Sounders v Los Angeles Galaxy 7/28/14 (P/I/P)

Should be interesting taking on LA now that they are finally having a decent run of form. Granted one of those wins was against New England, which is really only a small step up from the Dynamo at the moment. I think we should have this one. Arena might not risk Gonzales on the turf, since Arena is one of the serious anti-turf coaches in this league.

 

This is usually around the time when LA pick themselves up by the boot straps and do just enough to qualify for the playoffs. I'm expecting a hard-fought battle. I always look forward to these games.

 

I expect Martins to re-injure his hamstring and LA to walk away with a win on their way to another supporters shield and/or MLS Cup final appearance. It's about time for our usual swoon, which dovetails nicely with the start of their real season.

I am not buying the hype until I see the Sounders win consistently when it counts. The Galaxy are like the anti-Sounders that way, a clutch-winning team most of the time.

...but I'm ready to be pleasantly surprised.

 

Going to this match and really bummed it was moved to a Monday. My buddy from UK is visiting and I was hoping to show him full blast Sounders support, I still hope it's good on a Monday but the traveling Galaxy supporters canceled their trip

As much as I liked that LA is getting their butts into gear I think the Sounders might win this one. I hope at the very least it's a exciting match with goals!!! Seattle is my 2nd team but when they play LA I always lean LA

As for the Galaxy I think Gonzalez may play but who knows, that turf is really tough on players. I hope Donovan plays at his best though, and Keane. Both haven't really clicked as much as they should be this season whereas Dempsey has been a man on fire.

 

I think there partnership really lacks a good central mid. Beckham made them a lot better by being able to open up space and put well weighted balls into that space for Landycakes and Keane to run onto. LA is running into the problem we had at first with them treating Oba like he was GAM Johnson. Certain players are ball at their feet players, and if you can't give them that kind of service you're seriously limiting their effectiveness.

 

Well they are trying to use Landon as a creative mid now and I'm in the camp that it doesn't work so well. Also, Zardes is absolutely on fire right now and no chance he doesn't start with Keane up top. Landon should be outside and i completely agree with you that the Galaxy needs, desperately needs!, a creative midfielder. Beckham was great there but there are much better players than him in that role. Sell Omar and buy Pirlo, thats a recipe for success!! dreaming I know

 

I hate seeing teams try to shoehorn people into spots, though I do mind it less when it is the Galaxy instead of the Sounders. What you speak of with Donovan we had seen a lot of at one point or another with Seattle. Sigi had a certain vision and if he didn't have the right players for it he would try to make the players adapt rather than adapting his strategy.

I think every team in the world could benefit from Pirlo. That guy makes everybody he plays with look better. As a Juve fan, I'm glad that he is just a dream for all the other teams though.

 

Is the whole stadium going to be opened for this game or is it going to be 38,300 capacity?

 

Standard capacity. They open it up for the October match against the gals.

 

Sigi and Bruce are the same manager imo. old schools guys that want the players to conform to them and not their system to conform to the players they have. Honestly I am tired of Bruce and want a forward thinking manager that can really get a team to play some attractive/possession based soccer. I have a feeling both Bruce and Sigi will be out of the job in the next few years.

As for Pirlo, I thought I heard rumors he wanted out since the reason he left Milan in the first place was Allegri...

 

I agree with you on both of those managers. They are definitely the old guard and neither could have too much time left.

If I remember correctly, Pirlo left Milan because Allegri wanted him to play further up the pitch because he had a couple guys that he wanted to play right in front of the defense. He could want out for all I know though. I can tell you there are not a whole lot of happy Juve fans right now with the signing of Allegri.

 

I dunno.. I think Sigi has conformed fairly well to the players that he has. It doesn't happen overnight as he generally starts off trying to cram square pegs into round holes, but after a few games he adjusts to the players he has.

 

This year at least, Yoshou. Last year I think people thought he was doing better than he really was because we had the bounces and calls go our way through most of the summer. It masked a lot of what he was doing wrong because people just tend to be less critical when you are getting wins. I have a hard time saying if he's actually adapted, or if he just has the right players right now.

Sigi has also never seemed to work too well with players of European descent that are kind of big names. While Dempsey is a big name, he doesn't seem to have that entitled attitude that a lot of other DPs have, and while Oba is a bit of a big ego, but as long as he's happy about who he is playing with he seems pretty chill. I'm not convinced that anything has really changed with Sigi. Regardless of how we finish this year, I don't think he is deserving of coach of the year. Right now it seems like the team is on autopilot, and that really comes down to Adrian being able to talk some people into taking cut-rate prices to come to our team. You have to admit we have a lot better depth than most other teams in the league at the moment.

 

I think you're trying to fit a perception to reality.. Particularly with regards to the European players. MLS continues to suffer from a perception problem and the top players that have come here from Europe are expecting it to be an easy for them (laying out on the beach, if you will), but they've failed to adjust to the reality once they get there.. On the other hand, the European players that came here from lesser leagues (Friberg, Johansson, etc) seem to have gotten on fairly well with Sigi and have done well within the system. If the Euro players coming from lesser quality leagues are doing well and the Euro players coming from higher quality leagues aren't, that might place some of the blame on the players, yes? It also isn't something that is unique to the Sounders. MLS's history is littered with the failed potential of top players from Euro teams..

Last year was a bit of a fluke in how it worked out and I think EJ and the clubhouse fracturing had a good amount to do with how the season ended.. I'm not going to say Sigi was without blame, but it is hard to discount Sigi's regular season success outside of last season. I'm not sure it is true any more now that the Galaxy have gone on their run, but I read somewhere that the Sounders have the best record out of all the teams since they joined the league.. That doesn't come from a coach that isn't able to adjust his playing style to match the players..

That being said, the place where Sigi has fallen flat on his face is the playoffs. I think how the playoffs are played has changed significantly in the last few years. It used to be that the away team would play the first leg and then they'd come out gangbusters in the second leg and as long as they either tied, or lost by 1, they had a good chance to win the series. It doesn't seem like that is the case anymore and Sigi has failed to adjust to that new reality. Sigi changes his tactics in the playoffs and becomes a lot more reserved. If he were to keep the playing style that got him to the playoffs, that would do him much better, IMHO.

 

I could also say that players that come from the top leagues are often put into unfamiliar situations. First, they come here with huge expectations of how they will change everything for a team, and in the case of the ones we've had, often put into positions they aren't experienced in playing. Take Ljungberg for example. He wasn't a creative midfielder. He's a winger. Yet we bring him in here and put him in the number ten role because he's played for Arsenal, and certainly since he has played for such a prolific club he can adapt to a different role in little old MLS. You can say what you will about these players, but I think it is a two way street. They may expect to have it easier, but the coaches, and I'm not just talking about Sigi, expect them to do more for the team then what they are capable and often play them out of the position they gained their fame with. Friberg, Fernandez and Johansson didn't come with the same expectations put on them and Sigi stuck more to their natural positions.

I'm not saying Sigi is not a good coach. I'm saying he's not the most adaptable. When he does adapt, it usually isn't in a good way and instead turns into bunker ball. I'm glad he's doing well this year, but a lot of that comes down to getting better talent that can adapt to playing unfamiliar roles. Look at Papa for example. He was never one to even be in the defensive third at Chicago, and now you see him all the way down at the corners because Sigi likes his fullbacks bombing into the attack. Neagle finally figured out how to play winger, but nobody in their right mind would say he should have been moved from the forward role where he more naturally fit. Le Toux is another example of a failed Sigi shoehorn.

In a league like MLS at this point, a coach needs to be able to adapt to the players he has access to in order to be successful. It's not like Europe where you can just throw money at a problem area, or like pre-Beckham era MLS where the quality was lacking more so playing a guy in a slightly different role was not an issue. Regardless of what some may say, the league has progressed a significant amount in the last 10 years. Bruce and Sigi have both done the same tactics of playing players where they don't fit. Just this year things are working out for Sigi, and not working quite as well for Bruce.

 

I'm not sure that is the best of examples. Ljungberg wanted to be in that position and complained that Sigi was misusing him when Sigi put him out on the wing. I also thought Ljungberg was actually quite effective in that role, and the biggest problem with Ljungberg wasn't that he was played in the wrong position, but that he and Montero liked to play in the same area of the field and often ended up practically holding hands in the center of the field and got in each others way.

A better example would be Nkufo. Sigi saw his size and tried to force him into the target forward role, but that definitely wasn't Nkufo. He wasn't necessarily a target forward in the Eredivisie. He liked the ball at his feet, would distribute the ball out to his fellow forwards, then clean-up the messes when the ball got in the penalty box. But then, Nkufo's signing was messed up in more ways than he was put in the wrong position. He shouldn't have been signed at all, IMHO, the guy was looking for a soft landing into retirement and, because of that, just wasn't a good signing.

Perhaps, perhaps. But that is why the top players are brought in. I will disagree with Fernandez not coming in with the same expectations, though. He came in with a lot of expectations and while he was a very good player, he still failed to live up to those expectations.

Outside of the playoffs (which I've already admitted Sigi has fallen behind on), I'm not sure this is true. I don't recall the Sounders going bunkerball outside of road games where injuries/suspensions took away their offensive creative players. Based on what I saw of Sigi pre-Sounders, his preferred style was bunkerball, but that definitely has not been his style while here with the Sounders. He's been far more free-flowing "Latin American style" with the Sounders than I recall him being pre-Sounders.

But then, I wasn't a MLS fan pre-Sounders, so while I caught a few games here and there, I wouldn't say my sample set of pre-Sounders Sigi is large enough to be completely accurate and I may be incorrect. So feel free to correct me if I'm not correct.

Pappa has adjusted quite well to that role, IMHO. All of that being said, I agree that Sigi has attempted to shoehorn players into positions that they aren't familiar with, but the reason he is doing it is because those players are good enough to be starters, but there is a better player at their preferred position. It is hard to argue that Le Toux deserved to be starting at forward when we had Montero and Jaqua up there. And yes, I know baby giraffe had a career year in 2009 and was a bum outside that season, but the guy was rocking it in 2009. It would also be hard to justify Neagle starting over the preferred forwards for the last two seasons.

So, Sigi is presented with a situation of either A) playing the player out of position and hoping they adjust or B) putting the player on the bench and losing that potential entirely.

While there is no disagreeing with the overall quality of this year being higher than previous years, it's not just this year where the Sounders and Sigi has had success.. It has been every year but last year and there were some pretty big extenuating circumstances with last season that threw a giant monkey wrench in how that season ended. Sigi's biggest problem is not the regular season, its the playoffs. That is where Sigi has failed to adjust to changes in the league. In the regular season, I think Sigi has adjusted quite well and if he stuck with what was successful in the regular season, he would also be successful in the playoffs.

 

Yes, this is a much better example. This situation, along with a few others seemed like Sigi and Adrian not being on the same page.

I personally thought Fernandez lived up to his expectations, I just got the impression that Sigi wasn't too keen on him. I guess that one is a matter of perspective though. Having watched a lot of South American soccer, and being a fan of the Chilean league where he was playing before coming here especially, I expected him to be good but not a game changer. I think people that had higher expectations of him based it all off the World Cup bump that a lot of players receive. To me, he played to my expectations.

I watched a decent amount of MLS pre-Sounders, especially when I lived on the east coast. Sigi did play a lot of bunkerball, but I think that started to change a bit with Schelotto coming to play for him. Then he came to Seattle where they were even more focused on South American talent, but it seemed like he couldn't adapt to a lot of the things about Latin American style soccer.

I don't put a ton of fault on Sigi for playing the guys he did out of position. He had to work with what he had, but I think we can all agree that sometimes having a player out of position just because he is of starting quality somewhere else on the field is not the best call. Even with Neagle now, I don't fault him for being played out wide because we have a little less options at the area he is filling and he has stepped up to the task. At times though it seems like Sigi has been slow to admit an experiment isn't working.

What's the criteria for if a season was a success or a failure? I agree that last year was not, but I'm just wondering what criteria we're using to base it all off of? I could think of a couple others that I don't really think of the season being successful. (Though those would come down to Sigi adjusting his tactics in the playoffs like you talked about.)

 

I'm in complete agreement with you here. There have been several players that it seemed like Adrian geeked out over a player, got them, and then threw them in Sigi's lap. Nkufo being one and I think Fernandez would be another.

Yeah. You definitely had more experience with Fernandez than the rest of the fan base. The impression I got from most fans was definitely based solely off him playing for Uruguay in the World Cup. I think that also influenced Hanauer's and Sigi's expectations for him. Based on my memory of his signing, it was the World Cup where he first came to the Sounders' attention.

It seems like we have a different definition of whether he's successful adapting or not, but thanks for the info.

I don't really disagree with any this. I would especially apply this to Brad Evans back when Sigi tried to shoehorn him into a forward role.. That was absolutely abysmal, but was during a period where the only options were crap, crappier, and a giant pile of elephant crap. I do think a lot of the shoehorning Sigi does is a function of MLS not having the depth to account for injuries and not even being able to afford serviceable players at all starting positions. It's just a function of MLS that teams have to play people out of position and hope they can thrive at that role. Just look at what the Galaxy are doing with Robbie Rogers. The guys been a midfielder all his career, but because of issues the Galaxy have had at LB (or is it RB? Whichever), they have him there.

That's a good question. I definitely place more value in doing well in the regular season than doing well in the playoffs. Perhaps its because I've grown up following Seattle teams and I'm not used to following a team where making the playoffs is a given rather than a hope.

 

I'm excited for this one. Dempsey and Martins are playing great together. The team is pretty much healthy... I think. Time to dash any hopes LA has at winning the west. Hopefully I didn't just jinx it.

 

TIME AND SPACE!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!!!!!
TIME AND SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This one is all down to the arrogance of Clint. And not having enough cover for Marshall, but considering we thought Marshall was cover and basically washed up, not so much. This was a
Clint vs. Landon encounter in Greatest of All Time honors. Landon won easily. It was a leadership clash.
The guy who chats with Dave because he is not even aware that his World Cup convalescence ought to be disturbed, and who needs to be explained to why he might talk to his agent to consider caring about USOC, needs to show up in USOC, better late than never. The narrative now is that we are going to swoon out of Supporters Shield and die early in the playoffs. If we mix in Squillions spent on indifference to USOC, the most talented SSFC team ever is about to turn a treble possibility into nothing. Somebody needs to challenge Clint. He is proving he has the talent, and that he does not have the desire or concern or interest or awareness.