our acquisitions have generally been like for like replacements from last season (although higher quality).
gallacher -> lawrence
piatti -> soteldo
if we let laryea leave now, we'd have one right back at the club, and an injury prone one at that.
based on this trend, i doubt he goes anywhere, other than maybe up to right wing positon.
Here's an article describing why Lawrence wants to be a bit closer to home. It's interesting that since this article was published he's played only one game although there isn't any word on injuries, etc.
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/...rlecht-absence
During preparations for his first full season with Belgian club Anderlecht, national defender Kemar Lawrence did not report for pre-season training in May and was absent from the club for four months. In explaining the reasons behind the hiatus, the 28-year-old full-back said that he had to return to Jamaica to because of a medical situation with his brother.
Lawrence, who was speaking in a recent YouTube interview with Radio Jamaica journalist Simon Preston, signed for the 34-time Belgian champions in January 2020 after four years with Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls. He made his club debut on March 7 however that season ended abruptly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was reported during that period that Lawrence had lost a family member and was not in any state to play.
"At the time I got transferred to Anderlecht, a month and a half after that, my brother met in an accident and lost a leg," Lawrence shared. "So, during that time, I had to be in Jamaica with him, basically, and just making decisions regarding his health in the hospital and stuff like that."
It was a decision that had the support of Anderlecht and Lawrence says that he is grateful for the support the club has given him during that time. He was subsequently included in the squad that lost to reigning champions Club Brugge on September 4.
"So [Anderlecht] did what they had to do, they supported me, we made it work," Lawrence said. "They wanted me back a bit sooner than I came back, just the way everything was going regarding my brother's health, that's why it took a bit longer than I wanted to."
Lawrence said that his brother is in good spirits and despite logistical challenges caused by the pandemic he is in the process of receiving a prosthetic leg. While it took longer than expected for Lawrence to make his debut for the season, he has made 15 league appearances for Anderlecht since November 1 and has recently been a fixture in the starting line up since the new year for head coach Vincent Kompany. He scored his first goal for the club on February 28 during their 3-1 win over Standard Liege and is contributing to his club's push for the championship playoffs.
Lawrence says that despite the outside challenges, he feels settled into his new environment.
"Once I'm able to go on the pitch and just let loose and have fun, I'm always settled," he said. "Sometimes the stress of the world gets to anybody, [but] when you have a job like mine where you have two hours out of the day to let go and really not think about anything or anybody, just to be yourself, it really helps a lot and it kind of frees your mind from a lot of things that are going on in the world."
Anderlecht are fifth with 49 points, and will hope to take another step towards making the playoffs when they face Antwerp on Monday. The top four teams in the regular season will compete in the Championship playoffs where the league winner will be determined.
I thought that only applied to free agents. We're buying him on a transfer, I think.Originally Posted by ensco
Selling Laryea would be more about the team rewarding a player in his prime and letting him go achieve his dreams in Europe over just selling him because we feel like it. Selling him off to Europe is the right thing to do if we get a reasonable offer. I will try and source the quote I saw the other day from him wanting a move to Europe.
I thought if you were previously sold by an MLS team, you had to come back in via allocation.
Come to think of it, did the Galaxy need to use Allocation for Vazquez?
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
Also, 200% agree that Richie pushed up to RW with Auro and Lawrence as the fullbacks is the way to go.
Free agents are exempt from allocation order. Kemar qualifies so he doesn’t have to go through the order.
Vazquez (not an MLS free agent) went through allocation but none of the 7 teams in front of LAG wanted him.
Here's an article that describes it. Kemar would meet the new free agency guidelines for MLS given his years of service.
https://sbisoccer.com/2020/12/source...n-ranking-list
The fee the Red Bulls got must have not been high enough.
The Allocation Ranking List is comprised of players in the following categories:
- Select U.S. Men’s National Team players.
- Select elite U.S. Youth National Team players.
- Players transferred outside of MLS garnering a transfer fee of at least $500,000 (USD).
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
The transfer fee was $1.25M. Lawrence meets the new free agency standards in MLS so doesn't need to go through the allocation raking.
https://theathletic.com/1573185/2020...to-anderlecht/
Thanks. That explains it perfectly. Interesting and significant win for the MLSPA that I never heard about.
(Every time I think I understand the rules in this league...;-)
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
The more I think about this, the more excited I get. I am the biggest Justin Morrow fan you will find, but we definitely needed to secure that LB spot for the future. Lawrence is a baller.
If Gonzalez moves on, go 3-4-1-2?
——————-—Yefe——Altidore—-———
——————————Pozo————————
—-Osorio—Bradley—-Delgado——Laryea
———-Lawrence—Mavinga—-Auro———
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
That line up would get absolutely destroyed by opposition attacking. 2 FBs and only 1 legit CB for defence? yikes
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
I wonder if the lack of a move for a CB has to do with lack of preparedness. KJ mentioned after the Cruz Azul loss that this game should be similar to the 2019 match against Minnesota where the team decided a top CB was necessary. Purely inferring this, but that suggests to me that the club doesn’t see a need at CB. If they now see the need then they were never prepared to make that kind of signing.
They tried for Omar a couple weeks after the Minnesota game but only signed him up a month and a half later. Basically, if they think we need a CB we were never gonna see one this window.
The timing of the GAM acquisitions suggests that the Kemar deal has been in the works far before the Cruz Azul loss, which probably means they never saw him pinching at CB and that they either see Richie further up the pitch or Kemar as a replacement in advance.
Last edited by portu; 05-03-2021 at 09:08 PM.
mavinga and lawrence should help,keep bradley away from the box,and play less zone and more man to man for now,i think they will sign another cb ,a u 22 or a loan,they couldnt pass up the lawrence deal,if they sell richie,they could use some of that cash to replace him or fix the cb prob if its still a issue,i jus dont think auro fits this style.
Hope you enjoy games that end 7-5!!
Those judgement errors were behind the Howlers that got him replaced as number 1.
I don't think Armas is blind to them, but he needs more ammunition before he pulls the guy.
Last thing we would need is for Bono to get pulled for no reason and then his confidence goes to shit (aka 2018/19 mode). If Westburg were to go down again and Bono's head isn't where it should be, we'd be really screwed.
There's a human aspect to all of this that we gotta take into consideration.
I echo this statement. I'd like to add that having Morrow come off the bench is a luxury we now have.
hahahaha people saying Gonzalez is going to be the odd man out here lmao
You don't let a guy like him go without a proper replacement. He's proved that he can marshal a backline. No other CB on our roster can do what he and Drew Moor can do from a leadership point of view.
Sure he's slow, but when you are pressing higher up the pitch and you surround him with faster guys, then it's not an issue.
This seems extreme to me. We can't replace a keeper who isn't playing particularly well for fear the other one might get hurt? Why have 2 starting quality keepers if you can't use them? Armas should 100% get Westburg a game soon. He should communicate to both keepers that they will play and sit sometimes and the problem is solved. Neither one needs to feel "pulled" if they don't play a game. The keeper soap opera seems so unecessary. Everyone but a keeper and Michael Bradley can sit every once in a while I guess.
Thing is I wouldn't count on him to marshall anyone, anywhere as most of the time it's him who is in the wrong places. We just went through a season and a half of Vanney losing his voice every match yelling almost exclusively at Omar.
As for the Moor comparison, if we used a 3 man back line like we did for most of Moor's time here and had Gonzalez in the middle then sure but in a 2 man CB unit, he gets beat inside and outside an awful lot. ALso Laryea is a lot of things but he is no Beitashour offering high level defensive protection on that side.
I'm not talking about sitting a keeper for a game or two - i'm talking about losing the number 1 spot for no reason at all.
I would sit him & try to move him at his salary. Bono was always an incomplete GK and the hope was he could improve his shortcomings like distribution, positioning, and box command but none of those things happened. His biggest improvement has been that his hands are no longer made of stone so he doesn't fumble most shots that are chest high anymore. Bottom line is that at his salary you could easily get a better, similarly aged option.
The 3-5-2 / 5-3-2 was probably our best style of play under Vanney. it definitely helped Moor. Having 2 other CBs + a very healthy MB4 to help cover him.
I'm a huge Moor supporter. He was key to all of our success when he was here and it showed when he wasn't there in 2018 and 2019. Things only started to trend upwards when Omar came into the team. If Omar got the support that Drew had, we wouldn't be having this convo.
No other Defender on our roster can do what Omar is doing. If we get someone else in who can, then sure. But right now, including Lawrence, no one we have can replace him. He doesn't sit.
All points I agree with. I just don't think you can sit him right now. But, all the things you mentioned above will present themselves again and he will be sat eventually.
IMO he's a slightly better version of Bendik, a good keep for a lower to mid-table team.
It should be said that I don't fully blame him for any of that though. I've said for years that Conway is a shitty GK coach and he hasn't improved any player in his tenure. In fact they all get worse.
In my mind, Bono would lose the #1 spot because
a) he can't communicate well enough which is causing us issues with set pieces
b) he keeps getting beat on the short side & teams have noticed this
Armas is, in my opinion, following the classic North American approach to keeper analysis in that he is focusing on shot stopping. Westberg's distribution & control & ability to marshal a back line is sorely missed right now but...hey.....Bono sure can leap.
It worked because it facilitated Altidore-Giovinco while providing width from the fullbacks and numbers in the midfield. I doubt it works today because the squad makeup has drastically changed.
Yeah agreed. Although Delgado’s assignment is often pinching in for Richie or Auro when they goes forward.
Overall, the pieces of the puzzle here don’t quite work. A lot of guys look good in isolation but when you try and make them into a starting 11, the whole almost seems to be less than a sum of its parts.
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