P/I/P Game 6: LA Galaxy at Portland Timbers 05/22/21, 12:30 PT on ABC

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by TrickHog, May 18, 2021.

  1. Geneva

    Geneva LA for Life

    Feb 5, 2003
    Southern Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's the second Pacific Northwest away game that Vanney has played an aggressively offensive line-up. He must be feeling that he can put pressure on the Seattle or Portland defense, particularly as Portland has a relatively untested goalkeeper. But it has backfired both times. Live and learn? Try, try again? I agree with you that another d-mid should have started.

    Depressing game that we all agree was ruined by a split second bad decision. Williams is a good defender, but he's going to need to stay on his feet a bit more, especially for awhile. A long suspension will really hurt us, and I'm going to hope for mercy. Maybe Paulson could be punished for his idiocy with no additional suspension? Seem fair?

    Onward.
     
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  2. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think Lletget had the best takeaway from this game -- you'd rather have a match like this at this point in the season.

    It's hard for me to take too much from this one. One of the Galaxy Guy Podcast guys predicted a 0-0 result, which was probably pretty credible up until the red card. I think it was a fairly tight match until then. I don't have too many problems with Greg's line-up. Portland made it tough for Efrain to find space in dangerous areas often, but I like the look of him as a 2nd striker. I would've liked to have seen how Greg would've adjusted at the half, otherwise.

    Quick thoughts:

    Cabral: Didn't show much decisiveness in the final 3rd. I do wonder if he was tentative about the turf? Imagine the ball falling to Pavon or Romain in the same areas Cabral picked them up and had his man 1 v 1. He also needs to build some strength. You see it in his highlights, when he gets on a run, he goes down a little easily. Even the FK he won, I've seen that type of foul not called many times in MLS. Still, his movement with the ball is pretty nuts, and he can almost glide past guys, easily. Not an easy game to put your stamp on, obviously,

    I thought this was one of Jonathan's better games, actually. Or at least, I feel like classic Jona showed up a couple times, turning the ball out of danger etc.

    Bond kept it from being a lot uglier, even before the card.

    Though the scoreline doesn't reflect it, Araujo had another strong game.

    The turf definitely made a difference. Two of our most dangerous plays just broke down from players slipping on the turf (Sebastian's FK from right outside the box, and Grandsir slipped on a cross, rolling his ankle). Still, it is what it is.
     
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  3. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's worth saying, our track record in the Pacific NW in the last few years is !@#$ing dismal.

    Last 7

    3-0 loss to Portland
    3-0 loss to Seattle
    5-2 loss to Portland
    3-2 win over Portland
    4-3 loss to Seattle
    4-0 loss to Portland
    5-0 loss to Seattle
     
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  4. Bilgediver

    Bilgediver Member+

    LA Galaxy
    Oct 16, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I guess we just suck on PNW turf
     
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  5. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Time to bring Robbie, LD, Gyasi, Becks, AJ, Juni, Magic Mike, and Marcelo back to turn things around.
     
  6. TrickHog

    TrickHog Moderator
    Staff Member

    Oct 14, 2002
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The trainers would have heart-attacks if that crew walked into the training room today....
     
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  7. Skevin

    Skevin Member+

    Aug 9, 2009
    Colorado
    Club:
    Aston Villa FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Czechia
    Even when we were really good, the games up in portland and Seattle would be wild. One game we'd win 5-0, then we'd lose the next 3-0. I really hate turf. It's pretty sad that the MLS is meant to be developing these players and challenging for talent, but then have to go play on AstroTurf.
     
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  8. Beakmon FC

    Beakmon FC Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Jan 10, 2002
    The OC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Portland's turf seems downright grass-like compared to Seattle. The Sounders play on a green parking lot- even worse if it rains.
     
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  9. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    I wonder what Garber would do if Neymar, Messi, and Ronaldo said they would come to MLS on the condition that all astroturf is replaced with grass.

    EDIT: This is especially if one of them would be going to teams who play on turf.
     
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  10. GalaxyOne

    GalaxyOne Member+

    Dec 6, 2005
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not a surprise. It's a horrible surface to play soccer on. Got to be an advantage to Seattle and Portland who are accustomed to playing on it.
     
  11. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    To me Alvarez looked overwhelmed as 2nd striker. It’s a lot for a young player to deal with - facing challenges from all sides and getting less time than on the wing. His struggles were reflected in him getting only 26 touches - 1 touch every 2 minutes in his 49 minutes of play. (For comparison Lletget and JDS had 60 and 88 touches respectively in 79 minutes of play.) However Efrain had 1 key pass and 2 accurate long balls (which is more than we got from our wingers) so he wasn’t completely ineffective there. Alvarez may become an AM. I just don’t think this was the right game to experiment with it. Give him a home game on grass and see how it goes.

    You are right about Cabral. He is a featherweight at 140lbs and has a puny shot. So far the only positive he’s shown is speed. (At least the speed and lack of strength will get him foul calls and get us free kicks!) Also at this point he isn’t nearly active enough - hopefully that will improve as he settles in. We are going to need to see a lot more from him to justify our big investment.
     
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  12. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Will we be happy if Cabral turns out to be Uriel v2? Don't remember seeing too many plays where the Gs passed into space to let Cabral run it down, though maybe just don't remember.
     
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  13. Baysider

    Baysider Member+

    Jul 16, 2004
    Santa Monica
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    When Sigi coached Columbus he ran a 4-4-2 with Alejandro Moreno as the #9 who would hold up play and occupy defenders and Schelotto! as the second forward, and a #8 and a #6 behind him. I've always liked this formation and thought that Alvarez would be great in it as the second forward.

    The problem is that Chicharito doesn't occupy space in the same way and everything gets constricted in the middle leaving Efrain in a crowd and with no one to make an attacking pass to.

    We've been saying it all along and it's true, we need to play Chich with a true forward. Having him as a single forward just hasn't worked and we need to stop trying to make fetch happen.

    I'm in favor of putting Cabral up on top. Let him line up with the last defender, pull our midfield back a bit to pull their defenders out and pass into the space. Right now, Cabral seems to be starting from so far back that the defense can keep him in front of them which leads to the problem @hav77 just mentioned above.

    We've lost Williams for at least a game which means four in the back, so

    ------------------Cabral--Chicharito---------------
    Dunbar-------------JDS----------------Grandsir
    ------------------------Saldana-----------------------

    Assuming Lletget is gone with the Nats. This is a step back in terms of possession soccer, but our possession doesn't seem that dangerous so let's set up a system that maximizes the effectiveness of our two attackers.
     
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  14. Bilgediver

    Bilgediver Member+

    LA Galaxy
    Oct 16, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    MLS had a video talking about the red card, kinda.diaappointing no one is talking about Williams head injury and how it likely led to the lapse in judgement in that absolutely horrible tackle. The player that had that amazing tackle/assist on Chicharito's goal against LAFC then pulled off this weird body thrown in bowlover and a head injury wasn't a factor?
     
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  15. 7E23

    7E23 Member+

    Jul 7, 2008
    Long Beach
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't know, I think we would be better off with Omar, AJ, Franklin and Dunivant.
     
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  16. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    You make a great point about the way Chich plays and how it can lead to constriction in the middle. And I agree he needs a true forward to work with. I guess Cabral's speed might work but I have trouble seeing it. He isn't going to win many balls and standing around up top hoping for an over the top pass isn't likely to be very effective. I think Chich needs a more physical Zubak type partner - someone who can go up and knock down balls, or who can win 50-50 balls and hold onto them while the offense moves forward.

    I would have Cabral hugging the sideline, pushing up when he could. That will open up attacking spaces in the middle or give him room to use his speed when he does get a chance at the ball.

    And no way Grandsir should be starting ahead of Alvarez. Here are just a few stats comparing the two.

    Grandsir vs Alvarez:
    starts: 6 vs 3
    minutes: 393 vs 196, ~2:1
    pass completion rate: 78% vs 86%, 16th vs 7th (rank out of 18)
    goals and assists : 0 vs 0 :(
    # of passes/90m: 36 vs 59, 15th vs 2nd!
    key passes/90m: 0 vs 2.3, tied 13th vs 2nd! [1st Seb w 2.9]
    crosses/90m: 0.3 vs 0.9, 7th vs 4th [1st: Araujo w 1.4]
    long balls/90m: 1.1 vs 5.1, 16th vs 1st!
    through balls/90m: 0 vs 0.5, tied for 2nd vs 1st (wth team? :confused:)

    Now those are just offensive stats. Someone else can figure out their per 90 defensive stats if they want. But they show that on a per minute basis Alvarez is a far superior player. He is twice as active, a much better passer, creates many more dangerous chances, sends long balls to switch our point of attack a full 5 times as often. Those are very big differences.

    Alvarez has also delivered our single through ball - sadly that says a lot more about our team than Alvarez. :eek:

    As I've said previously Grandsir appears to be slightly better than Alvarez on defense. But neither is getting on the field for their D. And I'm not sure what Grandsir is getting on the field for, since he's good at neither end. Maybe he will improve - but until he does Greg should stop giving him automatic starts.

    And I'm not saying Alvarez is an automatic start. At all. He has plenty of flaws and Greg needs to demand better defense. But he, unlike Grandsir, helps our attack in several ways. In the long run those key passes will pay off.
     
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  17. Beirut

    Beirut Member+

    Feb 3, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    The league needs villains, and they just got one in Williams. It’s going to be the narrative we see from here on out.

    I’m appalled by the arguments on twitter regarding the tackle. Can’t wait until Williams is suspended and we can move on.
     
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  18. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    What?! Leave off Magic Mike? What is this blasphemy? @TrickHog, you need to insta-ban @7E23 immediately.
     
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  19. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    This is unfortunate for everyone.
    1396926322828476416 is not a valid tweet id
     
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  20. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Reading Twitter is hazardous to your mental health.
    Sadly the guy was really injured - thats terrible for him and Im guessing will likely result in a 3 game suspension for Williams.
     
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  21. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Many in Twitterverse are asking for season long and have also seen some ask for lifetime ban or suspension for as long as Polo is out injured. Others have compared it to the Mullan tackle on Zakuani. I think the Mullan tackle is different because he did it with intent and some malice because he didn't get a call go his way earlier and was pissed off and took it out on Zakuani.
     
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  22. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    #247 skydog, May 25, 2021
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
    Also it was pretty reckless. My first views were from Williams pov angle and it didn’t look as bad. Watching it from the side - it was pretty crazy. Just the speed at which both goys were coming together and Williams did miss the ball pretty bad. Don’t think it was intentional - not Dema level. But I could understand 3 games. Hope he doesn’t get 5. If he does then he’s getting punished for the injury more than the foul, imo.
     
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  23. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    #248 skydog, May 25, 2021
    Last edited: May 25, 2021
    Ignore those trolls. People love to outrage on twitter. They would call for execution if it wouldn’t get them banned.
     
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  24. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    No doubt it was reckless and I don't think anyone here would be upset with a 3 game ban. However, while it was reckless, I don't think it warrants a Mullan type suspension because I don't think the intent was there. There is also the concussion aspect of it too and whether the concussion protocol missed something.
     
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  25. hav77

    hav77 Member+

    May 31, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Yes, for sure. I take all outraging on the social mediasphere with a grain of salt.
     
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