P/I/P MLS Cup Playoffs WC Semifinal: L.A. Galaxy @ LAFC, THURSDAY 10/24/19, 7:30pm PT

I see a limit to both Steres and Romney. I think they would be top subs but nothing more and certainly not at the level of Polenta. We need to address the D in a serious manner. If we had better people around Polenta tonight we could have won. The D just imploded. 5 goals! That is unacceptable if the conversation is about winning another cup.

 

A lot of this has to be laid at the feet of the coach. No professional team should be giving up 5 goals. If the defence is weak, protect them by bringing in the midfield. On the first two goals I was screaming at someone to guard Vela - it's not rocket science. They had way too much space at the top of the box - been that way all year. We are always going to score, so cover the back line. Not sure GBS can tactically bring us a championship.

Having said that, can LAFC not afford to buy Bradley a decent shirt!

 

Don't twist the knife. I am trying to have decent nights sleep. Tomorrow I will take the blinders off. 52 year old Stott right. He has to do something to ingratiate himself with the brass.

 

To the question of Ibrah. If he leaves or we let him go there goes the scoring. The guy that replaces him has huge shoes to fill. Can Pavon do that? I don't know that. Think another 2 or three years rebuilding. Or can we have one last go with the Lion and a solid defense???

 

What a night man. I was so tired today I honestly didn't know if I'd make it through the whole game but once the game started I got a second wind.

I thought this match could go a couple ways. I thought it could go to PKs or we could get blown out, so I'm glad we made it competitive. Bob thinks he's coaching Barcelona, but they ceded possession at home because they knew better, out-fouled us and needed an offside goal to win. Glad you committed to "your football", Bob. I hope Jordan Morris cornholes Tyler Miller in the next round, since he used up all his good saves for the year in this match. We scored THREE against them AND hit the post AND had goals ROBBED. Ugh! I honestly respect RSL and Seattle more than this team.

LAFC fans really hate us, man. It's like beating us is a moral imperative for them them. I wish I could say something nice about them or their team, but frankly after seeing their team and their fans in their environment, I'm only more convinced they're basically scumbags. Two LAFC fans were mocking a dude in a Keane jersey after the game and yeah, you take the lumps when you lose, but if you can't respect Robbie Keane, who was an MVP before LAFC was even a damn team, then you can basically die choking on rancid Skid Row hepatitis dick. I can't until we have a proper team, instead of this unbalanced mish-mash, so we can properly stomp these jackanapes.

Speakin of...a couple days ago, I wrote up a long blog post about how we probably won't win anything with Zlatan and how, contrary to the mantra of Zlatan showing up when the lights are brightest, he never did that in Europe. The reason he's considered a distant third to Ronaldo and Messi is he never martialed his forces in UCL knockouts, even with great teams. I don't know if Zlatan has the ability to rise above himself and actually lead a team. I see him a bit like Clint Dempsey in this respect; almost cursed to lose big games or finals. Ultimately, you cannot rise to greatness with a chip on your shoulder. Players like that always undermine themselves or the team when it matters. I didn't publish that post because I thought in a weird way I'd be affecting the universe; that I should be positive and hope the narrative would re-write itself. And I was. We should've won this game. But nah. I saw this in the summer. Zlatan cannot lead us to victory.

Pavon >>> Vela individually. Zlatan has given us many glorious moments, but this loss bookends his time here, which started with such amazing heights. Give this team to Pavon next year. Surround him with guys that can ball, a striker that can run into space and watch him murder this league. Let's get back to the business of winning Cups.

 

Remember their last stupid TIFO, Paradise City? More stupid.

.@LAFC’s postseason quest begins.#LAFCvLA // Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/aC7gkFZEGh

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 25, 2019

So again: Stole this idea from another team that did it before you were in the league AND it doesn't make sense. When the Revs used this motif, they snuck into the playoffs / MLS Cup unexpectedly, much the same way Indiana Jones snuck into the temple and stole the artifact by the skin of his teeth. LAFC were favorites to win the shield early on?

 

Where has Juni been? I saw we had got him back and never heard anything about him.

 

I would have played him above kitchen. I just don't think GBS rates him, sadly.

 

Juni played what 45 minutes all season. Unfortunately his time might just be up.

I remember seeing him in a preseason game and he looked incredibly bad. It was early preseason but maybe that’s just where he’s at now.

 

Ugh

 

Switched off after 4th goal, just made me sick to see a half ass defense getting torched in the most elementary way possible. The answer to decent defenders is $$$$$, It all boils down to money. The next CBA has to emphasize some sort of tiered compensation for top rated free agent defenders. With that I take my leave into a depressing off season, this campaign was a total FAILURE!!! no positives and nothing to build up from, back to the drawing board.

 

I'd just like to say this: this was the rebuilding year. MLS is a parity league. A "win now" league. I appreciate that GBS and DtK were working with restrictions imposed by the prior regime. That's the defense for 2019. That defense disappears in 2020.

I don't want to hear about replacing Zlatan. I get the impression he's gone and that shouldn't be a surprise. There should already be a strategy in place. Yes, I get that you don't simply "replace" such a player or his production but nonetheless, you can bring in a forward that is top MLS level in his place.

We've had a year to see what is needed in defense and midfield. With Skjelvik gone (he'd BETTER be gone) I want to see 3 solid acquisitions in the back line.

GBS doesn't get another "rebuilding year". He needs to fix what was wrong this season and have us challenging in 2020 or he needs to go.

 

haven't posted in a while, but have been following everyone's comments - all great, as usual

i get that the personnel wasn't there, but i think GBS still got out-coached. we fielded 4 slow CB's with a slow 6 in Kitchen and then proceeded to let LAFC entice us out into a wide-open game. what exactly did we think was going to happen when the asking those guys to defend on the move? i'd take the LAFC front line against 1v1 defending by our particular back line all day.

Zlatan - it wouldn't break my heart if he moved on because we play a certain way with him on the field, but we're fairly toothless without him (30 Zlatan goals vs 28 rest of team goals). Steres was tied for 3rd in goals scored this year (with a whopping 3). be careful what we wish for.

 

Is it bad form if I also use that as the closing to my "Review of the season"?

 

Ibra last game interview of the season

 

QFT

 

Great interview by Zlatan. The VAR guy having coffee with Magic... lol.

I think Zlatan is not done. What was asked of him and purpose of employment he delivered in style. Those 30 goals of his carried us into playoffs but we are not going to go anywhere having a crap defense and what he touched on about scoring 3 and allowing 4 or simply put, scoring many goals but allowing even more is what killed us. That's got nothing to do with leadership. That has to do with crap defenders that are limited in their skills to begin with and an FO that knows this and ignored it. Its the old saw about defense winning championships.

I put nothing on Zlatan that is negative. Everybody knew what he was about before signing him about the attitude and approach to his game, personality and we signed him anyway and he delivered. He has never been a guy to be a chummy, cajoling type of player so why expect it here?

The reason we do not have three consecutive wooden spoons is this guy. The reason we got back into playoffs is this guy. The reason we could have won a 6th cup is this guy. He leads by example, not by holding player's hands and telling coworker its going to be alright. The reason we are out is because we have a shitty defense.

I hope he stays to finish the job.

I am not feeling another two years of rebuilding around Pavon.

 

If we keep Zlatan we need new coaches. I think we need to make JDS our captain. Someone who is controlling the team from a defensive work ethic mentality. Zlatan needs to just be up top doing his job.

One of my biggest problems this year was seeing his tantrums and other players feeding off of that and copying it. If he stays we need him doing his thing with another striker and a different back line except for Polenta.

JDS, Pavon, Lletget, Romain and Zlatan + Young Striker.

We can’t play everything through Zlatan and we can’t have a coach that will be a slave to that. I feel like After a while Bruce took control of the team and said “we are a team and not the Beckham show”.

We can’t simply pass to the famous guy and hope something happens.

 

I really thought we were gonna beat those guys.

 

So did they and most people watching when we tied it up at 3-3.
But then we immediately blew all that momentum by allowing them a quick and easy counter.

 

Final Highlight Time of the Season


GBS final interview


Time to Reload for 2020
See You All in the Roster and Rumors Forum

THE LA GALAXY WILL RETURN!!!!​

 

Yeah, that was definitely the energy in the stadium.

I've thought about this game a lot. In all, I'm really impressed by the performance of the team. They played an almost flawless game. I mean, yes, there were times were LAFC forced us into errors, but that's because they're very good, but we rarely caused our own errors. We were airtight EXCEPT for the Polenta give away that played right into their hands. What a brutal twist of fate, man. Our Defender of the Year. Honestly, our CB getting caught in possession was the critical turning point.

 

Polenta has had a few of those over the last several games. He's talented, but...

 

Steres did not help much last few games either. Steres was involved in many of the goals in those last few regular season games. He lost his form for some reason and Guillermo benched him. But that's to be expected. Steres, Romney, Gonzalez are starters by default at the back because the FO and coach did not address that. Polenta is our only true defender and as it has already been said our defender of the year by alot. That he had a bad night is what it is. Zlatan at times is also a useless cone but it's not his usual MO. You guys know this.