Chaos in Carson

It’s a tough time to be a fan of the Los Angeles Galaxy, as Sunday’s 3-2 loss at the hands of the expansion San Jose franchise dropped the Galaxy to fourth place in the Western Conference with a 6-8-5 record. The club is winless in seven straight games, and if the playoffs were to start today, they’d be in serious danger of missing the postseason for the third consecutive year.

This morning I saw an SI.com article from Jonah Freedman, which goes in-depth on some of the major issues that surround the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"The soap opera that is the Los Angeles Galaxy just gets weirder and weirder.A source close to Major League Soccer’s glamour franchise tells me that Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Galaxy, made an unannounced visit to the team’s locker room this past week and issued a grim ultimatum: Get things on the right track in the next two weeks or there will be dire consequences.Like what kinds of consequences? Canning head coach Ruud Gullit? Cleaning house, perhaps starting with Landon Donovan? Firing team president and GM Alexi Lalas?If I were a betting man, I’d say all three are possibilities, in increasing order of their likelihood. Leiweke rarely appears in front of the team, but when he does, the aftermath is never good. The AEG boss last addressed the Galaxy collectively last September as the team was similarly struggling, and within two months, former head coach Frank Yallop was out the door."

And is Beckham the problem?

"And the reports of unrest keep getting worse and worse as more details emerge about the state of dysfunction within the Galaxy. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the finger-pointing has reached critical mass: Gullit and Lalas reportedly don’t get along and the Beckham camp is quickly calling more of the shots within the organization."

Here are my takes:

• I generally don’t like to be firing people left and right. It seems like something that Al Davis would do and not a rational owner. However, if I were a firing man, I’d start with Alexi Lalas, as the general manager. Lalas hasn’t been horrific or anything, but Gullit, the head coach, deserves a chance to finish at least one season as coach of the Galaxy. He probably should even get a second or third season before AEG decides to can him as well.
• I don’t know why the team needs to get rid of Donovan. The problem with this team is the fact that they are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, as they allow well over two goals per game. Losing Donovan would simply make their offense much worse, which is currently one of the best in the league, while ignoring the major problem, the defense.
• What worries me the most is the fact that David Beckham and his organization are continue to have even more and more say over the management of the club. Things generally don’t end well when players begin to have have control over any personnel moves (see: Kobe Bryant with Shaq). It’s a bad way to distribute power in that is screws up the lines of accountability. And it reminds me of Giorgio Chinaglia.

So what do you guys think? Does the team need to clean house? Is Beckham gaining too much power? What’s your take?