Skids meet The Galaxy... Galaxy meet the skids. This team straight out sucks. The results continue to provide members of the "Negative Clan" or as i call us "The Realist Republic of Galaxy fans" that we know this team better than the Positive, look on the bright side, glass half full dim wits who constantly think that an MLS Cup winning team and CCL Group stage winner circa 12/1/12 team is far weaker than a .500 MLS winning percentage team and CCL semi-final loser like this (1) goal scoring in three game team is now. This team has "real" problems on the horizon. compounding that is losing the CCL, and starting off MLS not very strongly is only going to exasperate these issues in the next few months. If this team loses Omar in the Summer... If Keano has had enough... wants out over the Summer... If Donovan goes all Casper-the friendly donovan on us til July. Any significant injury should happen. The old addage in sports is "If it ain't broke... don't fix it" So how does that work when it is broke, but all the people in the front office are unwilling to fix it, because fixing it cost money... and the guy who used care about those kinda problems collected a pink slip for talking outta turn. The headcoach can't say anything anymore because even he knows the product on the field stinks, and it reflects that incompetants running the team. The attendance, the results, the marketability, the morale, the overall position and feeling of the team is low right now. Not where we thought we would be just 6 months ago, but were here. And the "shit's creek" doesn't stop flowing because the people in power can't find a paddle.
I was checking gamestats and MLS.com has it as Meyer who conceded the corner. I can't be sure, but that seems like what I remember because it was a CB coming over to help out Cochrane and he read it nicely and got there in plenty of time. It was a bit of a hopeful ball that really shouldn't have been anything more than a throw in for Dallas at best. I do remember Garcia also needlessly conceding a corner by sliding in the box and knocking the ball over the endline when it looked like either Gonzalez or Cudicini had it covered easy. That was about 4 minutes earlier. I guess it doesn't really matter, except that I do think Meyer needs to be a bit more decisive. He seems to be a little slow and a little soft sometimes on dealing balls that he's got lined up. I think he's just hesitating because he's wary of getting giving up a bad foul.
Some thoughts... Leo just played himself out of the starting lineup. He can be solid for most part but then completely mess up put of nowhere. Cochrane was solid. Might have a future in the mls. Magee was poor again in my opinion. I have been a little disappointed in his play the last few games. However Clark offered nothing. I know he is a "wide" player, but how many crosses does he actually put in. Everytime he gets the ball out wide he cuts it inside. He never takes a defender one on one. Makes me miss chippen. Villarreal is so much fun to watch. I'm so glad he's a G. 3 game losing streak...ouch.
Ok I DVR'd the game and I sure am glad I did not watch it live. Dissapointing to say the least we sucked and looked like we are still in monterrey sulking over spilled milk! I have nothing to say about the selections made by bruce other than he continues to baffle me on his selection of colin clark (?) LD looks still in pre season form and rusty, Leo just stunk it up and cemented his place in the bonehead wall of fame with his red card and penalty give away. The finishing was horrible and it needs clear improvement asap. Now for the positives carlo showed me some heart on goal and the goal was bound to come in given we were down a man and the fatigue settling in. But what caught my eye was this kid cochrane (not sure on spelling) this dude was all over the place and he has pace. I espacially loved his whipping crosses in the box and when he was passing the ball he meant business, No wasted effort on his passing his passes had a purpose to find another galaxy player. I like it he reminded me of phillip lahm seriously. I know it's his first start but you can tell when a rookie is meant to be a footballer or a bench player and this kid's first touch is money. Ok hope we can get back on track next game .
There were actually 3 big positives out of this game. 1. Cochrane seemed like really capable LB depth. He had two nice crosses. Really closed down well defensively. 2. Cudicini looking like a real keeper. With big saves and everything. Huge save on penalty and at least 2 other shots from Dallas that were whistled offside that he kept out. He still is playing too tight in distributing the ball out of the back (compared to the start of the season where he was playing too loose). Just because the ball is passed back doesn't mean he has to boom it down the field to no one. When you see balance return to his distribution, and I think it will, Cudicini will be in top form. 3. Landon's passing. Yes he should have looked more for the shot, but he had some beautiful passes that carved up the defense. LD and Magee both can pass the ball. Get Villareal and Keane out there too at the same time and then they'll be plenty of guys to shoot the ball.
Cochrane delivered some of the best crosses we've had early this year. A few times he looked quicker with the ball at his feet than Franklin and more in control as well, sometimes Franklin's touch and close control lets him down. He was pulled a few times defensively, stepping when he shouldn't but he looked pretty good.
I'm very impressed and pleased with Cochrane. He looks like he can be a fine - even better - replacement for Dunivant, if he progresses as well as he's started. Very happy with McBean as well. He had some tremendous hold-up play I thought. And Villarreal is going to be fun, fun, fun to watch. We've got a couple of super talented youngsters. I just had a feeling LD was going to take a poor PK and he did. I blame myself. Had we been there, he would have scored it and we would have gone on to win. I'm sure of it. Anyway, though he is still shaky in front of goal, I thought he played midfield great for us - some simply beautiful passes. I'm with Geneva, with Villarreal, Magee, Keane and McBean up top, LD is absolutely needed as a playmaker for us. If we only had somone other than Clark out there.
Clark is on Bruce. If he doesn't bury his mistake soon, I will go all TequilJoal on his ass and fire up the REAL Fire Bruce! thread again. There's a lot of coasting going on the G organization right now and it needs to be put a stop to.
Leonardo . . . Wow. That was a Lopes level brain fart. It reminded me of Abel Xavier whiffing and falling on his ass at the 18 (but that didn't give up a red).
FCD fan here, don't mean to troll. Of all the posts I've read in this thread, this one seemed the most accurate. I thought LD (I am a fan) was very solid as he reminded me a bit of Ferreira with his probing passes, and FCD, even a man up, was lucky to escape with the win. He also defended pretty well with a few key interceptions. I'm a bit surprised by all the negative talk, as you guys have such a good team that was missing key components (or at least key components at full strength).
This is a much more realistic view than from those "sky is falling" guys. I thought it was a hard fought game that could have gone either way.
You know what? I'm actually not disappointed at that game. We could have won it with 10 men, and we had our chances with 10 men. And for much of the match we were playing with a man down due to Colin Clark + Leonardo, so I'm not overly bummed. So yes, sad to drop a point, but like FlapJack, I do think there were positives: Cudicini - best game yet. Didn't cover himself in glory on that final play, but there was the blocked PK and he just looks so much more solid coming for crosses and coming off his line. Maybe his jitters have finally gone away. Omar - I'm not going to blame him on the final goal because for 85 minutes he was a brick wall. Even with 10 men. Get some rest buddy. LD in minutes 60-90 - From the fantastic cutback to the gorgeous pass to Magee, THESE are the moments I associate with him. And the passing in these final minutes was brilliant. I view this as a step up because in previous weeks, he doesn't make those passes. Missed PK - whatever. It'll even out in the end. I was more interested in things like the confidence to take the cutback. Cochrane - Hello Mr. good crosser! Where have you been? Great intro game. The negatives: AJ's crossing Juninho looking tired (at least, I hope that's what it is and not something more serious) The downright awful: Colin Clark - please put him out of his misery Bruce. PLEASE. Do you realize how many times he traps the ball right to the opposition? A lot. Leo - aka, Brain Farts R Us
Yeah, a stream of profanity exited my mouth for about 30 seconds straight when LD missed the penalty (how often does that happen?). But I agree with Berks. I was ready to write off his performance in the match, especially when he started playing right back or whatever. But I really think after the 60th minute or so when he got more touches, he looked much sharper and we started to see more of those trademark passes. But I think this is precisely why Landon should start in midfield, where he'll get more touches early and he can be involved in possession. Speaking off...Omar Ibrahimovic? Omar looked pretty good going forward many times in this match.
This. We are a team built around 3 DPs and we were basically playing with 1/2. Which is a shame, because I think we could have taken more points from the start of the season and had a running start. This is also why I'm against using a DP slot for Omar. One DP doesn't help you too much. Two DPs start to work together. Three DPs provide more ways to play off each other which significanty increases their effectiveness. The corollary to this is that we need to build the defense with moderately priced players who can develop a relationship over time. This is why I was very disappointed that we did not treat central defender as a priority during the off-season.
Really surprised at all the negativity. Hated the loss but we knew if it was going to be a tough task with only a few days rest after an important game. It was easy to see that the players that played in both games were a little gassed, and that probably was as big an issue mentally as it was physically towards the end, and then on top of that we had to play 10 men for the last 30 minutes. Sure I wish we make our penalty and lock it down on the road but given the circumstances it's not surprising it went the other way. I thought Cochrane showed himself to be ready to get more minutes as Duni's back up as the season goes on, which is good because the Iron Man can't keep it up forever, and Carlo's continued progression were big positives out of the loss. Let's keep moving forward!
Another positive - Villareal's pass from the sideline in tight spaces to give back to Donovan. Best pass of the night. Those two could really work together. Looking forward to good things from them. Unfortunately he'll be missing a lot of time with the U20's!
Everyone's getting on the LD to midfield bandwagon - hopefully it's just as obvious to Bruce, cause I want to see him start there next. Yes, Omar going forward is starting to be a trend. He's playing with a lot of confidence now, and is a towering presence on the field in more ways than one.
34/38 - so eh, it'll even out later I literally started laughing seeing him back there. He is better playing striker when he's playing with Robbie Keane it seems. Although with Buddle he wasn't half bad either. But when your left midfielder is Colin Clark and you're getting no service, well, you look better in midfield when you start creating for others around you and being the playmaker. You raise a good point though - in midfield it's easier potentially for him to work his way back rather than at forward because he simply gets more touches on the ball rather than being cut off.