P/I/P Season 27 Game 23: LA Galaxy at SKC, 8/6/2022, 5:30 PT on Unimas

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by TrickHog, Aug 4, 2022.

  1. The Beautiful Gamer

    The Beautiful Gamer BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 26, 2008
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #326 The Beautiful Gamer, Aug 8, 2022
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2022
    I completely agree. Not necessarily with the formation solution, but absolutely with the Costa and Cabral problem this team has to figure out. For me this was Costa's worst game I have seen out of him since he finally recovered from his foot and knee issues. In this game he cut inside way too often leaving his flank exposed repeatedly and he went forward when he should have stayed in the midfield. He did this in the last game as well but not enough for it to hurt the team. Plus he had the trio of Rayan, Delgado and Brugman in the midfield which allowed him to get away with going forward. You can't do that if you are going to have Cabral on the opposite wing though. You gotta stay in the midfield primarily. Costa was more disciplined before that having in my opinion his 2 or 3 of his best games on this team. But that's exactly the issue we all agree on,...If that was his best that is nowhere near to cutting it for a DP. I also concur that we should either play him as a CAM or make him a forward outright, because at least he can score and create.

    Cabral has shown that he is garbage as a forward despite constantly getting into the best scoring spots so consistently. The dude should by now have like 6 or 7 goals this season. Putting him on the flank is sadly the only time he has contributed positively to the team with the San Jose game being the last instance. It's such a shame.

    3 real DP's worth their contracts is all we ask.
    [​IMG]
    Seriously this same roster with Beckham, Donovan and Keane in the DP spots wins the damn MLS Cup.

    ----------------------Keane
    ----Donovan------Puig------Beckham
    ------------Brugman--Delgado
    Edwards--Williams--Sega----Araujo
    ----------------------Bond

    It's so infuriating to know how close we are to being really really really good.
     
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  2. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Your analyses are spot on. We are giving up goals not because we don't have enough soccer talent, we are giving up goals because the team has zero tactical understanding. On both sides of the ball.

    As you pointed out the first goal they scored was a perfect example. Here is another pic that shows how absurd our positioning was on this play:
    upload_2022-8-8_17-40-50.png

    I don't know if you can read the text, but it highlights:
    1. All but one defender has been sucked to near side of field leaving Leerdam alone to cover two players and 50% of the field. This should NEVER happen.
    2. Brugman, Delgado and Cabral are ball watching rather than playing defense. Cabral is worst because he is standing still, but none of them are helping.
    3. Gasper over-committed and gets caught out of position and flat footed as two opponents attack open space on the near wing.
    4. The entire positioning leaves massive gaps for forwards to attack all over the field. This is the opposite of compact defense. Either the back three need to pushed up even with our DMs and give us 6 across and a firm offside line, or else each of our mids should have gotten goal side of an attacker. Also slow Gasper doesn't need to be 'defending' way out wide - why not pinch in so he is connected with Williams, allowing the cb to drift more to the center?

    It get's worse:
    upload_2022-8-8_17-59-49.png

    See Leerdam alone on an island? See the rest of the team run around like the Keystone Kops? Sega just falls over. Delgado still hasn't looked behind him to see problem on Leerdam's side. And who thinks Gasper is going to win the race to this loose ball?

    And worse:
    upload_2022-8-8_18-4-35.png

    Leerdam for some bizarre reason decides to run AWAY from the most dangerous player in then center of the field. Terrible choice. Williams is still marking no one and is still completely unaware of the massive problem behind him. As our most experienced cb he should be organizing the defense, not being part of the problem. A perfect pass to the SKC guy who is astonished LAG have 7 men back but still not one within 6 yards of him even though the is at the center top of the box. He takes ball out of air and under zero pressure makes a perfect shot inside the far post. We have just given up an easy goal to the worst team in the league.

    I went back and looked at the development of this play. I personally don't see Costa at fault (he was very high when the play started and we only had 3 players up against their five defenders). But I do see every other midfielder and every defender making massive mistakes on this play.

    But most of all this just shows what a poor coach Vanney is. The players show zero awareness of basic soccer tactics, on both sides of the ball. The fact we are still making these mistakes this far in the season is damning on our coaching staff. AND BASIC DEFENSIVE TACTICS AREN'T THAT HARD TO TEACH! I don't know what is wrong with Vanney. He looks like a coach and talks a very good game. But at some point the coach has to be held accountable for play on the field. And by that standard Vanney, along with the entire FO, should be fired post-haste.
     

    Attached Files:

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  3. The Beautiful Gamer

    The Beautiful Gamer BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 26, 2008
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #328 The Beautiful Gamer, Aug 8, 2022
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2022
    Dude this precise action by Leerdam right here had me screaming at my TV screen and caused my wife to burst out laughing at me for getting so mad once I realized what I was seeing. Everybody but Leerdam has their eyes fixed on the incoming ball cross from Espinoza and instead of him screaming to Williams so that he could help him double up on Tommy who had now gotten in front of him, he slows down and slightly turns away from his man. It was as if for some reason he thought that the ball was not going to go directly to the opposing player closest to the fricking goal. I am like,...What THE ACTUAL F@%K!!!!
    The ball lobs over Williams who was not only not marking anyone but is not paying attention to his blindside that was being filled by Tommy. I get why Williams stayed put. It was a the same type of thing that happened to Bond last game. Do you run out and try to close down Espinoza before he can make his cross attempt,(This is on Brugman as he was closest and should have at least attempted to block the shot) or do you stay put incase you need to try to prevent Espinoza and Salloi from attempting to rush into the box? He chose to stay put, but at that point he needs Leerdam to watch his six o'clock and he unfortunately failed miserably to do so. Just a complete shame.
     
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  4. Dawdler

    Dawdler Member+

    Apr 2, 2005
    Los Angeles,CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Class and Professionalism personified, a far cry from what the Galaxy have and are nowadays
    [​IMG]
     
  5. El Futbolisimo

    El Futbolisimo Member+

    Sep 28, 1999
    I will suggest you buy a nice bottle going forward because once Araujo leaves to Porto. Leerdam is what we got for the duration.
     
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  6. El Futbolisimo

    El Futbolisimo Member+

    Sep 28, 1999
    Here he is. He has no answers except explaining how we suck, still...

    Bond hints to player morale and that some players are not with Vanney's program.
     
  7. Dawdler

    Dawdler Member+

    Apr 2, 2005
    Los Angeles,CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    there is a lot to unpack from that video, Greg seems to be putting in the effort and this was the same coach that early in his stint was making smart decisions on the fly and pulling out wins.

    It really seems like he is having issues with the whole team buying in and it makes me wonder if the ones that are causing the issues are the ones that know they aren't going anywhere so they feel they can do what they want.

    I'm in the mood for wild speculation and pulling thoughts our of nowhere but could some of the malcontents be Cabral, Costa, Efra, and Julian?

    Cabral is locked in because the Galaxy payed him millions before he played a minute in MLS, and nobody is going to be that ignorant and take on his contract, and add in the language barrier and culture shock and I'm sure Greg pushing him to work on improvement has him tuning out Greg and really he won the lotto, once he is done here he can go back and play 3rd division soccer while enjoying his riches.

    Costa has a history of not giving a crap, he wore out is welcome at Juve and from I was reading the fans of Gremio were ready to beat his ass and the Galaxy provided him a lifeline and millions and as he has shown while here, he does not give two craps about the galaxy and is just enjoying the LA life.

    Efra from rumors wants more playing time and Chivas are interested so his train of thought could be I don't get much time so I have to show off my skills in limited minutes because I want to be playing in Mexico and have a shot at the National team.

    Julian, I believe has a similar train of thought that Efra has and he figures he is of a quality that is above MLS so he shows flashes of brilliance and in other stretches he is not focused, we saw that at KC and with the rumored move to Portugal, this might be a compromise from both parties, Julian gets his shot on a bigger stage and the Galaxy get to regroup with players that want to buy in.

    of course this is all wild speculation on my part, I thought of other players like Grandsir, DeJan and Edwards but they don't fully fit my speculation narrative as much as the other four
     
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  8. El Futbolisimo

    El Futbolisimo Member+

    Sep 28, 1999
    I remember the team playing better but that may have just been the bump from having a new coach that often happens to teams and not directly the influence of Vanney as coach and tactician. Because if that's true, then the question is, what happened after that? Where is that ability to make smart moves and pull wins now? Especially now that it is nearly 100% his team.

    I think all the coaches that came before put in the effort but effort without good results is just a waste of time.

    Bond is the second player to publicly say something is wrong with the team along with Williams. That some of its player don't care for what Greg is selling and do their own thing this far into his tenure, man! that is a huge problem and people are glossing over that like its a growing pain or something, lol. It's a sign that all is not well.

    Julian leaving was talked about since last year. That they got 5 mil for him is solid and that had to happen. I don't think it's a decision come to because he is one of the problem players.

    Lots of problems all over this team.
     
  9. shelbo

    shelbo Member+

    Oct 16, 2007
    L.A.
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Dan Gargan had a podcast with Alan Gordon and Sal Zizzo which had some great reminiscing about Bruce Arena and the Galaxy. On one episode Dan told a story about Bruce laying into him: Bruce - "So who were you guarding on that play?" Dan - "I was trying to be in a good space in front of the goal." Bruce - "I don't think the golden boot is going to ********ing space!"
     
  10. JPAR

    JPAR Member

    Aug 21, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    I think Vanney's unwillingness to bench Cabral and Costa is a huge part of the problem. In the end, we are here to win. Players know who deserves to start and who doesn't and at some point they just think F*** it, if that guy keeps getting playing time, I might as well do my own thing.

    Vanney needs to cut Costa and bench Cabral to send a message to the team. But I'm preaching to the choir.....
     
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  11. Geneva

    Geneva LA for Life

    Feb 5, 2003
    Southern Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Abysmal performance by our team. Thanks for all your analysis, and the time put into it. I was particularly PO'd by Costa in this game, but he was far from the only guilty party.

    As for the rumors of unrest in team chemistry - the Galaxy used to sign guys of good character, leaders. As far as I can tell Klein has put no emphasis on this in his tenure. If we don't sign team players, we won't have a team. I'm sure there are good guys on the team, and some who are young and learning. But quit signing the toxic ones, they ruin it.

    Finally, it's not a good sign that Araujo's development has stalled so drastically. Sure, it could be the player, but the team has to take some blame for not utilizing him properly, or not managing his playing time between national team gigs, etc. Something is not right.

    With all of that said, Vanney can stay for all I care. Until we get a real front office there is no point in churning through another coaching staff.
     
  12. skydog

    skydog Member+

    Aug 1, 1999
    Durham, NC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    What a great story showing that Bruce not only got it but he knew how to communicate it. No wonder his teams have good defenses.

    And this is the exact kind of crap I’ve been railing on about the defense. I watch Vanney’s team playing some misshapen zone with massive gaps all over the place. It is a defense that accomplishes nothing.

    That first goal by SKC was a classic example. We had plenty players back but most were marking no one. Literally all the players needed to do was pick up a player and stay with him. Make it difficult for him to receive a ball, difficult to turn with the ball, difficult to get off a clean shot. Quit marking grass because grass don’t score. How is this a hard concept???

    Interesting to think of the differences between Bruce and Greg. In interviews Bruce would grunt and snort at the stupidity of the questions he was getting. Meanwhile Greg waxes poetic about abstract principles that make him sound smart. But which one was doing the real coaching?
     

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