LA Galaxy vs. Dynamo: Player Ratings

OMG.  A road win!  The first one in AGES.  Celebrate good times y'all!

But more exciting than that is that Giovani Dos Santos finally contributed.  Yes, they were poacher's goals, but who cares?  Here's to hoping this Gio shows up on a weekly basis rather than the invisible one that over dribbles, kills momentum and loses the ball.  Tonight showed what a simple passing game can do for Dos Santos.

Beyond that, Steven Gerrard was allowed to run rampant, and Lletget continues to be bright.  LA could have had more goals if a couple of finishes were better (looking at you, Magic Mike), but a win is a win, and LA responded well after giving up a bad goal in the first two minutes of the game.

Player Ratings:

• Rowe - 7 Dan Kennedy who?  Manned his box competently and looks to be settling in for the long haul.
• Cole - 7.5 Has been one of the most consistent players on the Galaxy.  Another professional outing.  He just doesn't look bothered by anything out on the left flank and had another good defensive night.  Should have done better with an excellent Gerrard pass in the attacking end, but hey, can't win 'em all.
• Steres - 5 Worst player on the pitch for the Galaxy tonight.  Yes, LA won.  But Daniel was at sea on the Dynamo goal, completely losing his mark, and could have seen red at the end of the game on a dumb foul that was likely DOGSO.  LA was winning 4-1, what the heck are you doing earning yourself a potential red card?  Did serve up the great ball to Magee that should have resulted in an assist.
• Van Damme - 7 Decent, solid game.  Didn't think it was a PK on Torres.
• DeLaGarza - 7.5 Sixteen defensive actions and a shot on goal!  No one really got by him.
• Husidic - 7 Right place, right time for the goal.  Mostly let Gerrard do his thing, seemed to have a decent understanding with him, and played simple like usual.  Did have five tackles lost, which is a large number for him and was also culpable on the Dynamo goal ending up in no man's land with Steres.
• Gerrard - 8 One of his best games in a Galaxy shirt.  21 (!) defensive actions, and his passing map is all over the place.  Yes, he does have some misses, but he also served up some beautiful balls into the box.  Three key passes, one of which was the lovely assist to Dos Santos.
• Lletget - 7.5 Another assist for Sebastian on a lovely ball to Zardes, and was a creative threat all night.  Thank goodness we have him creating chances.  Looks like he's most comfortable on the wing.  His movement helped lead to the first LA goal when Houston defenders couldn't clear a boot ball up to him.
• Magee - 6.5 One key pass off a corner, but really wasn't that much of a threat.  Missed a chance he normally puts away.  Has had some finishing troubles over the last two weeks, hopefully he's working on that in practice.
• Dos Santos - 8.5 A brace and an assist.  Clearly by FAR the best game he's ever had in LA.  Looked like a weight had been removed from his shoulders.  Good players make teams pay for mistakes, and he did that tonight.  His finishes were great, and his touch was solid.  However, one note:  if he's going to play midfield he needs more touches.  He had 7 TOTAL touches in the first half (the half that mattered) - 4 successful.  If he's going to be a #10 for LA, he needs to create more often. Tonight it worked because Gerrard and Lletget were pulling that weight.  But the Galaxy need him to operate creatively as a #10 on an ongoing basis.
• Zardes -  7 One key pass and a goal.  But his passing game is a sea of red on the chalkboard. He needs to work on his accuracy, his passing game is hit or miss this year.
• Boateng - not rated Game was over at this point.
• Romney - not rated Game was over at this point.