P/I/P Final Reg Season Game: LA Galaxy v. Sporting KC, 10/25/2015 at 4:00 PM PD/6PM CDT ESPN

Yeah, agreed. In this case though it was clearly a foul and he should have gone down.

 

Great analysis. For me, though, it's impossible to separate Gerrard's impact on the team from everything else. Yes, we might've won the game if the goal was correctly disallowed or if a couple players made better decisions to finish off chances. But that's football. Players are going to miss easy shots or make bad decisions and while that stuff can be a big difference at the margins in an otherwise tight game, Gerrard's lack of impact -- both on offense and defense -- makes those margins way slimmer and this effect increases exponentially after the 60th minute. Basically, Gerrard requires his defending teammates to make fewer costly mistakes and his attacking teammates to score more efficiently from fewer chances.

The Galaxy looked much better than they have in awhile in the first half because of the Gerrard adjustment -- keeping him up near the runners almost like a false 10. This helped space apart the midfield, which helped AJ get into the attack and Gio to get more touches on the ball. We looked a lot more like the Galaxy of old and even had some good counters and intervals of possession and chance creation. Problem is, even in this "closer to the forwards" role, SG doesn't seem to have the lungs to execute the counter. His final shot on one counter was awful; taken too quickly because he was tired. And another he passed too early because, again, he looked too tired to follow the play. And after those two runs he was gassed and already failing to track runners; one occasion leading to a dangerous counter.

 

Well, I got home late, late last night and was going to fire up the DVR for a little game-watching....and realized to my horror that I forgot to set it! So now I'm gonna read through the thread to see how we played and what the heck happened. But I know that we lost and that's about it and that now we have to play Seattle. Things are not looking good for another run to the final.

 

You could probably see the replay on ESPN3.

 

All great comments. Lots of doom and gloom, but I understand. We demand the best from these guys.

Based on my season's long observations(and being a season ticket holder for 13 yrs) here's my drop list for next season.

Juni - True legend, thanks for everything you've given to MLS/Galaxy, etc. might be time though, trade?
Gerrard - thanks, but it's just not working out between us.
Gyassi - you've been a great student, but it's time to graduate and move on. I see your transfer on the horizon.Germany, Holland, France?
Gordon - You're already a G legend, thanks for the clutch moments, you would be an awesome coach, get your license, hope you remain in LA.
Gargan, Garcia, Mika, Husidic, Perk, Ricketts, Leonardo - Thanks for all the contributions, time to go



my two cents, good luck wed boys.

 

Did we create a lot in first half? I was griping about not getting our first good ball into the box until minute 20.

Of course, second half was worse once Benny showed his face.

 

Defining moment for me showing complete lack of desire...

About 75-76th min and we're down a goal. A promising SKC attack ends up with ball in Rickett's hands. 6-7 Galaxy players in the box and every single player simply stands. Not one player turns, attempts to go forward and launch an attack, make them self an outlet--Nothing but lazy and bored looks. Looked like the game was already decided and nothing to play for.

Even worse, no emotion displayed at all that anyone even cared they were loosing. This is an organizational problem that I've rarely seen in Galaxy teams.

 

Pretty audacious! A team of Rowe-Omar-AJ-Rogers-Lletget-Villareal Keane-Dos Santos is barely legal. So you would go with a 3-2-2 ?

 

lol. well played. However, I liked the performance of some of our other players who can potentially fill some of the gaps left behind. Meyer, Romney, Lassiter, jamieson, McBean, Ignacio, etc. Along with some smart trades. who knows.

One thing I feel is certain, there should be a large exodus/influx of players during the off season.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much where I am as well. I don't expect the title, so at this point all I want is for Seattle not to win on Wednesday. After that everything is gravy.

[record scratch sound]

Say what now?

I'm hoping we have him chained up to the team for the next few years.

I don't know if I can agree with this. Team was pushing for a goal. I don't think we need histrionics. And we have looked disinterested before (see: Portland 2nd half). In contrast I saw tons of energy yesterday.

 

Wow... hope the comment about jettisoning Juninho is lame sarcasm. Because getting rid of him would be the worst decision since ... I don't know - it's worse than getting rid of Sarvas and almost as bad as voting for Trump. Let's see - at 26 Juni is in the prime of his career (he's only 2 years older than Zardes), currently leads the Galaxy in pass completion rate, his 8 goals+assists is tied for 3rd on the team despite being a defensive player, and let's see, what else...? Oh yeah, he works harder, covers more ground, makes more tackles, breaks up more plays, launches more dangerous counterattacks than anyone else on the team. Let's dump the bum!

And you are right that Gordo has to go as well. After all the guy makes a couple hundred thousand and only has the 2nd most game winning goals on the team this season despite playing a whopping 900 minutes.

And of course it's time to dump Zardes. He's played professionally for three full seasons and was only our 2nd leading scorer this season. Obviously it's time to cut our losses on this albatross.

(Btw, I'm ok with your last line of cut-ees.)

 

You're probably right, and that will be extremely frustrating. Or maybe he'll be injured.

 

I'm actually surprised that Gerrard has struggled as much as he has. I expected him to be a bit slow afoot but also expected him to finish shots and assist opportunities like he got against KC. The guy has made goals like that his whole life and has skills aplenty.

I put it down to a couple of things. First he is slower than I thought and his conditioning hasn't improved as much as you would expect. Second I think its obvious now that we should have been playing him further up the pitch from the beginning (as SoCal has always said) - he just isn't quick enough to get anything done when he is in the hustle and bustle that exists right in front of our defense. Bruce pushed him up against KC he had a very good first half or so, minus the finishing. As far as the finishing - I think he just needs some confidence. You don't lose your skills in a year but your confidence can take a hit. He's hit the post 2 or 3 times - those go in and the goal suddenly becomes a lot bigger for him.

I hope he gets some opportunities to finish in the playoff(s) and buries them. Would make his off-season a lot more pleasurable. And mine as well.

 

I am ok with him playing through it it. It could have still been a goal. And if your opponent gets a handful of jersey from behind on a transition play like that, even if you don't go down, any half-way decent referee is going to play advantage and then go back and give a yellow.

 

Yeah, unfortunately we got Geiger'd on that play.

 

I put it down to him just being tired. On the shot he missed, he looked barely able to stay up after that big run. He had a counter-attack opportunity, too, were he rushed the final ball to Keane and the defender was able to cut it out -- it just looked like he didn't have it in the tank to finish the run. This is what startles me -- we know he's not going to track every run out of midfield, but we're not even getting the offense out of him that we should.

 

I didn't watch his last season, with Liverpool that closely but I did watch the near end of the season game with I believe it was AV. They ran right past him time after time. He was done then. My guess he was done well before that. Its kind of like watching Kobe. The heart is willing, the brain knows what to do, but the body is totally shot and a not even a shadow of what used to be.

 

I won’t be upset if Gerrard retires at the end of the season, but I also won’t be surprised if he scored a clutch goal tomorrow or should we progress at some point in the playoffs. He’s probably one of 5 or 6 players in the post-season capable of those several seconds of world class play necessary to win a championship. Keane, Drogba … I’m actually struggling to think of others. Dempsey & Oba have choked. Bradley, Altidore & Giovinco, to my knowledge, have never been in that position before. Dallas, Vancouver, Portland are all heavy on youth. Of course being English and tomorrow possibly going to penalties I could just as easily see him skying the deciding penalty kick.

 

It's going to be someone like Kamara this year, IMO.

Remember Eskandarian's MLS Cup MVP day?

 

Will Gerrard's clutch goal come before or after he's been responsible for three?

 

As long as it’s the winning one I’m not really bothered.

 

Bruce took care of this - he has him playing as far away from our goal as possible.

 

Which leaves a huge hole in midfield big enough for a Feilhaber to walk thru. I'm sure leaving SKC's most dangerous player totally unmarked was not part of the plan on Sunday.

We are not losing these games in the margins. It's not like we're playing well and just not finishing or giving up soft goals. We are being outplayed in midfield consistently and have for some time. And when we're not dictating the pace of the game with our midfield, then we have lots of trouble.

 

I thought I remembered being called out for predicting Juninho going. And yes, I'm also pissed about it. Gordo and Zardes next??