In our section we were yelling at the "good" AR after he put up no fight with the center ref about that ridiculous PK call on Rowe. They had a small discussion and I thought they were going to overturn it but I guess the AR was just telling him what he had for dinner. I thought the kids did fine. I really liked the play of Nacho and Mendiola. Vayrenan (sp?) looked like someone who hadn't played a game in a while. But everyone fought for each other. Even though we were dominating, the game changed when Lletget came in for Mendiola.
It was heartwarming to see him smiling so widely. Was that his first goal for the first team? He did seem delighted. Would like to hear news on his injury.
the bottom of his jacket looks like a seat belt and they had to strap Bruce in so he didn't fall out of his chair during the game
Any word on Mendiola? I can't help but feel someone maybe needs to pull Mediola and Jamieson out of all contact games for like 6 months. Both of those guys now have multiple concussions. I know they want to get back on the field, because they feel 6 months could be make or break for their careers, but it sure seems to me that the odds are leaning towards break rather make. I really want to see what these guys can do on the field, that's maybe why feel the Galaxy should be very careful with them.
In his debut game Gio's touch on the ball and ability to read the game was both sublime and subtle. He uses his first touch so cleverly to create space for himself. I hope he can help Zardes improve with that. In the above vid of his touches I think Gio is dispossessed a total of once, on the last play when surrounded at the top of the box. But I can tell he is going to be offside a lot which is going to drive me crazy, but I'm pretty sure our shouty pointy Irishman will "help" him with that. Its going to be interesting to see how this team plays midfield defense. SG is good in the tackle but isn't that mobile and has been pushing up a lot. Lletget is also pushing up frequently and neither Keane nor Gio are going to help much defensively. Juninho can't be the only midfielder applying defensive pressure. So I'm guessing Juninho will have to stay home more than ever before and Bruce will ask SG to stay back more? Also I like Zardes up top with Gio (gives us great counterattack possibilities on the road) but I don't see any defensive protection in front of Gargan unless Zardes plays right mid. I don't this is going to matter a lot at home where we should dominate but on the road it will matter a lot. Bruce will have some interesting decisions to make.
I think Lleget's defensive contribution goes unnoticed. I remember in the SJ he ran down Marvel Wynne, which i didn't know was possible, and made a great tackle. He's just been so great in the attacking third we don't think about. Similar to Donavon in that regard. I can see husidic getting playing time as a "wide" midfielder just to add some more defensive stability in the midfield in certain games.
I actually have noticed Lletgets defensive contributions. He is fast and has made some great recovery runs as well as just playing journeyman defense when needed. The issue is more of team balance in positioning. Rogers likes to go forward, Lletget likes to push up, same with Stevie G and Keane. Recently we have been caught several times with a lot of players pushed up leaving big gaps in front of our centerbacks. These gaps have made counterattacks against us easy and cost us a few time. And now we are adding Gio, yet another player who likes to get into the box. I could see Rogers, Gio, Stevie, Lletget, Keane, and Zardes crashing into each other at the penalty spot with such force and mass that they collapse into a black hole. No telling what would happen if Gordo is also involved - we might end up creating a new type of anti-matter! To avoid this some of these players are going to have to curb their natural attacking tendencies or at least make sure the whole team is coordinating when and who is going forward.
I think that just comes with the territory of playing 2 very attack minded players out wide with Gerrard who doesn't have the legs to play both ways. We're going to be vulnerable at the back, but we're going to be fun to watch and score a lot of goals. I think that's what makes the 2014 team so good. We were extremely balanced, great fluid attack, but defensively sound.