Yes, it's something to think on. Several people who know more than me in matters of analysis pretty much say or suggest that Puig, the way he does whatever he wants on the field, is a double-edged sword. Look at how we play without him or Brugman for that matter. They have only been gone a couple games and yet a difference rears it's ugly head. A positive difference. It makes you think.
So… ummm…. do we all agree Puig should stay on the bench? in all seriousness, we are much more effective when Pec is the focus of the attack. That’s a great win against a good Nee York team.
full credit to Dejan on the first goal. It would've been so easy to just quickly 1 time it, but he composed himself, recognizing he had a few seconds to place the shot by literally passing it into the goal. (yes yes I know Pec did a lot of the work to set it up)
He did, but my point was it would've been easy for Dejan to shank it or sky it quickly trying to shoot it (how many times have we seen that). Instead he recognized he had an extra few seconds and placed his shot with no mistake.
Super psyched about the shutout - rare for us this year. Although sometimes our best defense is the other team missing their shots. Great win, good effort all around. I thought Neal had a strong game, Fagundez is a legend, Dejan is getting better and better, Pec brings it, Yamane is solid. Good game from McCarthy. My youngsters Aude and Cerrillo are contributing - obviously not as consistent as our top starters, but they work well in the group. Aude got the ball more than usual because of Puig being out. We were more balanced and used both sides of our wide field. We are obviously a very different team without Puig out there. It's up to Vanney to bring more discipline to our play with Puig. If he played more like Fagundez, filling the gaps and looking for opportunities, at least for part/most of the game, I think he'd be more productive and not as dogged by 2-4 defenders at all times, and maybe he'd make it healthier to the end of the season. Go Galaxy!!
This. It's not perfect but it's obvious our defense is better since Neal's return. Gabriel Pec and Joveljic are building a nice partnership too.
Feels good to win. Doesn’t feel good to be stuck on the freeway with a bad accident ahead of me. Update: made it home!
I like that we earned 3 points against a decent City FC squad. ...and if I may, I'm trying to understand how the center official, the near side official, and the VAR official did not call a PK when Paintsill was literally thrown down in the box. One of the worst calls I've seen in recent memory. Finally, it looks like I'm in agreement with some here that we appear to play better without Puig and Brugman on the field, which seems,... weird.
Speaking of Julian...this is nice to see: https://www.reddit.com/r/LAGalaxy/comments/1dk3st9/julian_araujo_shoulder_to_shoulder_with_victoria/
Not crazy about Aude's play w/out Puig there as an easy outlet. Nelsen looked good subbing a few minutes against tired players. Paintsil's defense needs some Vanney remedial work. He's not cutting off the pass option to the wide player. NYCFC appeared to be increasingly targeting the Paintsil/Aude side. I wish Yoshida would do some of the easy passes one-touch instead of always massaging the ball first when there is nobody within 20 yds of him. Somebody once famously said "the game of chess is the accumulation of small advantages". One touch passing on easy balls really does accumulate as an advantage eventually Garber should fire that ref. People down on Puig should ask themselves how much Brugman is to blame for the bad build. Grumble, grumble.......... Galaxy the best !!!!!
The Counterattack was gorgeous. hard to tell from the highlight but I think that was Delgado who won the ball and kicked the ball forward to spring Pec. And Pec's through ball to Dejan? It was a "no look" pass. He was looking to his left as he kicks the ball to his right. Ballsy, and I'm all here for it lmfao.
Felt like that was one of our best all around games. Didn’t give away too much and created a good amount. love the chemistry with Pec and everyone around him. Even Paintsil seemed to be more on the same page. Delgado was immense. Cerrillo was very good. Fagundez had a great game. when Riqui comes back, perhaps he’ll see that staying high will work for this team and drop back less. great performance.
Yeah hopefully this is a case of the team learning that they can pass the ball quickly and effectively without Puig and that he’s just an additional weapon and not the entire arsenal. Which will make us that much more dangerous when he does return.
Not quite the complete performance I want to see, but that was arguably the best performance since March. Didn’t think that would be the case during the first 10 minutes though. Frustrating our players are still picking up delay of game yellows half way in to the season. Even more frustrating the ref didn’t apply that rule equally. Agree with everyone that playing without Puig is improving the team. I think the same happened with Paintsil out and Pec stepping up. Could be a quite frightening front four when everyone is fit and healthy.
I was afraid the team would fall apart without Riq but the opposite seems to be happening and the defense is also benefitting from the lack of his constant forays into our back third. I say let's keep going and take this opportunity to see what we may see and also have the guys take to heart that we don't always have to go through Riqui. I hope the entire coaching staff and Kuntz is noticing all this. Let's give Puig the proper time to heal.
McCarthy and Jovelic on the bench for the Team of the Matchday These XI put on a midweek masterclass. 👏📰: https://t.co/vdwIQmZ5Fg pic.twitter.com/TmL0r2dTMB— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 20, 2024