P/I/P Game 21: LAFC @ L.A. Galaxy, FRIDAY 7/19/19, 7pm PT

Hopefully he plays like he's 29. We'll need him to.

 

Sounds like the kind of thing Zlatan says to motivate himself. He's admitted he needs to instigate a personal war on the field from time to time to get himself going.

 

Zlatan in his prime better than Vela, sure, but now? No. I would take Vela in a heartbeat over Zlatan.

Getting Gio when/if could have gotten Vela was probably the biggest mistake that defines the gap in fortunes between LAFC and the Galaxy.

 

Zlatan is a clever PR guy, especially during live interviews. Here he uses a bit of word-play misdirection to steer the conversation in his favor. "Who is the better player" would normally imply a comparison of current abilities/performance. Zlatan knows he doesn't win that battle so he smartly reframes it as referring to who has had the better career, a comparison where the Lion absolutely crushes.

 

I disagree. He's got 16 goals in 13 games with very little service. Those would be great numbers with great service. He wanders around a lot but he was doing that all last season too.

I'm not going to deny that Vela is having an excellent season with 19 in 19 but he's also playing on a team that is solid throughout.

 

There are even screen caps of one of the SGs facebook account, where they posted photos of the big bundle of tickets they bought.

Incidentally, earlier this year I saw first hand on twitter, a Galaxy fan boasting about surreptitiously acquiring a block of tickets for the game at their place and of course, LAFC responded in exactly the same way: they figured out who the guy was, cancelled any tickets he bought and gave a refund.

There have been far too many incidents in the short history of this rivalry to allow members of the other teams' SGs to occupy home sections in significant numbers.

 

Here is the "youth teams" and "low income youth" LAFC fans was crying about:



Looks totally legit.

I will admit that before the season I was in with a group of Galaxy fans trying to buy a 20 person group package to the LA Galaxy at LAFC match in August. Just regular group tickets and they cancelled the transaction when they realized we were galaxy fans. Those were just regular seats. These, apparently, are above the Galaxy supporters area

 

You’re right, I’ll chalk it up to recency bias on my part.

 

There's always some dive they go watch the match. I would be very upset if that happened to my group. To think you are going and a couple days have rug yanked is awful. Imagine the people that prepared and took the day off. LOL

Just tragic. At least there will be less beer showers to be had and the styrofoam will be safer.

 

Give me a choice between the two for the rest of the season and I take Vela in a heartbeat. Ibra actually has 13 goals in 16 games, plus 3 assists. Vela has 19 goals and 12 assists in 19 games. But more importantly Vela does more than score - he helps move the ball up the field, is active at helping his team keep possession and pressures more on defense. Ibra is having a productive season but Vela is off the charts right now.

 

You are looking at this in isolation. Take assists for example. The Galaxy don't have anyone who can finish except Zlatan. You can't get an assist if the other guys can't finish. Imagine if they switched teams. Who's numbers do you really think would be better.

 

Well, as you yourself stated, getting Gio at the time was a bit of a coup. He and Giovinco were at the forefront of the more prime-age DP era, and you could argue Gio is a bigger name in this region. Vela doesn't sign had Gio not signed previously. Just another thing they owe us.

 

SJ mopped the floor with our defense and midfield last game, we got lucky early goal, and then were dominated by SJ for 87 minutes. Is there a hope we could do better vs Chivas 2.0 who is the best team in the league now? Answer is no.
After Friday's imminent fiasco we play 3 road games in a row, come Aug 11th we can easily end up outside playoff zone.
So again is there a hope team can suddenly start playing better?
No.
But - miracles do happen.

 

I think it’s cute how committed they are - having committed many season to supporting their team. C’mon, tell me they aren’t cute.

 

I'm not discounting Vela's performances but if this LAFC had Zlatan and this LAG had Vela, I find it easier to see Zlatan having 19 goals with them than Vela having 16 with us.

 

Yeah but SJ uses that wacky man-marking style that's throwing most of the teams they play. Plus our coach's iffy at best for on-the-fly tactical prep and changes. Don't worry about the road games. LAFC plays zone. All our team has to focus on is on this game. This game may hold the key to a kickass kickoff to the second half of the season or to the free-fall but that's for the next episode to worrywort about. Now we focus the hell out of this match.

There's always hope.

 

Anyone got the all time LA Galaxy vs Chivas USA 1.0/2.0 head to head?

If Wikipedia is to be believed we are 23 wins, 10 draws and 4 losses.

I'll feel pretty ok about our record regardless of tomorrow's result. They have a lot of ground to make up.

 

(barroldinho - you really,really want Zlatan to have 16 goals, don't you? )

I agree that Ibra's goals and assists stats are being hurt by being surrounded by poor finishers and some poor passers but I don't think that issue wipes out all of the difference. Vela has almost twice as many g+a as Ibra (31 vs 16). And he crushes on a points basis (2 for goal+ 1 for assist): Vela 50, Ibra 29.

Yes Vela has 3 more games but that is because he doesn't take off games due to injuries and turf avoidance. Physical resilience has to be part of any "who is currently the best player" question.

And then when you move away from just offensive stats Vela crushes - he is a more consistent passer, he is more mobile and helps his team advance the ball more that Ibra. That's a low bar since Ibra is a stationary target 98% of the time. That limits the ways he helps his team.

All this is coming from a big Ibra fan who would take current Ibra over any other MLS forward who is not named Vela.

 

Forget all stats and all percentages and all averages and such...its Derby Day!

Anything can happen in a derby and I am ready. Have my beer cooling and my scream-pillow (for the neighbors) fluffed and ready. Bring it!

GALAXY!!!​

 

I'm nervous we will get embarrassed in our own stadium. Our recent form has been bad. I mean if San Jose can get 3 goals against us at home, then I worry what LAFC can do.

Bob is bad against quick counter attacking teams. Maybe try a 5-3-2?

 

If you wanted to counter attack, you probably would need both Antuna and Boateng on the field.

 

Eww, that’s ugly.

 

I swear those were both typos/freudian slips.

You may be right and I've never liked Ibra being anything more than a forward. The risk/reward ratio of the way he plays turns him from a constant threat to a liability the further he gets from the 18 yard box.

I'm not denying that Vela is in better form right now. I'm just hesitant to say that given the teams around them, it's that much of a no-brainer as to who is truly better overall.

Zlatan isn't just suffering from having poor service and finishing around him, he's also playing with a team that doesn't create space for him and the almost total lack of goal-threat outside of him, means that defences can focus on Ibra almost exclusively.

Vela benefits from offensive partners that pull opposing teams apart.

Again, not taking anything away from him - he's the main component of that attack and is killing it - but I think Zlatan is being remarkably productive in his own right.

 

I hope we win!