Totally agree. Again, doesn't excuse our performance this season as every MLS winning team has to deal with it - but insane that the bonuses for winning are tacked on to the following year's salary cap.
What I’ve never seen clearly answered is if we converted the Dejan sale into budget money (GAM) or if AEG pocketed it. Did Kurtz address that? The fact that we showed $0 GAM in the league release after the sale makes me think it’s the latter which would just be criminal and still very damaging to us going forward. In retrospect, choosing Fagundez over Delgado has been a disaster. Paying what we are paying for Reus this year (and next!) is a disaster for us. I will listen to his interview but I’m very interested now in how he’s positioning us for next year because this year is sunk and he needs to figure out the resources we need to rebuild.
I do think at the very least bonuses should be excluded from the cap, but generally speaking I think there should be a bonus for both MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield that helps teams stay together. Maybe it’s non-contiguous so if you win either the following year that bonus goes away or halves or something, but give teams some runway to rebuild. But yeah, there’s far too much talent remaining on the 2025 Galaxy to be 0-3-10 and -21 goal differential.
#SACKVANNEY2025!!! And Kuntz you are officially on the clock for the hot seat! I don't want excuses. I want results, losing is part of football but this kind of losing is unacceptable.
And Vanney Survives to Coach Another Day LOL!!! They knew the season was screwed from the start just like I thought.
Your disappearing bonus idea has a good deal of merit. However, I strongly disagree on your second point. The 2025 Galaxy have only gotten 1322 minutes from their 3 DPs (37% of the time available). That is abysmal and by my poor and perhaps wrong reckoning translates to a loss of 14.9 goals, season to date (And you could add 2 more goals to that shortfall if you factor in Dejan's absence. Like most of us, I assumed that Fagundez and Reus could help make up most of Puig absence in aggregate. However, Reus has only been available 40% of the time due to his bad knees. While Fagundez has been an ironman and has definitely given his all, I totally misunderstood on much Diego's performance last year was dependent upon his surrounding cast. For example, he had a career high of 5 assists in 2024. In his 13 years prior to joining the Galaxy, Diego had a total of 1 (not a typo - one) assist. I guess this explain why Vanney was reluctant to play him at the 10. So I would ask those of you upset about Vanney's new contract, which of the talented players remaining on the Galaxy roster would you have started?
I agree. But Diego has 75 career assists in 15 seasons played (I think he’s in his 16th season now) so 5 was good for him in that he played less minutes last season than he had prior to that.
Diego does not just have 1 assist prior to last season. MLSsoccer.com incorrectly shows him having 2 during that period but according to both fbref.com and whoscored he actually has 54 regular season assists. And the MLS TV announcers give him 75 total assists, which I assume means a lot of side cup assists? It’s all confusing as hell. But that is beside the point when it comes to Vanney. You keep defending Vanney and calling out Vanney’s critics by focus on player selection and on play on one side of the ball - offense. But you have never put up a reasonable defense of Vanney’s, well … defense. Vanney has spent 4 1/2 seasons with the Galaxy and has gone through probably 20 defenders, many of his own choosing, most of whom are reasonably talented, and has not once fielded a team yielding less than 50 goals or one ranked above average on defense. Two of these seasons his defense has been worst in MLS (counting this one). Here is his goals against record with us: Year GA Rank 2021 54 (20.5th) (tied for 20th, 21st) 2022 51 (14.5th) 2023 67 (29th) 2024 50 (15th) 2025 81* (30th) * extrapolated from current rate With the addition of Garces this season started out with very high expectations on D. But it has been historically bad and even when all 4 of our starters were available our defense was pretty awful. And on a player developmental level a couple of VERY promising young defenders have seemed to get worse under Vanney, or at the very least, have disappointed: Jalen Neal and Garces. There is zero evidence he did anything for either one in terms of improving their tactical awareness or decision-making. Both were pretty bad for us in that department. Until you can explain to me why Vanney has failed 5 consecutive times to create a single above-average defense I can’t buy your argument that he deserved a re-up And certainly not as the highest paid (non-GM) coach in MLS!
If defense is the most important thing, then Vanney isn’t your guy. If winning MLS Cups is the most important thing, then Vanney is one of the top guys.
Apparently, the assist stats are all over the place. I based my comment on his career stats as shown on lagalaxy.com without checking any other stat sites, which is my bad. Thank you for pointing this out. The entries below show his career and 2024 season goal and assist totals for MLS regular season games on the listed sites. lagalaxy.com career 75g 7a 2024 4g 5a transfermakt.com career 75g 60a 2024 4g 2a fbref.com career 75g 56a 2024 4g 1a whoscored.com career 71g 54a 2024 4g 2a does not include 4g 4a from 2011 & 2012 espn.com career 77g 72a 2024 4g 3a So I was clearly wrong for relying on lagalaxy.com. I have no idea what is the "authoritative" source for soccer stats. I had to piece the espn.com stats together as they don't provide a united career view by competition. It would seem that they should be able to get things like goals and assists correct. Just out of curiosity, Trickhog, where did you find the 75 career assists you mentioned.
Major League Soccer posted about this and identified the other members of that exclusive club Welcome to the 75/75 club, @DiegolFagundez 👏 Diego Fagundez joins @MLS royalty with 75 goals and 75 assists. pic.twitter.com/vC2n7xew3F— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 15, 2025
To me the objective is to win games and have the highest point total possible on the season. Losing 0-1, 0-3 or even 0-7 are on a points basis equally bad. Similarly a 3-2 win is better than a 0-0 tie. Neither is true in your rankings. Consequently, from my game theory perspective, if the team goes down a goal it makes sense to consider chasing the game (and ignoring the defense) if it is unlikely that the team will score otherwise. Conversely with the lead, it becomes "easier" to focus on the defense. Look at the Galaxy's record last year when they scored first versus gave up the first goal. Excluding the Covid year of 2020, the MLS Cup winners since 2018 have all had elite offenses, with the exception of Seattle. Seattle, was also the only team with an offense not in the top 4 and the only one with a defense higher ranked than their offense. Meanwhile, the Galaxy, Columbus and even Seattle have shown that a team doesn't need an elite defense and can win the MLS cup with just an average defense. Year MLS Cup GS rank GA rank Winner 2018 Atlanta 70 1st 44 4th 2019 Seattle 52 14th 49 10th 2021 NYFC 56 4th 36 6th 2022 LAFC 66 2nd 38 3rd 2023 Columbus 67 1st 46 13th 2024 LA Galaxy 69 3rd 50 14th Bottom line, would I like the Galaxy to have a better defense, sure. But I am more concerned with their ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
You gotta be shitting me! Manchester United have sacked OGS, Ten hag and already there's murmuring about sacking Amorim! Real Madrid win the freaking champions league last year and Ancelotti getting sacked for losing la liga and the champions league this season! Are we Tottenham? (No offense Dawdler). SACKVANNEYNOW!!!
I guess one possible counter here is that Manchester United’s endless coaching carousel hasn’t really helped at all.
Obviously defense isn’t the most important thing to me - winning is. I just don’t think poor defense is a promising path to winning and the data clearly support me on this. In the 13 seasons MLS has played 34 games there has been only one Cup winner that allowed 50+ goals in the regular season. That of course was us last year, when we allowed exactly 50 regular season goals, which also happened to be the best defensive performance ever by the Galaxy under Vanney. Here are the MLS Cup winners along with GA during the regular season: 2011 LAG 28 2012 LAG 47 2013 SKC 30 2014 LAG 37 (I like the trend I’m seeing here!!) 2015 POR 39 2016 SEA 43 2017 TOR 37 (Vanney’s first!) 2018 ATL 44 2019 SEA 49 2021 NYC 36 2022 LAFC 38 2023 CLB 46 2024 LAG 50 Winners of the MLS Cup give up an average of 40.3 goals in the regular season. LAG in 2011 was the only winner to limit GA to the 20s, 6 teams limited GA to the 30s, 5 teams in the 40’s. And 2024 LAG, being the bosses we are, also cap the other end as the only Cup winner with GA in the 50s. And for that to even happen we had to have arguably the best combo of 4 offensive players in MLS history. It also helped that we played a conference (not MLS) 7 seed, a 6 seed, a 4 seed and then beat a 7 seed in the final by 1 goal. Those confluence of unusual circumstances aren’t something to expect in the future. Remember this GA of 50 was also the peak defense under Vanney since he arrived in 2021. Every other season we’ve allowed 51-67 goals (with the latter likely being smashed this year), so we struggled to reach the playoffs, much less win another Cup. So yes I care about winning MLS Cups. But history shows us that winning MLS is unlikely for teams with mediocre defenses. And virtually impossible for teams with crappy ones, like we’ve had in three of Vanney’s five seasons, including the current one. The fact a Cup was won once with a 50+ GA defense in thirteen years doesn’t change that fact. So yes, I also care about defense. Because winning another Cup is very unlikely unless Vanney finally figures out how to handle that critical aspect of the game. I’m skeptical but I really hope the new analytics person and Juninho nudge him to finally solve this long-standing problem for the LA Galaxy.
Thank. This is an excellent analysis. It explains what's happened in the past. I like solutions, too. So...what would you do if your're the GM?
I would have gotten rid of Vanney and brought in a coach who seemed to be on his way up and had a strong record teaching tactics on both sides of the ball. If I were forced to keep Vanney I would have brought in an assistant coach with a rep for building defenses and put him in charge of training defensive principles - positioning, coordination, strategic fouling, discipline, midfielder defensive responsibilities, set piece defense, etc. Let Vanney concentrate on other aspects of the game where he has a stronger record. I also would be scouting for defensive upgrades, definitely for the aging Yoshida and possibly Yamane, Nelson and Cerrillo. If Sanabria doesn’t work out we need a more hard-nosed DM.
^^THIS^^ Sacking the coaches repeatedly is half the problem with Manchester United. They NEVER get consistent leadership. I have watched fans rage quit on a season after 6 games and start screaming for the coaches head repeatedly and the higher ups for that team repeatedly oblige and still they struggle to even look a little bit like the Manchester United that featured a young CR7 and Rooney. Seriously any fan of that squad that can sit back with a straight face and tell me, a guy that has been watching that team for years, that the fault was always strictly on the coach, is a person that I can't truly take seriously when it comes to the sport as a whole let alone a fan of Man United. Not gonna happen. Not yet anyways. Not yet! Not yet!