P/I/P Season 31 CCC Game 6 - Galaxy vs Toluca 4/15/26, 6 pm - FS2, ConcacafGO, TUDN

One shot on goal at home in a must win game. I'm not even upset anymore. There is no team cohesion, we don't know how to play defense, and individual players do not get better under Vanney. Every game is a Hail Mary. We saw all this in Toronto, Kuntz obviously knows the history - is Kuntz the man for the job?

The sad part is I don't think we will ever know how good this team could be. We are almost at the blow it all up stage and start again.

 

Here HERE!!! I love Riqui Puig, but it would be extremely unwise to operate as though he is not expendable. We must find a true alternate for him that can be the guy until he gets back so that when he does return we will now have 2 that can do the job. One to start and one on the bench because Reus can not be relied on to be the guy that will do what Riqui was so great at which is run into the back and advance the ball to the forwards and wingers. I am going to look around for available names because Vanney and Kuntz need to be all over this the moment an opportunity to pounce reveals itself.

 

With the 4-2 result from game one I think the team technically only needed a 2-0 win to pull off the upset as that would have put the aggregate at 4-4 and we had the away goal tie breaker.(Unless I am Wrong on that of course.)

But oh well I'm with TrickHog on this one as with the disconnected way we were playing, 1 goal would have been a miracle let alone 6, 9 let alone hold them to 0 against us lol.

 

Agree with all of this. Break the bank and go get Silva from Man City. He is on a free this summer. We have to compete with Son and LAFC, it's time to go big again. No offense to our current 3 DP's, but none of them can hold a candle to Silva. We are desperate for a creative midfielder.

 

I wouldn't go that far as blowing up the whole team. I do think it's time to blow up the midfield however. It's been the biggest issue since the title run. Reus and Diego Fagundez are and were okay subs, but they shouldn't have been relied on to be the fulltime replacements. Cerrillo is also solid but he was not as good as Mark Delgado or Gaston Brugman. And none of those mentioned could hold a candle to Riqui Puig when it came to hustle and creativity. I don't think even prime Reus could touch Riqui who wasn't even in his peak prior to that injury.

Look at this roster for the Galaxy midfield now!
Marco Reus
Erik Thommy
Edwin Cerrillo
Lucas Sanabria
Elijah Wynder
Isaiah Parente
Tucker Lepley
Gino Vivi whose here on a loan

Justin Haak can play Defensive Mid if push comes to shove, but he is better as a Centerback.
That midfield is just not good enough. Reus and now Thommy are injury prone. Reus is also not as fast and almost never plays defense. Cerrillo's passing is weak but he at least plays defense and hustles. Same with Sanabria and Wynder, Parente and Lepley. They at least hustle but this team needs more than just hustle and spurts of brilliance from Reus and Thommy. We need a consistent midfield. As far as I am concerned its time to make drastic trades the moment the team can do so when it comes to the midfield.

 

If we had to drop a winger for him between Paintsil and Pec which would be the most expendable and who would be the next best man up. I would say Paintsil but Thommy isn't better than him and is just as injury prone. However Thommy is cheaper and so if we have to give up a DP slot Paintsil would be on my sacrifice list. That being said if cutting Reus and Thommy meant being able to sign the guy to a high TAM or GAM deal then I would be okay with that as well.

 

Highlight Time Folks

Sigh,...T'was but a dream of thee!

 

Pec is expendable. Tons of talent but low soccer IQ. So frustrating to watch him not pass the ball to open players in front of goal. Maybe a better coach gets more out of him?

I'd also ask all of you if either Paintsill or Pec are as good as Bouanga or Son? I get the sentimental attachment, but we need to upgrade. Puig made it all work, but I don't think that is happening again.

 

I was trying to think when the last "big" DP the Galaxy have had, Zlatan?

Greg's MO has been signing DP's that would not be considered DP's by anyone else, Cabral come to mind for anyone else?

the strategy seems to be sign these guys to be DP's hoping they grow into the status of deserving DP money and with the exception of Puig, I believe it has not gone as well as it should have, I miss the days of the Galaxy taking big swings at players with the status and reputation to be a DP, players like Son, Messi, Busquets and Benteke to name a few

as far as the current DP's I would like to see them pay down Puig's status till he comes back and shows some of his previous talents. Paintsil is good and has great speed but I feel he is injured too often and a player like him who relies on natural athletic ability will lose it quickly with all his injuries, Pec is good as well but his lack of growth (I have high expectations) is hindering him, If I had to choose I would keep Pec due to age and not being as reliant on a natural talent like speed.

 

I realized I’m at the stage where I go in to every game knowing the game doesn’t matter. It’s not apathy or anger, I’m not even sure it’s indifference. Outside of a 2024 the games we’ve played may as well have been friendlies. No chance of relegation, no chance of winning a trophy, no signs of progress. I went in to yesterday’s game expecting a loss, hoping for a win, but knowing it didn’t matter because we wouldn’t beat LAFC or Seattle or Nashville. I’ll do the same this weekend, I’ll watch, I expect a loss I hope for a win, but it doesn’t matter there’s no miracle run to the Western Conference finals on the cards nor is there any indication we’re ramping up for 2027.

 

Pec and Paintsil are excellent if someone else creates their goal scoring opportunities. They were tearing it up in 2024 when Puig was feeding them. Hell, Pec was MLS newcomer of the year and was being considered to have a future in Europe. But they struggle to create their own shots and are just ok without such a creator. Without a great #10 they are just good ball advancers, that’s about it.

 

Same.

 

I'm a Toffees fan so have a lot practice. Aside from the Gs miracle 2024 MLS Cup, the Toffees relegation battles the past several years have been the most excitement I've gotten from the footballing world.

 

I can relate to this so much and I believe that every fan that follows an American sport goes through the same thing every year and its why most leagues have added a few wrinkles to keep fans invested and MLS has tried a few things as well, however they can never fix the issues of teams not being competitive or showing hopes of improvement, the Rockies in baseball, the Jets/Browns in football, the Nets in basketball.

I feel the Galaxy are trending towards that same purgatory, we as a fan base hope that things turn around and are excited for a new season, then we get hit with a slow start and all expectations are thrown out the window and as a fan it really drags on you and you become apathetic/indifferent and we end up going through the motions because we have that sense of duty due to our investment in this team for years and decades, its just a really sucky situation

 

I must be a glutton for punishment, because I'm doing preemptive research and Everton (Landon and Hav influence} is on my short list of the team I will follow if Spurs goes down (I still have hope, they will stay up), I guess I'm conditioned to suffer when I choose sports teams.

I know no one cares but the other two are Leeds (the Robbie Keene squads captivated me) and Aston Villa (I know we had a former regular here who was a Villa fan and I believe jumped ship when Austin came into the league)

 

The only counterpoint is Spurs relegation “dog fight” has been anything but. The saying “going out, not with a bang, but a whimper” has never been more apt.

 

true, the regulation battle has been dull, but I think its because the players have no pride or urgency to stay up and the hatred towards the board and them putting the club in the hands of vinai the arse shill, has strained the support of the fan base and pushed them/us to apathy

 

Just a fair warning about following Everton...there's a reason why the saying, "Once Everton touches you..." exists...haha

 

I'm already preparing, just in case ****


****stock photo, Dawdler was not able for the photoshoot****

 

This is the kind of basic stat that soccer “experts” discount, but I’m a little tired of seeing “clever” moves like 5 defenders in a game we have to score 2 goals, like for like subs (like a CB for a CB) when things on the field are dismal, or moving a CB to forward for the last minutes of a game. If you need to score more goals sometimes just bring on another attacker. Sometimes you just have to get people in the box and shots on goal no matter the consequence defensively.

And how clever our the personnel rotation moves? Let’s face it all the games are meaningless—what are we saving players for? Either rest a guy or start ‘em. I’m tired of the constant juggling of players seemingly unrelated to their form. It’s as if players are de-incentivized to play well.

 

Didn't watch, didn't miss anything. I'm a very busy person these days, don't have time for this kind of ****. Galaxy, do better.

 

And how clever our the personnel rotation moves? Let’s face it all the games are meaningless—what are we saving players for? Either rest a guy or start ‘em. I’m tired of the constant juggling of players seemingly unrelated to their form. It’s as if players are de-incentivized to play well.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree with this! Why are we 'saving' players when we don't win any of the games?! It's early in the season, apart from Reuss, these guys can go 90 two games in a row. Baffling coaching decisions.

 

I totally agree with this! Why are we 'saving' players when we don't win any of the games?! It's early in the season, apart from Reuss, these guys can go 90 two games in a row. Baffling coaching decisions.[/QUOTE]

I think if we had a clearly superior lineup with all healthy players, we probably wouldn’t rotate so much at this point. I don’t think they really know who is best at GK, outside backs, the 8, the 10 and on the left side without Paintsil.

 

I thought this game really exposed Marcinkowski’s weaknesses. The first goal was well struck and had a lot of speed but:
a) it was taken from 5 yards outside the box, so almost 30 yards away.
b) Mark was standing on the side the ball went in, and
c) the ball was probably 1.5 feet inside the post and 1.5 feet under the crossbar. IOW, it wasn’t a sneak-just-inside-the-corner shot.

Marc showed both slow reaction time and limited reach. Sorry to bring up the evil ones but Lloris (and probably McCarthy) would have saved that shot 90% of the time.

A few minutes later Marc bumbled a soft shot into the goal but was luckily saved by an offside call.

Marc’s save % this season is 64%. Good keepers tend to be in the high 70’s. Our keepers face tougher shots than most because of our dismal defending but McCarthy saved 74% of shots in 2024. (But sucked in 2025 after he lost his starting position to start the season).

tl;dr - Both of our keepers are mediocre.

 

I agree with this, albeit, I think Marcinkowski is somewhat better than the alternative.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that mediocrity is limited to keeper position. What is worse is that two of the Galaxy's better players have been injured for most of the season to date (Glasnes and Paintsil). Eriq Thommy will likely be out for a significant amount of time.