I’ve got three words: Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire post-game analysis

By: NathanHJ | October 4th, 2009

Donovan-Berhalter-Gonzalez post fire game - October 2, 2009 And those word are: Gutting it out.

The Los Angeles Galaxy took three points at home from a determined Fire team populated with a large number of replacement for injured players. As has been the case all season, the defense provided the base from which the Galaxy was able to generate just enough offense to put the game away. The best example of the defensive awareness was Mike Magee’s pouncing on a botched indirect kick by the Fire and snuffing a dangerous threat caused by a questionable call on Donovan Ricketts for handling a back pass from the feet of Chris Birchall (looked like it bounced off his shins accidentally to me).

Had the Fire been able to field a team with John Thorrington, Chris Rolfe, and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the new-look Galaxy backline might have been exposed a bit more. As it stood it was given everything it could handle with Brian McBride, Marco Pappa, and Patrick Nyarko. It was a classic case of bending but not breaking, with Donovan Rickets called upon to make four saves, including smothering a heart-stopping goal-mouth scramble in the last ten minutes of the match.

Bruce Arena made a couple of tweaks from last week’s lineup, which was itself a bit of an experiement. Expected changes in the midfield brought back David Beckham and Eddie Lewis and put Chris Klein in as a starter, a game after Arena snapped his record-breaking consecutive game appearance string. Chris Birchall took over the d-mid duties for the injured Stefani Miglioranzi. Landon Donovan moved up to p to partner Edson Buddle. The bigges surprise to me was benching Todd Dunivant to make room for Sean Franklin on the right and slotting AJ Delagarza into Dunivant’s spot on the left. I suspect the idea was to try to neutralize the speed Chicago brings up top with Nyarko and Pappa.

On the whole the formation produced a lot more offensive chances than last week’s and, in fact a lot of the lineups that the Galaxy has put on the field this year. Donovan sprang Klein twice in the first 22 minutes for point-blank looks at goal that Fire keeper Jon Busch did well to turn away. Finishing was a problem all night, though Busch did come up with five saves, including a spectacular bending shot from Donovan off a corner that Busch pushed over the bar.

However, the Fire midfield, after being on its heels for the first ten minutes, was able to dominate possession for extended periods during the game. I found that those times coincided with a couple of Galaxy tendencies: the preference for the long ball out of the back for streaking forwards and the drifting back of David Beckham to collect the ball, from where he, too, preferred the long probing ball to the forwards.

I not saying that the Galaxy shouldn’t include those weapons in the arsenal, but I am saying that the team does best when it can string together attacking passes. The sequence in the second half that included seven passes until Sean Franklin took a weak off-balance shot right at the keeper from the top of the box is exactly what I’m talking about. Even the goal scored in the 43rd minute came from four passes that included a Klein – Becks – Donovan connection. And, although Donovan’s goal was a chip over a keeper caught in no man’s land, if you watch the replays you see that he one-times it at chest height in touch that redirects the ball, arches it over the keeper, and brings it down below the crossbar. It was a sophisticated striker’s touch and consistent with the high level of play that Donovan has brought to his game for the last two years.

As has been the case all year, it was the commitment to defense at every position on the field and a team willing to play for each other that kept the Galaxy in the game and pushed the Fire off theirs. Which was important because there were some off performances all over the field. Edson Buddle was never well-integrated into the flow of the game and many of his passes and touches went awry, often snuffing out promising build-ups. Sean Franklin showed a lot of rust, missing tackles, making bad passes, committing a lot of unforced giveaways, and looking shaky going forward. I’m not convinced it was worth taking Dunivant out of the game to get Franklin in, despite what I thought was a strong performance Delargarza from the left back spot. Delagarza is much more comfortable on the left than on the right and his offensive contributions are much more dangerous.

And in his return to the lineup I thought Beckham had a pretty mediocre day. An unusually large number of his passes were off-target and he seemed very content to play long-ball when a midfield build-up might have been the smarter choice. But that was because he was collecting the ball too deep in his own half. Further, I thought that Eddie Lewis spent too much time drifting inside and clogging passing lanes, rather than staying outside and making dangerous runs towards goal. And, once Mike Magee entered the game and Donovan went back to midfield, the Galaxy became a bit more dangerous going forward.

The game itself was a fairly even affair with two good teams playing good futbol. The Fire’s offense, despite its missing pieces was dangerous and Omar Gonzalez was called upon to break up attack after attack, most aimed at Brian McBride. He blew a few assignments, but mostly game up huge across the field against a determined and experienced Fire attack.

After seeing how this combination of players did against Chicago, I’d like see a few changes for Houston on the 18th. I like Franklin, but he’s been shaky in two consecutive appearances. I think I’d hold him out in favor of the back-line the Galaxy has had for most of the season: Dunivant – Berhalter – Gonzalez – Delargarza.

Then in the midfield, I think that Donovan is at his most effective when he’s marauding from the middle of the field, with the space to run at defenses. So I think I’d like to see this combo in the middle: Lewis – Birchall – Beckham – Donovan. Lewis and Klein would platoon in the second wing spot, with Klein coming in for the final 30 minutes on the right and Donovan switching to the left.

Finally, this would create the opportunity for a forward combo of Mike Magee and Edson Buddle. Magee combines better with Buddle than Donovan does because Donovan has more responsibilities across the field, often depriving Buddle of a real strike partner. Magee has enough vision and creativity to take passes from Becks and Donovan and give Buddle something to work with or shoot himself.

Obviously I don’t see the guys in training or have access to the information that the coaches have, but from what I saw on Friday, the combination above should give the Galaxy the best combination of defense and offense when both need to be peaking.

With the Galaxy now in the playoffs, the Houston game doesn’t have the urgency of one that would guarantee the post-season, but it is a preview of the kind of game the team will be facing once the playoffs kick-off. The Galaxy needs to make a statement by taking points from Houston on their home field. Teams that win championships do that kind of thing.

Last note. I was trying to think about who was the man of the match. Who did the most to make sure the Galaxy came away with the win? Clearly Donovan’s strike was a thing of skill and his play all day was smart and error-free (with the exception of that too-cute-by-half backheel in the second half that went to no one). But I think the player who did the most to contribute was Omar Gonzalez. His presence in the middle contributed mightily to keeping Brian McBride at bay and neutralizing Patrick Nyarko. So he’s getting my vote.

Man of the match: Omar Gonzalez

What others are saying:

Andrea Canales at Goal.com with the game recap
Andrea Canales at Goal.com with a story on Galaxy making the playoffs
Grahame Jones in the LA Times
Angel Magana at LAist.com
Sam Skejskal at the ChicagoNow blog
Matt Zimmerman at the LA Daily News
USSoccerPlayers.com, the MLS players union site
Ivan Orozco at MLSNet.com with the Fire perspective
Luis Bueno at MLSNet.com with the game recap
OurSportsCentral.com game summary
OurSportsCentral.com on clinching a playoff spot
Nick Green’s 100 Percent Soccer post-game notes (and the reason for leaving Dunivant off that gameday roster)
And here with the immediate post-game reaction
The Party Line with the post-game notes
The Party Line post-game quotes
The Party Line on making the playoffs

What about you? Who was your man of the match? What did you think of the game? How do you feel about the team making the playoffs for the first time since 2005?

Game Highlights: