Gerrard scores on a hustle play. Steres is our best defender. Rowe thinks he's Rowenaldo... I'll take the 3 points and the wackiness....
Impressed with Gerrard's game today other then his set pieces. Zardes was just off tonight Really impressed with Steres Amazed we didn't score more goals despite playing meh
Lletget had like 5 minutes. Not enough time for him. I am so impressed with Steres. He has been really good this year. He is a great passer. Also may be the best game I've seen from Gerrard. He was very dangerous and this attacking forward position seems to suit him.
Great game from GERRARD (who remains on course for impressive numbers this season), Gyasi, actually pretty much everyone except Keane, who normally would have blown the game wide open. Steres was really effective and smart. Silver lining to missing all those chances is it's nice to see the defense stand firm and hold a 1-0 even when they were under the cosh a bit. This really is Gerrard's best role, so Lletget is kind of stuck as an impact sub. Assuming he is still with the team next season, curious to see if he could actually fill that CAM slot next year. He had a few minutes there in 2015. Or maybe it's more likely Gio is allowed to sit in that spot, behind a replacement for Keane.
That one pass from Gio to Gyasi ... drool. Sometimes Gio is amazing balls. Keane missing the PK was so infuriating. How many times? Then he was robbed later by a bad PK call.
Houston was bunkering. Gerrard played well but we lack creativity from deep. Someone who can stir the drink. To perdicabe and slow.
Had some shit to do. So glad I made it for 2nd half. Thanks Stevie G. That was fun to see. My fantasy team thanks you. Dear Bruce, please tell Van Damme to stay back and not try and be a playmaker anymore. Give the ball to someone else, quickly! Robbie walked straight to the showers at the final whistle. As he should've. Cheers again Stevie G! I guess you can stick around a little longer. Galaxy!
I think it's more likely Gio goes to that spot at CAM. Lletget, compared to Gio, seems to be better in a wide attacking role. I think Zardes would be a nice fit up top as Keane's replacement. However that would require us to secure another attacking wide player to play where Zardes is currently playing.
It was funny to see all of our attackers standing next to each other at the top of the box. Even the kids next to me noticed that.
My schedule's all screwed up. Just drove to the east coast, and had to stay up 'til almost 3am to do my post-match write-up. http://www.lagconfidential.com/2016...ves-and-negatives-houston-dynamo-at-la-galaxy I thought Gio was an of the match. He provided the spark for the team on lots of occasions. He was just flying around out there in the midfield, winning the ball, and setting up his teammates. At one point he made a great tackle and recovery, and then sent one of his teammates through with a beautiful pass. When he made the initial play, I actually thought he was AJ because of the great level of commitment. Not used to seeing that from Gio. Still not happy with Gerrard (actually not happy with the way Arena manages him). Thought he should have been subbed in the 60th minute. Up to that point he had been really solid, but then he seemed to get tired and start making poor decisions, trying to force passes into tight spaces in the midfield and failing to show for the ball. One of those forced balls led to a turn-over, and the most dangerous chance on the night for Houston (when Barnes finally got a shot off from inside our penalty box). Yeah... Stevie scored the goal (which was great composure, by the way), but he's such a liability late in the match. He needs to come off sooner.
Interesting reactions here. Not sure I've seen such diametrically opposed views in some time. Gerrard was MOTM for some, awful for others. Gyasi was great and not great. Gio too. Steres & Jelle were singled out for good performances, yet very little mention of Romney who according to various tracking services was the stand-out defender on the night. It was an odd performance from the Galaxy which perhaps explains the wide range of views. My one take away, Baggio should line up alongside De Jong. He connects the defense better than Jeff and Jeff seems to get sloppy as the game goes past 70 minutes or so.
I had the same reaction. I was worried that Gio would disappear in his new role but he seemed to embrace it in the second half and showed how skilled he can be. I thought Steres was fine, but if Leo had made that slip I think we would have been less forgiving. Overall, Houston is a bad team and so winning 1-0 at home isn't inspiring. Hopefully we'll get our edge back before the next game.
I think the league should be scared that we're grinding out results. It's only a matter of time before our offense clicks and we start stomping teams. Lleget should have come on sooner, we needed someone to stay wide and stretch their defense. Gio and Gyasi drift centrally and AJ and Romney don't provide much of a threat out wide on the overlap. Stick Lleget at wide and it forces them to pull a defender or two out wide giving us more space in the middle.
Thanks for pointing out Romney and Baggio. Romney is a good athlete, keeps his head, and is a great find. Baggio is a classic Galaxy in that we rely on our consistency from year to year. You never know, he could have a breakout Magee moment this year. I like Jeff L. a lot better than I thought I would. He's hit some good form. He's why I look at DeJong and say, why would we give a DP contract to someone who is not much different than Laurentowicz or many other good defensive midfielders in our league?
There's thus Jose Villareal guy we've been linked too before. Heard he's a young player who was statisically one of the leagues best chance creators last year. For whatever reason his team isn't playing him this season. Seriously though, stick him and Lleget out wide with Gio behind Zardes in a 4231 or a 4411 and we have a pretty damn good young attacking front 4. If both Keane and Gerrard retire after this season, I'd like to see Bruce give that chance before singing some DP that doesn't fit with our style of play, like we did with Gerrard and Gio.
Zardes and Gio have been stellar when paired together earlier this season. I'm OK to go with both at forward next year if Keane retires. Maybe with time Gio will be better on the wing (someone mentioned above that he had a good second half) but I think his best spot is up top, but with Keane available it can't happen anytime soon. I don't think Gerrard had a great game but this number 10 position where he doesn't need to defend during 90 minutes (but sometimes makes spectacular defensive moves) is unquestionably his best spot. Is it the best solution for the team? I would wait for a few more games to conclude but so far it has been a step in the right direction. Oh, and I totally agree with this.
This... plus, I wish Arena had a general policy to sub him out in the 60th minute. I'm really starting to think that a lot of his worst give-aways and defensive lapses come when he's fatigued.
I agree it's not enough and he should have replaced Gerrard earlier, but he has to make most of his minutes. Lletget is not having a bad season, but a disappointing one IMO. Take away the La Maquina game and he has had 3 assists and no goal in 17 MLS games (12 starts), and we must not forget that two own goals came from his crosses (against Portland and SJ). That's not bad but I thought 2016 would be a breakout year for him after all the promises of last season. Look at Gyasi : honestly, at the beginning of the season, who thought he'll have this great year? He proved to be vital to the team before going to the Copa America. Lletget had the opportunity to shine and lead the team during his absence. He didn't and had some sloppy performances (Colorado). With the three DPs in three of our front four spots, you could think that Gyasi and Seba (and Magee) would fight for the last spot. There's no debate : Gyasi must start, he earned it. I don't give up on Seba, especially for next season, and even for this season. He has the skills to be a great counterattack player (the chance he almost created yesterday is a proof) but he has to raise his game.
The game probably would of ended in a draw if Gerrard was subbed at the 60th minute. I thought it might of been one of his bast games all season. He looks refreshed not having to worry too much about his defensive duties (and I didn't mind his walking). If you watch the replay, he out hustled two Dynamo defenders that were ahead of him to get to that ball first.
I have to defend Steres here. The field was in horrible conditions yesterday. He fell because a chunk of turf slid right from under him. Both teams had to play in the same conditions, etc etc....but I loved his hustle yesterday. After his slip, he got right back up and challenged Barnes with a slide tackle.