LAFC is about to get a MLS reality check. They are not that good (at full strength) and have very little depth at times like these when players are missing. Moutinho is such a weak link in defense. Lee Nghynn looks done. They look toothless without Vela. Rossi is such a diver and refs are starting to catch on. They lost 2-1 tonight but 8-1 would have been a fairer score line.
Man, again, LAFC got three points last night their play really didn’t deserve. Man, San Jose is so bad I almost feel for the Smurf’s fans out there.
89th minute I was thinking looks like LAFC might be crashing back to reality (a loss would have them a single point ahead of us) it was almost worth Wondo closing in on Lando’s record. Then it all when to crap. As for feeling bad for the Smurfs fans may I recommend their post game hysterics where they still believe they’re the victims of a league conspiracy.
Honestly, we had the radio tuned to the station that their games are broadcast on as we left the parking lot. Holy hell, the homer host of that show was obnoxious. He basically recapped each goal in turn, switching to the game commentary, blurting out stuff like "And Wondlowski was saying THIS IS OUR HOUSE, but YOUR LAFC WEREN'T DONE!!". Mercifully, he effed up the big climax TWICE by cuing up the wrong audio clip for the 97th(!!) minute equalizer and had to resort to a slightly muted "Well folks... we'll get that highlight lined up... but YOUR LAFC winning 4 to 3 with a winner in the 97th minute...".
The Spanish language tv broadcast, no joke, had about a two minute discussion on “ice ice baby” when it was 2-3. I’m not even kidding. I speak terrible Spanish so I couldn’t puzzle out Why. Since they went on to win maybe this will be a tradition.
Well now LAFC has my attention. I am unapologetically and unironically fascinated with all things Ice.
It was hilarious. The commentators were literally singing ice ice baby and the little hook sound (stolen from Bowie) for a few minutes. I have no idea why.
I’m kinda bummed that they out drew us on Saturday night. Nobody really cares, but I was convinced it wasn’t going to happen.
Did they really, though? I saw a couple seconds of the tail end of that game when I got home from our game and the crowd looked pretty sparse.
To be fair, though, it was 4-1 with minutes left... and you know how those L.A. fans always arrive late and leave early.
They always announce 22,000, but it never looks full if you see it on TV. We suffer from the same late arriving, early leaving Los Angeles Crowds. At least we are honest about our attendance. Remember they have everything to prove to the world, so MLS is pushing their brand. Let's just take care of business on the field and beat their asses on the 26th !! Go Galaxy !!
I'll cut LAFC some slack for Saturday's difference between paid and actual attendance since the game on very short notice was moved from 1pm to 8pm. I'm sure there were plenty that couldn't make the rescheduled kick off time. I'm really quite surprised by their success on the field this year. I knew they'd have great coaching (always been a fan of Bradley) but they really are in a rhythm right now. I think their results early in the season really flattered them as they were the beneficiaries of some incredible luck (red cards against opponents, fluky things) but now they are just a really confident bunch and they've had almost no injuries to key players. And their new signings have hit the ground running which doesn't happen much in MLS. I personally think they'll finally face some adversity in some form (injuries, bad luck, facing better teams) in the last 1/3 of the season and that will then present the true test of their team. In soccer, winning is a habit and we'll see what happens once that habit is broken for Chivas 2.0.
LAFC is about to trot out their summer transfer and 3rd DP signing Andre Horta. He's a 21 yo Portuguese midfielder who was signed to a 5 year contract by Benfica in 2016 and loaned to Braga last season. Don't know what all that means - Benfica obviously thought he had a lot of potential but didn't hold on to him. I have to say that Bradley has built a team with a very balanced, potent attack. They have four players with ten or more goals+assists (Diomonde, Vela, Rossi and Blessing) and three more with 6 or more g+a. By comparison we have only three players with 6 or more g+a (Zlatan, Kamara and Alessandrini), with only Ibra reaching the 10+ plateau. It's not all terrible news though - so far LAFC's defense is exactly as porous as ours, allowing 28 goals in 18 games and sharing our 1.6 ga average.
There is an old marketing saying. You can sell the steak or you can sell the sizzle. LAG has pretty much fed us a steady diet of sizzle the last couple of years. LAFC may force our FO to take a good look at the operation and do the hard work needed to sell the steak. I don't know how much longer they can float on the good will generated by past success. But I think time may be running out on that approach.
I hope that someone in our marketing department is reading this... ***24 hours later on social media*** Can yuo sell stake by associating digitally?? [INSERT COPY-WRITE IMAGE HERE]
It’s somewhat telling after running the ‘first to five’ slogan in to the ground they’ve gone with ‘(winning trophies) since 96’ conveniently ignoring the fact we didn’t actually win our first trophy until 2000. Our identity is tied up in being the most ambitious and most successful club in the league, when those two things are no longer true I’m not sure what’s left. Either the front office rekindles that effort or they figure out what this team’s identity is moving forward. One need only look at DC to see a former dynasty that failed to have an identity outside of winning.
It's obvious isn't it? We leverage AEG lawyers to sneak a retroactive genetic rights clause into all past/ present/future contracts that allows us to start building a genetically engineered super-team. Then we could actually play at least four Keanovan brothers, some sort of magic mix of Omar, AJ, Vanney, Frasier, Van Damme, Sean Franklin, we ought to be able to grow at least a dozen solid defenders of various shapes and sizes. A playmaking clutch midfielder of Cienfuegos with some Cobi speed - maybe better sprinkle in just a tiny touch of some Guetemalan DNA so as not to mess with the fates (Pando for irony?). Or what about a Ciengfuegos and EZ hyrbrid. Intruiging. Probably want a left and a right footed David Beckham for set pieces, although we'd have to sprinkle in some Ema Boateng speed. I'd take a few 18 year old Kevin Rickettman fighting it out for the starting spot. Now I'm not saying it will be easy. There may be a few scientific and ethical challenges ahead, and it'll take at least what 6 years with accelerated growth for the team to be ready for the field, but as fans we are a patient lot. We still need to sort out coach. 70% Bruce, 20% Sigi (so we actually get subs), and 10% Milton Friedman? p.s. I forgot about our superweapon. The Ibra / Mike Magee hybrid.
First things first I’d replace “This is LA” prior to kick off with Springsteen’s “Glory Days” Kidding aside I don’t know. I get the sense Tim Leiweke genuinely liked MLS and desperately wanted the Galaxy to be the best with profit as a secondary motivator. Since he left AEG seems to have taken their eye off the ball and our inexperienced front office is emulating the results rather than the methodology of Tim’s era.