Defending champions in a rut
The LA Galaxy know how to win. Or at least, they knew how to win. While last season ended with the Carson club clinching a league-record sixth MLS Cup, they’re now making a different sort of history. Winless through their first six games of the season, Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Orlando City means the Galaxy have made the worst start to a campaign of any defending MLS champion ever. They don’t put a star above the crest for that.
At first, the injuries to Riqui Puig and Joseph Paintsil were used as explanation. The departure of striker Dejan Joveljić, Gaston Brugman and Mark Delgado were also seen as factors. This talent deficit has undeniably contributed to the sudden downfall of the MLS Cup winners, but increasingly it feels as if other things are at play.
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For one thing, the attacking balance is off. Despite making 21 more passes into the final third than Orlando on Saturday, the Galaxy had six fewer shots and just 1.03 in expected goals (xG) compared to the visitors’ 1.58. Paintsil made his first appearance of the season off the bench, but the Ghanian is still lacking sharpness. His 28 minutes on the pitch coincided with Orlando’s comeback from 1-0 down to win 2-1.
Defensively, the Galaxy were never the most resolute of teams, even at their best. Their defensive record was only the eighth best in the West last season. Previously, though, they created enough in attack to mask this. That is no longer the case and it certainly isn’t helping that goalkeepers John McCarthy and Novak Micovic are taking turns to throwing one in their own net, with both committing terrible errors in recent weeks.
Marco Reus has been unable to replicate Puig’s natural creativity. His work ethic has been a problem too. Gabriel Pec is cutting inside on to his left foot too often. Christian Ramírez is struggling for service. Emiro Garcés hasn’t been the same player this season. The Galaxy could hardly be handing over a longer list of issues for Puig to fix when he’s back. GR
Lionel Messi: super sub?
We have seen Lionel Messi do all sorts of incredible things in his time with Inter Miami, but Saturday saw the Argentine fill a role he hasn’t often been asked to play in his career. He was a substitute.
Messi has been dealing with what Inter Miami called a “low-grade” adductor strain and an issue with his left thigh. The injury kept him from traveling to South America for Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Uruguay, and it also kept him on the bench for Inter Miami’s Saturday game against Philadelphia Union.
Any hopes that all that time on the sidelines would reduce Messi’s effectiveness were, of course, sorely mistaken. The World Cup winner scored within two minutes of entering the match, finishing off what would turn out to be the winning goal off a feed from Luis Suárez.
The notion of using Messi as a super-sub is patently ridiculous, even as he ...
