Charting the Galaxy: New Formation Shows Hope If Commitment Is There
by Josie Becker on Jun 21, 2025 3:44 PM PDT
in LA Galaxy Game Recaps
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PrintThe LA Galaxy were able to shoot their way to a 2-3 victory against Real Salt Lake last night. Given that he had a brace and an assist, it should be no surprise that Landon Donovan was the game's biggest star. His Match Impact Rating was a 113.5, as you would expect for someone involved in all three goals. The first goal, which came just before the half hour mark, involved Donovan recovering a ball the Galaxy attack had lost after a poor defensive pass, and then knocking it past Nick Rimando with his left foot.
The second goal involved Donovan again collecting a loose ball, and then playing it forward for Mike Magee to smash in. The third goal came as Magee chipped the ball forward to a streaking Donovan who took on Rimando, dribbling past him a chipping in a right footed fast break effort.
Donovan and Magee were the instigators for the offense last night. Magee finished with a Match Impact Rating of 96.5. What strikes me most is that between the two of them there were 10 defensive recoveries last night. Not giving up on the ball, staying aware of where the play is, absolutely key in a match like the Galaxy played last night.
The other encouraging sign is most of this activity for Donovan and Magee happening in the middle of the pitch. After the Galaxy tried to set records for most long balls earlier in the year, it was great to see play happening through the middle on the ground. Credit for this has to go to Juninho, who's been overlooked this year as he isn't taking chances on goal as often, taking up space in the middle along with David Beckham. Between them 64 successful passes, and a ton of heat in the middle.
With the 4-5-1 churning out two positive results, hopefully Bruce Arena sticks with it. He'll have the option of going with two forwards once Robbie Keane comes back, but I don't think the Galaxy will be as successful as they've been at forcing teams out wide and having an attacking presence through the middle.
In 2010, Buddle was the target forward and he was in the best shape of his life. In 2011 the Galaxy defense made one-nil games a breeze. With multi-goal games almost a necessity for the Galaxy at this point, conservative and defensively oriented play won't produce the necessary results. The transition has to be made from grinding it out to shooting it out.
Which means someone is likely moving in the transfer window, as there may be redundancies.
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Josie
What really did it was the inspirational video from MLS Cup you posted the other day :)
by musamonster on Jun 21, 2025 9:47 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
An experiment for next year?
I agree with everything you say above, Josie. The defense is what it is, and this Galaxy team can win a bunch of games if, and only if, it finds a way to get both Donovan AND Keane scoring goals on a regular basis, with the occasional contribution from someone else. Whether this means using Keane as a sole target ahead of a five-man midfield, or having Donovan+Keane together up top, I don’t really know.
But thinking ahead to when Omar (finally!) returns, I wonder if Bruce would consider switching to a 3-man back line. This seems to be a growing trend, at least in Europe, and it takes some of the responsibility of spreading the field off the outside backs. The problem now is that without Omar, the Galaxy don’t have a dominant center back who could anchor such a formation. I love AJ, and he works very well as a complementary second center back, but he’s just not capable of running the show on his own—or even alongside the likes of Lopes et al.. I’m also not sure AJ has the skill set to be a really effective outside back moving forward in a traditional four-man back line, although I think that’s true of Dunivant and Franklin, too, at least at this stage of their careers. With a healthy and fit Omar, then, perhaps a three-man line of Todd-Omar-AJ would better suit the Galaxy’s personnel?
It would take some experimentation to find the right combination of forwards and midfielders. Who would stay back as a holding midfielder in front of Omar? Who would serve as traditional wingers? If this really is an experiment for next year, will LD even be part of the mix? And if we’re talking roster changes, then perhaps there is an outside back the Galaxy could grab; would it be too greedy to ask for Philipp Lahm? :-)
From Berkeley to L.A., my colors are Blue and Gold
by California Pete on Jun 22, 2025 8:22 AM PDT reply actions
it’s been brought up before, the possibility of the Galaxy going to a three man back line. My suggestion for holding midfielder would be AJ, he has the pure athletic skills to be inserted anywhere. The midfield is a bit up in the air. I believe Landon’s current contract is through 2013 and from what I’ve seen from him when he says he wants to finish out his contract with the Galaxy he means it. Beckham is the one we don’t know where or what fore on, as it hasn’t been made clear if he signed a two year deal or has an option year. Keane would be out of contract, that’s a known.
Which is why there’s so much pressure on this year’s version of the team. Beckham got a championship within his initial five years, but re-signing put the Galaxy in bonus round mode. They can’t start offering too many new contracts to existing players cause who knows when money will be freed up. With so many players set to have their contracts expire either at the end of 2012 or 2013, it means this has to be another winning year. Cause who knows how long it’ll take to put together another squad like the excellent one of the last three years again.
Happiness is the moment before you need more happiness. -Don Draper
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by Josie Becker on Jun 22, 2025 9:46 AM PDT up reply actions
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