The title says it all. The LA Galaxy continue to struggle offensively, concede bad goals, and drop points in games they should be winning.
The players are embarrassed, and the manager has tried just about everything. The only thing left to do is to keep pushing.
It’s only May, and it’s already a near certainty that the 2024 MLS champs won’t make the playoffs in 2025.
The latest nail in the coffin came on May 28th when Bruce Arena and the San Jose Earthquakes returned to town and handed the LA Galaxy their twelfth loss of the season. The game-winner, assisted by Galaxy Academy product Preston Judd, officially made Greg Vanney’s team tie the longest ever single-season winless streak in MLS history at 16 games.
Vanney’s press conference after the game reflected the confusion many supporters are feeling at the team’s inability to earn a result. He liked a lot of what he saw from his players, but admitted that the failure to execute and convert is what ultimately ended up killing them.
What confused Vanney the most was:
“Just the sheer amount of positive-looking attacks where we have the right guys on the right ball moving in the right direction, that we just don’t get anything out of any of those.”
His team posted a higher xG than their opponents for only the fourth time this season, including the stunning game in which they lost to Sporting Kansas City with an expected goals of 0.00, suggesting they did a lot of things right in terms of controlling San Jose and creating their own threat. Unfortunately, that flattering stat didn’t reflect on the scoresheet.
The team’s available designated players have to be looked at when it comes to the team’s inability to take advantage of the situations they all work so hard to create.
It’s fair to consider how injuries have plagued both Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec’s season, but it is also fair to acknowledge that they have a mere two goal contributions between the both of them in 16 league games.
Pec and Paintsil cost the LA Galaxy around $19 million in transfer fees alone in 2024. The investment paid off handsomely with each of them having brilliant seasons, making a combined 45 goal contributions, and being key parts of a cup-winning side.
That return on investment is nowhere to be seen in 2025. The stats show that the LA Galaxy are essentially going through the season without the help of any of their three designated players.
With Riqui Puig injured and Pec and Paintsil failing to contribute, the burden to score is starting to fall on other players.
Maya Yoshida made himself into a makeshift striker in the game’s final minutes as his side was trying to claw its way to another point. His header in the 95th minute was by far the closest the Galaxy got to scoring in the second half. Attempts from Pec earlier in the half all lacked a fraction of the conviction of Yoshida’s header.
Even 21-year-old loanee Matheus Nascimento seemed more determined as he showed the courage and confidence to create his own shots on multiple occasions, even scoring from a just offside position in the first half of his very first MLS start.
Vanney will want more players, especially his big-money DPs, to follow in Nascimento’s footsteps and showcase their ability to test the keeper and create their own luck.
The Galaxy Must Also Do Better on the Defensive Side of the Ball
All three of the team’s center backs bear the blame for multiple goals this year. Emiro Garces’s howler against San Diego is glaring. Zanka’s experience suggests that he may have been more aware of the danger and reacted better to intercept Preston Judd’s pass, preventing San Jose from taking the lead. Maya Yoshida has been criticised this season more than ever for getting beaten in the air.
While the Galaxy’s attackers are starting to show signs of being threatening, they lack the decisiveness or decision-making to actually change the scoreline; the foundation behind them has failed to keep a single clean sheet. In fact, Wednesday night’s game was just the fifth time all season that the Galaxy conceded just one goal in 90 minutes.
Two wrongs don’t make a right in football, and the LA Galaxy have stacked 16 wrongs in 16 games this year.
A first win doesn’t feel miles off, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to imagine when it’ll finally arrive.
PHOTO: Andre Bannis/LAXSportsNation
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