LA Galaxy Player Ratings vs. LAFC

A tale of two halves, the LA Galaxy had much better pressure in this game against LAFC than their previous game against Portland, and it paid dividends with two goals. Sebastian Lletget in particular had great movement and started bright. Julian Araujo also gave LAFC some fits.

But Bob Bradley must have delivered a great hair dryer treatment at the half, because LAFC came out with guns blazing and steamrolled the Galaxy through the play of Diego Rossi. The LA Galaxy did their part with the defense (and goalkeeping this time around) continuing to let the team down.

What didn’t the defense do? They earned dumb yellows, Gonzalez should be benched, Steres paid for bad clearances, Perry Kitchen was AWOL, and Feltscher and Insua were caught upfield (per usual). The midfield, not to be absolved, was killed on bad turnovers leading to counters. Coach Schelotto contributed to all of this by not making a single sub until past the 70th minute, and only one sub until the 85th. What the *bleep*, man?

Schelotto’s seat should be hot. He has no answers, and the team looks overwhelmed, clueless, and at sea. Plus he continues to send players out that should be riding pine (see: Gonzalez, Kitchen).

The Galaxy are likely done in the MLS Is Back tournament barring a miracle. While that is sad from a win/loss perspective, it’s mostly sad because it prevents fans from seeing how this pans out over more games.

Sadly, it’s not looking positive or on any uphill trajectory.

Finally - if there is one person still out there who doubts Jonathan Dos Santos’s value to this team? Just watch this game on loop. You’re welcome. It was so bad that I introduced a new header below. When you lose this bad to your rival, everyone should be embarrassed.

I miss Bruce Arena.

Player Ratings

Good

• When a game is this bad, no one is in this category.

Okay

• Cristian Pavon - had the cojones to take a second try at a penalty after whiffing the first one. Aptly took the second to put the Galaxy in the lead. Looked to have scored LA’s third goal off a sloppy LAFC turnover, but was offside. Along with Lletget, was LA’s only prayer of scoring. That said, generally off-target in the box.
• Sebastian Lletget - Great one-two to start the game with Pavon resulted in a blocked shot. A few minutes later took the shot into the box resulting in LAFC’s own goal. Very bright first half that showed why he’s a USMNT call-up. Faded in the second half, and was far less accurate.
• Joe Corona - earned a penalty in the 28th minute. Higher work rate than Kjlestan helped the Galaxy maintain possession. Two key passes, and the one bastion of sanity in the center that covered a ton of ground but couldn’t do it all.
• Gordon Wild - late sub after the game was already over.
• Sacha Kljestan - late sub.
• Efrain Alvarez - late sub.

Poor

• David Bingham - nice save in the 9th minute. Lucky on an extremely bad clearance in the second half. Miserable goalkeeping on LAFC’s fourth and sixth goals. Hung out to dry by his defense, but he contributed.
• Emil Cuello - didn’t do much until he laid off the ball for Joe Corona who earned the Galaxy a penalty. Beautiful cross into the box in the 34th minute. Earned a dumb yellow card for a shove in the first half. Bad turnover to start the second half. Subbed far too late in the second half as he got tired. Two key passes, but I’m still not impressed.
• Julian Araujo - involved in bright play with Lletget for LA’s first goal. Killed a promising counter in the 10th minute instead of going alone towards goal. Shot on goal with a header in the 16th minute. Bad ball watching in the 79th minute. Lots of positive energy, but a little headless chicken in the second half.
• Rolf Feltscher - earned a yellow for a stamp in the first half. Not accurate in the box. Played better than his counterpart on the left, but that’s not saying much.
• Daniel Steres - failed clearance on LAFC’s second goal. Beat by LAFC’s sixth goal. Nine defensive actions (wince).

Catastrophic

• Giancarlo Gonzalez - Beat by multiple LAFC players like a drum, as evidenced on LAFC’s third, fourth and fifth goal. Had nine successful passes…TOTAL. TOTAL! Should be benched. Combined with Kitchen, the Galaxy are a sieve in the middle of the park.
• Perry Kitchen - gave up a dumb penalty by literally falling on Bradley Wright-Phillips. Brutal in protecting possession in the second half, and it showed in the scoreline. At this point, I question Schelotto’s judgment on playing him. He leaves the LA Galaxy down a man.
• Emiliano Insua - right after Kitchen gave up the dumb penalty, Insua earned a yellow card in only the 16th minute. Caught upfield repeatedly and was a turnover machine - his passing map is an absolute sea of red.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.