightened enough to make the playoffs. Even with a seven-game winless streak and a 2-5-3 record in their last 10 matches, the Galaxy have 23 points and are in the thick of the playoff fight. Beat Chivas in this Thursday’s Superclassico and they will be 3rd in the West with 26 points.

However, given the current state of the Galaxy that’s far from a given result. For Galaxy fans, the good news has to be that ownership considers the current state of affairs to be unacceptable. The other bit of good news is that long-time Galaxy fan and soccer podcaster-extraordinaire Dave Denholm is offering to come aboard and get the job done as Galaxy GM.