Great to see a deserved win, where we were the better team without question. I'm very glad for the shutout. I expect the Galaxy to improve on this issue as the season goes on, but it's nerve-wracking what a turnover machine we are with any, tiny pressure in the back. Everyone turns it over, except possibly Bond. I even worry when we pass the ball back to open things up when we're on offense. But, very well done today, with good chances and good goals. I hope Hector Jimenez is not as badly injured as appeared. I didn't realize it was him while watching the game. I was watching Spanish language broadcast and details like which player was who were often lost in translation. I'm surprised I didn't recognize him, though.
I've been much more impressed with Alvarez this season. I had NOT been in past seasons, but he seems shiftier/trickier... and is combining well with teammates this year. Araujo.... I was just complaining that his crosses didn't seem to ever be dangerous, and then the very next one he hit was the one chicharito scored on, so some redemption there.
Well, you were right. That was the Galaxy's easiest game so far. But for me, that doesn't mean you don't start your best players. Not at this point in the season.
Watching a lot of mediocre teams around the league and I’m starting to feel pretty confident about our squad. It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around.
Particularly Ex-LAG Hector. Always gave an honest effort and makes the most of his talent. Not a great player, but a guy I always rooted for when he was here.
I root for the Alumni when they aren't playing the Galaxy. I was very happy when he and Gyasi got the cup win last year.
I think we can put a check-mark on almost all of those. And maybe one more I forgot -- the clean sheet! Greg whipped out the 5-3-2(?) on us; wasn't expecting that at all. I think we looked pretty good for long stretches; our least convincing period was the middle of the 2nd half where it seemed we were playing without a DM or with Sacha as our DM. Not a perfect match, we had some errors that might've been punished by better teams, but we can say we have a clear style or plan that can get results -- at least against middling teams. We've gone without that for some time! Chicharito is in electric form. Not just his scoring, but his playmaking and hold-up, drawing fouls. The dude is playing like one the best strikers in MLS and he has a rhythm that seems like he's been playing in this league and with this teams for months -- just seems like every pass he puts right. Araujo really put his stamp on this game. Obviously the inch-perfect assist, but he was just everywhere, eaking things up and recovering and restarting. As dominant a game as you can have from that position. Grandsir didn't do him a lot of favors, so he wasn't perfect but he showed today that he's so good in that spot that he can change the complexion of games and how teams play. With games like this, nobody in the league will want to run at this kid and we haven't had a defender that could cause that sort of hesitation in some time!
We aren't an elite team, but we are now a team with a good offense and a decent defensive. Which is a huge upgrade from the past couple of years....
Chicharito is really stepping up. He’s playing like a leader, looks like he’s having fun, directing traffic, encouraging the youngsters, fighting for the ball, taking the fouls, and scoring like a madman, really just amazing.
I was coming back to say how impressed I am by Vanney. I love that he’s willing to change things mid game. His subs and his tactics changed the game multiple times today. Harvey for Klejstan was a great move. When Austin got a second wind, he made more subs and changed formations. We made it 2-0. Impressive stuff! I also noticed in an interview that he talks about the versatility of our new players. He specifically mentioned how Cabral can play multiple positions and fits multiple formations.
Im not Mexican, but I’m latino. I remember my dad taking a lot of time to teach me to shield the ball. Didn’t understand why it was important when I was a kid, but watching pro soccer, you can see it’s a difference maker.
Your thoughts on Harvey? I thought he looked decent, recovering a lot of balls, getting away from the pressure with some body feints. That said, he was sometimes behind the play and slow to come back. Overall a good performance to me but Josh Guesman was criticizing him and Vanney subbed him off at halftime. I've been pleased with Saldana and Harvey so far. Both looked serviceable backups for the DM position. That's something Vanney has done well so far, get the best from our bench players (and from the low salaries) : Saldana, Harvey, DePuy, Dunbar, Zubak, even Alvarez if you don't consider him as a starter...
My own disorganized thoughts. Positives Araujo had another monster game. More than just his assist, his interceptions and defending were top notch. Cheech took his late goal well. It takes a lot of composure to be able to time your run perfectly, and redirect a cross at pace onto the frame. So happy for Sebastian. This is one of his better games and his goal was very well taken. Not to mention the work it took to get it. Efra was a midfield maestro, almost Pirloesque. His passes were pinpoint and he had a few efforts himself. Cabral came on and showed positively. Could've had a goal but was offsides. Bond has been such a revelation. As I've said he's given me Penedo vibes for how confident he's made me (and the back line) in his presence in goal. Steres' pass for Seb was awesome. It's not something we expect of our defenders but a definite plus. Vanney not only made subs he made tactical changes. It definitely looked like Austin's subs were giving them more influence in the match and Vanney made some changes of us own. At first it looked like he was putting on more defensive minded players to replace attackers, but he also changed up the formation as well, which neutralized Austin's increased influence on the match, allowing us to net the insurance goal through Chicharito. Grandsir had a better showing, but his decision making needs to be a little better. He was definitely more threatening in the first half. People would say Jona seemed invisible but honestly I think that's his strength. I honestly think he wields a lot of influence on the pitch without being flashy (kinda like juninho). I don't recall us having too many problems in the middle of the pitch. Other players played well enough but didn't stand out too much to me.
Happy about the clean sheet but I'm not sure how big of a deal it is against Austin. Very happy that five games in we've been able to switch between a 4-5-1, a 4-4-2 and a 3-5-2 and we seemed to know what we're doing each time. This is something you develop in practice and so credit to Vanney for getting it done early. Araujo looked like the player Doyle has been raving about. Cabral will be fun. Midfield still gives me doubts. Grandsir still isn't there. When we first heard about him there was talk of attitude issues and needing a fresh start. I wonder how much of it was about not giving 90 minutes of effort. Alvarez showed some promise, but I bet when they put Vasquez back in, you'll see the difference. And great goal by Seb but I don't think enough was going on. This sounds more negative than I really am, but we have a lot of players and money put in the midfield and I'd like to see more.
I thought Harvey looked good from the stands. I’ve mostly enjoyed Saldena as well. I think it was our weakest period of the game the 10-15 minutes when neither was on the field. There is something very CONCACAF about Harvey that I really enjoy.
Piggy-backing on the Harvey/Saldaña talk, I think both might eventual be spot starters and are going to be great depth guys, but like most of us have been saying for some time, the one piece that we didn't get in the off-season is a lock-down D-Mid, and we can see that in our games against top teams. Austin was missing theirs as well (Ring, suspended) so that sort of evened things out and gave us a big advantage (the other being they don't have a really top-notch forward and we have the hottest forward in the league right now). Williams and Bond, in limited action, both look like huge upgrades, and Villafaña is definitely an upgrade over our past few left backs, but I do think that right now our midfield isn't as good defensively as last year, talent wise, although our overall team defense and organization on defense is better.
Perhaps later in the match I agree, but from my perspective he was the best player on the pitch in the first half. He was all over the place attacking-wise and definitely was key in almost all of our threatening moves up front. I just think he was let down by Grandsir and that one shot that went over the bar by Chicharito. He was dribbling, passing, playmaking all of the above. Wolff made a lot of changes that neutralized a lot of what we were doing halfway through the match, sparking Vanney to make HIS changes.
First of all, thumbs up for all the posters. When was the last time this board was lit up like this with positive comments and full of hope and anticipation? Yeah. A long time. I was gonna say something akin to what Baysider is saying here last night but I just wanted to enjoy the moment. It is Austin. They seemed cool, calm and collected with good posture and discipline there for a while and then we found a few chinks and the arrows started flying. We seem set at both ends of the field. Chicharito has finally arrived and with 5 games we have a good sample size and can agree on that for the most part. In the back Bond is not just a little better than Bingham, he is ALOT better than Bingham. But then the collective and individual quality of the team starts a downturn. Mid is working on it with Grandsir STILL not where we want to be at with him and improving at a snail's pace. I hope that with Cabral in the mix now that they will connect with the rest of the team and improve their game to where its plainly visible what they can contribute game to game. We need that badly. Then there's the D. Yeah. That needs to improve and while I am grateful for Julians improvements, there is a real lack of stregth in that collective and as we have seen, good teams can take it apart like a wet cardboard box. For that to improve I am afraid we will have to wait for windows to open up and a hero to appear much like Trickhog comments. We need a general back there. Someone like Opara to come in and take command. Other than that we are good to go. Not a a contender by any means but with lots of improvements all over the joint and time to improve even more. GALAXY!!!
Do you guys remember when Bruce would pull out a 5-3-2 every now and again and the team would look like it had no idea what it was doing? Recently, the USA A team did something similar in the match at Northern Island and looked less then the sum of its parts. Contrast that to yesterday and how absolutely rock solid we were when Dupuey slipped into the back three with Steres and Williams. I was impressed by how one sided the game became after that move.
Wow - ya'll made us play verypoorly! Wasn't the game I hoped for. The best team definitely won. We have a ways to go, obviously. I KNEW Lleget would be the player to watch out for - of course he was going to score! Also, how many PKs does Chicharito have to miss/have saved this year before someone else gets to take them?