LA Galaxy Player Ratings vs. Austin FC

The level of coherence that the LA Galaxy attack finally had was gratifying to see in their 2-1 win over Austin FC on Wednesday. The Galaxy had control of the game, attacked in waves, and there were promising combinations all over the place: Dos Santos-Grandir, Lletget-Chicharito, and Alvarez-Araujo.

At the start of the game there was lots of attacking down the left between Grandsir and Lletget, setting up Chicharito missing two golden opportunities. Chicharito began the game snake bit, he couldn’t put the ball in the net with multiple opportunities to score, including a penalty he earned and took. He made up for it later.

I guess Lletget was offended at my rating of him last week because he started the game en fuego, and earned a Galaxy goal with an excellent run and finish. Not sure why Vanney pulled him so early.

Also on fire was Julian Araujo. In reading stats and other opinions for last week’s performance, I was mistaken about his player rating. This was building on a good week with an even better performance, not letting a single attack go down his side and serving in quite an assist.

To cap all of this off, the Galaxy also had solid passing through the midfield — the insertion of Harvey allowed dos Santos to control the midfield higher, and it paid off.

This was the best attacking soccer the Galaxy have played in years because the whole team was involved. Austin is an expansion team, sure, but they’ve started the season as no slouch, and this is three points the Galaxy should be proud of.

Player Ratings

Excellent

• Sebastian Lletget - part of a nice run to start the game in the 2nd minute. Another lovely 1-2 with Grandsir in the 7th minute should have resulted in an assist. Another assist potential in the 11th minute off a cross into the box. Great run, retained his balance and a great finish to earn his first goal of 2021. Nice movement nearly resulted in an assist to start the second half, his ball was slightly too forward. Bounced a shot off a defender in the 57th minute. He was in the right place, at the right time, all game long. Man of the Match
• Julian Araujo - nice defensive play to start the game. More good positioning throughout the first half, and a critical header in the 46th. Did well up until the 70th minute when he got lazy looking for an offside flag, and let his man get in a dangerous cross. However, served up an absolutely delicious assist for Chicharito. What a ball.
• Efrain Alvarez - nice trickery on the ball on the 19th minute, but no end result. Sent in the pass to Chicharito that earned the penalty. Lovely cross to Chicharito in the 40th minute. A lovely chip to Lletget to start the second half caused danger, as did his two subsequent throughballs to Kljestan and Dos Santos. We want more of this.

Good

• Chicharito - should have scored in the 7th minute off an Lletget assist, shot high. Had another opportunity off a Lletget cross in the 11th minute. With a lung-busting run earned a penalty kick in the 25th minute, but then missed the shot with a poor slow kick. Set up Lletget in the 33rd minute. Drool-worthy one-touch squared pass to Lletget in the 40th minute that deserved a goal. Got his own goal in the 77th with a great run off a great assist.
• Jonathan dos Santos - set up Grandsir in the 2nd minute. Lovely through ball to Grandsir in the 30th.
• Derrick Williams - nice slide tackle in the box in the 12th minute.
• Daniel Steres - great assist to a streaking Lletget. Cleared a ball destined for the net in the 70th minute.
• Samuel Grandsir - soft shot in the 2nd minute. Nice slide pass to Lletget in the 7th minute. Could have done better on a counter in the 9th. His full on-sprint to defend in the 45th minute was great to see.
• Carlos Harvey - great emergency defense in the box in the 22nd minute, stuck with his man, then slide tackled the ball out.

Okay

• Jonathan Bond - spilled a cross into a dangerous spot in the 70th minute, but luckily his defense bailed him out.
• Jorge Villafana - nothing much to report. Not a bad thing.
• Sacha Kljestan - misplayed a ball into the box after a stellar throughball from Alvarez. Set up Lletget for his deflected shot. Let Manneh waltz by to take a shot in the 65th minute.
• Kevin Cabral - first game, new league…jury is out. Thought he scored, but was offside. I was a little disappointed if I’m honest, but we shall see. Pass the ball to a wide-open Zubak, please.
• Adam Saldana - nothing of note, a good thing.
• Nick Depuy - played right back with no major errors and even made an emergency clearance.

Poor

• Nobody!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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