LA Galaxy vs. Whitecaps: Player Ratings

At the start of this game, with the Galaxy's road woes, a point would have been a decent result.  After a Vancouver red card and a Galaxy 1 man advantage for the majority of the game, the point felt like a disappointment.  Just not enough creativity and killer instinct from LA, though this definitely was a makeshift offense with all three DPs injured.  Plus, the team resorted to boot ball against a disciplined Vancouver defense too early (if you're going to do that, Alan Gordon needs to be on sooner).

That said, a few players were bright spots, and it was good to see some young players get opportunities including Bradford Jamieson IV and Ari Lassiter.  BJIV made the most of his opportunity, while Ari needs to build on his minutes.

Nigel de Jong continues to be one of the best pickups the Galaxy has ever made.  Impressive game from him.  The stinkers were to be had by Lassiter, Boateng and Rogers.  In his first MLS senior team start, Ari gets a pass.  But LA badly needs more out of it's wingers.

Do we want Dan Kennedy back?  Rowe looks to be gaining confidence with every game.

• Magee:  6.5 Lots and lots of ground covered by Mike in the interest of trying to find the ball and help the team through play making.  While his shorter passing game was solid (if somewhat uninspiring), he also resorted to the boot ball that went nowhere.  He did have three key passes on the night.
• Lassiter:  4.5 Good that the youngster got the start.  But in his 67 minutes he only had 11 touches, four of which were mishits and only one of which was a forward pass.  Lost and aimless, he needs tutelage at the Robbie Keane School of Movement.
• Lletget:  7 Sent in two wonderful balls, one great cross across the box that should have been finished by Van Damme or Lassiter, and another to Zardes for a shot that was saved by Ousted off a deflection.  On another night, that's two assists.  Was busy all night trying to play make (2 key passes), but could have been more dynamic in the build up.
• Husidic:  6 Meh.  That pretty much sums it up.
• Boateng:  3.5 Where attacks went to die.  Couldn't send in a cross from the left to save his life. Frustrating player as he gets into good positions with his speed, and then the resulting crosses bounce off him for goal kicks, balloon, or go off target.
• de Jong:  8 All over the place and was the metronome that made LA go.  His heat map in the middle is a giant blob from all of the passes he made.  Some bad boot ball misses, but made up for that with solid defensive plays (can this guy slide tackle or what?!).  He has 20 defensive actions which puts the rest of the team, including the center backs, to shame.  He passes, runs back to defend, and was also captain.  MOTM and like a one man show.
• Van Damme:  5 Quiet night with Vancouver down a man.  Deducted a point for the dumb yellow card.  He's going to be hitting yellow card accumulation in no time.
• Steres:  5.5 No major issues, tactical yellow card.
• Rogers:  5 Three key passes, which were a surprise, but his passing out of the back was downright terrible.  It's a sea of mishit passes leading to a passing accuracy percentage of 70%.  On a night where LA had a man advantage, that's not so great.
• Cole:  6.5 Much tidier with the ball than his right side counterpart.  Once again, also had some terrifically timed interceptions and recoveries.  However, his final ball wasn't good enough either.  Six balls into the box with no end result.  1 key pass.
• Rowe:  7.5 Excellent fingertip save on an absolute bullet from Thompson.  Marshaled his box well, no major defensive issues.
• Zardes:  6.5 Made a difference when he subbed on with better movement.  Great control and shot, unfortunate deflection leading to an Ousted save.
• Gordon:  not rated, late sub
• Jamieson IV: not rated, late sub (though will note that he was much better than Boateng by playing smarter with his runs, and not just running up the touchline and failing to send in a cross)