Video of Ben Olsen unwisely going after Super Saiyan Ben Olsen gets his finger in the face of Riqui Puig postgame. #LAGalaxy pic.twitter.com/ehadhdIWdT— Alex Ruiz (@AlxRuiz15) May 26, 2024
Agreed on all of your points, with the added bonus of glad to see Pec jumping in there with that header, which I feel is an underrated part of his game. We got Pec young, so he still has the ability to develop more, which I hope our coaching staff doesn't "f" up. I wish we had Pointy Shouty man to help him develop. He really helped Gyasi hone one of the weaknesses he used to have.
I wonder if Olsen will be fined for what appeared to be instigating the post-game scrum. Appeared to start because he thought the ref called the game early, Riqui probably mouthed off to him? Speculating. we gifted Houston many chances. Grabbed back a few of our own, thank god. We look disorganized on offense, getting in each others way, and defense of course. Other teams block passing lanes better than we do. We have so many new players, it may just take time. happy for the win. Go Galaxy!
So according to Greg, Benny was questioning the ref about the time. Riqui walked right between them as this was going down and Ben took exception to it and started going after Puig. I think it just one of those things in the heat of the moment. I also thought Riq said something to Ben.
As much as I find the MLS Haters annoying, they definitely aren't helping in terms of adding fuel to the fire for that. Sure Goalkeeper howlers do happen in other leagues, they are very rare in the top 5.
I also agree with most of your post. Special recognition to Yamane who played his butt off. He was not only assisting in that goal but he also had that game-saver of a block in the first half right at the mouth of our goal. great game overall. Aude also, had a very nice game. Pec's upside is starting to look huge. Greg has to work out a system or something where we can get near 100% of both Pec and Paint so as to not have them cancel each other out which happens when they are both on the field at times. That is very frustrating to see. Dejan had a very modest match but the service really wasn't there for him. I hope that improves.
Really bugged me. Great game for Delgado in the 2nd half but on that shot from the corner of the 6 m box he should have just smashed it into the ground in front of any open water and the keeper will have a deuce of a time trying to keep it out, plus the keeper pawing it away just gives it up to somebody else. Sometimes I see the same play from a different camera shot and change my mind but that's the way it looked to me. Houston basically showed how you stop Brugman's silly two-man game out of the back in the first half. Moving Delgado centrally in the 2nd half sprang some good attacks like Brugman's dribble on the second goal. Brugman's soccer IQ... Deserved fotmob motm for Yamane. What a defender he turned out to be. Really smart player, just had to learn the league and the team. I see him getting just as good on offense with a little more time.
I think there's a bunch of players who haven't adjusted yet to the improved MLS and are still playing like it's MLS 1.0. Plus McCarthy thinks he's a better player with his feet than he really is. I just watched a few minutes of the Leeds v. Southampton promotion play off in Wembley after watching LA last night. At this stage I get the feeling the Championship is perhaps still a little more refined in some details but the overall game LA/Hou looked higher level to me in a rough sorta way. Consider that our cb pairing was a Japan international with an Uruguay international (ex-internationals, but still.....)
MLS IS weird due to our salary rules. We've got a mishmash of players who could still easily play in top 5 leagues, and a few USL (or League 2 or League 1 level players). And yea, howlers can still happen in big leagues, Brendan Aaronson's 1 highlight in the premier league so far where he stole the ball off Mendy comes to mind.
One of the reasons for more gk howlers may be that we still have a lot of turnover in personnel in MLS. Look at Onana for ManU early in the season. Talk about howlers. As he adjusted to his new team the howlers went way down.
Hell even Man City gave up a gk/cb howler goal in the FA Cup Final. I still think a few of you are too harsh on McCarthy. Despite other mistakes I think that was his first blunder goal he's given up this season. Bingham usually had 2 or 3 by this point in the season. Plus I think the McCarthy haters don't realize how many goals he's saved this season that most MLS keepers would simply not have gotten to. Especially the grass cutters to the side. He gets down quicker than any keeper we've had, going back to 1st time Ricketts. Shot-stopping is still job 1 for keepers. McCarthy is a master at it.
Beckham n the house last night! Sort of. ROMEO BECKHAM Y RIQUI PUIG 💙🤍💛El hijo de #DavidBeckham y ex-jugador de #LAGalaxy, Romeo Beckham, estuvo ayer en el Dignity Health Sports Park y al final del encuentro se tomó una fotografía con #RiquiPuig y se llevó su camisa autografiada. “Mi hermano gracias”, escribió… pic.twitter.com/RX4A4fBGLr— Pase Filtrado (@pasefiltrado) May 26, 2024
Very troubling first half. We were lucky to rescue it, but how many times are we going to put ourselves in that situation? It's news to no one, but this team starts poorly. I think they are stuck between playing with urgency and remaining calm and letting the game come to them. I've heard Vanney, at differing times, say the team needs to move the ball more quickly AND stop rushing / forcing things. This probably has to be a little confusing for his team, who routinely starts poorly. You could complain about McCarthy's mistake, but Houston was all over us for a good 10 minutes, which forced the mistake. Shouldn't be that way at home deep in the 1st half.
I've complained about Pec but he's been stepping up more and more and had a solid game. Underrated finish and strong play overall throughout the match.
If memory serves me right, it's only been by the grace of Eru that this was the first goal JMac gave up due to his unforced blunder. He is just so shaky and it's gotten to the point where I'm just waiting for a howler every game he starts. He does make great saves, and he does inspire more confidence than Bingham, but it's kind of a low bar. Overall though, based on other team needs, the Gs are stuck with him for this season. I don't think it's too much to ask for a goal keeper who commands his box, has a commanding presence, is good with his feet, is a great distributor, had good instincts, and is a great shot stopper...
You forgot the 3 most important aspects 1: Is Available 2: Wants to Sign for us 3: Fits under our Salary Cap