Return of the King: Galaxy v Timbers post-game commentary

Landon Donovan scores on a penalty kick putting the Portland Timbers down 2-0 in under 10 minutes.

This post title is courtesy of @jrodius (co-host, along with @jguesman, of the always insightful Corner of the Galaxy podcast) who tweeted “If last night’s Galaxy game were a movie it would’ve been Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King.”

That pretty much sums it up. With the return of all potential starting midfielders from suspension and injury, the Galaxy attack was much more dangerous than it had been on the recent road trip with the exception of the Fire game and it repeatedly victimized a shaky and increasingly suspect Portland Timbers defense. The increase in danger was due almost entirely to the return of Landon Donovan to the starting lineup.

If you go back and watch the highlights of the game (below), you’ll see that every gol went through Donovan at some point (or hell, just look at the stat sheet where he’s listed with two gols and an assist). But watching the play you realize viscerally how much he elevates the team’s attack. With him on the field the Galaxy put together their best half of futbol this season, playing through the midfield with one- and two-touch passes, making dangerous runs into space, taking on defenders, and putting Troy Perkins, making his first start this season, under pressure from the opening minutes of the game. David Beckham and Juninho’s return to the lineup helped here as well, but the real engine of creativity came from Donovan.

Not so with Mike Magee who, after a series of games where he played smart and decisive futbol, reverted to his more normal plodding and predictable self. When Magee is playing at the peak of his ability he adds the left-side dimension that the Galaxy have struggled to find for years. But when he reverts to the mean, his display is, well, mean. If he doesn’t pick it up he’ll find himself the second choice behind Paolo Cardozo or even Miguel Lopez. He got the start on the left due to his recent run of form, but yesterday’s performance wasn’t inspiring.

Lopez also had a below-par night, letting his penchant for buzzing around the field derail his ability to put himself in dangerous spots to receive balls from his talented midfield. Arena pulled him off in favor of Juan Pablo Angel in the second half, but he’s too talented to stay on the bench for long. But he does have to learn how to channel his desire to be involved into runs that take advantage of what Becks, Donovan, and Juninho are going to send his way. When that happens it will be deadly because Lopez already does so much to unbalance defenses and create a hash of their shape.

I thought that maybe the defense would be a bit shaky last night because of the injury to Leonardo, but AJ Delagarza stepped in without missing a beat. He’s played the position numerous times before and partners well with Omar Gonzalez (who was his normal imposing self and did much to keep Kenny Cooper quiet for 70 minutes) and it showed. The potent Timbers attack was kept off the boards, due as much to clutch golkeeping from Donovan Ricketts as the efforts of the full defense. Ricketts came up with three gol-denying saves including two on Cooper and the Galaxy kept a clean sheet for third time this season.

Part of this result was the tactical decision by Bruce Arena to have his wingers tuck into the midfield which did two things, first it put the midfielders closer together so they could combine for those short one-touch passes. This is the thing that Real Salt Lake does so well. Second, it disrupted the passing lanes for the Timbers’ midfield, taking Kalif Alhassan and Jack Jewsbury more or less out of the game. The Timbers’ insertion of more offensive threats in the second half helped overcome this tactic a bit to the point where the entire game become disjointed, but also opened up more space (when it wasn’t being ignore in favor of long balls out of the back). This contributed to a much less compelling second half, though seeing the combo play that led to Donovan’s second gol was worth all the rest of the stuttering half.

I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight Chad Barrett’s opening gol in the 4th minute. It wasn’t Juan Agudelo amazing, but it was a thing of beauty itself from the initial touch and controlling taps from his shoulder to the strike on the half-volley that beat Perkins like a drum. It was the anti-Barnmisser so I’ll keep his nickname in abeyance again today.

Man of the Match: Landon Donovan

What about you guys? What did you see in the game worth commeting on? Did Donovan’s return really help the team as much as I think it did? What about the performaces of Michael Stephens and Paolo Cardozo as subs? Who was your man of the match? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

PS: Special “yo, what up?” to all my Tweeps, with whom I was able to meet up with for the first time this season. My awesome wife gave me a ride to the HDC since I’m still hobbled by a persistent pinched nerve. Nice to see everyone again. Finally.

Highlights

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Category: post-game analysis