P/I/P Game 7: L.A. Galaxy vs Atlanta, SATURDAY 4/21/18, 7:30pm PT

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by L.A. Native, Apr 14, 2018.

  1. rtdavide

    rtdavide Member+

    Apr 20, 2005
    Whittier, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I didn't get a chance to see this game as it was playing: thank God. I just now watched 10 minutes of the replay from minute 48 or so and couldn't bear to watch anymore.
    We are pathetic. I can't even watch this team right now. I'm sorry, but with the payroll and players we have, this is unacceptable to me. We are outclassed in every area and look like a 3rd division team.
     
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  2. El Futbolisimo

    El Futbolisimo Member+

    Sep 28, 1999
    Listen I don't know what happened to Jona and Gio and this injury tag-team they are working but if Jona was hurt, then he was hurt. I do not know how not playing will benefit either dos santos as far as Osorio calling them up. Fo me personally Jona is on that Russia squad no matter what based on what he has done even before he came to Galaxy. Gio if he even goes is bench material. Now, having said that, I cannot tell you how much this talk of Multi-year rebuild talk I disagree with. I could write a dissertation on it but suffice it to say I belive with the type players we have on hand we are a very viable group to quickly evolve into a team capable of making a run at the title, this year. Believe me.
     
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  3. JPAR

    JPAR Member

    Aug 21, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    I think Jona was cautious because the World Cup is coming and he doesn't want an injury - it just sucks for us Galaxy fans. Because if he is really hurt, he knows it right away, and he doesn't have to consult with his big brother.

    I hope you are right about us being a viable group, it's still early in the season, hopefully we get hot during the playoffs. The elephant in the room is still, what the hell do you do with Gio?
     
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  4. El Futbolisimo

    El Futbolisimo Member+

    Sep 28, 1999
    Yeah, no, i know how it looks but it could have been just a talk between brothers that Jona did not feel 100 and asked his brother can you come in today and help the team because I am not feeling it and Gio said ok.
     
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  5. Dr.Phil

    Dr.Phil Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gio was already available. Husidic was the one that started
     
  6. Lazy Assed Assassin

    Jul 21, 2015
    Coming to terms with the fact LA will be an average to below average team while Gio is on the team. In this league you can build teams different way, but if your philosophy is centered around “big names” then your big names have to be consistent. Landon was quoted a year or two ago praising a player who was retiring or something and paraphrasing said “Anyone can have a good season, it’s doing it consistently season after season that makes the great players great.”
     
  7. Baysider

    Baysider Member+

    Jul 16, 2004
    Santa Monica
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    I would like to think so,

    but I'm definitely leaning that way

    I'm not sure I agree with this article, but it's interesting

    https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/04/22/davies-dissecting-la-galaxys-issues-zlatan-era

    Our big-money TAM target forward is conflicting with our other big-money TAM target forward. Great.

    We spent DP money on a forward who doesn't seem to fit and then more DP money on his brother who can't help but be affected by the drama.

    We have a load of talent, but there's no plan, and I'm not sure there's a way to fit all the pieces together. Either we need to pick players who are versatile or we need a plan and stick to it.
     
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  8. kaburu

    kaburu Member+

    Jul 12, 2009
    los angeles
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    fake news
     
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  9. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I did miss the opening 20 minutes, including the PK and goal, so perhaps I am biased but I didn't think the performance was that bad given the circumstances. Yet another game where we are not at full strength, facing one of the best teams in the league. It was unfortunate to give up another goal near the end, as I felt 0-1 was a fairly representative scoreline based on the actual performance. Bingham had to make a couple big saves and we rarely created real danger on offense, but otherwise we kept them from having dangerous chances for long stretches.

    How many games have we all had all 3 DPs available at the same time? I think only once this season. That also means few opportunities to actually play together. Can't understate that when looking at our overall lack of cohesion.
     
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  10. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    They hit the post/crossbar 3 times in that first 20 minutes. We were very lucky to not be down 2-0 or 3-0 in the first half.
     
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  11. FlapJack

    FlapJack Member+

    Mar 3, 2006
    Los Angeles
    I think those all occurred within a very shaky ~10 minute span starting with the PK off of the post.
     
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  12. luigi-55

    luigi-55 Member

    LA Galaxy
    Netherlands
    May 7, 2010
    Long Beach
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Two of those crossbars came on the same sequence so it would only have been 1 goal if it had gone in. They scored on that sequence anyway, so the score would have still been 1-0. The other was on the penalty kick, if that goes in, the second sequence probably doesn't even happen. Our "shaky" defense and Bingham did a good job of keeping them from scoring, so that is something. We were shorthanded in the midfield and our offense just didn't pull the trigger in the 18 yard box. That penalty gets called and we could have walked away with a tie, and I think many "fans / experts" would have a different perspective about us this week. For everyone talking about how they out shot us and hit crossbars, that was us against Kansas City. How come no one was talking about our dominate "offensive" performance there, because we were unlucky enough not to score? I think back to the last crossbar hit by Roman. That was a nice sequence between Zlatan, Ole, and him. That goes in and that game probably has a different result and our team has a new different level of confidence. Think about how much that could do for this team if they could catch a couple of breaks. I know we are not where we want to be play wise, and some are questioning our coaching, but this team has quality. The guys just need to get game time together and have some breaks and luck go our way. I knew we where not going to be our best until the second half of the year, I have faith in our team this year. I didn't have that last year. [​IMG]
    Now if Klein and Vagenas would fire themselves ;)
     
  13. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm digging all the calm heads this season. WE'll know in June if we are right to remain calm or if we are just deluding ourselves.

    I know that I wish we were playing a mediocre team this weekend instead of Red Bulls. I think after this weekend we'll have played all the best teams other than Toronto (who ironically is the one team I wish we had faced this year due to the CCL)
     
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  14. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    #164 skydog, Apr 24, 2018
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
    I like your optimism but there is no way to argue that we weren't thoroughly outplayed in this game. They had 20 shots with 7 on frame versus our 8 shots with only 1 on target. According to 538.com their "expected goals" was 3.4 vs our expected 0.6 goals. And if you are going down to individual plays and "what ifs" it goes both ways. Maybe on a better day Romain gets a goal rather the crossbar but by the same token on a worse day Bingham doesn't get lucky that Martinez's shot from 2 yards out hits him in the foot.

    By the way that multiple crossbar goal you mention was the result of the same defensive positioning mistake that we have made all season --once again our entire defense drifts to one side of the field and leaves the weak side wide open for late attackers. Below is a pic of our positioning a few seconds before their goal. Seven Galaxy players including Cole have drifted to the center or right side of the field:

    upload_2018-4-24_16-53-49.png

    That "team drift" leaves our weak side so open that an ATL player gets excited and starts waving his hand - "hey, look at me - I'm wide open!"

    upload_2018-4-24_16-31-54.png

    Sure enough the cross is made to the weak side:

    upload_2018-4-24_16-56-4.png

    and he receives it with with no one near him. Cole is slow to close him down and he is allowed to line up a blistering shot that goes off the crossbar and is in the back of the net a couple seconds later. It didn't help that Stere chests it down perfectly for Martinez's shot:

    upload_2018-4-24_17-1-55.png

    Our defense as currently constructed just isn't good enough. Cole isn't disciplined about positioning, Steres isn't quick enough (mind or feet) to handle emergency defending, Kitchen doesn't provide much protection and Rolf leaves his post regularly.

    I think one improvement would be for Sigi to play Romney instead of Steres. Romney reads the game better and is more athletic. Hell we could try Romney instead of Kitchen. Its a new position for Romney but he's faster than Kitchen, dominates the air better than Kitchen. And the way Kitchen is playing now Romney couldn't be worse.

    But what do I know. I hear that 99.9% of our posts on here are worthless anyway....:(
     
  15. FlapJack

    FlapJack Member+

    Mar 3, 2006
    Los Angeles
    I think Atlanta took it to us, but I'm not sure we were thoroughly outplayed 20:8 or 7:1. When my team is trailing, I want them to give up some chance on the counter in order to try and get forward and get a tying goal. And more than shots, chances created, however that might be measured, would be a better indication of gameplay given that we squandered several good buildups/chances by trying to be a bit too cutesy with killer passes. And I think that might not represent the overall gameplay - just the discrepancy in quality and team understanding in the final third. Which isn't surprising. LA is still very much a team that hasn't played together. Until we have Ola, Zlatan, Lletget, JDS, Romain together for 70+ minutes for more than a game or two, I'm not sure we can be expected to be in the league elite offenses. So I'm not saying we didn't get outplayed, I'm just going to say I don't think we were outplayed 7:1, and I'm not giving up yet on this team.

    I'm a slow learner.
     
  16. JPAR

    JPAR Member

    Aug 21, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    According to COG our leading chance creator this season is..... our right fullback Rolf Fletscher.

    I think that says it all. No wonder Zlatan is frustrated.
     
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  17. Skevin

    Skevin Member+

    Aug 9, 2009
    Colorado
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Czechia
    Granted Gio, Alessandrini, Lletget, Boateng, and Jonathan have all been in and out of the line-up for injuries already. Rolf has played every minute so far I believe.

    Hopefully we can stay fit and get some cohesion going.
     
  18. Dr.Phil

    Dr.Phil Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    Club:
    FC Bayern München
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  19. shurikt

    shurikt Member

    Aug 4, 2004
    Las Vegas, NV
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Full on jinx, right there. Rolf is injured.
     
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  20. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You don't get points by hitting the crossbar, which is what I said about us after the SKC match. Fact is, the Galaxy were in range until the last minute of the game, which would've been a good outcome given we were still missing 2 DPs for 60 minutes or so. How does ATL look with Martinez and Almiron for that long?

    I'm not arguing we had a great performance or even a good team. But for a team still gelling and hampered by injuries with a suspect defense, managing to stay in the game against a team that puts the boots to squads to the tune or 3-4 goals is not bad, IMO.
     
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  21. GalaxyKoa

    GalaxyKoa Member+

    Jul 18, 2007
    North County
    Club:
    Los Angeles
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't know what stat they're using (he's 5th on the team in Key Passes on WhoScored) but Rolf is also our leader in turning the ball over with incomplete passes (outside of David Bingham). He has I suspect any stat where he's leading in chances created stems heavily from his volume.

    Very little upsets me more in a soccer game than a player playing an aimless ball and and unwarranted cross into the box. It's lazy and shows a lack of intelligence on the field. Rolf is that embodied. He gets the ball in the final third? It'll be an aimless head down cross into the box. Even when he does end up putting together a good move when a cross is actually warranted, his crossing is terrible. He's 5th in the league in volume of inaccurate crosses, and all four of the players above him have higher completion percentages. In fact, of the 62 players with at least 15 cross attempts this season, Rolf is 51st in cross completion percentage with 15% of his 40 crosses being completed. Average is 25% and Rolf would be in the 19th percentile of cross completion of qualified crosses in MLS.

    It doesn't help that Alessandrini has been playing poorly and is only 4 spots above Feltscher in cross completion percentage with 18% on 33 attempts. For comparison's sake, Lletget is at 30% in 33 attempts and surprisingly Boateng is at 31% on 16 attempts (which will almost certainly go down given that Boateng's first two seasons with us had a dismal 13% completion percentage). At least in Boateng's case I do feel like he doesn't just put his head down and put in crosses. He actually has an idea what he's trying to do and doesn't force them, he's just not a good crosser.

    Defensively he's pretty meh. When he's not leaving loads of space behind him, he's a mediocre tackler (oddly enough, Perry Kitchen actually leads the league in tackling percentage and Ashley Cole is one of the worst in the league).

    So I really dislike Rolf. I think he's a bad player. That being said, we still don't have anyone else to play there. Zico Bailey's almost 18, what could it hurt?
     
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  22. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I can't blame Rolf or Cole much, 'cause it's clearly part of the gameplan to work the wings and get them forward as much as possible, despite both being slow recovery defenders. Rolf's not a great crosser perhaps, but he finds himself with space in the final 3rd and gets the ball in the box more than anyone else. That's been Sigi's gameplan, although it's probably not a coincidence that he's relied heavily on the wings since both our centrally-positioned DPs haven't been available.
     
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