LA Galaxy vs. Crew Player Ratings

Following up on a lackadaisical performance against the New York Red Bulls, the Galaxy couldn’t get anything moving against the Columbus Crew, and the defense decided to jump on the plane early.

When Zlatan Ibrahimovic is standing at midfield trying to find the ball, you know you’ve got problems. Disaster struck when Jonathan Dos Santos went out with an injury; with Jonathan so critical to the Galaxy’s fortunes, his exit put the Galaxy defense in an even bigger bind. Rolf Feltscher needs to understand that incoming crosses do not have cooties. I can’t count the number of times he has stood so far off the ball he might as well be a traffic cone. And I have nothing more to say about Jorgen “ball-watching” Skjelvik. Coach’s decision to not include Traore or Araujo, and I don’t get it.

The Galaxy miss Romain Alessandrini’s creativity, and Alvarez can’t come soon enough. Also wondering when Gonzalez gets off the bench, though that’s still unfair to Daniel Steres. Player ratings for a dud of a game against Columbus (nice game, Gyasi Zardes):

You’re Welcome (aka, Excellent)

· [crickets]

Happy Lion (aka, Good)

· [crickets]

Sleeping Lion (aka, Okay)

· Zlatan Ibrahimovic – after an ineffective first half where he dropped deeper and deeper for the ball, had a header stuffed by Steffen to start the second half. Shot just wide minutes after.

· Daniel Steres – nice interception in the 16^th minute. Critically blocked a shot two minutes later. Scored a consolation goal after getting free in the box (he’s been good at this of late!). He would normally have been in the good category, but the Galaxy gave up three goals. Man of the match.

· Chris Pontius – not very active offensively, shut down by the Crew’s defense.

· Jonathan Dos Santos – when he went down injured my response was “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Columbus scored through the hole he left in the second half. Not good, and he better get well soon.

· Sebastian Lletget – had an assist on Steres’s goal. Was active, but couldn’t penetrate the Crew’s wall.

· Emil Cuello – late sub.

The Lion Roars (aka, Poor)

· Joe Corona – Was part of a midfield that Columbus waltzed through. Sorely missed Dos Santos as a partner.

· Rolf Feltscher – to blame on the first Crew goal for standing about a million miles from the ultimate cross that led to the goal.

· Diego Polenta – Not a good game for Diego after a slew of many good ones. Beat by Zardes on a great play by Gyasi in the first half (we all knew Zardes was going to score, right?). Also beat by a Zardes pass in the second half for the Crew’s second goal. His passing chart is a sea of red.

· Jorgen Skjelvik – scuffed a shot in the 14^th minute that should have been goal bound. Columbus kept abusing his side, but the worst was him literally standing around watching the goal go in for the Crew’s third. Awful.

· Servando Carrasco – out of position for Columbus’s second goal.

· Uriel Antuna – not accurate with his passing.

· David Bingham – didn’t cover himself in glory on Higuain’s goal, and was weak on the other two as well. Didn’t command his box. Two back to back poor games.

· Emmanuel Boateng – had very few touches after he came on, and not very good ones.