Thank you Vince for taking the extra time for this analysis. Much appreciated from someone that’s trying to raise his football IQ
One thing that has been bothering me since the snow game is this team seem to be lacking some Grit? I could be wrong but that last two games haven’t been that inspiring to watch. Maybe it’s the high turnover in the locker room and a few veterans that pushed the team to excellence have left and the team is trying to figure out new leaders. IDK
I do know our starting VI have talent and would be starters on any other team in the MLS. It’s tough to see us come out slow in the beginning of the season when that’s when we are usually the strongest
Keep up the good work - looking forward to your next column
I think when things aren't going well we all want a player to take the lead. I'm sure even some of the guys in the locker room feel that way right now. It's hard to quantify grit though. As a unit, the team isn't performing well. I think the guys are trying but confidence is very low right now. Hopefully, playing in front of the home crowd sparks them a bit this weekend.
It doesn't matter how you explained it! Or how many positions changes players have, The main issue to me and I been saying since we lost CCL to Leon, Steve Cherundolo is the issue , not the players! Steve is married to one idea and one idea only, he likes certain players and won't give others players a true chance to display their a qualities, biggest example was Filip Krastev, every time he came off the bench did better than Bogusz and Buik or Ordaz or Dueñas and Tillman, but was give very little opportunity to play! Like Vince say, teams can figure out how the rival and adjust to limit their ability , well! it seems that teams have figured out LAFC. but LAFC seems to lack the ability to figure them out!, and it is on Steve Cherundolo to do that!..is going to to be a long season, if the LAFC don't get quality players to bail Steve out, I strongly believe Steve is a very good motivator and very nice person but I am also convinced that he lacks the qualities of a good tactical and analytical coach, and he is too dependable on quality established players and their leadership in the pitch to pull the team thru! time will tell, but at this moment the teams lacks work and is very disorganized, player are making too many mistakes with wrong decisions and terrible passing and that a sign of lack of work and practice and it reflects directly into the coaches lack of work or ideas!
What tactics do you think Steve is lacking? I get people commenting a lot about Steve not being good enough and saying it's a tactical problem. So, be specific. What tactics should he be using?
Also, go back and look at the games Krastev played in. He always subbed on late in games the team was already winning. If he wasn't playing more despite doing well in those games, you have think maybe he wasn't training well. It would only benefit a coach to use his best players. So, if he really was training better and playing better than everyone else, it wouldn't make sense for him to keep Krastev out and then to send him away in the offseason. So maybe there is something we don't know?
do you need?? when it is very clear the system is failing! .. Why persist with the same game plan when you don't have the players anymore! why keep giving up ball possession to the rival when you know your defense is vulnerable.! why persist with Boguzs as #9 when is clear he is not and has hard time giving a precise pass or finding the open man, same goes for Bouanga and Olivera! what happened? they forgot how to pass!! or is it lack practice at training? ..there are many things that have become repetitive and with the same results and Steve doesn't seem to be willing to change! why?? , As far Krastev goes , the few times he played he showed game IQ, it showed the skills with precise passing and positioning himself at right places and was able to score! who else dodged that coming from from the bench? You can't tell me that he was given a fair amount of minutes or fair opportunity?
At this point whatever we want to call it , tactics, plan, ideas, structure, execution they are not working and nothing different has been tried for over a year, is just the same idea or tactic with different players with other qualities and characteristics that don't seem to fit with the idea!.. and perhaps we will never agree on how we see things or the team, but I love the interaction with everyone here and I am sure we all want the best for our team!!✌🏽
Man, you really stepped things up this week. Great analysis. I’m sure you probably get tired of explaining the same ideas over and over again, but it really does help give context to what we are watching.
Ultimately I think this season is going to be decided by the moves made in the summer. Right now I think we just have an above average MLS team. LAFC will struggle on the road, but mostly do well at home. I know that’s tough for me to accept so I’m sure it’s frustrating for other fans of the team, but that’s the reality for most teams in MLS. Without CCC it would have been nice to push for Supporter Shield, but given the red headed stepchild treatment that trophy receives I can understand the front office focusing on maximizing the salary cap for summer moves that can fuel a League’s Cup and MLS Cup run.
After my initial frustration with this performance I tried to look at it from Minnesota’s perspective. What exactly did they do better than LAFC? Honestly, from my view not too much. They just capitalized on two LAFC mistakes (still think Boxall got a way with a shove on Murillo - but understand that’s a tough call to make) and LAFC failed to capitalize on Minnesota’s. The Loons had moments, but didn’t really use scheme or tactics to create more than LAFC. To be honest, looking around the league a lot of goals are generated from mistakes, not through brilliant build up.
That’s why it frustrates me to see LAFC play short on corners. With Murillo, Long, and Hollingshead LAFC has exactly the type of players that can cause chaos on corners. Playing short lets the opponents off the hook.
I also would like to see Bogusz move back to midfield and Tillman to the bench. Not because I think either is playing poorly, but it’ll give LAFC a player who can really contribute off the bench.
Matty B passing says a lot. Those are great clips. Weirdest thing watching this game was how fluid they were (generally) and how disconnected and generally not fluid we were thru the match. We looked like a team that just hired a coach, not one that has been enjoying more training sessions with no mid week games, etc. No panic here. Just need to get the wheels greased.
Yuck. We have been here before but because the roster is in a shambles due to FO malpractice, Dolo's hands are tied and its hard to see how it can improve anytime soon. Atuesta is not fit, Olivera should be benched, Bogusz should go back to the midfield, the backline is mediocre, Bouanga is easily double teamed and frustrated. There is no competition for spots, so the play is lackluster, or, as Elvis Costello once sang, lacks luster.
Thank you Vince for taking the extra time for this analysis. Much appreciated from someone that’s trying to raise his football IQ
One thing that has been bothering me since the snow game is this team seem to be lacking some Grit? I could be wrong but that last two games haven’t been that inspiring to watch. Maybe it’s the high turnover in the locker room and a few veterans that pushed the team to excellence have left and the team is trying to figure out new leaders. IDK
I do know our starting VI have talent and would be starters on any other team in the MLS. It’s tough to see us come out slow in the beginning of the season when that’s when we are usually the strongest
Keep up the good work - looking forward to your next column
I think when things aren't going well we all want a player to take the lead. I'm sure even some of the guys in the locker room feel that way right now. It's hard to quantify grit though. As a unit, the team isn't performing well. I think the guys are trying but confidence is very low right now. Hopefully, playing in front of the home crowd sparks them a bit this weekend.
It doesn't matter how you explained it! Or how many positions changes players have, The main issue to me and I been saying since we lost CCL to Leon, Steve Cherundolo is the issue , not the players! Steve is married to one idea and one idea only, he likes certain players and won't give others players a true chance to display their a qualities, biggest example was Filip Krastev, every time he came off the bench did better than Bogusz and Buik or Ordaz or Dueñas and Tillman, but was give very little opportunity to play! Like Vince say, teams can figure out how the rival and adjust to limit their ability , well! it seems that teams have figured out LAFC. but LAFC seems to lack the ability to figure them out!, and it is on Steve Cherundolo to do that!..is going to to be a long season, if the LAFC don't get quality players to bail Steve out, I strongly believe Steve is a very good motivator and very nice person but I am also convinced that he lacks the qualities of a good tactical and analytical coach, and he is too dependable on quality established players and their leadership in the pitch to pull the team thru! time will tell, but at this moment the teams lacks work and is very disorganized, player are making too many mistakes with wrong decisions and terrible passing and that a sign of lack of work and practice and it reflects directly into the coaches lack of work or ideas!
What tactics do you think Steve is lacking? I get people commenting a lot about Steve not being good enough and saying it's a tactical problem. So, be specific. What tactics should he be using?
Also, go back and look at the games Krastev played in. He always subbed on late in games the team was already winning. If he wasn't playing more despite doing well in those games, you have think maybe he wasn't training well. It would only benefit a coach to use his best players. So, if he really was training better and playing better than everyone else, it wouldn't make sense for him to keep Krastev out and then to send him away in the offseason. So maybe there is something we don't know?
what moré specifics
do you need?? when it is very clear the system is failing! .. Why persist with the same game plan when you don't have the players anymore! why keep giving up ball possession to the rival when you know your defense is vulnerable.! why persist with Boguzs as #9 when is clear he is not and has hard time giving a precise pass or finding the open man, same goes for Bouanga and Olivera! what happened? they forgot how to pass!! or is it lack practice at training? ..there are many things that have become repetitive and with the same results and Steve doesn't seem to be willing to change! why?? , As far Krastev goes , the few times he played he showed game IQ, it showed the skills with precise passing and positioning himself at right places and was able to score! who else dodged that coming from from the bench? You can't tell me that he was given a fair amount of minutes or fair opportunity?
At this point whatever we want to call it , tactics, plan, ideas, structure, execution they are not working and nothing different has been tried for over a year, is just the same idea or tactic with different players with other qualities and characteristics that don't seem to fit with the idea!.. and perhaps we will never agree on how we see things or the team, but I love the interaction with everyone here and I am sure we all want the best for our team!!✌🏽
Man, you really stepped things up this week. Great analysis. I’m sure you probably get tired of explaining the same ideas over and over again, but it really does help give context to what we are watching.
Ultimately I think this season is going to be decided by the moves made in the summer. Right now I think we just have an above average MLS team. LAFC will struggle on the road, but mostly do well at home. I know that’s tough for me to accept so I’m sure it’s frustrating for other fans of the team, but that’s the reality for most teams in MLS. Without CCC it would have been nice to push for Supporter Shield, but given the red headed stepchild treatment that trophy receives I can understand the front office focusing on maximizing the salary cap for summer moves that can fuel a League’s Cup and MLS Cup run.
After my initial frustration with this performance I tried to look at it from Minnesota’s perspective. What exactly did they do better than LAFC? Honestly, from my view not too much. They just capitalized on two LAFC mistakes (still think Boxall got a way with a shove on Murillo - but understand that’s a tough call to make) and LAFC failed to capitalize on Minnesota’s. The Loons had moments, but didn’t really use scheme or tactics to create more than LAFC. To be honest, looking around the league a lot of goals are generated from mistakes, not through brilliant build up.
That’s why it frustrates me to see LAFC play short on corners. With Murillo, Long, and Hollingshead LAFC has exactly the type of players that can cause chaos on corners. Playing short lets the opponents off the hook.
I also would like to see Bogusz move back to midfield and Tillman to the bench. Not because I think either is playing poorly, but it’ll give LAFC a player who can really contribute off the bench.
Matty B passing says a lot. Those are great clips. Weirdest thing watching this game was how fluid they were (generally) and how disconnected and generally not fluid we were thru the match. We looked like a team that just hired a coach, not one that has been enjoying more training sessions with no mid week games, etc. No panic here. Just need to get the wheels greased.
Yuck. We have been here before but because the roster is in a shambles due to FO malpractice, Dolo's hands are tied and its hard to see how it can improve anytime soon. Atuesta is not fit, Olivera should be benched, Bogusz should go back to the midfield, the backline is mediocre, Bouanga is easily double teamed and frustrated. There is no competition for spots, so the play is lackluster, or, as Elvis Costello once sang, lacks luster.