I am hoping the boost holds its power over the team one more match. I have no delusion that now that Klein is gone Vanney will somehow become a better coach but the bump!.... it's all about ridin the bump and Chich comeback!
All the credit in the world to the lads for not giving up and for scoring two beautiful goals after falling behind. But as much as I would like this to have been the “turn around game” I don't think it was. Yes we scored 3 goals but that was more the result of a fantastic conversion rate than of a rejuvenated offense. We still struggled mightily in creating truly dangerous opportunities. We only had a couple of high quality pass deliveries in the box. I only remember the fantastic one from Calegari and another one from ? to Dejan in the box that he unfortunately stumbled over. Puig continues to be fantastic for us until he gets anywhere in the final third where his passing accuracy goes to doo-doo. Efrain can deliver a nice through ball but he can't stay on the field because of his other deficits. Dejan and Chich are hit or miss on their final third pass deliveries, and more miss than hit. Brugman, Edwards, Delgado, Aude, etc. all pretty much suck as assist men. Until we add players who can deliver killer passes like Sacha or Vazquez did we are going to struggle to score goals. This is especially true since we have almost no one who can create a goal by himself. Nothing about this win convinces me otherwise. Don't get me wrong. Loved the goals and the win. And I believe the confidence gained from this come-from-behind win will help us going forward. But confidence is no substitute for skilled assist men and finishers. We still need a CAM, a good left winger (Boyd is doing pretty well on the right) and another pure finisher, a la Kamara or the llike. tl;dr -- we won because we executed perfectly on our few really good chances. That is not a formula for sustained success.
Midweek maestros. 🪄More here: https://t.co/eKP8jmIs7T pic.twitter.com/WrlPKBg2F5— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 1, 2023
LOL, this isn't the first time I've got this meme as a response! To be fair at least I'm consistent. In the past when we've been getting off good shots but not scoring I'm the one on here fighting against the over-pessimism that inevitably follows a loss. And when one of our forwards is in a drought IF he is getting off good shots that are just not going in I'm usually their biggest defender. It's just the life of a math oriented person. I know that results-based thinking from semi-random events* can be highly misleading. I'm also a poker player and if I judged my abilities by the results of each session I would be see-sawing between the best player in the country and one that should never play the game again! * Scoring is a lot more random than people realize. Why? Because the player is moving, the ball is moving and we have a rounded boot striking a round ball that may be bouncing on a bumpy pitch. Hitting the ball just a tenth of a second earlier or later or a half inch higher or lower can be the difference between a triumphant goal and skying the ball into row zed. There is a reason that the best trained, most athletically skilled forwards in the world miss 80% of the shots they take. Bottom line - don't judge a team or player based on the outcome of a few shots. Get a few dozen shots in your dataset before you pronounce a team or player as turned the corner or shouldn't be on the pitch!
I think as Trick Hog said, "character win" is a good description. It's true, the gaps we have are still gaps. We still need a credible attacking mid and our strikers are in a slump. But at least in terms of fight, there was a turnaround in that sense. I don't know if they'll sustain this level of effort and it may not yield a victory against every opponent, but it's nice to see.
I think the biggest hold up is the fact that RSL is the 3rd worst team in the west on points, only ahead of us. Surprised you didn't mention that.
That's true as well. But my biggest issue is our continued inability to create dangerous shots inside the box. We don't have anyone who can beat a player 1v1 nor do we have anyone who can see and make delicately weighted thru passes that lead to easy goals.
Never have I been happier to see three points. I also started to fast forward out of habit and was happy to be proven wrong.
Listening to the CoG morning show. Some of my thoughts on the topics they covered: Efrain: I think Alvarez is in a tough spot. I think he's the type that needs time to find the game and I also think he's not match fit because he hasn't played. Having said that, he hasn't put himself in the best position to succeed; I don't know how players who ride the bench keep themselves in shape but he should be going above and beyond, really. Neal: It was nice to see Neal get physical a couple times in this match. If he adds that aggression and ability to be a physical bully to his game -- watch out! Calegari: Looking like a real good pick-up so far; usually among our best players in a given match. The final goal -- how often this season have we seen a transition opportunity like that end up in nothing? Either the cross isn't put in with the right timing or doesn't beat the defender or the receiver just bottles it. Like this was textbook early cross and finish that we manage to bungle time and again,
It was exquisite. Exactly what we’ve missed for a decade now. Our last good assist men were Donovan, Magee, Keane, Sarvas, Beckham. Did you know that Donovan and Keane over the two seasons 2012 & 2013 had 43 assists between them! No, that isnt a typo. Oh, they also had 41 goals over those two seasons. This season? So far our assist leaders Dejan, Puig and Calegari have 2 each.
I disagree. Boyd had some very good games, and overall a decent season, but lacks consistency. How many times did he have impact as a sub and disappeared the next game ? I would put Brugman and probably Caceres (yes, even with the stupid red card at Houston, he's doing OK this year) over him.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/la-galaxy-s-memo-rodriguez-wins-goal-of-the-matchday In a battle of long-range stunners, Memo Rodriguez's right-footed blast won top honors as the AT&T 5G Goal of the Matchday for Matchday 16. Memo Wins goal of the matchday, to just about no one's surprise.
He’s been responsible for a good chunk of the attack - that’s pretty consistent. Even with us bungling it in front of the net. I’d put him in top 5. Puig Brugman Calegari Neal Boyd
Agree. During our dry spells Boyd is (too) often our only player who is hustling and generating real offensive chances.
I don't disagree, but I have not seen enough (and not enough consistency) from Boyd to see him as a starter in an average, even less a top MLS team.
Perhaps, but he is also the only thing we’ve got remotely resembling a true winger on the roster so his role carries a disproportionately high level of importance to us and he’s not been poor.