Still on a high, what a game! I'm giving props to Edwards again, guy plays with heart, and he was able to break the press when we couldn't get out. Sometimes you need unorthodox. Fagundez has to start. He gave service to Sharp and is a difference maker.
And Dejan will become expendable. I really think he's gone next winter. Will new DP, 38 years old Sharp and Preston Judd be enough for the whole season ? I don't know.
Billy Sharp is Player of the Matchday and name to the Team of the Matchday. Puig makes the bench (although I'd say maybe Boyd should have got this one). https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/la-galaxy-s-billy-sharp-named-player-of-the-matchday
Our defense has given up 9 goals over the last 3 games. Only our great offense over that time saved us from going 0-3-0. We got hot & scored 8 goals ourself and so ended up 1-1-1, which is still not a make-playoffs pace. We obviously can’t count on scoring >8 goals every three games. Ergo our defense has to improve. Now. A lot.
True, true. I love Raheem Edwards, but I believe he's emblematic of some of the problems we have under Vanney. He is a great athlete, makes a great play on occasion, even has great games, but a lot of his game is a mixture of out of position defending, and erratic passing that cause the counterattacks that our smart opponents wait for. Vanney is the coach who keeps coming back to Raheem and using him extensively. Aude wouldn't be as dynamic in attack, but he would be more reliable in defense over the long haul, and he would be more of a team player with more reliable passing in buildup. IMO.
Indeed - Puig, Boyd and Sharp all worked in unison to create those goals. All three deserve equal credit.
I think one of those "out-of-position defending" moves Edwards made last night was to block a ball on the goal line that I'm not sure Bond was going to get to. You take the good with the bad with Raheem.
They just need to be taught to get and stay goal side of their man. On one of their counterattack goals they had 5 on 3 at the edge of our box. That was because our team lost it’s shape. Our players all push up at the same time without regard to our opponents positioning. Nothing wrong with Edwards pushing up - in fact he should do that. But then Mavinga needs to slide over to cover for him, Yoshida slide to cover Mavinga’s area and so on. The midfielders need to be communicating so that they have enough hanging back to cover all attackers when we have a turnover. We do none of this and that is 100% on Vanney. The players should figure it out but when they don’t it is the manager’s job to get them performing their roles correctly. This is one of the biggest reasons I doubt Vanney long term. This is not rocket science but he still hasn’t figured it out, even three seasons in. PS - Raheem is also undisciplined in his 1 on 1 defending, so I’m not disagreeing with you at all. Just saying it’s both a Raheem issue and a team issue.
On two of the goals we also went to ground and missed without any cover behind. That is a rookie 101 mistake and should be coached out of the players. Another example of poor coaching.
in previous games Gaston would have hung back and covered for an upswinging wingback, as is the case in the modern game with wingbacks. our DM is supposed to do that.
I think part of it is our team is desperate for points. So desperate we're committing far too much to the attack without really planning for a possible counter.
h Well then we are dumb. Allowed goals count toward outcome just as much as scored goals. In fact it is easier to prevent a goal than to score one. That is why all of the best teams have good defenses - they know defense is controllable and hence a reliable way to get results.
What killed me again, was when we were up a man in the last 10 minutes and we don't press at all. We just sit back in the box and give them all the time in the world to pick out a pass. That's the 2nd time in 3 weeks we have been a man up and done this. That is poor coaching (I would give give Vanney a slight pass, because half the team is new, but we have had this problem for 3 years under him). We don't press well as a team and we leave guys open right outside the box to shoot. We just need to keep scoring 4 goals a game I guess.
That guy may be a good coach, but he rubs me the wrong way. Stemming from when I sat in front of him at the HDC during a national team game and listened to him opine to a colleague, many years ago.
My memory is terrible, and I can't remember anything specific. It was probably not that bad, but he struck me as humorless and opinionated, and I probably disagreed with something he said.
lol I remember the talk comparing Jesse to a certain show on apple tv and plenty saying that he is absolutely not like the character of ted lasso at all.
He strikes me as a bit of a jerk. And I'm no Yeah, my observations are that Jesse Marsch is probably like how the Ted Lasso character was originally going to be portrayed.