LA earned two goals on the night but in the end it was three defensive lapses that cost them the game and their playoff run.
By Toby Dunkelberg
The annoying part for Galaxy fans is that there was a lot to like in their 3-2 road playoff loss to the Seattle Sounders. They managed to grab two goals and Gyasi Zardes was outstanding all night long. And yet all that was undone by a poorly organized midfield and a teamwide disinterest in defending commitment and fundamentals. It may have been momentary lapses that cost them each goal but make no mistake those goals were coming regardless of if anyone messed up or not.
The uncomfortable turth is that this is an LA Galaxy team the likes we haven’t seen before. No previous iteration has fallen to the Seattle Sounders in the playoffs. Sure there’s a first time for everything but two months ago it looked to be the longest of longshots that the Sounders would topple the Galaxy at all. And when you look up and down this roster on paper it’s the best team in all of MLS. Documenting that unraveling pinpointing all the shortcoming is a whole series of articles in and of itself, so for now we’ll focus on how they faired against the Seattle Sounders
(Authors Note – I use 5.5 as my baseline for what an average MLS performance would earn)
STARTING ELEVEN
Donovan Ricketts – 4 – The immediate reaction to the game points to costly two huge Ricketts blunders gift wrapping Seattle their first two goals and the game. And while there’s no doubt about about the lapse in defending, assigning blame proves more difficult. On first glance Ricketts looks at fault for the first and second goals. However on a second look it’s clear that miscommunication between him and Gonzalez led to the first goal and a similar breakdown between him and Gerrard led to the second. So the blame doesn’t rest entirely on Ricketts but rule number two for goalkeepers – after “don’t let the ball into the net”- is to command their area. Ricketts did an atrocious job of that tonight and because of that no number of nice saves (I counted three) can save him from a similarly atrocious score
AJ DeLaGarza (Off 83′) – 5 – I still can’t help but feel that DeLaGarza is more suited to playing centerback especially as the speedier counterpart to Gonzalez. It’s a testament to his soccer intelligence that he’s adapted as well as he did, but it wasn’t good enough on the night. DeLaGarza’s right side was constantly exploited by Ivanschitz throughout the game as well as Brad Evans after he switched to left back.
However, DeLaGarza had to cover an entire side with little help due to Lletget’s preference to attack and Juninho having to cover centrally for Gerrard and Zardes, so you can’t put the entire blame on him as every right back in the league would struggle with that assignment. Really his only defensive issue that’s solely his fault was his poor clearing on Martins cross on Seattle’s third goal. What makes evaluating DeLaGarza even more difficult is that it’s not like he was poor with the ball at his feet, 88% passing accuracy, 32 passes, which is a little below what you’d want from a fullback but given how defensive he was forced into being you can’t really fault him. It felt like he was caught in an in-between state where he wanted to get forward since he’s a fullback but playing behind Lletget he had to act more defensively, but instead of picking one and sticking to it he tried to do both was thus absent for both.
No one in LA’s defense played well on the night as Dempsey, Martins, Valdez, and Ivanschitz gave them fits.
Omar Gonzalez – 4 – Whoa boy how the mighty have fallen. This has been Gonzalez’s worst year in a while and this game perfectly encapsulated why. Start out with speedier forwards (Martins) frequently getting in behind him, forcing LA into potentially dangerous scenarios. Add to that multiple reckless challenges including one on Martins in the 45th minute where he flat out decks him. A challenge that earned Gonzalez a yellow but on another night would’ve cost him a red. And finally add to it a breakdown in communication such as on the first goal where Omar came in challenging for a ball near the six-yard box that Ricketts was coming off his line to grab. And yet for all that he did wrong he still was a dominant force in the air. But even his aerial prowess can’t cover up his sub-par performance.
Leonardo – 6.0 – Like Gonzalez, Leonardo had some early issues with reckless challenges. Right off the bat in the 2nd minute he leads with his arm on an jump ball with Valdez, and catches the Paraguayan in the back of the neck. Luckily it was a no call. But after that he quickly settled down and put in a largely respectable performance with interceptions and clearances galore. He was also involved on that third Sounder goal as it was his header straight to Friberg that was played passed Ricketts. But other than those two low spots it was an impressive performance.
Rogers leaping over Tyrone Mears
Robbie Rogers – 5.5 – It felt like Rogers never really got very involved in the game and had little impact on it. But he made the second most passes out of the entire Galaxy side and yet he had a lowest passing accuracy of any outfield player other than a forward which is concerning, but given how many of those were long balls or crosses it becomes a little more understandable. Neither impressive going forward or defending the young LB gets the standard score.
Gyasi Zardes – 7 – Zardes was by far LA’s most dangerous player on the night and a two-way threat. A couple of times throughout the game Zardes maneuvered by Tyrone Mears and got off a cross. It’s something he’s struggled with as he’s adapted to the wide midfielder role. The youngster was equally adept at pinching in and overloading the center backs. On LA’s first goal he settles a tough ball, flicks it to himself, and then lays off it when he see’s Lletget has a clearer shot at it. The talent behind being able to pull that off along with the composure to recognize Lletget had a better shot are just a snapshot of what was on display the whole night.
The lone bright spot on the night, Zardes frequently broke by two very experienced players in Nelson Valdez and Tyrone Mears
What’s more surprising is how well Zardes tracked back in order to help out an overwhelmed backline. And we haven’t even gotten to the goal yet. It was a good touch of skill there to trap Juninho’s knee high ball but the volley finish was even better. It did take a deflection off of Valdez but before it took that glance it looked equally as destined for the upper right corner. This is by far his best two way game in quite a while.
Juninho – 6.5 – Against Seattle Juninho was tasked with dropping back a little deeper in order to let Gerrard roam free in the attacking third. He largely lived up to the demand with 10 interceptions on the night and a high passing accuracy both of which back up my observation that he was pretty effective at recycling possession for LA. The other aspect of his game that bumps him up to a 6.5 was his service. Juninho’s often overshadowed by teammates and the likes of Donovan, Beckham, and Gerrard. He’s got quite a foot and more than capable of spraying balls all over the park. A fantastic example is on Zardes’ goal: he makes a curling pass through traffic across the top of the eighteen-yard box to a wide open Zardes. It’s a shame his midfield counterpart didn’t pull his weight because Juninho did little wrong tonight.
Steven Gerrard – 4.0 –I went back and forth over whether Gerrards performance warranted a 4 or 4.5. His first half, excluding the goal (we’ll get to that), was largely okay. He even had one decent chance from just outside the box. Gerrard got worse as the game wore on . His issue arose when he roamed too high up the field leaving Juninho and his backline without much support. That’s fine if you’re a CAM but as a CM in a 4-4-2 you need to actually be able to double pivot, which means prioritizing defense more than he did. What’s worse though is he wasn’t even effective as a CAM when he pushed up. It was Juninho who did a better job of distributing the ball around and generating more dangerous chances.
Gerrard getting marked out of the game by depth CM Andy Rose gives you an idea of how well he played against Seattle
And now for the second goal: Gerrard lost his mark (eventual goal scorer Nelson Valdez). It’s tough to tell whether he was just beaten off his mark, or if he left him thinking Ricketts would come out and smother it. Neither case is acceptable, and seeing how Gerrard shouts at Ricketts after conceding the tally, it’s probably the latter. As a veteran with experience, Gerrard’s poor communication is the last thing you expect. For this play alone and for shedding his responsibilities Gerrard gets a four.
Sebastian Lletget (Off 76′) – 5 – When you consider that Lletget was matched up against a 35-year-old and then a CM turned CB filling in at LB, you’d really expect a little bit more from the young 23-year-old. But wait, he got a goal right so he couldn’t have played that bad, right? While true that his finish was impressive, that goal was perfectly set up by Zardes and you’d expect Lletget to score from there. The sad thing is that outside of that goal Lletget was absent, and I mean completely absent. His defensive contribution on the night was one tackle and an interception. Yes, Lletget gets forward more that’s just the kind of player he is, but when your seasons on the line you need to play more defensively. All he had to do was look across the field and see what Zardes was doing to know that. Lastly, despite foregoing his defensive obligations, Lletget had two forward passes in the attacking third, two. Outside of the goal there was really nothing to love about his shift, which is why he was the first one off for the Galaxy.
Robbie Keane – 6 – Credit where credit’s due, Robbie Keane never gave up on Wednesday. He was a constant thorn in the Sounders’ backline, continually running and pressing back passes. After Zach Scott came on and the backline reshuffled, Keane’s pressure had clear result. Scott, Marshall, and even Evans looked a little more unsure on the ball. In fact, Keane very nearly repeated his feat from three weeks ago of dispossessing Zach Scott and grabbing a goal. And yet Keane stayed off the scoresheet, largely because his vertical runs were not working. He was continually called offside and didn’t even generate one chance that way. Thus, he barely deserves an above average score.
Although active Keane was didn’t contribute to a goal
Giovani dos Santos – 6.5 – Dos Santos has really evolved into more of a set-up man for Keane & Co. and tonight was no exception. He managed to complete three key passes and even grabbed an assist. He recorded more open play crosses that Lletget, despite being tied up with the forwards position. Individually he never looked very threatening, his remarkable service combined with the assist bump him up to a 6.5. Even still, you’d expect more than one shot on target for a player the MLS made a new rule for.
SUBSTITUTES
Baggio Husidic (On 76′) – Earning a yellow card two minutes after coming on isn’t exactly the greatest of omens. In the short amount of time he was on the field, he didn’t amount to a whole lot. Hasidic was tasked with distributing the ball and to become another runner in the box. Neither of which he excelled at in any capacity.
Alan Gordon (On 83′) – N/A – There wasn’t enough time or enough evidence to support an actual score for Gordon. Although, I do wonder why he wasn’t brought on as soon as LA went down a goal.
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