OK... so, after a good 24 hour reflection, I found myself quite upbeat after the match on Saturday night... before you roll your eyes, here is my take... Ricketts hardly had a save to make,... the goal just seemed comical. Omar was his usually consistent and reliable self... Berhalter actually seemed quite anonymous the sending off.. but I do think the Sanneh applied himself quite well when he came on. (For me) the weak link in the back was Dunivant.. he just didnt do that much and I dont think supported Lewis much on the left... however, with that said, I thought that Dela Garza was excellent.. especially after the grief I gave his woeful performance at Dallas! He was so good that I even started to chant his name to which a few other fans seemed to like and join in! He seemed to open up well for Ricketts, took a few people on and worked very well with Kovalenko on the right.. I thought Kovalenko played well as did Lewis, who someone must've told that hitting the byline and getting in a few crosses was actually beneficial for a left midfielder.. Missing (for me) was maggee.... just not good enough.. quite anonymous.. lost the ball etc... I know Gordon got slated last night, (and I was one shouting also) but in reflection (and after my personal match today) I reminded myself that 75% of the battle is getting yourself in the right position to even have a shot.. dont get me wrong, I think he should have buried the 1on1 with Hartman, but it was an intelligent run to get in the position as was the other few chances he had. Should he score more? sure... but I actually thought he put himself about quite well.. Apart from Landon's clever ball at the end of the match, I (and most of you will disagree) dont think that he works as hard as most of the team. He is a good, speedy player that can score goals.. but it doesnt mean he shouldnt be closing down and tackling or tracking back... I noticed when 'he' gave the ball away, he would blame someone else.. lol... All in all, hitting the bar a few times (any replay's to see if the ball actually crossed the line in either one?)... working the ball around nicely, some good crisp passes and quite a few shots with not much to do defensively... made for an entertaining match... not to mention a great comeback goal... against a team that is supposed to be pretty good.. albeit missing a few players... I wouldve actually preferred to see Buddle on from the start with Gordon... and move Landon back into midfield... I just felt good after this match (not taking into consideration past results)... hasnt quite made me a Bruce believer yet.... but the lads put in a good performance!! JACK-UK
Just remember that Donovan has 2 important games Wednesday and Saturday. He wasn't going to give it his all this game.
I'll try and contain my anger here!! I dont give a shit what he has on Wednesday or Saturday or Thursday morning and Friday at lunch!! When you are privileged enough to wear a Galaxy shirt you give your ALLL.. every game!!! And if you have to pace yourself due to a demanding schedule then you tell your F$%&*! coach! and he plays you X amount of minutes and subs you out with someone that can give their all! JACK-UK.... (simmering.......)
I am shocked that you wouldnt see positives from the hard work put in on Saturday night! You probably could do a lot better!
i agree with pretty much all of this to one extent or another (other than the criticism of LD). i think that buddle hasn't been starting or playing as much because of his problem with his thigh and his resulting inability to get to full match fitness.
Jack, I agree with most of your points, except that I dont think that Buddle should have started. Actually, I was questioning the substitution for him. My concern is that with the offense not at full capacity, we need as much help as possible to create offensive opportunities. I've never really felt that Buddle truly contributes to that. To me, he's always been someone that can finish plays really well. Gordon, while not a great finisher, is a bit more involved in in setting up our attack by recieving long balls and getting the ball to players who can make a difference. Buddle was fantastic when we were firing on all cylinders last season and when we could put him in a position to score. We are unfortunatley not in that position at this point in the season... I expect that he'll have a much better season come mid-July. Thankfully, things worked out, and Buddle made a great play off the ball to be in the right spot to take the game winning shot, but I dont think that he'd done much to be positive about up until that point.
the way I see it, Donovan not giving it his all will still be ALOT more effective than having say, Jordan giving it his all and running around out there all night long like an idiot. (no offense to Jordan) The proof is the multiple times he put someone into a scoring position all night, including the assist to Buddle. If Gordon would have scored everytime he had the opportunity, Donovan would have had a hattrick of assists.
As I stated in my original post, I think Donovan has talent (more than I orginally gave him credit for).. I think his maturity and experience on the ball is fantastic.. his speed going forward is threatening.. my complaint was that he can work harder to close down defensively and stop moaning at team mates when 'he' gives the ball away... I just think saying any player is not giving his 'all' is frightening in this sport... Doesnt mean by any means that he isnt a good player.
You can break down each player in a many ways as you wish, but the team was not good enough to win the game. Obviously, the red card is less than desirable. But, this sort of below average TEAM play (necessary to win games) week in and week out has been consistently bad. So, individual players can have good games, bad games, and anything in between--but, that does little for the collective play of the team. Until that improves, I'm not interested in looking for individual positives.
Say that to Beckham too, Jack, when you have a chance. That is called smart soccer Jack. When you are expected to be an important factor for 3 games in 7 days, you save energy for when it counts. The guy is harrassed and getting choped down in every games and not get injured and still make things happens in critical moments. By the way, when you are privileged enough to wear a galaxy shirt you give your all... Please, given a chance, landon would gladly take off the galaxy jersey to put on an EPL or La Liga jersey. Club game is always inferior to country game. You of all people should know that since you have been defending beck day after day, week after week in the other thread. Or is it an England game more important than a US game. WC qualifier is serious business, can't take it lightly, especially when the US never won in costa rica. IS that enuff of a reason for landon to save some gas? Edit: And you said that landon should play only x amount of minutes. His assist came at the 87th minute. If he left in the 70s minutes or so, the tie with kansas would have been a loss and this thread you made would not even take place.
Were you sitting in 102 on Saturday? The guy sitting behind me said almost exactly the same thing...literally seconds before Buddle scored.
Great post. However, i'm going to disagree about Dunivant. If he isn't providing enough support for Lewis, how did Lewis have by far his best attacking game he's ever had for us? Dunivant provides enough cover, and enough stability to allow Lewis to push forward and be a "winger", as opposed to being a glorified 2nd left back.
Bed, its a little unfair to say "if"... would someone else have given Buddle a good ball? Would we have had a different attack... However, lets cover some other 'talkable' points.... I've already said that Landon has impressed me more than I initially thought... his maturity on the ball and obvious experience stands out from the players around him... but I still personally (just me) think that he's lazy... if that is blamed on him 'conserving energy' for the national team, then so be it... BUT, and it goes for Becks, Ronaldo, Henry, Ibrihamovic, or anyone else... if you are on the pitch (for your club), you need to be able to give 100%!! I dont defend the fact that Beckham should play at 60% for Galaxy because he loves to play for England!! Thats absurd, and certainly not backed up from me! If any of those players say to the manager: "Hey, you know I have a WC qualifier coming up and I need to be careful because Im focused there".. then its up to the manager to play him (or not) and sub him when he starts to slow down!!! Remember, when you pull on a club shirt (or any shirt), you are part of a TEAM! which means you are potentially letting down 10 other guys working their ass off (assuming they are)... not to mention the thousands of fans that pay good money to watch that! My argument isnt directed at Landon Donovan.. my argument is that NO PLAYER including Beckham or anyone else should be allowed on the pitch if they arent willing or able to give 100%.... The only argument to that (which bizarrly made sense to me) is that a 60% Donovan is better than 100% of the other subs... sad as that may be, it may be true.. but doesnt deter me from believing that the players should give their all or be subbed! JACK
Thats actually a good argument! Possibly Dunivant through quiet anonymity (hard defensive work) allowed Lewis the freedom to get more forward more...... well done. JACK
I never said the team was good!!! Sheeeesh, all I said was that there were positives to draw from Saturdays match!
BigSoccer just ate a longer version of this, so here's the highlights: No need to simmer. I don't think Donovan has been playing lazily. I've seen him do a lot of defensive work, and as usual he's been moving faster at the end of the game than most guys on the field. I and a few others are wondering whether he's been as explosive in his runs as usual lately, but I saw some flashes of that against KC. Actually, I'm with Jack. This was the first game all season that I watched and thought our team effort was pretty solid. Until the red card, we were the more dangerous team on the field, especially in the first half, and that's because we were playing decent, controlled soccer. The fact that Alan Gordon had an off-day by his own standards shouldn't take away from the fact that he missed well-worked opportunities created by skill rather than dumb luck. For the first time this year, I'm starting to think that we might actually have a chance at being a respectably mid-table team with a chance of even making the playoffs. We'd need a few breaks, but if we can survive Donovan's absence during June (maybe even win a game or two), we'd be in a position to do well for the rest of the season. We'll always be an injury or two from disaster (we're not deep enough, even by MLS standards), but come July our starting eleven could play some pretty decent soccer: ------------------------Ricketts Delagarza----Franklin-----Gonzalez-----Dunivant Beckham----Kovalenko---Birchall-------Lewis ---------------------Donovan ----------------------Buddle We're not going to be world-beaters, obviously, but those guys could actually play some decent, watchable, intermittently successful soccer.
put Gonzalez where Franklin is at cause i say Franklin is out for the rest of the season and put berhalter where Gonzalez is at and hope no one get hurts
Yes, I would be very interested to see what this does on the field: ------------------------Ricketts Delagarza----Gonzalez-----Berhalter----Dunivant Beckham----Kovalenko-----Birchall-------Lewis -----------------------Donovan ------------------------Buddle And I'll agree with some other posters and say that was our best game of the season so far, as far as total team play. Which isn't to say we are a great MLS team yet, but it was the best FOR US so far. If Gordon finishes a couple of his gimmes and we don't have that one defensive breakdown, we win that game 3-0 and people are going nuts here heaping praise on the team. We're only 4 points out of a playoff spot right now, so this next 6 weeks might dictate how the season goes. If we can stay close (like we have) until Donovan and Becks return and Birchall and any other new players arrive, then we might have a shot at making the playoffs. This is where our emphasis on defense first will help us. We're missing our offensive firepower now, but our tight defense might still help us get some points. Last year, when our offense went missing, we had no defense and got killed....
Anybody know the scoop on this? Last I heard, he was out for 4-6 weeks (that was about a week ago). He's already had the hamstring surgery, no?
This article is from USA Today (about 5 days ago)... more like 4-6 months unfortunately. CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Galaxy defender Sean Franklin will miss 4-6 months after surgery to repair a torn right upper hamstring tendon. Last year's MLS rookie of the year was injured in a 1-1 draw with Columbus on May 17 and had surgery on Tuesday in Santa Monica, the team said Wednesday. Franklin appeared in eight of the Galaxy's first nine games before getting hurt. He has one assist and has taken three shots in 675 minutes on the field. Last year, Franklin started 26 of 27 games.