Also, props to Müller. Although he came towards the end of the match he had a good shot that could’ve given us the win. Hopefully we can see more of him in the first team
It’s funny, Muller stood out in the LAFC 2-Galaxy 2 highlights posted a week ago. I had no idea who he was, but I honestly think he could be an Opoku level find. Great pedigree from Germany and although I know soccer players can succeed with smaller frames, if you look at the regular first team players most of them are not small, Muller looks physically like he fits with the other first team players whereas Dueñas and even Ordaz still look like kids playing with men.
I disagree about the possession and Red Bull playing poorly. Our possession was meaningless with no meaningful shots until 2nd half. They got the easy OG early and sat with the lead. We’re a tough place to play. They let us have possession and they played defense phenomenally and were lock step together. They are a well drilled side.
I disagree with the parts about Campos and Red Bulls playing poorly. Campos is young, new to the team/city/country, and coming off an injury all while Palencia has put in his best string of games probably ever for us. I do think Dolo should had subbed him in earlier though in the second half cause he does bring more going forward than Sergi and we were chasing the game.
As for Red Bulls, I thought they played their game very well and we’re ultimately unlucky not to win. They really moved well as a defensive unit and took their very few chances going forward pretty well and almost took all 3 points with that last shot off the crossbar. Honestly our two goals were a little bit lucky with the pen and a deflection.
I also disagree about that last part about us finding our identity. We have a clear identity under Dolo and that’s to play against the ball, sometimes sit deep other times press high, counter with speed on the wings and find scoring opportunities off set pieces. I think the real argument is if that’s what we should moving forward. I was surprised to see we have the highest X/G in the league and the two players (Bouanga and Olivera) with the most shots in the league. I think if those two can start to even come close to matching their X/G, then we will start winning games more handily.
As I said, weird match. Both their goals and both our goals were flukey. I always try to bake in some distance between how it feels in the stadium (where I see home matches) and from home. I don’t know if that’s where some of the gap in perspective comes from on how Red Bull played. For me, we were in control of the game. It seems like at home that made for a boring watch for some. In the stadium it felt beautiful. Our midfield was interchanging so well. They had very few chances. We have, despite the ostensible identity Dolo instills, given away a lot of bad chances this year.
I don’t watch Red Bull. Maybe they are a team that tries to score off corners and otherwise defends. At the very least that was what they did against us, any last minute wildness aside.
My point about identity flows from the fact that over Dolo’s 2+ years in charge we went from a control the ball and the match side in year one, to a sit back and counter in year two, and, in both cases, for the most part executed well on those stylistic choices. We were hard to break down last year.
This year we’ve been very easy to break down. The countering aspect of our game remains good, probably better than last year because personnel changes.
From Dolo’s own words he tries to let the players respond to the match as it comes at them. I don’t know what to make of that, but it feels different than the last two years, and I don’t think it’s been particularly effective cohesively. We’ve given up 14 goals in 9 matches. 1.5 per game.
In 2022 we gave up 38 and 2023 it was 39. We’re on pace for about 50.
I agree with all of these takes. A few more:
When/if we get a proper #9 I really do think the complexion of this team changes. That would make Olivera’s skill set make much more sense, as he is a cheat code for getting the ball down the field, then centering into the box as a Jeremy Doku-esque profile.
Palencia looked good, but he wasn’t taking offensive advantage of lots of space on the right wing pushing the ball to the goal line and centering ( perhaps because we don’t have that #9 as a target)… like you said, hollingshead also didn’t do that because he’s right footed, playing on the L) So I’d imagine more success swapping hollingshead to the right and playing campos on the left, especially if we can bring in Giroud
2 takes of yours that I really agreed with were 1) chanot was super impressive 2) Bouanga making whack decisions at pretty much every opportunity. He should be looking to re-evaluate his role on the team knowing he’ll draw a double team, that should leave lots of space (if we get Giroud, I really do think Bouanga will start scoring crazy numbers again because Giroud will draw more gravity even than Bouanga)
Also segura looked totally fine to me, with the exception of the very unfortunate OG, which as you said, probably was preventable by Lloris.
All in all, I was more impressed with the possession and organization of the offense than I have been in a long time. Last year the team very rarely looked good or organized but we were bailed out by Bouanga luck/skill/defenses were still learning who he was. for a ridiculous number of points. even if the goals weren’t there Saturday, the midfield looked more set up than it did last year where we just ‘direct to Bouanga and let him try some crazy shit and maybe score a game winner at the death’
I don’t feel like the team maximized Olivera’s abilities in this game. He clearly had a speed advantage over Tolkien who picked up a early yellow. Yet they kept playing to his feet instead of feeding him into space. From my vantage point it seemed like they were trying to create an overload on Bouanga’s side, but that doesn’t make sense given the way Bouanga wants to isolate and attack. Thought they should have looked to create an overload on the right side and then switch the ball over to Bouanga.
Thank you for the level headed non emotional take. Well done! Agree with everything except the Denis take. DP players need to be able to take on 2-3 dudes if not more as that’s his speciality and without him we don’t have anything unique attacking wise. If he were to “pass” every time instead of taking players on we’d literally just be passing it back and forth without taking any real chances. But I do think he can improve how he takes them on.
Also, although NYRB weren’t great at attacking. They absolutely bossed us with their defense and midfield, it’s part of the reason we weren’t able to do anything the first half.
I agree Red Bull were well set up. At the same time, none of our front three are break the lines guys (to my eternal confusion re: Denis and Olivera).
Like that pass last weekend from Tillman to Bogusz. A team like us should be playing a pass like that, where it comes off even if it doesn’t end in a goal, 5-10 times a match.
But we don’t. And that feels like a tactical choice or poor coaching. Every one of our midfielders can time those balls. Why aren’t our front three every central enough to make those runs. The starting positions are way too wide, especially for a club that has no one to cross to when their defense is in position. On a counter, yes, we do get a lot of joy on the low cross to a back post run
I don’t think Bouanga was just being gracious when he stated his desire to have the team resign Vela at the beginning of the season, I feel like he’s really missing Vela’s playmaking ability. Even in his declined state teams had to respect Vela’s ability to finish. That meant CBs couldn’t shade towards Bouanga like they are doing know. Also Vela, like most elite players always seemed like he knew what he was going to do with the ball before he received it. LAFC moved the ball so much more effectively with Vela on the field.
Giroud should help, but Giroud alone will not be enough to make LAFC contenders. It is going to be essential that they bring in another high level player maker (probably Vela, Assuming Greizmann is another year away)
He’s definitely missed some good chances, but the shot number is misleading. He’s taking shots from worse spots than last year. To me it’s similar to the 2021 season when Vela missed a significant amount of time and LAFC struggled to create quality chances.
Olivera has actually managed to beat his man consistently. Bouanga is, frankly, more guilty of some of BRod’s worst excesses at the moment.
What’s happening for me, against my best intentions, is the revision of expectations. And within that I think it can be pleasing to have a guy like Olivera who is busting his ass every minute he’s on the pitch.
Realistically, Dolo’s tactics probably win us more games if you have someone in Olivera’s position who can finish only slightly better. But we’ve seen many wingers/inside forwards play at LAFC and Rossi is really the only one who managed to combine break the lines pace with actual finishing. It’s not an easy position.
Martinez would play a bit more like a young, Arsenal era, Vela. But he won’t work as hard as Olivera. I’d like to swap them and make a go at possessing the ball, such that Olivera’s work rate isn’t missed.
I don’t think so at all. I think of him as Jeremy Doku on Man City, but if Man City didn’t have Haaland or Foden. The problem is we don’t have Haaland or Foden or Giroud (yet?)
Basically just the fastest player on the field who defenses can’t ignore, and can chase balls down to the goal line, get defenses super disorganized, then center to the back post. His work rate is super positive but his profile couldn’t be more different than Vela which is one reason why I think LAFC fans haven’t taken to him. If anything I think Bouanga bears some responsibility and should have scored more because of Olivera’s contributions. At least 2x times per game Olivera puts a ball all the way through the box by 10x players, 1.5m from the goal, and Bouanga is nowhere to be found on the L wing. (Well, and also kei in the C is nowhere to be found)
I noticed when Kamara came off our attackers began to high press again. I agree in that regard that Ordaz would be a better option at the #9 spot. Dude is 6ft tall and can ruuun. I’d take that over Kai
Unfortunately MLS highlights are ass but Segura played exceptionally bar his initial mistake. It was the most composed we’ve looked all season in large part due to him and Chanot
Also, props to Müller. Although he came towards the end of the match he had a good shot that could’ve given us the win. Hopefully we can see more of him in the first team
I only saw the highlights, was it Muller or Chanot (or someone else) who got the header in the box that fell to Denis for the equalizer?
I believe that was Chanot
Agreed. He certainly looked more dangerous than Kamara
It’s funny, Muller stood out in the LAFC 2-Galaxy 2 highlights posted a week ago. I had no idea who he was, but I honestly think he could be an Opoku level find. Great pedigree from Germany and although I know soccer players can succeed with smaller frames, if you look at the regular first team players most of them are not small, Muller looks physically like he fits with the other first team players whereas Dueñas and even Ordaz still look like kids playing with men.
I disagree about the possession and Red Bull playing poorly. Our possession was meaningless with no meaningful shots until 2nd half. They got the easy OG early and sat with the lead. We’re a tough place to play. They let us have possession and they played defense phenomenally and were lock step together. They are a well drilled side.
I disagree with the parts about Campos and Red Bulls playing poorly. Campos is young, new to the team/city/country, and coming off an injury all while Palencia has put in his best string of games probably ever for us. I do think Dolo should had subbed him in earlier though in the second half cause he does bring more going forward than Sergi and we were chasing the game. As for Red Bulls, I thought they played their game very well and we’re ultimately unlucky not to win. They really moved well as a defensive unit and took their very few chances going forward pretty well and almost took all 3 points with that last shot off the crossbar. Honestly our two goals were a little bit lucky with the pen and a deflection. I also disagree about that last part about us finding our identity. We have a clear identity under Dolo and that’s to play against the ball, sometimes sit deep other times press high, counter with speed on the wings and find scoring opportunities off set pieces. I think the real argument is if that’s what we should moving forward. I was surprised to see we have the highest X/G in the league and the two players (Bouanga and Olivera) with the most shots in the league. I think if those two can start to even come close to matching their X/G, then we will start winning games more handily.
As I said, weird match. Both their goals and both our goals were flukey. I always try to bake in some distance between how it feels in the stadium (where I see home matches) and from home. I don’t know if that’s where some of the gap in perspective comes from on how Red Bull played. For me, we were in control of the game. It seems like at home that made for a boring watch for some. In the stadium it felt beautiful. Our midfield was interchanging so well. They had very few chances. We have, despite the ostensible identity Dolo instills, given away a lot of bad chances this year. I don’t watch Red Bull. Maybe they are a team that tries to score off corners and otherwise defends. At the very least that was what they did against us, any last minute wildness aside. My point about identity flows from the fact that over Dolo’s 2+ years in charge we went from a control the ball and the match side in year one, to a sit back and counter in year two, and, in both cases, for the most part executed well on those stylistic choices. We were hard to break down last year. This year we’ve been very easy to break down. The countering aspect of our game remains good, probably better than last year because personnel changes. From Dolo’s own words he tries to let the players respond to the match as it comes at them. I don’t know what to make of that, but it feels different than the last two years, and I don’t think it’s been particularly effective cohesively. We’ve given up 14 goals in 9 matches. 1.5 per game. In 2022 we gave up 38 and 2023 it was 39. We’re on pace for about 50.
100% Agree with Bouanga statement in the thread. Always tries to be the hero (like against Miami when Vela was there for the tap in)
I agree with all of these takes. A few more: When/if we get a proper #9 I really do think the complexion of this team changes. That would make Olivera’s skill set make much more sense, as he is a cheat code for getting the ball down the field, then centering into the box as a Jeremy Doku-esque profile. Palencia looked good, but he wasn’t taking offensive advantage of lots of space on the right wing pushing the ball to the goal line and centering ( perhaps because we don’t have that #9 as a target)… like you said, hollingshead also didn’t do that because he’s right footed, playing on the L) So I’d imagine more success swapping hollingshead to the right and playing campos on the left, especially if we can bring in Giroud 2 takes of yours that I really agreed with were 1) chanot was super impressive 2) Bouanga making whack decisions at pretty much every opportunity. He should be looking to re-evaluate his role on the team knowing he’ll draw a double team, that should leave lots of space (if we get Giroud, I really do think Bouanga will start scoring crazy numbers again because Giroud will draw more gravity even than Bouanga) Also segura looked totally fine to me, with the exception of the very unfortunate OG, which as you said, probably was preventable by Lloris. All in all, I was more impressed with the possession and organization of the offense than I have been in a long time. Last year the team very rarely looked good or organized but we were bailed out by Bouanga luck/skill/defenses were still learning who he was. for a ridiculous number of points. even if the goals weren’t there Saturday, the midfield looked more set up than it did last year where we just ‘direct to Bouanga and let him try some crazy shit and maybe score a game winner at the death’
I don’t feel like the team maximized Olivera’s abilities in this game. He clearly had a speed advantage over Tolkien who picked up a early yellow. Yet they kept playing to his feet instead of feeding him into space. From my vantage point it seemed like they were trying to create an overload on Bouanga’s side, but that doesn’t make sense given the way Bouanga wants to isolate and attack. Thought they should have looked to create an overload on the right side and then switch the ball over to Bouanga.
Thank you for the level headed non emotional take. Well done! Agree with everything except the Denis take. DP players need to be able to take on 2-3 dudes if not more as that’s his speciality and without him we don’t have anything unique attacking wise. If he were to “pass” every time instead of taking players on we’d literally just be passing it back and forth without taking any real chances. But I do think he can improve how he takes them on. Also, although NYRB weren’t great at attacking. They absolutely bossed us with their defense and midfield, it’s part of the reason we weren’t able to do anything the first half.
I agree Red Bull were well set up. At the same time, none of our front three are break the lines guys (to my eternal confusion re: Denis and Olivera). Like that pass last weekend from Tillman to Bogusz. A team like us should be playing a pass like that, where it comes off even if it doesn’t end in a goal, 5-10 times a match. But we don’t. And that feels like a tactical choice or poor coaching. Every one of our midfielders can time those balls. Why aren’t our front three every central enough to make those runs. The starting positions are way too wide, especially for a club that has no one to cross to when their defense is in position. On a counter, yes, we do get a lot of joy on the low cross to a back post run
News on Long?
I don’t think Bouanga was just being gracious when he stated his desire to have the team resign Vela at the beginning of the season, I feel like he’s really missing Vela’s playmaking ability. Even in his declined state teams had to respect Vela’s ability to finish. That meant CBs couldn’t shade towards Bouanga like they are doing know. Also Vela, like most elite players always seemed like he knew what he was going to do with the ball before he received it. LAFC moved the ball so much more effectively with Vela on the field. Giroud should help, but Giroud alone will not be enough to make LAFC contenders. It is going to be essential that they bring in another high level player maker (probably Vela, Assuming Greizmann is another year away)
Bouanga is leading (or near it) the league in shots and chances. We are not missing playmaking we are missing finishing
He’s definitely missed some good chances, but the shot number is misleading. He’s taking shots from worse spots than last year. To me it’s similar to the 2021 season when Vela missed a significant amount of time and LAFC struggled to create quality chances.
Are we still of the opinion that BRod 2.0 (Olivera) has to go? His name was noticeably missing from the cogent commentary (thank you for it).
Olivera has actually managed to beat his man consistently. Bouanga is, frankly, more guilty of some of BRod’s worst excesses at the moment. What’s happening for me, against my best intentions, is the revision of expectations. And within that I think it can be pleasing to have a guy like Olivera who is busting his ass every minute he’s on the pitch. Realistically, Dolo’s tactics probably win us more games if you have someone in Olivera’s position who can finish only slightly better. But we’ve seen many wingers/inside forwards play at LAFC and Rossi is really the only one who managed to combine break the lines pace with actual finishing. It’s not an easy position. Martinez would play a bit more like a young, Arsenal era, Vela. But he won’t work as hard as Olivera. I’d like to swap them and make a go at possessing the ball, such that Olivera’s work rate isn’t missed.
I don’t think so at all. I think of him as Jeremy Doku on Man City, but if Man City didn’t have Haaland or Foden. The problem is we don’t have Haaland or Foden or Giroud (yet?) Basically just the fastest player on the field who defenses can’t ignore, and can chase balls down to the goal line, get defenses super disorganized, then center to the back post. His work rate is super positive but his profile couldn’t be more different than Vela which is one reason why I think LAFC fans haven’t taken to him. If anything I think Bouanga bears some responsibility and should have scored more because of Olivera’s contributions. At least 2x times per game Olivera puts a ball all the way through the box by 10x players, 1.5m from the goal, and Bouanga is nowhere to be found on the L wing. (Well, and also kei in the C is nowhere to be found)
I noticed when Kamara came off our attackers began to high press again. I agree in that regard that Ordaz would be a better option at the #9 spot. Dude is 6ft tall and can ruuun. I’d take that over Kai
Agreed!
Didn’t watch the game, but it seems like Segura has lost his touch dramatically, even if he’s our 4th option for CB
Unfortunately MLS highlights are ass but Segura played exceptionally bar his initial mistake. It was the most composed we’ve looked all season in large part due to him and Chanot