Post-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Los Angeles Galaxy (Saturday, 3/2) postgame thread [R]

No, 2022 was worse, vs. NYRB. Same score line but we were more badly outplayed. 18 shots to 12, 7 SOG to 2, and a much more lopsided xG. I just felt like we were completely played off the pitch in that one. In this one the game flow wasn't that bad. We just couldn't do anything with our final 3rd possession and then got burned on counters.

 

Pathetic performance. This has to be one of the worst season home opener and also the worst performance against LA I can remember. It was so bad no one even did the "Beat LA", not even once. It was very obvious which team was beaten very soon.

Anyone who thinks starting guys like Beason, Skahan and Jebo can win anything must be kidding.

This team is worst than 2023.

We have too many guys like Beason, Skahan and Benji. Hard working guys but with very limited skill and soccer intelligence.

We don't have the players to play possession style. Why force it? No one moves. Everything is static. May as well just do low bock and counter attack, or just get a big target forward and dump the crosses into the box. Go the low budget team way.

I hate to say this, but LAG is light year better than us in terms of movement, skill, and the control of the game.

The Quakes staff picked the wrong game to send out the survey of the game experience. I let them know the dissatisfaction.

 

First half was a very bad experience for me all around. There was someone in my seat initially and that eventually got sorted out but the guys around me were the guys that spread out and take half your seat. Then in my row no one was into the game and in fact the whole section around me was dead (102/103). There was a discernible lack of energy in the crowd in general I felt. Maybe a lot of fans who don't normally come to the games? And then to make matters way worse, after the Gals, scored the row directly behind me erupted in cheers - a whole row of Gal fans. Nightmare. And then I had to hear it again before the half ended :-(.

2nd half I moved as I usually do to the other goal because I like to watch the Quakes on offense. That was a little better and the crowd was more into it and pro-Quakes, although a whole group of people left the game after the Quakes scored , like OK we saw them do something good finally, let's get the heck out of here! And in fact much of the later 2nd half people were leaving which blocks the view of the game.

 

Lazy undisciplined defending...not anticipating the danger. our defensive transition didn't look good against Dallas...too slow...I didn't think we were ready as a team to play too open against LA, knowing how fast they can counter...and with added speed and quality in Paintsil...who roasted our out of position defenders. We should not have pushed our outside backs so aggressively, especially on Paintsil's side...Marie was all over the place...exposing Beason's lack of pace.

But everybody wants an attacking game for the home opener against the scum, but were not close to being ready to pull that off without being extremely vulnerable to the counter with Beason's lack of pace in acres of space.

Tough call for Luch, if he goes full Dom jr and plays a conservative defensive game at home, he'd get roasted. but he'll get roasted more for getting thumped so easily by the scum at home...

 

I watched the Luchi postgame. Not sure I agree that this is the problem / solution but he said that we could have been more physical with them. I think he wanted us to try to stop the transitions before they happen potentially with fouls, etc. Basically he thought we were not aggressive enough.

 

None of our corner kicks met any SJ player at all. Not even once. LAG was really not that tall.

 

Did Lucho really expect that from Jebo, Yueill, Skahan and Pellegrino? He must be kidding.

 

Well, Gruezo was in the game also, and he is supposed to "protecting the back line". He's our highest paid transfer, to date, and DP. :facepalm

 

LAG is a tough team to play because they're good on the counter but also good in possession, so it's hard to win the ball with the press. It's hard to counter them when you can only win the ball deep in your own half. This has already been our problem with them, going back to the last 2 clasicos at Stanford. And now they're a lot better. The one time we won the ball deep in their half Espinoza should have scored there. And then once they had the lead they sucked the air out of the game with possession, at least when they felt they needed to even bother (after our goal).

As much as I hate giving them this much credit, the fact is that they pretty much played Miami off the pitch in their game last week, at least in the 1st half. So it's no surprise that they gave us trouble. No excuses though. We need to play much better regardless of the opponent.

 

After the first half, I had enough and had to go out anyway so I left.

When will the fire Luchi calls begin?

 

That's weak sauce, I guess the Quakes players could have taken turns fouling on every other play at the midline...most of the goals we were trailing the play or out of position...nobody went with Paintsil's run on the first goal...Marie tuned out....Yueill and Gruezzo didn't react....Rodrigues kind of froze. second goal the ball is played up and the forward just dinks it back for his teammate to hit a first time ball into space....third goal is just lax defending Puig makes a late run right up the middle...Rodrigues is unaware Puig is crashing....Gruezo or any other mids are nowhere to be found...easy money uncontested goal.....so I guess Luchi wanted someone to trip Puig 40 yards out?

 

One of the things that drove me absolutely nuts last year was their passing. SO many freaking giveaways.

After watching the first two games this season, it almost appears that they are regressing.

At this level??? C'mon.

 

As it is I could've seen Marie getting a yellow card in the final minutes... but basically the point is we can't compete against teams that play real soccer so the solution is to foul.

Did he say anything about the other end where the Quakes can't make incisive passes so their only other option is crosses that almost never seem to work?

All the preseason stuff I read said the Galaxy defense was a concern with a center back pairing that's 72 years old... they didn't have much of an issue tonight.

 

Yeah, I wasn't really buying it either. You can't foul someone that you're not close to. But maybe it wasn't about the goals. Maybe it was about trying to win the ball on the press which we almost never really did until it was well into our half. Of course fouls don't win it for you but harder challenges that fall short of fouls might.

 

I think every game I can remember watching over the last season, including the first two this season, the commentators are always bringing up the lack of dynamic movement up top for the Quakes...bemoaning how little Jebo is actually involved in the attack. So that's a large part of the problem for anyone playing centrally underneath Jebo...and imo, that potentially could still be a problem with a better ACM underneath...It takes two to tango, you can't play incisive passes, or slip passes if the forward is not on the same page.

 

Pellegrino = Jebo. Great, now we have two guys who specialize in invisibility for 99% of the game...

 

after being solid last year, gruezo was MIA last night

 

To be fair his point wasn’t to foul them. He said maybe we “gave them too much respect” and didn’t challenge them enough. The fouling was more parenthetical, like that might mean fouling sometimes.

I don’t recall him talking about our failure in the final 3rd though he mentioned that Espinoza wishes he had that chance back when he was alone with the keeper in the box and that Yueill was fouled in the box when he went down. It looked like a dive to me initially but Luchi said he got his boot clipped which actually caused it to come off. I’d have to watch the replay on that. Of course I did see him lying down there with his boot off. I just didn’t get a good look at the contact.

 

I felt Paul Marie was the only player doing well last night and playing with gumption. I thought Trauco was ok too, but Luchi subbed him off early, so I must be wrong?

a seat mate remarked how Pellegrino is good at positioning himself defensively, but I thought Pellegrino is one of those guys who the entire game, marks a player named Space. He didn’t seem to do much defensively, but isn’t he our wing guy? It took me awhile to realize he’s not our forward, cuz he was playing like one.

Even tho Puig scored a goal, in general I thought he was pretty well neutralized the whole game. The only outlet he had was the occasional semi-long pass. I didn’t notice who was mostly marking him. Am I wrong on that?

 

Pellegrino is a bit of a head scratcher signing. If like Jazzy mentioned he's not the type of player that creates his own plays like Espinoza then who's going to give him that last pass?
So far a small sample size with pellegrino but for being a veteran that's lit up the Norwegian league (I think it was?) I was expecting more. He's basically a luxury player. Wasn't great at defending, doesn't create and needs someone to set him up. We're not set up to play with a player like him at the moment it seems.
Again I don't see an upgrade on any of the new guys....it's very early days though.

 

Trauco is not on the roster.

Puig didn’t flash but he played great, as always.

 

I was surprised Benji didn’t start after his good game in Dallas.

 

He plays like I thought he would play. He drifts into the box and plays like a 2nd forward. He’s not going to be a tenacious defender. He is actually quite fast running into space. I was disappointed we almost never tried to play him through. Initially I wanted us to get a baller / dribbler in that spot, like Cade but with end product. Since Pellegrino is not that guy, and Benji isn’t either, I think it’s critical we get a CAM who can play that way. Vela is not really it - that’s one of the reasons I’m not super high on that prospective signing.

 

Well last night it was a mess in the final third. Luchi's got to work on integrating pellegrino much better and play to his strengths cause he was useless.
At some point the problem (luchi or pellegrino) is either coaching or player.
We looked amateur in the final third last night....at home, mind you.

 

So you complain about someone in your seat, then move to another section in the second half to another seat...