Greg Vanney’s current crop of players seem primed to reach their top-form when it matters most. The LA Galaxy are in an inspired run of form which has them at the top of both the Western Conference and their Leagues Cup group.
With eight more regular season games until the playoffs, how can the Galaxy get that little bit better in time to claim a 6th MLS cup?
Despite it feeling utterly impossible just a few months ago, the LA Galaxy have won three matches in a row for the second time under Greg Vanney following Wednesday night’s 2-1 win over San Jose Earthquakes. It felt like a complete performance from the team, with very few good chances conceded and the only goal coming from the still re-acclimating Gaston Brugman.
Two incredible Galaxy goals at the end of either half made it easy to forget any deficiencies, but Greg Vanney will be acutely aware of a couple of areas that still need addressing if he hopes to make a statement with a successful cup run during the last year of his contract.
Timing is of the Essence
The LA Galaxy are having a great goal-scoring year, with 50 in 26 games in all competitions this year per fbref.com. They score nearly twice a game, and yet it always feels like the Galaxy could have scored more. Missed chances are an eyesore and easy to call out, but there may be something more deeply rooted limiting the team’s overall chance creation.
Watching the game with a special eye on Joseph Paintsil is like watching a track tournament. His high-speed runs are almost always incisive but are rarely met with a pass. The same can be said for Gabriel Pec, who is fortunate to enjoy some great interplay with Miki Yamane from right back, but often looks frustrated when his runs are ignored.
These missed attacking opportunities each fundamentally come from a lack of timing and coordination from the runner and the ball carrier. When both parties can anticipate each other’s intentions they are able to exploit spaces. A perfect example of this is the play that secured a perfect 4/4 record against San Jose for the LA Galaxy.
Late in the match with the score at 1-1, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil both tucked in towards the center of the pitch just in front of the box and made themselves available to connect with Riqui Puig in the center of the park. Their sustained presence in this area of the pitch forced San Jose to congest the midfield, leaving the wide areas free.
Miki Yamane and Riqui Puig both seemed to recognize the opportunity they had created and acted accordingly. Yamane raced down the pitch while Puig shaped himself up to deliver a fantastic pass in-behind. From there Yamane made the rest of the play look simple with a composed first-time pass square to Miguel Berry for his third goal in all competitions.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy only managed to pull off this sort of combination on a handful of occasions. A fantastic run from one half of the pitch to the other by Gabriel Pec to get the ball to Diego Fagundez ended up saving the victory for Galaxy as buildup wasn’t capitalized on. Either a runner was frustrated expecting a pass that never came or a ball carrier would miss the right pass in vain attempts to find a better option a consistently worrying amount of times.
With Riqui Puig so often finding himself or forcing himself as the ball carrier, the responsibility to sharpen the sense of timing lies largely on his shoulders. He has taken the quarterback role entirely on his own and as a result the Galaxy rarely threaten if he is not involved in the play.
Sometimes this works out brilliantly, like in Miguel Berry’s goal. Other times, Puig can look like a quarterback who has forgotten his playbook and relies on hail marys and making scrambling runs on his own. These breakdowns in the system aren’t entirely his fault but he is rarely uninvolved in the play and thus rarely blameless.
Puig, Paintsil, and Pec, must continue working on learning how to anticipate each other’s movements and time their runs and passes to get in behind the opposition. They’ve done so to great avail plenty of times already this season, but when there is room for improvement they are obligated to do so or risk losing out to other teams/
The LA Galaxy Create Their Own Problems
Improving the team’s coordination can help prevent many of the defensive breakdowns, the next thing Greg Vanney will want to improve before facing the league’s best. As a true possession-based team, Vanney has his players play out from the back much more often than not. Most of the time, the back four looks confident and assured in their passes and help kick off great periods of possession.
Other times, like in San Joses’s equalizer, they end up putting themselves in positions to concede. If mistakes like this can allow a team that’s having such a difficult season as San Jose can threaten to steal the game from the Galaxy in group play, they must be sure to eliminate them before the stakes get higher against more threatening teams.
The Time to Improve is Ticking
Greg Vanney has certainly identified far more things he’d like to work on and there is little doubt that the team is clear on what they have to do. This is definitely a good thing as the last days to act and make improvements are fast approaching. On Sunday, the Galaxy play their last group stage match in Leagues Cup against Chivas Guadalajara before kicking off their last eight games of the MLS season on Wednesday against Atlanta United.
Fans might hope to be stronger for the post-season with the expected integration of Marco Reus, but they may want to temper their expectations. Despite the often slow and thorough process it takes to design and sign a contract multiple parties agree on making it feel like it’s been forever, Reus is coming off of playing the Champions League final just two months ago.
Going from a long European season straight into the peak of the MLS season is not an easy task and Reus will likely take time to build up his fitness before being ready to contribute at his best level. With the decisive end of the season coming up so soon, Reus may have limited time to add to the Galaxy’s 2024 MLS Cup run.
This means that the time for the Vanney’s team to improve is now, with their current roster. The class of 2024 has taken the Galaxy from the depths of 2023 to long-forgotten heights. They still have some way to go before being at their very best, but the LA Galaxy are threatening to become genuine contenders in no time at all if they can just improve on the finer details.
PHOTO: LA GALAXY
The post How the LA Galaxy Can Win MLS Cup 2024 appeared first on Los Angeles Sports Nation.