Dallas is a good team. They had two very well taken goals. I thought we played well at times, and it's going to take time for the guys to jell. We definitely need some help defensively.
Remember when the marketing department took credit for the sellouts? Wonder if they'll accept the blame for the drop off?
They think the crowds are small now? Wait until this team has piled up the losses. Regarding the game: I actually don't think tactics were the main problem this game. A lot of the time we moved the ball around fine. We out-possessed Dallas 2 to 1 and our passing was more accurate than Dallas in every area of the field - except the final third where we were both inaccurate and toothless. Which is not surprising since we have a lot of decent midfielders but no good forwards. We blew it in the offseason by not picking up a real goal attacking LD/Keane/Ruiz (younger versions) type player replacement. It doesn't matter where Curt moves these particular players around - we just don't have the personnel to score a lot of goals.
Unfortunately, I ended up missing large portions of the game. In the portions I saw, Garcia wasn't as terrible as made out. He was even involved in some good play. Bigger problem is lack of a gameplan whatsoever. First, credit to Onalfo on a couple things: he made subs before the 85th minute, unlike his predecessor and it seems the backline was clearly instructed to play high, to limit FCD getting in behind, which means Onalfo has seen tape of Dallas matches from 2015. In the predictions thread, I was going to list Alessandrini as biggest disappointment of the season after watching him in the preseason match, but I thought it might be a jinx. Well, just thinking it was apparently enough of a jinx because this dude is fuggin terrible. Plays like a dude who didn't really have a lot of facets to his game besides blazing past people in the first place and then tragically lost his legs in a freak leg teleportation accident. Shit wheels (can't blow by average MLS players) shit balance (can't shield the ball, goes down if you breathe on him) and ponderous decision-making. It was clear Gerrard was past-it athletically at times, but he showed flashes of brilliance in every match. Alessandrini showed very little worth remembering. Hope he's just out of form/rusty but...not looking good. Lletget is endlessly frustrating, yet might be our best winger this year. Let that sink in. (or is he a RB?). McBean had a credible performance. Showed strength and ingenuity. Not many chances for him to shine, but he didn't look out of his depth. Jones was all over the place. I imagine we'll be saying that a lot this season; sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Today was the bad way. No one passes through the middle, which is where Jones, Gio and (I assume Pedro) are at their best. Instead we keep trying to work our underprivileged wings. Why? Starting to sink in how many holes this team has. We really need the additions to pan out.
What? After all those years of Beckham, Donovan, Keane, Gerrard, etc., you guys should feel honored to watch the genius of Romain Alessandrini and Jack McBean.
^This. Could Chicharito fill that role? That'll push Pedro to the bench fortunately. I actually was impressed with the first half considering Zardes, Cole and Rogers are out. I'll try to keep that in mind but, I admit this result had a hand in me falling off the wagon.
My observations from being at the game: 1. Jelle is a stud, but if he is going to send those monster left footed balls, someone needs to be on the end of them 2. There was no bite to the offense at all 3. Pedro seemed lost 4. Jones is an incredible athlete 5. I didn't think Garcia was that bad, but then I was at field level so my perspective was off. I do remember him pushing forward but not getting any love from his teammates. 6 Dallas always seemed dangerous when they had the ball- LA not so much 7. I am willing to give Allessandrini some time- but perhaps because I remember him from his early Ligue 1 days 8. Boetang is fast! 9. McBean is big and strong.
Garcia and Romney just aren't full backs. Both killed our attacks when we played the ball out to them which was often. Alessandrini and Lletget kept drifting inward which meant Garcia and Romney were the only players out wide which didn't work. Gio was completely invisible which was disappointing but not surprising. He did that a lot last season. He will not show up against tough opponents. He is too easily marked out of matches. I think we will struggle with creativity to be honest especially against decent teams. Jones and Pedro aren't creative players. They will do the dirty work in midfield, but for us to have any success this season, Lletget, Alessandrini, and Dos Santos need to be our go to guys. Side note, I really think at the moment we should be running a 3-4-1-2.
We really need Zardes back. I'd like to see Boateng starting and playing more central right under GDS creating chances.
My player ratings here: http://www.lagconfidential.com/2017/3/4/14816162/la-galaxy-vs-fc-dallas-player-ratings I rated Jones a little higher than some due to his offensive press, but we all agreed on Van Damme.
Personal lesson for me this season : I must learn to not read the articles from the Galaxy website after a bad performance. Remember the "Garcia had a very good game against Portland" last week... Onalfo : Very debatable. From the new players, only McBean had a very good game. I think Joao Pedro did OK (but maybe my opinion is false since I've only seen bad reviews on him here), but Jones and Alessandrini were bad. Lassiter missed a golden opportunity too. Not shocking to say that Romain was one of our worst player, right? Predictions : we would be a better team with Lletget on the left and Alessandrini on the right, and Lletget would be more useful as a 8.
I remember the first goal against (have not watched the recorded game) and it seemed to me that while the shot was well placed, the shooter was not challenged and the defense backed off and backed off and backed off. I could be wrong but that's how I saw it at the time. Frankly, I don't recall the second goal. And don't really want to. I agree that the team should be able to play together better with familiarity. And maybe that explains the number of times that the players were not on the same page. And our new DP would not be the first foreign player who needed to adjust his game to the speed and physical aspects of MLS. I did see skills there, but also saw a player who either didn't know where his teammates were or who was surprised to have little time to decided. I did not like the number of times where we booted the ball long with only a hope and prayer of anything positive. And that was one of the earmarks of the G2 squad when Curt was coaching there, so I don't expect that to change. McBean's hold-up play in the first part of the game was pretty good, but dropped off as Dallas recognized that "boot it to Jack" was all we were doing, and they adjusted. But there was no sign (maybe no opportunity) for him to show he was a finisher. My reaction (and that of the fans I was sitting with) is that the PK Stott awarded was generous and soft. I am curious whether others on this board saw it that way.
Certainly a soft penalty. But in fairness, they will be given for and against most teams throughout the season. I was only half watching. As much as I don't mind Rowe, I'm not sure what presence he has or vocal command he has. He seems like a very encouraging player, but needs to be tougher with the back line. Get them actually pressing the ball, or get someone putting the pressure on. Originally I thought he wasn't great for the first goal, but I think the replay backs up that he had no chance of getting to that or the second goal. McBean done ok, I didn't think he done as well as a lot of people here are suggesting, but definitely as someone said, not out of his depth on that performance. Been saying it all last season, Boateng has pace and that is it. But he is ridiculously ridiculously fast! Absolutely spot on here! Always going to be the case with him, just worrying how important he still was in attack last season (see here; http://www.thestatszone.com/article...la-galaxys-designated-players-2016-mls-season) Again, something I voiced last season, I think the players are there to go three at the back, although another solid centre back would have needed to have been added. JVD playing left of a back three would be excellent. Steres was poor, he was good last season, so hoping that wasn't him over performing. Romney adds little. But as mentioned, three important players to come back that could change the whole look of the team!
Boateng on the left, Alessandrini on the right, and Lletget as the 8. And since Jones and Pedro seemed to be deeper than our CBs anyway, 3 in the back.
I'm less worried about this game. Of the 6 attacking starters, only Dos Santos and Lletget have played a real game with each other (I think McBean was mostly gone or with LosDos). That's pretty amazing when you think about it. I would have liked to have seen someone impress me, but I'm not worried that no one did in this game. In a lot of ways, this is on Bruce. Last year was a win-now year so this became a rebuilding year and I can live with that if we actually rebuild. I think the braintrust has made four separate bets and that's how I'll be judging the season: 1) Chicharito (or someone) in the summer - won't see to summer 2) Rebuild the midfield with veterans -haven't seen enough Joao and Jones didn't impress. Both had too many giveaways for lockdown DMs and neither brought much to the attack. Alessandrini seems out of sync. But like I said, it's too early 3) Rely on young players for attacking depth - haven't seen enough. McBean was functional but limited. Lassiter showed a little promise. 4) Cobble together defensive depth - Not looking so good. For Onalfo, let's just say I had the same response as everone else to Lletget at right back. At first I thought, 3-5-2, that's a promising tactical adjustment with about 20 minutes left, and then it was, wait, what!?
I don't know. I seem to recall that being said of 2015 and 2014 as well. LA could have offered Landon, Robbie and AJ new contracts and retained a little bit of the core group to ease Onalfo in to the role. Instead they chose to jettison veteran players. They chose to supplement the roster with GII players and they chose to go for the Valeri/Lodeiro type DP. I said it earlier in the season, but if you make changes as fundamental as the new regime has you own that.
We just can't expect to win with our set of defenders. Maybe if everyone is healthy we would be ok but when might that be? It's just so frustrating to start a season with no back up plan. Romney and Garcia can't succeed in the roles they are being asked to play.
How long do folks here think Onalfo is given? Full season? Less than that, depending on results? I fear that Klein (Vagenas?) will cut him a lot of slack because he's THEIR guy. He's way in over his head. And the fact that the braintrust that makes these decisions couldn't see that beforehand is mind-boggling to me. He sucked at KC, sucked at DC, and sucked with LosDos (yes they won games, but tactically, there was no plan put in place by Onalfo). This is crying over spilt milk, but AJ would've obviously been head and shoulders above Garcia at RB. So that was already a terrible decision to start. Then, we go out and get a DP winger that his own fans seemed happy to get rid of. I suspect the Galaxy FO was more than happy to grab a young-ish European name and call it a day rather than doing their homework and unearthing a Valeri/Diaz/Lodeiro type. And during yesterday's game? What was the plan? Offensively, everyone looked like they were playing on the schoolyard, trying their own thing. There was no direction. Defensively, everyone looked a step behind. Apologies for the doom and gloom but man, it feels like this is gonna be a LONG season.
Full season, plus half of next. While comparisons have been made to Gullit, I think he'll be more like Sampson without the two cups.
To help lighten the mood, here is my picture of the best moment in yesterday's game: 838149150617174016 is not a valid tweet id
My game thoughts: Lack of true fullbacks really hurt our attack, and allowed Dallas' wingers/fullbacks to run rampant since we had no one keeping them honest. As far as our DP's go, in person, Allesandrini looked bad but not as terrible as I'm hearing from all the tv viewers. He really looked like he didn't know his teammates or how quick MLS moves, etc. So I'll reserve judgement for a while. I don't even remember Dos Santos doing anything in the game other than making sure Jones didn't take the PK... So I guess immediately after the game, I was more upset with Dos Santos than Allesandrini. Jones played exactly how I expected and Pedro looked like Allesandrini - not prepped yet for the intensity and speed of MLS play. And all of you silly guys talking about Zardes at right back got it all wrong, Lletget is our new right back, duh.... Also, not to end on a depressing note, but I also heard from another source that there are worried whispers that Rogers might have played his last professional game of soccer..... I sure hope that's not true.
The lack of plan B (or plan AJ) is frustrating, but in the end yesterday I don't think Romney and Garcia lost us the game. Certainly with Romney's earned PK this game might be the outlier where they actually helped more than expected. I feel like the attack was unpracticed and unfamiliar (expected) and should get some time to develop with Zardes soon hopefully, or more familiarity among all. But the midfield with addition of Jones and Pedro needed to take control some. I get Pedro being his first time out, but Jones who was solid, needed to be more than solid. Also Jelle, for being our stud in the back, gave the ball away too many times as he s prone to do. I guess what I'm saying is if all the other stuff was better, I thought Garcia and Romney actually showed enough yesterday to make me think they could be good enough to not be the biggest problem.
The most frustrating part of Rogers' injury for me is how poorly it's being handled by management. Obviously I hope Rogers gets healthy and can contribute. But if he can't, what's the plan? Garcia? Smith? Garcia sure as hell won't cut it. Smith may, but he's young and unknown. Shoring up the backline should've been a priority during the offseason, even without Rogers being injured. We don't exactly have the youngest of defenses.