Well in case you didn't know... 5-3-2 is not going to make an anemic offense better. Oh and our backup outside backs aren't better than our starters - they're just a lot cheaper. And as an added bonus the new guy Gioncarlo must have personally kept 4 attacks onside when Steres and Polenta were stepping. Wonder why more teams don't play 3 centerbacks? Cuello is not the answer, but I don't see any reason that Carrasco should see any minutes that aren't mop up duty in a blowout win. Put Cuello out there - he at least had one nice key pass. And also in the department of restating the obvious - VAR sucks. Galaxy called back goal and handball PK for NY were crap experience for the fans. Two key plays mean no celebration on the goal and really no confidence that the VAR improved the calls - was there offside before the handball? who knows? I only know I get to sit there for 4 minutes with play stopped BORED AND NOT SEE ANY REPLAYS. Why come to the stadium? I don't care if they were the right/wrong calls. Refs should make a call. If they got it obviously wrong VAR could overrule it in 30 seconds. Also when did VAR stop counting to stoppage time? 1 minute first half stoppage time with two VAR stoppages
Johnson did exactly what any player in this day and age does. Zlatan clearly and deliberately grabbed him around the neck & was lucky not to be sent off. Only his profile will prevent the DisCo from bringing further sanctions. So with all due respect: f*** him for in all likelihood leaving us even more shorthanded in upcoming games. This officially changes a stance for me. For a long time, I've defended DPs as a mechanism that allows us to sign players we couldn't otherwise afford, without making the league too lopsided. However, I've spent 3+ years of watching that mechanism force us to put too much emphasis on specific players (by the end I was literally shouting "hoof it up to Zlatan NOW. That's what you'll do after the next 12 passes anyway!") whose personal issues, performances or histrionics have hurt us. Let's just go to a straight salary cap and let the tight owners fail and get their teams replaced.
Disappointing week. We be interesting what the coaches learn from it. I don’t think things are quite as bleak as they seem right now.
Yes, looks like heavy legs, so I'mnot too worried. The long week before their next game should help. However, if they lose to CO, then I'll start being worried.
Ayup. I've been there for a few games, now. BTW, this might've slipped under the radar, but Zlatan got fined for diving in the CBUS match. Zlatan just hasn't been good enough man. Does anyone think playing a Zlatan that's this tired is better than resting him for one of these games? That combined with the antics are getting old.
Well...that sucked. 1) Joe Corona was the only one that looked anywhere near decent after taking a look at the chalkboard. The man was trying to be JDS + himself at once. 2) We miss you Jona! Get well soon! 3) Good googly moogly do we need Alvarez. Hope he's good. I rolled my eyes every time we crossed to nowhere in the second half; watching 5' 4" Ema chase after floated cross after floated cross. 4) Not a good game from Traore but I'll take him over Skjelvik any day of the week. 5) Wasn't as down on Lletget as some of you, but agree that he needs to do more by making late runs (and not just trying to dribble past the entire D). 6) Zlatan looks tired. Majorly tired. And I didn't think the neck grab (looked like neck placement to me) was that bad to be honest. Didn't help that Sean Johnson went down holding his eye (nowhere near your neck, man). I don't like his antics once he gets frustrated. Play the game clean. 7) Gonzalez wasn't bad and had a ton of defensive actions. 8) Antuna was a chicken with its head cut off. We need an injection of life in a bad way. Hope we don't embarrass ourselves against Colorado. EDIT: We had 1 shot on goal. Pitiful.
While that may be true in an absolute "right now" sense, the young guys have one thing going for them that the Rolf/Skhjertic duo does not: hope that with coaching and game minutes they will improve. I can live with their errors for a while and see where they are going. I know where the other two are and am confident they will fail.
Just saw a video on FB of the Ibra/Johnson incident. Looks like Sean bumped Ibra first, then Ibra grabs him by the neck. They both grab and hold and go down. Ibra still needs to be smarter. GBS went with the kids in this game. Can’t complain about that. Shouldn’t the coaches be able to coach up a new attitude, new life into the team?
Yup. Traore and especially Araujo will improve. With Rolf/Skjkjdk that's all we are ever going to get....
I would rather have Omar than Steres. He probably ball watches as much but recovers faster, is better in the air both on offense and defense and is a better emergency defender on a breakaway.
Obviously GBS doesn't think so. Juninho hasn't gotten a single call this year when a more defensive midfielder is brought in or started when JDS isn't available. Nor does he appear to be viewed as a viable attacking option and is behind Cuello and soon both Alverezs (not sure if that is the right plural). We may see him if both Jona and Seb get Gold Cup call ups or for the early US Open games.
I’m afraid we are about to see kitchen move ahead of Juni on the depth chart. If that’s the case, clearly Juni should not have been signed.
Traore made some costly mistakes but I didn't see a lot of ball watching by Araujo. By far our biggest problem was tactical. To accommodate Gonzalez we went with 3 cb's, I guess with the plan to play a 3-5-2. But Araujo and Traore mostly stayed on the back line which means we essentially put out a 5-3-2 against NYCFC's 3-4-3. That meant our three midfielders Corona, Lletget and Carrasco were always outnumbered. That in turn meant a lot of ineffective "man-in-the-middle" ball chasing when NY had the ball, and getting quickly overwhelmed with numbers when we did win it. The shortage of midfielders is a big reason we ended up with only 41% possession at home. This also meant that we were giving the NYCFC mids way too much time and space to get their heads up and find the perfect passes to carve up our defense with well timed through passes. Here we are a moment before their first goal. We have 5 men in the back line leaving only 3 true Galaxy mids. You can see the result is a bunch of wide open midfielders wearing blue kits. The NY player with the ball is under zero pressure with nary a Galaxy player within 10 yards: He and #25 who 1-touch the ball back and forth with the last touch springing NYC #3 who sneaks behind as Traore does ball watch. #3 cuts to the middle and gets off a shot: Bingham, being Bingham, reacts a bit slowly to make the save more spectacular and then manages to dive and get one hand on it and somehow ends up upside down: David, being David, spills the ball directly to the feet of recent NYC acquisition and Savior Heber -- something we are keenly aware of due to fanboy Twellman twaddling about it endlessly -- who then nutmegs David for the goal. I'm not saying the goal was Bingham's fault - our midfield tactics, Traore, and Steres all broke down on this play. I just couldn't stop myself from pointing out that this non-save was classic Bingham. I so want him to make that spectacular save that wins us a game or at least a tie, but alas.... Here we are right before their second goal. NYC has a free kick from the sideline. But upon seeing our classic "10 men flat" back line formation NYC decided to not go directly into the box. Instead that pass the ball to their wide open teammate in the middle of the field: Again facing zero pressure the NY player is able to make a perfect chip pass that will drop into the box onto the feet of 2nd time goal creator and "just barely-kept-onside by Araujo" Alex Ring. Note Antuna's high game IQ as he presciently uses his arm to point toward the spot where he is about to commit a handball: The rest is history. Us failing to create and convert chances, Zlatan playing poorly but creating our only shot on goal, so on and so forth. tldr vers: NYCFC actually played quite well in this game and deserve some credit. But this loss was mainly due to a poor Galaxy game plan. The young outside backs aren't the main problem either. I think Araujo especially is ready for prime time and Traore, by default, is better than Skjiok. The problem is that these two are not going to work well if we are also playing 3 center backs. That lineup just doesn't leave us enough players who are comfortable winning and maintain possession in the midfield. Going forward I would be fine with with any of the following: Traore--Polenta--Steres--Araujo or Traore--Polenta--Gonzalez--Araujo or Polenta--Gonzalez--Steres--Araujo But please, no more five man back lines!
I don't think Omar ever was an option. That's almost like saying I would rather have Messi than Perry Kitchen.
Assuming that the information on TransferMarkt is correct, then Omar is available on a free transfer after June 30, 2019. That means he could have been signed anytime after 1/1/19, but can't play until the summer MLS window opens. TFC apparently reached contract terms with Omar as a TAM player but couldn't get Pachuca to release him immediately. It seems to me that if the Galaxy had been willing to wait and were interested, they could have signed him instead of Giancarlo. The question becomes could they get up in the allocation order enough to sign him.
What did everyone think of Polenta as left back? I thought he did ok given he doesn’t seem to have the natural physical attributes of a fullback. He is a good passer though with his left foot. If Traore is not the answer, do we force Polenta to left back so Steres and Gonzalez can play central? Hopefully on Sunday we have JDS and both Efren and Favio available for selection. That should allow GBS to shake things up a bit in midfield.
I think my biggest issue with this is that he has directly created mulltiple goals for us by pushing up in the middle and making a key pass. Can he do that form the left? It's not the same being on the wing. I think you can only play two of Steres/Gonzalez and Polenta. GBS needs to put his big boy pants on and make a decision, otherwise we are back to playing people out of position. Clearly GBS did not expect Steres to be as good as he has been, but this is a good problem to have...right?
Steres is good, but he can't pass or dribble into midfield, which GBS surely wants from his CBs (you see how useful Poletna is getting forward). Unless he improves dramatically in those areas, I think he will eventually lose his spot to Giancarlo.
I don't know... Messi's getting pretty old and his stats are declining. Only 34 goals and 13 assists in 32 starts this season. Kitchen otoh is just entering his prime ball watching years.