P/I/P: #3 - L.A. Galaxy vs. N.E. Revolution; 3/31/12, 8:00 P.M. PT

The ability of our team to play a 3-5-2 effectively has NOTHING to do with who plays center back and everything to do with the two outside MF players and in case anyone was watching Lee Nguyen is better than any LM in the history of the LAG franchise. And yes, this is officially the 100th time I have mentioned it on BigSoccer in the last decade.

Without players to play from 18 to 18 on the flanks you CANNOT play a 3-5-2, or even a 4-4-2 against a team with pace, which we discovered again on Saturday night. Why did Portland give us fits last year (and beat is 3-0 at their place)? Tremendous pace on the outside! Especially on the right side, playing against who? Oh, yes, our left MF and Dunivant. And as much as I love TD, he has lost a yard of pace since he came to us the first go around. Leaving him with no help from the MF is a recipe for disaster. RB's like Alston will attack at will. That Japanese kid in Colo loves paying against us because no one tracks him when he gets forward. It is time for our FO to target a LM with pace and the willingness to track back. Sarvas was a always a CM and a replacement for Junihno. Magee is a luxury we can no longer afford. We have Omar coming back this summer. Who is coming to play on the left flank?

 

I disagree with a number of you about personnel. I don't know why Beckham and Sarvas were pulled at halftime other than perhaps because they got into a shouting match. Neither Beckham nor Sarvas were among the worst out there. That was a team loss out there. Aside from Buddle and Keane, everyone is culpable. That's right-- aside from Buddle and Keane--those guys did everything that we should reasonably have expected of them, and more.

The midfield seems a complete mess. There was too much interchanging, no positional discipline, and no team defending. No one seemed all that interested in defending. Our problems were due almost exclusively to our midfield and Bruce needs to sort this out.

Cardozo was a failed experiment at LM as he has been most times when he's been asked to play outside midfield. His defensive effort was no where near enough, obviously, it was shameful. The kid CANNOT provide any width, as we know, but more than that he held up play and dribbled the ball to places where he had no options instead of keeping the ball moving time and again. Not that he often had too many options, because of my next point.

Juninho was, again, poor. It seems like he won't let himself mentally return to the Galaxy mindset. He hasn't been willing to do the work and we've suffered as a team. We saw so often last year that as Juninho goes, so goes the Galaxy. And they've been going...right into the toilet. When he's playing well, he's the heartbeat of this team. He seems like he's not interested now. His position should be up for grabs until he can put the effort in.

Sarvas and Beckham had better moments than the other two, but I can't say much positive about either as they, too, contributed to a failure of a midfield performance.

The back line...simply not good enough. It's wrong to pin this on Boyens, he was certainly no worse than anyone else out there. He's a convenient target, but you're missing the point if you think it's down to him. AJ is not whipping the line into shape and he's making his own share of very dumb errors. He and Duni should know and expect better and those two are not doing what they should, are as guilty as anyone.

I'm really tired of us having to wait half the season for Sean Franklin to round into form. This now make it every year that this has happened. He seems to come into the season each year having forgotten everything that he should have learned from the prior year and not having full fitness. I'm convinced that he doesn't seem to possess the commitment necessary of a professional athlete. His defensive skill and his crossing skill are surprisingly insufficient for someone who has been playing in the league this long.

Everyone needs to work harder. This is MLS, NO team is that much better than any other. They can't just show up and hope to win. EVERYONE needs to put forth the effort that Buddle and Keane showed.

 

Man... it's funny how, when we're losing, the players all suck, but last year when we were winning they were all great. They're the same guys. Saturday's game wasn't a one-off, but it was the worst example of what we've seen in the last five matches.

We've been complacent, and that has to stop.

When you lose, guys get on one another. It's OK. They'll be fine.

Becks got yanked at halftime as part of the problem. He's not being made the scapegoat, Bruce just wanted to make a change. If Becks' history shows anything, it shows that he responds to this type of adversity by becoming more focused and determined. That can only help us.

Let's not get crazy about trades and ditching guys who have had one or two bad games. Trades aren't going to solve our problems. Our guys need to get back to taking personal responsibility for defending. They need to re-commit to TEAM defense (I know... I've said this over and over again). When those things happen, we will see better results with the players that we have.

EDIT: TrickHog beat me to it. What he said.

 

Why is Sean playing so advanced this season? I've noticed a handful of times in several games he's had to track back from deep in the opponent's box. It's hard to imagine he'd keep pressing forward so aggressively unless Bruce was asking him to.

 

Plus Sean drifts to the center, leaving the area traditionally covered by a "right back" vunerable to the other teams left wingers.

New England coach Jay Heaps credited wingers Rowe and Lee Nguyen for the ease with which the Revs got behind the Galaxy backline. “It was a combination of keeping the ball and getting them a little bit stretched and then trying to find the holes,” said Heaps, a former Revs defender. “I think Lee and Kelyn did a good job of finding good spots, and when they were able to turn, well, that's when we were able to find spaces behind.” Said Rowe: “We were making runs in between the midfield and the backline, and that hurt them a little bit.” ... Rowe, a rookie out of UCLA, was thrilled with his first MLS goal. “It feels great to score anywhere, but back home in L.A., where I went to college, it just feels great. A bunch of family and friends were here, and to score in front of them is a great feeling.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/soccer/post/_/id/15600/galaxy-defense-is-no-joking-matter

And he's right our Back line was a joke... it is far to easy for attacking players to get around them.

the key word being easy...


However Beckham phrased his displeasure with Franklin, I am inclined to suspect I have similar feelings, Sean's season so far has been a stinker...

 

I knew we were in trouble when I saw Cardozo and Boyens out there. Look the whole team played poorly at times but those playing those two were big mistakes that could have been avoided, and each played a big part in two of the three goals we gave up. Franklin and Duni and AJ may have had problems but those you live with because we've all seen what they can do and know they are quality and have what it takes to man a great defense.

Boyens is so clearly not up to it -its a no brainer to start Meyer over him. Boyens is constantly getting beaten to balls and its just a matter of time each game until he costs us a goal. No different vs NE and he almost cost us a couple more with giveaways right outside the box. Not to mention almost costing us Franklin (eeks!) with the hospital ball he delivered to him.

And starting Cardozo in this game was even a dumber move on Bruce's part. Look Cardozo has sweet dribbling skills in tight spaces - I give him that. But otherwise he is a liability. His fancy footwork looks good but accomplishes little. He makes poor decisions, shows little ability to see beyond the 10 yards of space right around him. And amazingly for a South American he has probably the weakest shot in MLS.

I'm being too harsh? Well last season he played in 17 games, started 8, and played a total of 821 minutes. In that time he managed 0 goals and worse- 0 assists. With his skills Cardozo would be a killer on an under-18 team. But at 5'5", 130lbs, and no real body strength he can't handle the physical play of MLS.

But forget all of those offensive weaknesses in his game. If he has an upside at all it that some day he possibly may get it going and score some goals or get some assists.

No - the real reason playing him was a dumb move because we are a team that has been shaky as hell on the back line and a team that is losing confidence because of it. Also because of injuries he had to start the non-defensive minded Sarvas on one side of the field. So the first thing Bruce should be thinking about at that point is who else to put on the field who could help us defensively. He needed to put out a hard working midfielder, one that will track back on defense, and one that will keep constant pressure on the other teams midfield so they don't have the time and space to pick apart our D.

Cardozo isn't that player. When Franklin's mark took him out wide Cardozo NEVER took responsibility to track back with his own man to help out. And one of NE's goals came from a guy that Cardozo was standing right next too, ball watching until its too late. And even if he Cardozo had a defensive mindset he is so small that most MLS forwards could push him off like a fly.

Bruce should have told us to play like we were on the road, told Juninho to stay back, keep numbers behind the ball, and start a midfielder with a lot of hustle and with some defensive assets. At least Mikey Stephens would have helped out a lot more defensively, played harder, and won more balls for us.

And then taking out Becks and leaving Cardozo in for tactical reasons??!! I hope to god there was some other reason than that. Because at that point our whole team was lacking competitive fire - Becks is the last person you want to take out at that point. He and Keane are the players that will fight to the last dying second to get a win.

Bad tactical planning and bad personnel management on Bruce's part.

BTW, NE looked pretty damn good for stretches. And not just b/c we played bad. Their midfield was showing a lot of fight AND skill. Must be absorbing some of Heap's fierce competitiveness.

 

There was a play late in the second half where a ball slipped through the back line and a race ensued between the New England attackers and Galaxy back line –**I want to say AJ, Boyens and Franklin. Saunders was in no position to come for the ball, it was well outside the 18 and the defenders should theoretically have easily cleaned it up, but Saunders came anyway just barely beating the scrum heading his way.

I thought to myself as a I watched that play “Josh doesn’t trust the guys in front of him.” I can’t really blame him for feeling that way either.

 

skydog, I completely agree with you regarding Cardozo and to the same degree disagree with you about Boyens--not because Boyens had a great game, but by no means was he "the problem" with the back line, putting to one side that the main problem with the back line was the midfield. If Saturday night was your first time watching the Galaxy, ever, and you knew nothing of the team, you'd likely have picked Boyens out as the best of the bunch.

We don't HAVE to live with Franklin at RB or AJ at CB, we can slide AJ out to RB and then we've solved two problems, AJ out of CB and Franklin out of RB. If we're going to have growing pains, why not do it with Boyens + Meyer? At least, then, if we ever have any semblance of a back line it will be with two taller CBs. Let's face it--AJ+ anyone has not gotten it done so far this year. Maybe we should quit thinking that AJ has to remain at CB.

Dunivant had a bad game. I don't really know what to do there because I don't see that we have an alternative for an attacking LB.

 

I am going to remind you he did have a couple of excellent games - notably against the Rapids, and he partially has 0 assists due to the ineptitude of some of the forwards he played with last year. Plus, his most excellent games came when he played in the center, and a good number of those minutes he logged last year he played on the wings.

I know I rate him higher than others, but I don't agree with completely bagging on him.

He needs to play in the center. Until we see him in the center, I think you and some others are being overly harsh. With that said, he was poor on Saturday.

Just my two cents.

 

Boyens to me is everything that was wrong with Berhalter magnified times 10. If the midfield is playing well he looks better but he has always been the weakest link in the defense when he has played. At this point I would ride with Meyers from here on out. Meyers may make rookie mistakes but his upsides currently out way Boyens experience by a lot.

AJ has only looked bad this year because he has been exposed for lack of height. Without a solid centerback partner he will continue to suffer. The only reason I would go with a 5-3-2 with the 5 consisting of Todd,Meyers,AJ,Boyens and Sean is that we would at least have enough height and numbers in the back to stop bleeding so many goals without sacrificing the attack. But I sadly don't know if Bruce has ever deployed anything like that in his past.

 

Junior, I think you hit the nail on the head here... And for the record, I really think that Sean has been messed about a bit... remember how many times last season that he played in midfield and probably trained for that... getting back to the RB position is completely different..

AJ, though probably brilliant in college, cannot end up as a CB. He is just too small and trust me when I say that this league is progressing rapidly. Teams are getting better. The football is getting much better! Move AJ to his trusted position of RB.. and possibly play Sean at RM or have him as a backup to Landon there?
The CB dilemma is a tough one. Boyens and Meyers together..? Scary? But either that (can they both be that bad together??) or do what it takes with trades or what-not to find a solution.

JACK-UK

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8jPjv3dVM"]Locker Room Reaction: LA Galaxy vs New England Revolution - YouTube[/ame]

 

I agree that AJ will always be hampered by his size at CB. Its sad because I sincerely believe he would have been more highly regarded than Ream if he was a bit bigger. He has the technique. As it is, with the sweeper position an uncommon entity nowadays, fullback seems the way to go.

As for our CB options, I know a player on this roster who is leaps and bounds ahead of Boyens. His name is Franklin. The dilemma here is whether we invest time in reacquainting him with the position where he won rookie of the year, or take a chance on Meyer. For Franklins upside, I'd hate to see him cast aside for a spell of shakey form.

 

One thing I like in those post game reactions - third goal: Sean looks LIVID. Boyens looks defeated, then Sean looks disgusted. Hope it leads to Sean growing some balls this weekend.

 

Greg Seltzer:

LA's defense is a wreck right now. Todd Dunivant has lost his form. Neither Tommy Meyer or Andrew Boyens has what it takes yet, and AJ DeLaGarza looks awfully suspect without the reigning MLS Defender of the Year by his side. And these weren't just small holes. Kelyn Rowe's opener was created through a laughably huge chasm. Chris Tierney, a defender with a big left foot, shouldn't have been given that kind of berth to creep upfield. Forget Edson Buddle looking pedestrian all the sudden and Robbie Keane looking around wondering when the heck somebody's going to give him service (paging Landon Donovan to the courtesy phone — please replace your hospital gown with a Superman cape). Without some help at the back, LA is stuck.

 

After my utter disgust with Saturday night I suppose its time to take a longer view. After all I did get some great hot chocolate and a BWHD out of the evening.

I guess I am considering that this is the classic bad news/good news situation.The bad news is that we look horrible in the back, out of sorts in the MF and lacking that cutting edge up front. The good news is that we have a terrific players on this roster and a proven leadership team.

I have confidence in BA and his people to turn this thing around THIS SEASON! His track record at DC and now with LAG suggest that he has the experience and enough ideas to get us back to where we need to be, which is playing in MLS Cup. Two years ago the Supporters Shield got us nothing. This year it was always going to be tougher with an unbalanced schedule. Let's work out the kinks now, get Omar back healthy and make a late season playoff run like so many other teams in this league have. I hope people write us off after this start.

Saunders will be OK. He's not Ricketts or Hartman but he's good enough to win a title with and Ian Feuer seems to get a lot out of his people. Gaudette and Perk will give us adequate depth, no offense to Mike Magee.

Omar will return this season and in the meanwhile Tommy Meyer will learn a lot. AJ might struggle without his buddy in the back but make no mistake, he's a CB! He cannot match up with the great wide players in this league. His strength is positioning, timing and smarts. Duni and Franklin need to keep on doing their thing, although I would like to see us develop some depth on the left side.

Landon Donovan is the best player in MLS when he is fit and motivated. With no Olympic or European distractions he will come good at crunch time once again, as will Beckham. Sarvas looks to be a terrific player who can give us quality time in the middle. He is not a wide player and I think Bruce has figured that out. Junihno will be just fine. He's young and just returning to the team. I expect golazos soon enough.

And Robbie going to Euro2012 aside, we have the best strike force in N America. I can see us playing Cardozo underneath Buddle in a 4-5-1, or Barrett partnering either Buddle or Keane down the stretch. Robbie, Chad and Edson are all proven MLS commodities.

We will be fine this year. We will need to rebuild in a few years as our core gets older but for this season and next we should still be one of the best teams in the league. The sooner Bruce can get them playing like that, the better. I don't care if he benches players now and shuffles the deck. Let's find out what the limitation of this roster are right now, because we know 4th or 5th in the West will be plenty good enough to get us into the playoffs and who will want to play us then?

 

Perfect example of why we need a better education system.

 

Great post. Just one point...
Ricketts has not looked good for Montreal this year. He gave up 3 soft goals to NY last weekend, and he's been poor at controlling his box. Saunders, by contrast, has made some poor decisions, but he's been pretty good as far as his shot-stopping goes (compared to Ricketts).

 

Has there been a training session today (Tuesday?).

Is it still frosty between Franklin-Beckham- Sarvas-Arena?

anybody any insight?....or with the potential for journalist attention have they closed ranks?


finally
Can Arena throw a better shoe than Sir Alex?

 

That is a ridiculously arrogant and uncalled for comment. I will assume that you are referring to the part of my post that you didn't actually quote, but I am not going to attribute the fact that you did not understand the tongue-in-cheek nature of that comment to any lack of intelligence on your part. I can't because I don't know you; however, it is ironic that the person who fails to recognize hyperbole is the one commenting on education. Not that it is actually relevant to your comment or my response, but I take great pride in my education and am proud to be at the University that I am currently studying at.

Anyway, this is all besides the point. Snide remarks at a fellow supporter do not belong in this forum. Disagreements over football opinions? Sure. Attacks on other posters because of something completely unrelated? No.

 

Malibu is right. That comment was uncalled for.

Don't be a jackass, forzagalaxy.

 

I'm sick of this misreporting of the whole shoe incident!

Fergie didn't throw anything at Beckham!

He kicked it!

Apparently in his early Man United days, he was reported to have thrown a tray of teas across the room though...

 

but to the point... any news of training this week?