What Ails Us – Galaxy early season analysis

By: DAS | May 13th, 2011

Lancelot

Anybody remember that old movie Excalibur? It’s the old Knights of the Round Table story. Lancelot and Gwyneviere betray the king and Arthur plunges Excalibur into Lancelot’s gut. He survives, they make amends, but when Lancelot fights in battle alongside his king again he is clearly in pain. When the king asks him what’s the matter, he says “It’s the old wound.” The quote has remained strong in my family over the decades and I can’t help recalling it every time the Galaxy play.

We have one of the best keepers in the league. Our defense is consistently solid. Okay, our midfield is a little unsettled, but it’s still extremely potent. So what prevents us from being the knight we once were? It’s the old wound. Our attack.

Barrett has been better, but still lacks the finishing touch that would make him a serious threat. Angel was the great hope. My great hope. Still is I suppose. He’d have a few more goals if it weren’t for that pesky offside rule. He is still menacing up front. But he isn’t scoring. Thanks to @jrodius and @jguessman and their @galaxypodcast, I became aware of a website with some detailed statistics (http://www.powerstats101.com/team/stats/2/los_angeles_galaxy). They rank JPA 10th on the team, one point above Magee.

Maybe Angel is past his prime. Maybe the midfield is not feeding him balls. Maybe he just needs a little more time to gel or a little more luck. Whatever the case, he has been no Buddle replacement so far.

Il Bruce is patient and I’m sure the team will develop. I don’t see him making any major lineup changes. But I do find myself playing the what if game. For instance, what if he paired Donovan (the team’s current highest scorer) up front with Angel, moved Beckham to the wing, and put one of the new kids in the middle with Juninho? Or what if he switched to more of a diamond, with Donovan playing as a CAM, more directly in the attack, and Juninho recessed as a CDM, feeding plays either to the wings or up the middle to Donovan?

I don’t think Il Bruce sees these changes as leading him to the holy grail of goal scoring, so I’m not expecting anything radical. But should we?

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Jake

Just like Buddle couldn't do it alone, neither can JPA. There is no threat on the left side because Magee is not the type to demand the ball to make a play.

LA has to be looking for a couple more attacking players to be a championship caliber team in the end. Barrett and Magee are nice depth players, but they shouldn't be starting at this level. Birchall is useless.
Lee

I don't think we'll see anything radical in formations. As you say it's not Bruce's style and relying too much on Donovan is dangerous as he'll be missing most of June for the Gold Cup. If Angel doesn't start to produce soon, I expect we'll see some sort of pick up in the summer transfer window.

Maybe if the rumors of Pachuca dumping their entire roster are true, we could see Herc Gomez back in a Galaxy jersey.