After the goal, they had a few chances where they could have easily kept posession but instead kicked the ball away. They pulled this strategy even when they had the ball with 1:30 or more left. Very poor tactically.
I think the players need a mantra.... as soon as we're up by a goal, they should all repeat to themselves "the game isn't over until the ref blows the whistle, the game isn't over...."
you cant really count tonights game because neither team was at full strenghth. however, in light of the galaxy's recent performances.... this team has no cajones
Very poor tactically is an understatement. Plus a poor effort in stoppage time of defense and the sieve gave up another weak goal.
I think we now know conclusively that both Herculez Gomez and Michael Enfield are better than Naldo. Not just because they connected for the goal... both of them showed much better touch and vision than him too, and both were at least as fast if not faster.
New England ROCKS! Not seriously, you guys need to add a good forward... very weak in the attack... Def was ok, Mid can be better... but forwards? I have my doubts... good luck against Real Madrid... btw, will it be on TV?
Just caught the highlights on MLS net. The LA defense on the NE free kick goal is brutal....nothing but white shirts in front of the goal....ugh!
Awful that we gave NE a free kick opportunity in which they converted. Enfield must've had that "Oh-my-goodness-I'm-open-and-in-front-of-the-net" rookie anxiety that caused him to muff that shot. That header was beautiful to redeem himself. I think he had 3 SOG's which might be 3 more than Naldon't. So how did Grabavoy do? Perhaps it's anxiety, but I don't think he did great.
who is the sieve? certainly not Hartman... he prevented the loss this evening. The disheartening thing is how low the level of the Galaxy is when they are w/o their top players. G Jones' article in the LA Times today was spot on. That game was boooooooring... and so were the firworks for that matter. I hope they get Landon back for the Madrid game... otherwise it's gonna be ugly.
How long was stoppage time? The ref seemed determined to give the Revs a clear chance at goal before he blew the whistle. After the final whistle, one of the G's laid into the ref (earning a yellow) about the length of stoppage time, and Hartman was cussing him out.
According to the MLSnet match tracker, the foul was that resulted in the NE free kick was called at 92:58 and the goal was scored at 93:20. The way this match ended, felt like I was watching a Mexican league game except I couldn't get anyone around me to storm the field or start a riot. What necessitated three minutes of stoppage time in the second half. There was more down time in the first half due to injuries, yet that half had two minutes. Naldo sucks. (And so does Chisoni.)
Yes Hartman is the sieve. He did not prevent the loss, he prevented the win! Hartman played another 89 minute game. His reaction to the play is so slow now. A benching is in order. He is just not the same keeper he was in the past. The LBS are catching up to him. His play is not only not worthy of an all star berth, it is not worthy of maintaining the #1 spot on his own team. Much the way he earned his #1, it is time to give Cronin a chance. An as far as the Referee is concerned, he and his assistants were abominable all night, and late in the game seemed to decide that no one deserved to win, especially with the weak fouls, imaginary offside throughout the game and no calls that were obvious. No mistake, a game we game 2 points back in, and would have got SS1 fired for.
I dunno man... I thought Hartman made some big plays tonight. He stood up well on Twellman's breakaway. He made a blinder of a save off a header close to goal in the second half. And I believe he kept out a free kick late in the match as well... all very solid. Now, I didn't see the replay of the Rev's goal so I can't really say if he should've done more on the goal but it seemed like your run-of-the-milll goallline scramble only there were no Galaxy defenders amongst the scramble. That's a tough on for a keeper. Did I miss something? And Cronin is a slow-footed keeper. He doeasn't seem very athletic JMO
can I ask why Jovan Kirovski was not playing? Did he get injured? and today's game is a great reason for MLS to work toward achieving a synchronized schedule with the National Team fixtures
i've heard some refs use an unofficial standard of 30 seconds for each substitution and each goal. separate from the injuries, this alone would have justified at least 3 minutes.
And I see that Naldo has added diving to his repetoire... And it was a joke when Naldo stormed the ref after the game, getting a yellow card. The least Michael Kennedy could have done for LAG was to red card Naldo - at least we would then get to see one Naldoless games. And the "seive" made two world class saves - Twellman and the medium range drive to the upper left corner in the second half. It was actually one of his better games. Graham Jones in today's LAT reports the goal game at 4:04 of the 3 minute extra time. I bet his estimate is closer than the "official" one on MLSNET. He also comments favorably on Grabavoy's play. As does Sampson. So I figure Ned is being showcased and talked up to increase his trade value.
Last night was so...Ugh, for lack of a better word. Let's be honest, we didn't deserve to win. The best chances of the game all came from the revolution and it was only Hartman's great saves that kept us 0-0 going into the last 15 minutes. (I'm prettyh down on Hartman lately, and was hoping to see Cronin but Hartman deserves a lot of credit for raising his game yesterday and after watching replays of the equilizer, you can't place any blame on Hartman for that one. My thoughts on players: Hartman -our MOM Dunivant -average to subaverage game. He seems to have platoed a bit Marshall -Same old game Chinchilla - I was pretty happy with him Ugo -I love Ugo, but at this point in his career, he is much more effective as a central defender then as an outside back. I think we really miss what albright brings to us in the attack. Ugo defended quite well. Jones -He was disapointing. It's getting to the point where we need to find a replacement for Jones. The fact that we don't have one is a problem. But, since we haven't replaced Mauricio in 3 years, I'm not surprised. Pando -What a flop aquisition so far. Let's be honest, Pando has not brought what was promised by his signing. What kinda crappy league do they have in Guatamala if he can score so much down there? His confidence must be at a n all time low. Hopefully he can get on the scoreboard soon to boost his confidence. Nagamura - I'm not convinced he is MLS caliber. Combined with Grabbaboy last night we must have had the smallest central midfield on the planet. Ned -I still really like this kid. I just see the good things he does. He makes some good passes when he is able to possess the ball. When Pete is back, I'd like to see more of Ned with him instead of Nagamura. ;t see out Naldo - Ugh, Ugh, triple ugh. I've given up on him. I know he did a few things right but he is a flop. Gordon - I still think he will turn out good. One problem is the overall lack of speed our forwards (Naldo, Kirovski, Gordon) have. It's a problem. Subs- Chisoni - Aweful. Just woeful. He must be a practice player because he has shown squat in the matches he has played so far. Gomez -I've liked most of what I've seen from him this year. Enfield -More please. He added a bit of a spark and spunk that you don't usually see out of our team.
Hopeful = SS, I believe, is showing that he is willing to bench his "star" players (ie. Kiro, Pando) if they do not get results. "No try, only do." Pitiful = Naldo still on the field. Naldo not dropped?!? Everyone here knew he was no good after his 2nd or 3rd game. Unless we are going to start a track team?? ----------------- Hartman: Came up big on two occassions. Unwaranted criticism earlier. Grabavoy: Excellent first half. Every successful play came thru hiim. Just like a #10. Second half not quite as impressive, but okay. SS must have talked to him at half-time. Jones: Not good. But, he was getting nattta service. Defense blew a couple off-sides traps. Note to defense: you cannot play the trap in MLS. Not with these refs. Offense: non-existent until Enfield/Gomez came on. Way to go boys! The Crapquakes fan had it pegged though, we need a striker.
Positives: El Gato was back on top of his game. Grabavoy looked good. Two of our subs came in and made an impact. We didn't score any own-goals. Negatives: Just about everything else. Especially Naldo.
A couple of random thoughts: Pando. 3 field goals. It seems like every shot outside of the box is 5 yards over the goal. You would think a player at his level would dedicate some serious practice time to fix this. Personally, I don't like his lazy-bored-keep the-ball-until-2-opposing-players-challenge-him style. Naldo. My gut was telling me that this guy could do something. I have given up hoping. I love going to HDC, but the food vendor is just not prepared for crowds of over 20,000. I went to get a beer and other goodies for the family just before halftime (to beat the rush). I was second in line, but still had to wait about 5 minutes before it was my turn. When I got to the front, no hot chocolate, no candy, no cookies, no churros and warm beer (room temp). Also, the clerk was completely untrained ... I felt sorry for her. Everyone behind the counter was avoiding eye contact. This is probably the worst experience since I've gone to the HDC, but there's a pattern at the busy games. I got back to my seat just before the 2nd half kickoff. Also, what's up with the "wave" haters? On a positive note, there was a dude selling Galaxy vs Real Madrid t-shirts outside the stadium. I picked up 4 for $25 ... thanks to my wife's superior negotiating skills. Nice shirts (Anvil brand) ...
Yes. I'm so glad that we missed Donovan, Dempsey, Noonan & Ralston in our big game of the year. Because now they're rested & refreshed for Cuba on Thursday.
LOL, I thought all the Hate Naldo threads were just momentary reactions to messed up plays, but he really needs to get sent to the USL or something. It seemed at times that he wasn't even trying out there, then right when the game ended he got a yellow card for something..I don't even know, but he looked like he was going to punch the ref.
And the merchandise booths aren't ready for prime time. The temperature dropped when the sun set & I saw a lot of cold fans. 2 of the booths that I checked had no adult sized sweatshirts at halftime. They lost a lot of revenue there. I saw dozens of people asking for them.
I was very encourage by Ned's play, and Hartman's saves & the goal were the best plays of the game. Enfield has to have some guts to come back & hit that header after the big whiff on his earlier breakaway. I think Naldo played his worst game. He looked very discouraged & beaten out there, and then he went off on the ref after the game. He looked like a guy who knows the writing is on the wall, and he's powerless to stop it. Gordon is very big, and quite slow. I'll reserve judgment for now. I thought Dunivant played well. I loved his volley pass forward to Ned in the 2nd half after a corner was blocked. He's not perfect, but definitely makes a positive contribution. Nagamura never quits, but his pass completion percentage reminded me of his first few games, which is not good. I believe Kiro was injured, not benched. Just wondering, is Memo still on this team? I didn't spot him on the sidelines or in warmups.