When you hear players take shots at a departed teammate for being too driven and intense and demanding too much excellence, it's almost always a sign of doom. Every player who did that needs to be cut tomorrow.
Insua was pretty awful at times tonight. I would keep only JDS and maybe Pavon. Lletget and Steres can stay as depth players. The rest of the non-rookies need to be gone. And Klein and GBS should go with them.
To be fair, the player they were complaining about was also a bit of an a-hole. Keane was driven, intense and demanded excellence but wasn’t a dick. When he left no one trashed him - everyone just missed him.
Absolutely done with Schelotto. Yes, some of the players poor, but with how overwhelmed this team looks, gotta blame the coaching. I'm done. Kitchen must have photos. Insua was too far upfield...repeatedly. Gonzalez shouldn't see game time again. Period. Bingham sucked. I wasn't impressed with Cuello and couldn't believe he started over Dunbar. No subs until after 70'. NO SUBS UNTIL AFTER 70. **** you, Schelotto. Joe Corona tried to be a one man midfield because the dude behind him sucks. Kitchen + Gonzalez = goals (not that Steres covered himself in glory) Goal Difference mattered. GBS needed to get his team off the ground in a hurry. Instead we just gave up more goals. And pretty much fell out of the tournament. We are dead last. DEAD. LAST. Embarrassing. We have the wooden spoon folks. I'm mad that after this crappy time, I won't even get to watch them play more than three freaking games until mid-August. And to be honest, that's probably not gonna happen. God I miss Bruce Arena. At least he was competent.
Yeah I don’t remember specifically who was at fault for goals or who played the absolute worst but when I see Insua play I see someone who is competent with the ball and he puts in a really good cross. it’s not everyday we get a player that is 31 and played for Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Stuttgart. I think in shape and with a better team he would be a keeper. He reminds me of Todd Dunivant. With better defensive partners I think he would look good. I would also say we should keep Lletget but at this point I’m ready to burn the whole thing down. We need as much of a complete overhaul as we can get. Aging stars on their last leg is getting us nowhere without a coach who understands the MLS and the American player. I wish Dom had been coach for the last three years.
Well, that went about as well as expected. The bad news: We only get to watch one more game until August. The good news: We only have to watch one more game until August.
Highlight Time Folks I will tell ya exactly who were the biggest goofs of the game. There were 3 stand outs. As for Insua though, he was okay to me. His problem was that because he was trying to overlap to create, his CB's and Kitchen weren't covering worth a crap; so because of this the best thing he could have done was just stay back and defend. Leave Cuello to handle the left side attack. In the second half he was tired, so it was easier to beat him. This was only made worse by the fact that GBS made zero defensive subs. ZERO!!! Kitchen should've come out at halftime. Not only did he cause goal 1. His constant turnovers, his inability to provide legit defensive support, coupled with dumb fouls, just makes his presence utterly pointless. He reminds me of the scene for Kill Bill Volume 2 when the guy goes he is about as useful as a bunghole on his elbow. We may as well have been down a man. Gonzalez is UTTER SH*T!!! I mean wow. His inability to shutdown forwards at close range gets him owned constantly. He couldn't close down BWP which resulted in goal 2 and 3. He doesn't even go for the foul to stop the attacker when needed. Older CB's know when to go for the foul and this dude just never goes there. He was well within range to clear the passes that caused goals 4 and 6. He didn't even stick out a boot to try on goal 4. Ibra was right to tell him he sucks to his face, because he does. HE SUCKS!! He should be thanking God I am not his boss. He would be fired after this game. I would be buying out his contract and sending him packing. I don't even want him sitting on the bench. Easily the biggest culprit of the game. Bingham never secures the ball. When Gonzalez got beat on goal 2, Bingham caused a rebound that Steres was unable to clear which landed right in front of Deigo fricking Rossi. Bam you get goal 2. How many times have we been scored on because of him constantly doing that stupid crap? And to make matters worse he lets in the easy ones. He should have been able to stop goal 3 and 6 for sure. With goal 4 and 5 being definite maybes. Goal 5 was caused by lack of pressure from the midfield. Just way to much space allowed. Yep Screw 2020!!
Alright now that the anger has been slept off, and I rewatched some highlights, I can say we are weak mentally. But most obviously, our center backs are atrocious specifically Gonzalez. I have no idea what we expected. Gonzalez has been bad for us for years, but this year we expected him to finally step up? Come on. Teams know to target Gonzalez. He is weak, doesn't give a crap, and easy to get past. The game really sucked because we started the game high energy, and LAFC was blindsided. It was great. We got sucker punched right before half, but we still had all the chance to win the game. The moment LAFC took the lead, we fell apart. Quick takes: Kitchen unfortunately is our only DM but the guy is pretty garbage. Corona - Dos Santos looks like it can be a high energy midfield but might struggle against bigger midfields. Not a huge issues imo. We need a #10. Insua and Feltscher are surprisingly ok, but they are slow to react. If they are left isolated, they often get beat. Bingham...hmm he confuses me so much. It's clear bingham can make some quality saves, but also produces some truly wtf moments. We managed to win a cup with Josh Saunders in goal, so I really think fixing the defense fixes the keeper. GBS is also confusing to me. It's clear we surprisingly had a good gameplan that flustered LAFC despite having a really weird formation, but the moment we concede, we go into a shell. Unfortunately with how bad our defense is, we go into our shell a lot. Pavon is gone. Guy is talented and no way he stays if we don't have a major overhaul. We need to trade Lletget asap for a quality defender.
Great summary, as always Berks. As you noted Insua being too far upfield allowed them to easily score their 4th goal and essentially end the game. Equally at fault is the also out of position Feltscher who never catches up to their goal scorer Rossi. In this sadly typical play a turnover deep in their end ends up in the back of our net 3 passes & 10 seconds later. It didn't help that Insua's emergency defending consisted of going to ground and whiffing, taking himself completely out of the play. Bottom line is that the absolutely criminally bad positioning by our outside backs on this play is a perfect copy and paste from last season. You remember? The season when counterattack goals rained on us like confetti. https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...otball-club-vs-la-galaxy/details/video/230462
In the morning, I still can't get over the subs. You have 5. We started the second half so poorly... A lot of the guys played short days ago. It's hot. I don't get it.
I'm looking at the standings to see what would need to happen to "let" us back in. And it's 100% backing in. First, we need to win against Houston. Bwahahahahaha. No, seriously. And then: InterMiami and NYCFC tie. I can't even vote for a small win because our goal differential is so bad. Game is tomorrow. Seattle and Vancouver tie - this game is tonight Someone from group C is likely one of the wild card spots. No help there. Someone from group D is likely one of the wild card spots. Someone from group E is likely one the wild card spots. That's it folks. We're fighting for 1 wild card spot. I can't emphasize enough how much our goal difference really truly killed us last night beyond the loss. Bad coaching. The standings are depressing. EDIT: And looking at it, Vancouver has only played 1 game, which means group B likely will supply the fourth wild card. Guys, we're pretty much toast. EDIT x 2: Seattle goes home with a tie or a loss tonight. Desperation soccer likely.
Does schoetto or Galaxy have a style yet? Trying to play w wingers and crosses and defend high when u simply don't have the talent is sad n wrong. Begin by dumping Klien Then scholetto and his entorouge And dump bingham he is a joke and always blaming others..dump kitchen, Gonzalez, seres, Fletch, cuello, lleget. Keep insua, chich, Santos, Sasha, Corona, Dunbar.
Lots of great thoughts around, none of which I can disagree with. Still, I probably agree with this take the most. We have players that have individual flaws, but I also believe they're not necessarily benefiting from coaching, either. I don't think Schelotto is clueless -- I do think he deserves credit for his approach to some of these games, but his biggest flaw -- aside from tactical defense -- may simply be ability to motivate these guys. As many have said, the team is mentally weak and really fell apart despite a solid start. Kneejerks (nothing new, mostly agreements Gonzales is good in possession and a great passer, but a very soft defender. He just plays like he's past it, doesn't get stuck in or go to ground. How much of that is motivation vs. knees, I'm not sure. But we'd need a much better midfield to insulate him from 1-v-1 danger, where he's clearly very vulnerable. Bingham Most know my thoughts on Bingham, but I don't think criticisms of him have been unfair. I think it's fair to say in an otherwise top tier team, Bingham would be a liability and while a game like this highlights his vulnerabilities, I still don't think he's the biggest problem with the team. I think Schelotto clearly has a vision, which may be saying very little. I also think, given his limitations on both occasions, his plan for the last two Trafico's have been pretty sound, though the team clearly fell apart in the 2nd half of this game. But he doesn't seem to react to things other coaches have noticed; like Bingham's tendency to spill balls (why aren't our guys closing down shooters from outside the box) or Pipo's timidness in 1v1 situations? People are also realizing Pavon's basically alone and are putting at least 2-3 guys on him. On one hand, GBS is pretty limited in what he can do, but part of that's on him, as he's brought in some pretty big flops.
I really believe these problems come from GBS. I think his plan is to have the outside backs constantly overlap. Which leaves the CB’s and DM there to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately those three players suck. Even if they were good it’s too dangerous to constantly do that. Fletcher hasn’t been that bad this year. He is serviceable to me. He has a really good touch and can play a decent ball in. I think if GBS didn’t force them forward so much or if he made them stay back more they would look a lot better defensively. but there is no fixing the CB’s. Van ales is just atrocious. At this point I would rather trade Gonzales for Freddy Adu. Someone call Walmart!
Could Galaxy advance with a win and a loss on remaining group F matches? Maybe so but the question is why? With no Jona nd No Chicha why even wish that on devoted Galaxy fans? Clearly this is not a team that digs down and does what it can with what it has like other MLS teams are doing. There was no real argument for LA to go and do the deed with regard to this tournament but I did expect them to try. If not for respect for history of club, their supportive fans and the shield they wear at the very least for the check they pull and pride as professionals. This is not a team, it is a collection of mercenaries and misfits with a leader that seemingly cannot lead. Is it just coincidence that we ended up in F group? I think not, we are F Troupe! Best thing for Galaxy is Houston proves once again that they know how to put us to bed. “I think that defensive situation happened because the team gave up the battle and the fight,” the Argentine said. “We can’t do that. We have to play for 90 mins and try to play when we have the ball and when we don't have the ball try to get it. We can’t give up before time and that’s what happened and that’s what generated a heap of spaces in our defense.” LOL....SMH. Somebody please go get the dynamite!
Embarrassing blowout, no silver lining here. There was no team, it was Pavon and scraps. For the sake of his career Pavon might jump the ship.
We have -5 GD for now, 1 game left, maximum points we can get are 3. There are currently 5 teams with 3 points: NYCFC GD -2, all games played Chi GD -1, 1 game left (play VAN) SKC GD 0, 1 game left (play RSL) Cincy GD -3, 1 game left (play NYRB) NYRB GD -3, 1 game left (play CIN) 2 points: DCU GD 0, 1 game left (play MTL) 1 point: HOU GD -1, 1 game left (play LAG) 0 points: LAG GD -5, 1 game left (paly HOU) ATL GD -2, 1 game left (play CLB) VAN GD -4, 1 game left (play CHI) MTL GD -2, 1 game left (play DCU) Crapids GD -3, 1 game left (play MIN) Theoretically as of today we still have a chance to sneak in if we blow out HOU. Would we? Answer is resounding "NO!" of course, very hard to imagine that bunch of clowns we still call a team to beat anyone anytime. Nothing would matter anyway by the time we play HOU.
I just don't understand that starting-XI and sub strategy... Dunbar was a revelation at left mid in Game 1, one of the few bright spots and instead we started Cuello, who has done nothing in his 1.5 seasons with us. And then we had Araujo, who is a better defender, at right mid, and Feltscher, who is better in attack, at right back, so they played to their weaknesses. And then Depuy has looked better in his 2 games than Gonzalez in 2 seasons and we go with the poorer player on a short rest in the center of defense.... And then we had 5 available subs and three good attacking player options in Klejstan, Alvarez and Wild and only 1 makes it into the game.... Those 4 decisions were just head-scratchers....
The sad reality is that Zlatan kept us respectable the last two years. My hope lies with DTK, but the leadership of the Galaxy is a joke and seriously lacking. We all know GBS needs to go, does DTK have the authority to do that? We lost Caleb Porter the to the Columbus Crew. For F's sake, coaches are choosing Ohio over the Galaxy - it's that bad.
This quote doesn't make me feel better. In fact, it pisses me off. When we lose that bad, coach...you gotta point the finger at yourself in addition to the team. The whole, "we gave up" argument is nice, but it's for a one-off. Not repeated mistakes.
Per @pirozhok 's excellent post...we're basically done. Knowing we need to score like 6 goals, if GBS puts out an ultra defensive line-up I'm going to further think he needs to have his head examined.