(UPDATED w/video) I’ve Got Three Words: Galaxy vs. NYRB Post-Game Analysis

By: NathanHJ | July 18th, 2009

Picture by Saed Hindash from the Star Ledger

And those words are: Don’t get cocky.

That’s 4 wins in a row for the Galaxy, which is not the longest win streak since 2006. (The dismal 2007 season featured a 5 game winning streak from September through October.) All of a sudden the team is tied for third in the West and sitting pretty in a playoff spot (granted it has still played a game more than most of the West) and it is surging rather than falling.

Last week I wrote this:

But to get there, we’ve got to score goals and do it in a way that shuts teams down, doesn’t allow their midfield into the game. I’ll still take those 1-0 victories, but if we’re going to make this thing competitive we need to score more than once a game.

Mission accomplished. Granted it was against the worst team in the league, a team that is experiencing a nightmare season, on track for the most futile season in MLS history. But it was Landon Donovan who smoked Alfredo Pacheco like a Cohiba. It was Alecko Eskandarian who Sombreroed Alberto Celades. It was Eddie Lewis who one-timed a shot past Danny Cepero like, umm, Eddie Lewis. And it was David Beckham who orchestrated the attack from a central midfield position.

While the 3-1 scoreline was perhaps a bit generous to the visitors, it was a product of something that has been sorely lacking from the team for 3 years – confidence. And of a midfield that has been the biggest weakness on the team since it became clear that Bruce Arena had shored up last year’s worst defense. Arena himself put it like this,

We’re a team where we were very suspect in the midfield and all of a sudden, it got real good when you have David Beckham and Landon Donovan in the midfield. And I thought (Eddie) Lewis and (Stefani) Miglioranzi played well and certainly, we took our goals well.

Ya think?

Let’s elaborate on the obvious just a bit more, shall we (since as a blogger that’s part of the job description)? The Galaxy went from starting Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon, Eddie Lewis, Jovan Kirovski, Mike Magee, and Stefani Miglioranzi to starting Edson Buddle, Alecko Eskandarian, Eddie Lewis, David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and Stefani Miglioraniz. The midfield went from below average to one of the top three (Houston and Toronto are the other two, no offense Seattle and United fans) in a matter of weeks. And Chris Birchall’s 20 or so minutes looked very very good. High workrate, good positioning, good defense, and quality distribution. It’s early days yet, but I’m having a fun time thinking about him as the Galaxy’s answer to players like Brian Carroll, Osvaldo Alonso, and Jesse Marsch.

I’m not a huge fan of Becks playing so deep in the midfield like he lined up on Thursday, nor do I like having Donovan out on the wing (in MLS – on the USMNT he looks great out there, but here I feel like it takes him too much out of the flow of the game), but its also hard to argue with results. I wonder if you could get even better results with a diamond midfield that features Lewis on the left, Birchall in front of the central defense, Becks in the Christian Gomez number 10 slot, and Donovan lining up on the right, but with the freedom to roam behind the front line like Jaime Moreno does.

The thing that makes this plausible is the inspired decision to pick up Esky from Chivas USA. Two goals in three games, including Thursday’s SportsCenter top play of the day, is fantastic. But he’s the complete package. He’s fast, he’s quick, he has great vision, he makes dangerous runs. He plays defense. He makes Buddle that much more dangerous because now defenses have to deal with two talented guys up top. You could see that against RBNY, though, again, it’s dangerous to predict future results based on schooling a team that’s having a private Lost Season.

Here’s why: the schedule for the final 12 games of the season include Chivas, Toronto, Columbus, United, Seattle, Houston, and the Fire (twice). It also includes at least two overlaps with World Cup qualifiers which will take Donovan and Becks out of the picture. In other words, there’s a lot of season left against the toughest teams and the Galaxy will need to get results from most of them to stay in the playoff picture.

On the other hand, the Galaxy finally has depth. On Thursday Arena brought in Magee, Chris Klein, and Chris Birchall. Missing Becks and Landon will not hurt nearly as much as it did earlier in the season when the team couldn’t buy a win. This notion is also starting to extend to the goalkeeping as well. It was fantastic to have Donovan Ricketts back. He came up huge twice, including stoning both Seth Stammler and Jorge Rojas on consecutive shots. Not to mention stopping the second Angel penatly kick (and how unucky was Omar Gonzalez to get called for two handballs in the box within five minutes). Not only is he a keeper with great athleticism, he plays smart, positioning himself well and organizing the defense. Josh Saunders isn’t at this level, but his last two outings were levels above his early starts this year. I’m no longer cringing when I see his name on the lineup card.

Just 10 days ago I was kind of not really looking forward to seeing AC Milan play the Galaxy because of the huge difference in skill levels will make for a crap game. Now, while I don’t think the Galaxy is close to Milan’s level, I also don’t think that the game will totally suck.

In fact, after seeing the game on Thursday, I’m starting to be cautiously optimistic about what the team can accomplish this season.

But don’t get cocky.

Man of the Match: Landon Donovan, hands down.

What others are saying:

Doug McIntyre with the MLSNet Game Summary
Dylan Butler with the MLSNet RBNY perspective
Doug McIntyre with the MLSNet Galaxy perspective
Kyle McCarthy with an MLSNet story focused on Becks
Ronald Blum at the Associated Press
Steve Goff at his Soccer Insider blog
Kristian Dyer at Metro International.com
Frank Giase at the New Jersey Star Ledger
Bruce Jenkins at the SF Chronicle with a little rain on the Beckham parade (no game recap, just some meta-analysis)
Ian McGarry with British snark from The Sun
Matt Hughes on the Becks booing in the TimesOnline
Dominic Fifield at The Guardian
SkyNews with Becks getting booed
The Guardian game summary
Guardian sports blog on Beckham’s relationship with MLS
The Philadelphia Star
John Jeasonne at the NY Daily News
Joshua Robinson at the NY Times
Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com
The CBC
Grahame Jones at the LA Times
Nick Green at 100 Percent Soccer
Ronald Blum in The Daily Breeze

What about you guys? What did you think of Beckham’s return? Is the midfield now good enough to compete for the championship? What about the depth issue? How will national team call-ups affect the team? Leave your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: 2009 Season, Player News, Team News

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jen

About Bruce Arena, I was hoping he was doing a slow and steady rebuild. But I was scared -- afraid to be hopeful. And why not? Look at the last three years -- blech!

So yes, yes, yes, Bruce Arena has made me hopeful again. And after some months of consistency, I think I could fall in love.
Laurie

Agreed 100% about Arena. Galaxy have turned from laughingstock to threat, and it's all his doing.

I think it really started with the acquisition of Ricketts. Before he arrived, there was no confidence. Now there is. It's amazing what having a hardcore serious goalkeeper to clean things up in the back can do to players' willingness to go forward.
Lee

It's amazing how in my mind the Galaxy have gone from a team that was complete shit to one that looks dangerous and poised to make the playoffs. Credit goes to Bruce Arena for turning this team around to respectability
Diane

Nathan, after attending the match on Thursday I agree with everything you say. Eskandarian did even more off camera, as players always do, and as the rest of the team did as well. They were really looking for each other instead of seeming to be looking surprised to find the ball as they have on in past visits here. Nice.

The improved midfield, and even the defensive minded attack, certainly definitely makes the back line's job more organized if not simply easier.

While I agree with your three words, I certainly think there is room for optimism. Even with Donovan and Beckham gone, the addition of Eskandarian will help stretch any opposition's defense, not just struggling ones (poor NY, it was sad to watch), and if Birchal is as strong in the holding role that it seems he should be that should give a player like McGee more space. Will Ricketts be away on international duty? He really talked to his defenders a lot, but Saunders looked great when I watched his matches as well. So, yeah depth. And of course I should never fail to mention that I think Chris Klein can do anything ;-) !

Dana, Donovan, Beckham and Lewis did a bit of overlapping themselves and I wonder if Arena is looking for something that fluid as time goes on. Beckham was pretty easily isolated and shut down by the end of last season when he was played wide. Not simply because of his lack of industry, the opposition just figured out how easy it would be after watching/playing the Galaxy. But with more for them to tend to this year, and more Galaxy players that can cross accurately, that may no longer be the case. Beckham's short passing game grew a lot in Italy and he certainly has the eye of a distributor, but I think we'll get the opportunity to see the formation Arena put out on Thursday as well as the one you suggest.

One mystery, almost as difficult to fathom as the sudden short sleeves, is that even when playing at his best for the Galaxy, Beckham's set pieces have been weak since he arrived in MLS.

I was one of those who wished LA had sold Beckham to Milan for the sake of sanity and for whatever they could get. But he's here so my answer to your last question would be that I hope Arena gets the best out of him. He and Donovan certainly still spark together--in a good way--on the pitch.
dana

I agree, Landon Donovan, man of the match, but I think Donovan Ricketts is a close second for that title. I'd like to see Beckham as an outside mid-fielder, combining with Chris Klein, with Landon in the center position, but like you said, it's hard to argue with results.