I just re-watched that hit their GK put on Mendiola. That was criminal!!!!! He had no play on the ball, but went with the forearm strike to the head. What the F was that ref thinking???
Garcia was telegraphing is crosses as well because he's right footed. Honestly he was crossing too much in general. It's easier for a defense to set when a ball swings in from that angle. Not being experienced playing LB inverted he couldn't really take on players or create the space to cut inside. To critique one thing in general, not that it matters against teams of Central FC's quality, but we're going to have to cut down on lumping the ball forward from the back. It took awhile for Gio to get any meaningful touches because he wasn't getting passes to feet. For a player like Gio that's a waste, you want him on the ball. Unless it's Gerrard or Juninho hitting accurate diagonals we need to find ways to Lletget, Keane and Gio on the ball, so they can take on players. We need to start playing more out of the back, that includes the keeper as well.
Thought Mika was really bad. At least Garcia you can say hey he's a local/G2 guy making nothing. But Mika was awful.
If it were up to me, I'd play Keane and Zardes up top, Lletget and GDS on the wings (though both play inside a lot) and Gerrard and Juni deeper. Even though RR hasn't played nearly as well this season, he can still have a huge impact moving into the attack. I know its a lot of new pieces to integrate but it's hard for me to see the galaxy not bring home another cup this year.
For my money Lletget was the best player on the field in the second half. His ability to combine quickly with players makes him so valuable. The second 11 guys were pretty much what I expected. Garcia is "tidy" if not downright conservative, but as mentioned, that's his job on a day like today. The center backs looked solid and unspectacular. Walker is the archetype "water carrier". Mika is a huge disappointment for me. He doesn't seem to offer anything going forward. Maganto is the opposite. Yes, he gives the ball away and makes the odd poor decision, but there is a little bit of magic now and then that tells me he can contribute down the road. He's got quick feet and the ability to beat players 1v1, and that has value for me. I'd like to see Gio out wide in a 4-2-3-1. Zardes up top, Keane underneath(actually Keane, Gio and Lletget could be interchangeable) and Gerrard playing deeper beside Juni. It gives us a lot of flexibility and firepower. RR and Gargan bombing down the wings, especially at Stubhub will give us the requisite width. I too hope that Mendiola is OK. That kid will be a player for us. He and Maganto and Villareal give us a bunch of attacking options off the bench that differ from what Gordon brings. As someone else here mentioned, this is the most complete roster I've ever seen in MLS, and by far the deepest LAG team in history.
Proud of our team playing through a compete sh*t show from the ref. Good God. But the team got it done and here's to hoping the injuries are not that bad. Lletget is fricking amazing. I also want to mention that Villareal was no slouch either with chance creation so he is a legitimate threat off the bench. I'm really excited about CCL this year! (Minus the refs). Hopefully when we play these guys at home the game doesn't matter and we can send scrubs. NO INJURIES.
Bruce quotes: On the referee's decisions during the first half: "Welcome to CONCACAF." On the injury to Raul Mendiola: "I don't have anything official, it didn't look good." http://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2015/0...ks-after-5-1-victory-over-central-fc-concacaf
Phew: Adam Serrano @LAGalaxyInsider 4h4 hours ago Alan Gordon says he's fine after the suffering an arm injury in the #CCL victory.
Love this gif! There is a good "Bruce Face" anywhere you pause the gif. .@LAGalaxyInsider pic.twitter.com/O98P1qJwy8— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) August 7, 2015
Did we watch the same game? No injuries? Mendiola looks to have suffered a potentially serious injury. What play did Villareal make? He wasn't even on the bench was he? Our subs were Lleget, Dos Santos and Delagarza. I'm confused.
An awful lot of words, and you still didn't manage to say, hey I was wrong, I told you I am biased. Which was about where I stopped taking the original post seriously. Garcia's passing was good, simple possession is a must. Take the ball, and keep the ball. That is a win. For me, Vayrynen was not quite on the same page as everyone else so his short easy passes looked bad.
I think he was just saying that in addition to magianto as a potential spark plug off the bench for the first team we also have Jose V. when he gets healthy . Jose V has been one of our better players this year when available (which hasn't been very much).
the center ref didn't even call a foul. He wanted to play on and the linesman (20 yards away) called the foul. That center ref was terribad.
I was in no position to judge those offside calls. I just blamed Zardes. Seemed like a safe bet from 130.
Yes my friend you are confused. Berks said "Hopefully" no injuries, not there were no injuries. Also Villareal was being mentioned as a strong bench player for LA; not that he was on the bench for this game lol.
Zardes was not offside, Gordon was. Gordon was in offside position, when Gargen took the shot and never got back into onside position before Zardes passed him the ball.
But Gordon was onsides when Zardes passed the ball to him, since Gordon was a good 6 yards behind the ball at that point… If Gordon had been the first player to get to Gargan's errant shot, then yes, but it was Zardes who got to it, and he was on when Gargan took the shot.
While this is true, our defense is suspect by CL knockout rounds standards. Rather amazingly, we have Liga MX or better-level talent at most attacking positions and CM; our backline is another story except for Omar. How our midfield looks against Liga MX teams will determine if Gerrard was the right move, I think.