Could Galaxy fans soon be receiving autographs from Steven Gerrard???
By Ivan Yeo
Ever since Landon Donovan played his last game with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Galaxy and MLS fans wondered who would be the player to fill his massive void, not to mention his Designated Player spot.
Rumors and names about who the Galaxy will bring in be the next face of the franchise have been branded about, from Andrea Pirlo to Wesley Sneijder to Ronaldinho, speculation has run rampant across MLS circles for months.
Well it looks like we could have a name in place. Though it is purely rumors at this point, recent reports indicate that Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard will join the Galaxy in midseason after he completes his season with the Reds.
Gerrard if he were to come, would certainly be a welcome addition to the Galaxy midfield. Obviously Gerrard would not exactly replace Donovan, even though both players were attack-oriented midfielders, Donovan did all his work out wide while Gerrard has played his entire career centrally. Still, Gerrard’s ability to break down defenses with his passing would give the Galaxy a weapon it had not had in the Central Midfield since the Beckham years.
The only drawback to a potential Gerrard move to the Galaxy would be what to do with the players currently on the team. LA got solid performances from its two starting central midfielders Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas. Certainly one of those players would either have to move out of the central midfield or move out of lineup entirely. The latter is certainly out of the question, who the questions begs; which of the two Brazilians would have to switch positions to accomodate Gerrard in the summer.
It certainly won’t be Juninho. He has played virtually his entire career with the Galaxy in the central midfielder and served to be the ideal partner for Beckham and will defintely do so for Gerrard. So Sarvas would be the man to make the switch, and I think he can do it. Sarvas has only played out wide sparingly since arriving in LA, but if anyone of the two has the versatility to shift out wide, Sarvas is that player to do it.
There are also other drawbacks to a potential Gerrard move to the Galaxy, the obvious being Gerrard’s age. If its true that Gerrard won’t come to LA until midseason, he will be 35 years old by that time and there will be obvious questions as to how much he has left in his legs. That however can be solved one way, which is to play him as a defensive midfielder/deep-lying playmaker similiar to the way Beckham was used in his last two season with the Galaxy. Doing that would certainly reduce the wear and tear on Gerrard’s legs and restore some offensive threat from the Galaxy’s central midfield.
All in all, if there’s one man that can figure out to fit on Steven Gerrard without sacrificing any potential strengths from the Galaxy’s lineup, it is head coach Bruce Arena. He figured it out with Beckham, Donovan and Robbie Keane, and no doubt Arena would certainly find a way to make it work with Gerrard and the current Galaxy players.
