LA Galaxy

Lineup Decisions For the LA Galaxy

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Who should start for the LA Galaxy?

With the arrival of central midfielder Steven Gerrard and attacking midfielder Giovani Dos Santos, who should start for the Los Angeles Galaxy?

There’s no need to change up the Galaxy’s solid defensive unit made up of Jaime Penedo in goal, Dan Gargan at right back, Omar Gonzalez and A.J. DeLaGarza as the center backs, and Robbie Rogers at left back, but there’s not enough room in the Front Six for all of the LA’s deserving players.

Making up the two-man center midfield or defensive midfield pairing, Juninho and Steven Gerrard is a strong and non-controversial pairing.

Juninho is a solid MLS center midfielder with several years of consistently good performances. Gerrard is a legenday center midfielder that can play a box-to-box role or deeper role where he anchors the midfield with his passing, vision, and recovery play.

Both Gerrard and Juninho are intelligent players that know how to adapt their midfield play to what is needed, so there’s no need to designate one as the defensive midfielder and the other one as the box-to-box midfielder. Both players will go forward or drop back depending on what the other one does.

The more attacking roles are where the 50/50 personnel decisions will arise. Whenever Robbie Keane retires or goes elsewhere, there will be one less set-in-stone starting spot, but for now, there are many line-up decisions to be made.

In the four attacking roles, Sebastian Lletget has cemented himself as a starter, and playing as an attacking midfielder right, left, or center likely makes little difference to his positive impact in the lineup.

Lletget can also play as a forward in several tactical setups.

Gyasi Zardes has to be considered the center forward, first striker, or Number 9 for this squad with Keane sitting underneath him as the second striker or withdrawn striker, and this already turns the Galaxy’s formation into a 4-4-2 with Juninho and Gerrard in the center of the midfield.

With the personnel in the roster naturally lending itself to a 4-4-2 formation, this puts Lletget and someone else as the outside midfielders or wings. Along with Lletget, the decision is Dos Santos or José Villarreal, and Dos Santos’ salary is several million dollars.

Dos Santos’ reputation and salary tends to make him be thought of as a starter, but Villarreal offers so much to the squad, not to mention his natural ability as a wing.

Villarreal like Dos Santos is left-footed, which makes him a strong choice to play as a left wing or as an inverted winger on the right wing.

For all of Villarreal’s skill, Dos Santos has to be considered more talented for now, but Villarreal is still on the rise. Villarreal is also a tougher player that runs more, tracks back more on defense, and plays with more physicality.

Comparing Villarreal and Dos Santos, Dos Santos is a more dynamic attacker, but Villarreal is also a skilled, quick, and dynamic attacker that provides more work rate and defending.

For the Los Angles Galaxy, the real lineup toss up will be the Dos Santos or Villarreal decision, and likely circumstances like fitness, injuries, and matchups will dictate who starts.

The Galaxy should be considered arguably the best team in MLS this season with their current roster, and the second half of the season should provide plenty of storylines about players and lineup decisions.

Bruce Arena will have to see what his best lineup really is and if there is more than one best lineup.

Sebastian Lletget Is USMNT Material

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The United States Men’s National Team needs Sebastian Lletget. It’s as simple as that.

After only a handful of games in MLS, Lletget looks like a National Team player already, and he isn’t coming onto the scene out of nowhere.

Lack of creative attacking play and a lack of link-up play between the midfield and the attack are major problems for the United States, and Lletget fixes both of these problems.

The fact that Lletget is also fast and quick with a nose for goal only makes him more of a must-have for the National Team.

The attacking midfielder has displayed an ability to play like a forward and a center midfielder at the same time, and this makes him more desirable to a National Team that needs skilled players that can play a really fluid modern style of play where the line between midfielders and forwards blurs.

In today’s game, only the center forward and defensive midfielder have fixed positions in the Front Six. The other four players must be able to high press, recover possession, keep possession, and break forward on the counter.

The United States really doesn’t use any attacking midfielders, and it shows. The U.S. National Team will continue to be a team lacking in real skill and creativity until more players like Lletget are used.

The LA Galaxy attacking midfielder has been quick to demonstrate how he can set-up goals, score goals, and win back possession, and he’s also athletic with a good engine.

The United States has a bad track record of not letting creative attacking midfielders play, and this holds them back from the success that the best national teams in the world have.

It’s imperative to have a high level of collective skill from the entire squad, but to close the gap with better teams, the special players that create goals or score them are a must.

The United States won’t be a world soccer power until these types of players are allowed to play.

There’s a lot of evidence that the U.S. is now producing better players at every position, but the National Team needs to be more open to the types of risk and change that takes a gamble on letting less experienced but more talented players start in important games.

Lletget should be one of the first players that is quickly incorporated into the National Team as soon as possible, and he should be joined by Juan Agudelo and Rubio Rubin who are surprisingly still fringe players for a national team that could really benefit from their inclusion.

Simply making it a point to make Lletget, Agudelo, and Rubin key figures on the squad is something Klinsmann should do.

After the Gold Cup, the American midfield needs to be comprised of Michael Bradley and Lletget plus a defensive midfielder to anchor the midfield.

Dillon Powers with Bradley and Lletget is another option where Bradley has more of a Javier Mascherano role in the midfield.

While Lletget was hard to call up to the Gold Cup roster when even Benny Feilhaber and Lee Nguyen were left off, there’s no good reason to make Lletget wait to join the National Team once the Gold Cup is over.