P/I/P Game 4: LA Galaxy v. DC United, Sat. 3/28 4PM PT (at DC)

Things are a little thin

--------------Gordon----Villarreal--------------
Husidic---Vayrynen----Juninho---Ishizaki
Rogers---Leonardo--Gonzalez--DeLaGarza
------------------Penedo--------------------------

I think Bruce will play it conservatively. Bring on Buddle for Gordon late. Walker or Maganto depending on whether we're up or down.

 

The last thing LA should be after last week's damp squib is over confident.

That said, that 11 should beat the living shit out of this DC.

 

I assume Mika is not game fit but Galaxy needs a fast start for a change. Playing him 45 or 50 minutes and then button down the hatches should be considered.

 

I like the sound of that.

 

Never change, Bruce.

He gets such joy out of trolling the press.

 

Not that I want to lose, especially to these schmucks, but no Keane, no Zardes and no Penedo and away game on the other side of the country … I’ll be content with another draw.

 

Isn't Penedo gone too?

 

Oh, no, no - we will lose, and you will not be responsible. You're doing great. Although, blowing up the White House could be considered over the top.

 

If we start Buddle and Gordon you can be sure we'll play almost only long balls and crosses. Both are good with their heads but it will be a though matchup against Boswell and Birnbaum. I'm not sure I want to see that. Hopefuly Ish, Villarreal, Gargan, Rogers and AJ can hit a lot of good balls inside the box.

 

If Buddle-Gordon is our front two, then we better have Ishizaki and Villareal on the wings whipping in crosses. Same goes for Gargan and Rogers.

 

My recollection is that despite his size, Buddle is not that good with his head and most of the scoring he did in his good year was from his feet.

 

ah yes.. lets talk about that Cadav baby... I remember both actually.. but I am biased of course.. its going to take a bit for Edson to be 100%fit coming off his injury this preseason but I think adrenaline will make for an entertaining game from Edson.. He is happy to be in L.A. and happy to play hard and fight for some goals..

 

You could be right. But I have a pretty clear recollection of there being a round of celebration when Edson actually finally scored on a header, and a discussion of how long it had been since he did that. On the other hand, I remember that killer shot he had from way outside on one of his national team appearances.

Look, I would love to see an in form Edson be a valued striker here. I just can't get over how beat down he looked the last couple of years in Colorado. I do hope he still has something left to give.

 

Bruce could choose to play Villarreal at forward for part or all of the game. Perhaps Rogers at left mid and Dunivant in the back. I'll bet we see some surprises in the starting line-up this weekend.

 

On paper, that doesn't too bad. Wonder how healthy Dunivant is and if he'd be able to go the full 90.

 

it's a little (a lot) weird, but we're deep at... fullback?
Rogers/Dunivant, AJ/Gargan

whaaa?

 

In his best year (2010), he scored a lot of goals with his head :



Two of his three goals during his last stint with us were with his head (against RSL in the first game of the 2012 season and another againt the Quakes).

And his goal against us last year was on a corner kick.

So he was good with both.

 

Thanks for the reminders. Let's hope there is still some of the old Buddle left.

 

I hope so. I wouldn't be surprised to see him coming of the bench with Baggio starting on the left in a more conservative lineup, with Villarreal - Gordon up top.

I have not a good feeling about this game, Keane and Zardes will be missed. The most positive thing is they're will be without Espindola (who has a big scoring history against us), Silva, Johnson and Halsti. We can hope our defense will contain them and Gordon can grab a goal from nowhere.

Difficult game but winable.

 

Who will be captain?

 

I would like to see Villarreal up top with Gordon as a second forward.