Most satisfying thing about the game? We got a frickin' win! AND a fricken' shutout! Most significant thing about the game? 17-year-old Jack McBean is a fricken' BEAST! Wow- how impressive was that 15 or so minutes?! I think he won three fouls (which is approximately three more than Barrett did in 75 minutes), manhandled MLS pros all over the field and made Horst - who previously had no problem handling us physically - crap his pants. I don't know if he is a good finisher but if he is we may be looking at a future Nat Team player. You heard it here first! Time to trade Barrett for a center back. All in favor say Aye!
Okay. Read through. I'm so happy for our defense. Yay!!! Assistant Linesman (0) - please go back and read the rules on offside. For the love of god. I was embarrassed for him! Saunders (7.5) - couple of great saves, and didn't look nervous at all after being out for 7 games. His punch towards the end was a bit questionnable, and his distribution was meh, but he saved our bacon twice. Franklin (7) - no defensive errors, and put in a GREAT cross that nearly became a goal save a last ditch Portland head. AJ (7) - didn't put a step wrong tonight I think. Solid. Lopes (6.5) - Couple of bad turns that he got bailed out on. Still, participated in the clean sheet. Dunivant (7.5) - Scored, and looked solid for once. His passing game isn't the normal Todd, but tonight, he did his job and then some. Juninho (6.5) - he still needs to be more involved, and he still doesn't stand up enough players. He had an okay game tonight, and looked better, but he needs to be better against RSL. Did have some lovely distribution through the middle though. Need to check the chalkboard to make sure I'm not being overly harsh, but this wasn't Juninho at his best (yet). Beckham (6.5) - overcooked several of his crosses/passes. Just rusty I think. But provided the assist on the gamewinner. Also worked his butt off in midfield. Jordan (6) - Did okay, worked his butt off, normal chicken with head cut off. In midfield his errors are punished less. But if he is going to play RM, he needs to learn how to cross. Sarvas (7) - Did his job, and had some excellent build-up play with LD. Keeps possession well. Still can't finish, but his positives outweigh his negatives. Gives LD someone to play off of, and it shows. LD (7) - Acted like a captain and played like a captain. Was finally dangerous on offense. His strike off the post was lovely, he had some lovely build up play in the middle, he shot the ball (loved the nutmeg), and hustled back. Can we have Phil Neville and Tim Cahill here every week? Only not so great was his 1 v 1 attacking - looked dead legged. Not surprising since he got 0 time off after national team play. Barrett (3) - He infuriates me. Never have I seen someone make a simple pass look difficult. McBean did more work in his 15 minutes than Chad did in 75. I'd love to trade him, but who'd take him? McBean - looked strong and promising. It's Portland, but again, did more in 15 than Barrett did. Nakazawa - N/R (though again, I'm unimpressed)
^Just checked the chalkboard on Juninho - my first statement was right. Not involved enough. Had very limited touches on the ball. Sarvas and LD's heat maps are very complimentary, and the offense pretty much went up that side (the left/left central) with Becks unless Becks drifted right to put in a cross. Jordan had something like 15 successful passes (cringe) - meaning he didn't contribute much on offense. It showed. His work effort was there though!
I too was quite impressed with McBean. He sure doesn't look like your typical 17 year old. I really hope we see more of him in the near future.
Yay, Josh is back! The team seems to play with more confidence as a whole with him back there. And we got a clean sheet! The first of the season. Nothing spectacular, but 3 points nonetheless. Of all the players out there, Barrett was a disaster. And I don't like to pile on, I love his heart and I know he wants to play well really, really badly. But he is just awful. And the Timbers announcer and players complaining about Donovan blocking Perkins on the goal, I didn't really see it that way. He wasn't looking for the goalie and then stopping in front of him. He was moving, saw the ball was going over his head and stopped. I've seen goalies plow through something a lot tougher and more congested than that. Man up! Oh, and I want to see more of McBean! He deserves more minutes out there. Was a much bigger factor in the game in his few minutes than Barrett was the entire game. And Brian Jordan, bless his heart. I cringed every time they passed it to him. "WHY?! WHY?!" But he didn't really mess up, so yay! And I too thought Becks didn't have that great of a game, most of his free kicks and corners were poor - except the one that counted! So yay. And a lot of his passes were off, which stopped our play going forward. Sarvas did well and I liked his combination play with LD. Thought LD looked very engaged in this game. Too bad his shot went off the post in the first half. I did enjoy his defense and his effort going forward. Keep it up, LD.
I read somewhere that the Galaxy have never trotted out the same team twice in a row this year, and have only once had only one changed player. I don't know if that means that we need consistency, or that shuffling is necessary to find the player who work together and play hard, but I DO know that it's not usually a good sign. Bruce is going to need to have a best starting 11 at some point, and hopefully well before the playoffs.
I think your assessments are pretty spot on. I would probably give Becks a 7 because although his passing was off by his standards his high work rate offensively and defensively in midfield had a lot of positive influence on the game. Lopes looked like he had been told by Bruce to not dilly-dally with the ball and take unneeded risks and he was better about that which was good to see. And he had a good game in the air. But he is still very slow to react in the box and it almost cost us a few times - he is never going to be a good centerback for that reason alone. Donovan had bursts of brilliance ( how unlucky was that shot hitting the post?!) but also had some times where he still looks tired and confidence isn't what we are used to. The Donovan of two years ago would have had at least two goals in this game. In the closing minutes I was worried when he failed to track a Portland player and left him wide open behind him, but Portland was too gassed to take advantage. We can't afford that against RSL. McBean gets an 8 from me. In the short time he was on the field he did exactly what he was supposed to do - pressure the hell out of Portland's back line and kill time off when he did get the ball. And yes, great to have Saunders back! Portland gave us so much space to work in and we still only scored one goal. I think Keane (or McBean even) would have feasted on some of the space they were giving us. We won't see that kind of room vs RSL or other top teams. Final note - nice game Seattle!
I think your assessments are pretty spot on. I would probably give Becks a 7 because although his passing was off by his standards his high work rate offensively and defensively in midfield had a lot of positive influence on the game. Lopes looked like he had been told by Bruce to not dilly-dally with the ball and take unneeded risks and he was better about that which was good to see. And he had a good game in the air. But he is still very slow to react in the box and it almost cost us a few times - he is never going to be a good centerback for that reason alone. Donovan had bursts of brilliance ( how unlucky was that shot hitting the post?!) but also had some times where he still looks tired and confidence isn't what we are used to. The Donovan of two years ago would have had at least two goals in this game. In the closing minutes I was worried when he failed to track a Portland player and left him wide open behind him, but Portland was too gassed to take advantage. We can't afford that against RSL. McBean gets an 8 from me. In the short time he was on the field he did exactly what he was supposed to do - pressure the hell out of Portland's back line and kill time off when he did get the ball. And yes, great to have Saunders back! Portland gave us so much space to work in and we still only scored one goal. I think Keane (or McBean even) would have feasted on some of the space they were giving us. We won't see that kind of room vs RSL or other top teams. Final note - nice game Seattle!
Our good performances have been few and far between so no critical analysis, just want to say HELL YEAH! Finally a game to savor and enjoy. Not perfect but it was a game we can build on, we actually resembled last years squad for some stretches. Hopefully we've turned the corner, the break came at the ideal time for us. Great minutes for Jack McBean and a huge welcome back to Josh Saunders! Only one criticism, please oh please ship out Chad Barrett. His form is getting so bad as to even make Adam Cristman look like a good option in comparison...
My worthless opinions: Having Josh back was huge. How many times this year has a quick hiccup in our defense caused us to go down a goal? This time we gave up two good shots on goal and Saunders saved our bacon. We got use to that last year (between him and Ricketts) and we've been missing that this year.... My Defensive Player of the Game for Portland was Chad Barrett. Barrett was vital for Portland, helping to break up Galaxy attacks in the final third and disrupt the Galaxy passing. It really hurt them when he left the game.... I don't know about anyone else, but when I was 17, I wasn't entering a professional soccer game and executing the coach's game plan perfectly. Hell, I wasn't even executing my high school soccer coach's game plan all that well. Kudos to McBean for doing exactly what he was suppose to do to help the team win. Sarvas looks like he's finally starting to figure out the physicality of MLS play and is developing some chemistry with Donovan. Donovan showed flashes of the good, angry, driven Donovan that we need. But he's still not where he should be. But as long as he keeps moving in that direction, it'll bode well for us. Lopes provided the physical play that AJ needs in a center-back tandem, and didn't have one of his big bone-headed plays, so good for him. Keep it up... ...because RSL is next on Wednesday, and they will eat us alive if we slip up. Portland is a pretty poor team, but playing RSL on the road will really show us where we as a team. Luckily we get back Magee, Jimenez (who will be a huge upgrade over Jordan) and Stephens, so we'll have some fresh legs for Wednesday. Does anyone know what happened to Noonan? He didn't even make the bench. Injured?
I think Jordan deserves a thumbs up. He'll always be limited, but he caused problems in this game. I think it may be the best I've ever seen him play.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/soccer/post/_/id/17160/galaxy-saunders-shutout-lifts-l-a Jose Villarreal is not eligible to play for the Galaxy and won't be until August, when his first anniversary in L.A.'s academy arrives. Explains why Villareal was not in the 18.
I have to agree. What he gave us in the beginning of the game that someone like Kyla Nakazawa would never give us, is speed on the wings and therefore width on the field. It was pretty important for executing a three center midfield alignment.
When I saw Jordan starting I had 3 quick reactions: 1. crap, 2. glad it's at winger which maximizes his strengths rather than defense which, ...well you know, and 3. hmmm.... playing him on his old stomping grounds in front of his old fans where he will be motivated to show his best....I see what you are doing there Bruce and it's not completely idiotic...a tiny ember of hope emerges. Sure enough - I think we saw Jordan at his best. Not great, but occasionally good, and no disasters. Yay!
In the video - Josh was emotional after the game... AWWW!! We're all with you Josh - hope we have many more shutouts this year.
I was watching this game on the couch. My sister finally had to ask me: "Who is Chad Barrett and why are you always groaning about him?" I always feel so awful cause he tries so hard, but good googly moogly he was where our attack went to die last night.
I still have no idea what that player gives us other than the amazing ability to vanish on the field the minute he steps on. I literally dread his appearance. I know I'm being unfair based on limited minutes, but that SJ game really put a bad taste in my mouth.
He's not there yet, that's for sure, but maybe he'll pull it together. He's got some skill no doubt, no put it to use for us, please.
I think he gets unfairly slammed on here. He hasn't been great but nobody and I mean nobody on this team has. We got him and a 2nd round pick for an international spot? If he plays as well as he is capable then that is a steal.
I watched Nakazawa up close and personal when LA played the NASL Railhawks in Cary. He was slow of foot and thought. He compensated for that with an astounding lack of effort.