Tiredness was a factor for our overall play in 2nd half but had nothing to do with Rolf's lack of awareness, which is a constant. All he needed to do was stay on his side of the field and we don't give up a soft tap-in goal. Instead he runs to the center to help where none is needed, wasting more effort with his AYSO-like ball chasing. Knowing and executing basic soccer defense principles like shape and balance makes a defender's life easier, not harder. And of course giving up the goal meant our exhausted team had to then turn around and again up their energy expenditure to regain the lead.
Agree with your analysis of the whole sequence. The lack of having #'s back was especially egregious given the game state. When you are holding a lead on the road in the 2nd half there is no need to push up a lot of players. Stay connected and compact, which in turn allows the team to expend less energy. Us getting too spread out also affected our play on the offensive end. If we had played compactly then when we gained possession (which would be often) we could have used our passing skills to move forward as a team. Let the ball do the running and make them chase it around. Instead we got spread out and that meant that when Antuna, Lletget, etc. got the ball higher up the field they didn't have a lot of support. They made it worse by defaulting to trying to dribble their way through a crowd, rather than holding up, waiting for team to catch up. This over-dribbling led to quick dispossessions and us repeatedly thrown back on our heels chasing the ball around the field.
Having seen Araujo and Traore now in real games, I feel a little better about the future of our fullback position. And, amazingly, despite all this, we are tied for fewest goals allowed in the league. We are currently in first place in the league and it is because of our DEFENSE, gang! (Offense is tied for 6th best with Houston - oddly enough, Galaxy and Houston have almost the exactly the same stats across the board so far)
This was the first game in which I felt confidence in the back line. Notice how it affects Bingham's game also. He feels that confidence and it shows in his performance and focus. Much better than last year. No more Mr. 2nd Bounce. But that Traore had a very impressive 1st game. Much more than Polenta, Alvarez or Araujo.
Surprised to learn that was Antuna's first professional goal. I knew he was mostly stuck on the bench, but still - I think I forgot how young he is and he's looked for the most part so comfortable that I forget it. He's really done very well and was a great pickup (even if I'm unsure of the Galaxy's ability to sign him longer term).
I was ready to crown Traore after the first 30 minutes. I never want to see Jorgen again. Diedie's mistakes were nowhere near as poor as Skjelvik's (famous last words). Also can't wait to see Traore and Araujo at fullback together. The idea makes me plain skippy! Steres is having a great season. No idea how he gets unseated. JDS is a BEAST. Matt Doyle said he might be the best dmid in MLS right now. Can't disagree. It makes me scared for the Gold Cup - both for the Galaxy and the USMNT (getting ahead of myself). Zlatan looked tired last game, and looked downright pooped this game. Need more out of Antuna even though he scored. Not enough involvement from him and we need more with Romain out. Nice game from Bingham as well. 7-1-1. I don't know if any of us would have predicted that.
This from Jonas instagram page approx 5 days ago and refers to the Loons game I believe. It looks like some idiots have been provoking him: jona2santos ⬇️ Para todos aquellos que hablan o dicen que no estuve o este COMPROMETIDO con el equipo desde mi llegada a Los Ángeles que sepan que siempre he dado todo por el club pero hay circustancias en la vida que no están en tus manos... Solo les quiero hacer saber que para mi hoy no fue un día fácil, me levanté con un pinchazo en el nervio de mi cuello (dolor que no se quita ni con un relajándote muscular ni masaje y sin exagerar este es el dolor más incómodo que he tenido) estuve todo el día sin movilidad hacia mi lado izquierdo incluso durante todo el partido, para todos los que saben sobre esto para un mediocentro o jugador es casi imposible jugar sin poder tener la mejor movilidad y visión de juego. Gracias a los fisios y a la fuerza de Dios pude jugar y poner mi granito de arena para poder ayudar al equipo. Let’s go @lagalaxy Basically: To those of you that talk or say that I haven't been or am committed to the team from my arrival to Los Angeles know that I have always given my all for the club but there are circumstances that are out of your control. I only want to let you know that for me today was not an easy day. I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck (pain that doesnt go away with muscle relaxants nor massage and without exageration this is the most uncomfortable pain that I have had) All day I was without movement toward my left side including throughout the game. For those who are aware for a midfielder or player it is almost impossible to play without having he best movement or vision of play. Thanks to the therapists and the strength of God I was able to play and add my grain of sand to be able to help the team.
Zlatan has been out of sorts for three weeks now at least. And I don’t mean just play-wise. He seems grouchier than last season, disgruntled even to the point of being a dick this game. (Zlatan doesn’t go to opp locker room to apologize unless he thinks he’s stepped over a line.) Its got to a point that I wonder if there are some off-field issues that are stressing him. Shxx happens to pro athletes like the rest of us.
Has anybody really questioned his commitment to LAG? I haven't seen it but I don't see the Spanish language media.
I don’t get all this Zlatan angst. Concern about him physically? Sure I get that he’s 37, playing a lot and it’s a physical game. Concern about his attitude? He’s the same he always has been. He’s not the first soccer player to gesture and point. I’d be concerned if his post game comments were negative but he seems to genuinely enjoy the team and the season. His teammates seem happy with him too. As for his actions against the RSL player, I’m impressed by them. He knew he needed to get fired up more so he created an antagonist on the field and it helped lead to victory. Big deal. I think the RSL reaction to this has been silly.
Listen when you're used to world class quality football and play with the biggest clubs on the grandest stages in European football, it is going to take some time to get used to what we have here (not a knock it's reality). Yes he's frustrated at the lack of concentration and lack of winning mentality on all contested balls, defense collapses and really CIF level football at times. He needs to feel challenged to play at optimal level, nothing personal just business. And these snowflake players are showing exactly why they can never play at an elite level like he did. Oh and Mr. Irrelevant says Ibra is a thug, well he played in Man City presumably. He never heard or ran into Roy Keane, Joey Barton, Stan Collymore, Marlon Harewood, Neil Ruddock? I say grow some cojones. All this to say for us LAG supporters there is nothing to see here.
Did you notice late in the first half that Zlatan refused to pass the ball to Rolf? Almost like refusing to acknowledge he was a useful part of the team. But to be honest, who could blame him? Rolf royally messed up about half a dozen passes or crosses in the first half where Zlatan was making a good run and could have probably easily scored. I was astounded how bad Rolf was in his passing on Saturday. At this time, I have no problem with Zlatan's attitude. The problem is with Rolf and to lesser degree others missing a wide open Zlatan more often these past couple games than normally. Hopefully that gets corrected soon.
Me too. And I was one that was questioning bringing Zlatan in from the beginning. But he as surpassed my expectations, and continues to do so. He JUST scored the winning goal for us late in last game, for Pete's sake!
Zlatan's playing on a better team with a better coach now than he was last season and making a lot more money. So the idea that he's grouchy because of the quality of his teammates doesn't really work, IMO. Fact is, Zlatan just hasn't been good at moments this season, particularly the Minnesota game I thought he was very bad and yelled at his teammates way too much when they were, in fact, out-performing him. I think Zlatan is the kind of guy who gets frustrated with himself above all, but he has to be careful with his body language making it appear that his teammates messed up the play everytime when he sometimes isn't making runs, getting back onside etc. I've finally seen him making a couple apologetic gestures to players like Boateng when he sent some poor passes their way or lost the ball. He needs to get called out a bit more for his individually poor play at times. As for his attitude, picking fights is something Zlatan does to get motivated and the results speak for themselves. I guess no one remembers him kicking the ball into Vela and starting something with him right before The Goal? As long as he doesn't get himself carded, I'm all for it.
I re-read my post about Zlatan and realize it was poorly worded. While it is true that I was expressing mild "concern" about Zlatan's attitude, I didn’t mean it as critical. I could care less about him pointing, glaring, and jawing. All of that lets me know that he's competitive as hell and a perfectionist. And it reminds me very much of our most recent super-striker, he of the body roll and finger pistols. I just meant to say that he seems a little more out of sorts than usual the last few weeks. And I was wondering out loud if something is going on with him personally since on the field our play and success rate have both improved. I’ve been consistently in the camp that we are better with him on the field than without, moody or not. He can play poorly for 88 minutes and still turn the game around. Not another striker in MLS would have the heads-up awareness to let Polenta’s pass roll through, which was obv essential for that turning into an easy goal. He had to instantly realize the pace of the pass was perfect and aware that Pontius was behind him and smart enough to be ready for the deception. Too bad you can’t get assists w/o touching the ball because Ibra deserved one there, along with Polenta. I do think he overreacted to the RSL player but it’s not an issue for me. I’ve watched him play for us long enough to know that’s not his baseline. He’s competitive as hell but not an asshxxx. He got frustrated, lashed out for a moment, and then apologized (or tried to). Like others have said here - big whoop, time to move on. I may get frustrated at him occasionally but at heart I’m team Zlatan.
I often say things like, “Ema should yell at Ibra for that,” or “Better pass Ibra.” I’m not concerned about Ibra’s attitude. I was hoping that the League would pump up this “incident” more. Go Galaxy!
Not me. Provoking a confrontation because you need to get motivated is a jerk move. Then going around later and trying to make nice because you got what you needed out of the confrontation is a smarmy jerk move. I’m almost as unimpressed by this as I was by his own description of the fight he picked with Onyewyu.
I love all the hand-wringing over this Zlatan-Onuoha "confrontation." It's just pro wrestling. Enjoy the show! https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/04/30/warshaw-wheres-line-trash-talk The comments....the comments...