Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.labluesprosoccer.com
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif. – Despite the week of Thanksgiving only seeing one Blues training session due to the national holiday, the team’s coaches were busy as ever in their continued quest to build a roster capable of winning the 2012 USL PRO championship. Some of the players who in March will be setting out to accomplish that goal may already be in camp with the Fullerton-based club, revealed Associate Head Coach Shayon Jalayer.
“We’re definitely right where we want to be,” he said. “In this short period of time, we’ve already identified a couple of guys who bring some of the key things we’re looking for and who will add a different dimension to what we had this year. After last season, we felt that we needed to be a little more athletic and have a little bit more bite, without losing that technical side of the game.
“It’s still early on, but we think the guys who have stood out in the training sessions might give us that element. At this point we’re not saying they’ll definitely be starters for us, but we like what we’ve seen from them so far.”
With only three players currently signed, Jalayer and Head Coach Charlie Naimo have a chance to build almost entirely from scratch and in the process improve on weaknesses from the Blues’ inaugural campaign in USL PRO. In attempting to do so, the duo rely on their proven trademark style, with Jalayer running the sessions and Naimo oftentimes
quietly analyzing from the sideline.
“We’re still mostly assessing players’ overall performances in game situations,” Jalayer repeated the familiar mantra from recent weeks. “As a coaching staff, we’re starting to get a clearer idea of the kind of players we’re looking for. We have eliminated a number of guys and now have a core group that has been with us for a while and has a realistic shot at making the roster.
“At the same time, we’re continuing to bring news players in and we’re also still waiting for some college teams to finish their seasons. We’re anxious to see the new crop of guys that will come out of those programs. I imagine that after Thanksgiving we’ll be seeing a few more new faces as more teams exit their respective tournaments. Once we’re at that point, I think we’ll really start to focus on specifics and work more closely with the guys we think might play for us.”
Stay tuned to www.labluesprosoccer.com for weekly updates as the Blues coaches continue to work feverishly to build the next USL PRO championship-winning team.