Not hustling to catch his man afterward, then letting the cross come in without trying to stop it. I guess he didn't want to scratch his legs on the turf... I know that stings.
I don't recall it being a hustle issue. He had advanced up after intercepting the cross, but slipped and was out of the play. At that point, Rolf should have went out to cover sooner, but was late in doing so. I know you just like being the contrarian so I'll just end it by saying that we can agree to disagree.
Iirc he did a recovery run and did try to stop it. Also his guy didnt score. He was guilty of a turnover due to slipping on a bad surface, bad luck and the rest of the team allowing a weak side player to be wide open in the box.
I`ve been trying to think of what to say all day but the truth of the matter is these guys are not getting it done. The Galaxy has blown the last 3 games and left a total of 9 points out on the field. When it comes to this team Murphy`s Law is kicking our asses. I see GBS with the same dumb look I probably have when I see the comedy of errors this team commits. This team is seriously lacking in fundamentals on Defense as well as on Offense. I was so bummed yesterday especially when we fought so hard to get back in the game and then just gave it right back. The worst part is last game it was Blessing and this game it was Roldan...sheesh I cant remember the last time Roldan scored two freaking goals in one game and Im from his home town of Pico Rivera lol I`ll leave it at that most of you have already expressed what I was gonna rant about....What a shame....
I think Araujo's aware; he just gets beaten on the recovery (damning with faint praise, I guess). I think you could argue this moment was a bit too much for him, which is what you get with young defenders especially. But he does let himself get crossed up by their outside back, who's able to find the ball in space and get the assisting pass in. The problem is, defense has already broken down and we don't have defenders individually good enough to make the decisive play once defense has broken down (including Bingham). Araujo making up for his mistake with a recovery, or Skrumbick cutting out the ball at the back post are the kind of big individual plays are poorer (and younger / inconsistent players) defenders don't make often enough. Which is FINE if you build a system that insulates them from constant breakdowns, where all they need to do is put in a by-the-numbers defensive performance. But GBS refuses to do that.
I think that the fullback are doing what they are being coached do. It's happening too many times in the exact same way for it to be incompetence. See my post on your excellent thread about hiring a new defensive coach.
Here, convenient, all can see for their own selves: https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...sounders-fc-vs-la-galaxy/details/video/212283
I'm beating a dead horse but we don't play our best defense. Araujo should start. Skjelvik had some occasional good plays during the last couple of games but remains a defensive liability. We don't have the personnel to play the attacking style GBS wants. I won't blame him if he'll take a more defensive approach. Seriously if we miss the playoffs by a couple of points I'll blame GBS. We're in September and he's not trotting our best lineup, it's shameful.
What is our best line-up in your opinion? Our midfield basically picks itself. I think the only change someone can realistically suggest is lletget to CAM, and Corona to CM with Alvarez back on the bench. Defense is also a bit of a toss up. Steres and Gonzalez have been wildly inconsistent all season. Polenta is our best defender, and we are playing him at left back because he is the only one who looks competent there. Right back is also a bit of a shit show. Araujo is not MLS standard yet. There is a reason Feltscher keeps starting. So do you start Romney at left back and do Steres-Polenta at center back, or do you put Polenta at left back with Steres-Gonzalez at center back? GBS has tried it all this season. Defense is just bad. 3 of the 4 defenders aren't cutting it currently. I think Gonzalez can turn it around, but we need better full backs.
It was so easy to see, even in real time during the game, that Araujo was completely unaware of the situation (i.e. that his team only needed him for a few minutes to run his butt off, that there was a Seattle player 5 yards behind him making a run right past him, and that an emergency slide to block the cross was warranted under the circumstances). Just shows a lack of commitment and awareness of the game situation. Rookie play. And despite all the planning you do defensively, the game often comes down to key one-on-one battles. Yes, Skjelvic was horribly out of position, and could have saved the day, and thousands of other plays during the game could have made a difference, but to me, this one play was the biggest defining moment of the game, and it was Araujo who gets beat.
I think the problem isn't so much with the personnel (although they could be better) as it is the tactics and the wings. Neither Antuna or Pavon, do jack as part of the "normal" defense. They hover on the top of the 18 waiting for a ball to popout so they can relaunch the attack. Contrast that with how Jordan Morris repeatedly got back to challenge Rolf when he moved forward.
Very true and well said. And it's not just Antuna & Pavon - you can add Favio, Efrain, Pontius and Lletget to the list. It wouldn't kill Ibra to come back and help on defense in the dying moments of the game as well. I remember Donovan making 50 yard full out sprint backs when he saw problems developing at the end of games. I just looked at the heat maps of our player on whoscored.com and it verifies these impressions. SEA's mids and forwards played more D and came farther back to help. To beat a dead horse - this is on both the players and the coach. GBS is obviously telling the team to attack relentlessly and is short changing the defensive side of things. But there are also in-game situations where the players absolutely have to read the tea leaves and help out on D, regardless of the coach's natural predilections.
While I agree with your re-assessment of Araujo's play (i.e. unaware of the runner instead of "dogging it" and not hustling) I would say that Corona is more to blame for letting the cross get off. Unlike Araugo, who had the runner coming from his blindside, Corona had a view of the whole play and continued to man-mark empty space rather than make the run to block the cross... But I'd say that even good defense sometimes lets good crosses into the box. What I'd say is way more inexcusable is having an entire half of your penalty box completely open and an opposing player in your six-yard box with no one even close to him.
Defensively, I've seen Araujo play much better than Feltscher. I'd have rather given him the experience. His greenness couldn't result in any more issues than Feltscher's play in general. At RB? Romney all day. He's not amazing but Skjagwf is a flat-out liability. In the middle, you play Pavon and Steres whenever available. Occasionally, if it's essential that you shut down a right-wing player, push Polenta to LB and take your chances with Gonzalez. Most importantly have at least ONE of your midfield 3 taking responsibility for protecting the back line. Our back four isn't great as it is but a huge quantity of our goals are a product of getting caught in transition, both because our outside backs move carelessly up field and our midfield frequently leaves our central defense exposed.
^^ Exactly. On all points. I will just reinforce one. As barroldinho said Araujo's downside is he doesn't have a lot of experience and will make some mistakes. Contrast that to Feltscher who is very experienced --- and makes frequent mistakes. My overall impression from the limited time I've seen Araujo play: Araujo is more athletic than Feltscher, better at closing down opponents, better at winning 50-50 balls, is more proactive at both ends of the field and actually seems to care about shutting down opposing wingers and preventing crosses from coming in. Also -- unlike Feltscher -- he doesn't defend like a barge trying to stop a speed boat.
I didn't re-assess his play. You might just be coming around to my view because the video replay is too obvious for even you to deny it. He was unaware and playing lazy, when he, having just entered the field, should have been neither. Not sure why Skjelik was out of position... there may have been a valid reason (though seems unlikely). And Corona, while he could have been a hero and helped, that was NOT his man, it was Araujo's (that's why he chased him), and Corona (as much as I generally dislike his play) was not the guy that got into position to definitively block the cross by sliding, but decided not to.
In the end, Araujo entered the field with a few minutes left to play. He made 3 clear mistakes (poor touch to start the play, delayed reaction in chasing his mark, and not sliding to block the cross) in rapid succession leading to a game-winning goal against. That needs to be cleaned up big time before being able to count on him in clutch situations.