The latest signing from Will Kuntz and the LA Galaxy opens up some all-new options for Greg Vanney to wrestle with.
What Vanney decides to do with the new tools at his disposal could define his legacy in blue, white, and gold.
Life is all about cycles. Every year we get the chance to look back at ourselves and decide what we want to do differently moving forward. For some of us, that means setting new fitness or professional goals or picking up a new hobby.
For the LA Galaxy, that clearly means to stop conceding so many dang goals.
To this end, the Galaxy signed three-time MLS All-Star and 2022 MLS Defender of the Year Jakob Glesnes and have just announced an incredibly favorable deal for the versatile and still-growing midfielder-turned-defender Justin Haak.
These players join a defensive unit that (for now) also includes left backs Julian Aude and John Nelson, center backs Emiro Garcés, Maya Yoshida, Zanka, and Chris Rindov, and right backs Miki Yamane, Mauricio Cuevas, and Harbor Miller.
With the new acquisitions the Galaxy will count on six center backs with a couple of capable options on the flanks at either side in 2026. Of these, the fanbase and manager alike have seemingly lost trust in Zanka, and while Rindov impressed in 2025, he is still considered a developing prospect.
That leaves Glesnes, Haak, Yoshida, and Garcés as trusted first-team options in the middle of defense for next year. Greg Vanney suddenly has an impressive amount of defensive depth compared to 2025 when the Galaxy really only had two strong-ish options at center back in Yoshida and Garcés.
This new depth allows Vanney to truly experiment with the defensive shape for the first time in his tenure as LA Galaxy head coach.
Vanney has developed a reputation amongst Galaxy fans for believing in the 4-3-3 formation almost to a fault. Many believe he is simply too resistant to change to play any other way. The truth is, Vanney has never really had the players to field anything but a formation with four defenders in LA.
That wasn’t the case in Toronto, where Greg Vanney made history in 2017 by coaching the first MLS team to win a domestic treble, consisting of the Supporter’s Shield (where they broke the all-time record for points in a single MLS season), the Canadian Championship (Canada’s version of the US Open Cup), and the MLS Cup.
Vanney fielded a 3-5-2 formation anchored by Chris Mavinga, Drew Moor, and Eriq Zavaleta nearly every single game that record-breaking season. Justin Morrow and Steven Beitashour were the wingbacks who added width in attack and additional stability in defense.
With his new army of defenders Greg Vanney finally has the tools to replicate the formation that gave him so much success in Toronto and ultimately earned him the LA Galaxy job.
Even though the option for something new is there now, it’s important to remember that changing formations after 5 years isn’t as easy as saying “ok, we’re going to play this way now”. It takes an outstanding amount of work to get a group of players to adopt a new identity, and that work takes time.
Unfortunately for Vanney and fans desperate for change, time is a luxury in short supply. He can’t really begin the work of teaching his charges how to play in a new system until February, when the preseason officially begins and all incoming and outgoing players have made their moves so that Vanney knows what he’s actually working with.
That leaves just a couple of weeks of preparation at most until the Galaxy face their first competitive match of 2026 in the hugely important Concacaf Champions Cup on February 19th, hardly enough time to implement a radical change in playstyle.
This leads me to believe that, much to the chagrin of his detractors, Vanney will most likely choose to start the season with the 4-3-3 that his players are accustomed to.
That’s not necessarily bad news as Riqui Puig’s return will add a much-needed boost in attack while also leaving opponents with less time to test the new-and-improved backline. Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil can also be expected to thrive once again in the Puig-led formation that brought the team so much success in 2024.
Greg Vanney can (and likely should) work on getting his team to adopt a three-back system in the background while Puig reintegrates at the start of the season. The hope is that eventually Vanney can decide to switch to a similar shape to the 3-5-2 that first brought him trophies and recognition whenever it best suits the team.
Vanney was no stranger to changing formations depending on the opponent in 2025. There were even moments where the team lined up in a 3-5-2, but struggled as the midfield was weak, exposing an already porous backline.
Vanney might be licking his lips in anticipation of eventually returning to that type of system with the proper players in 2026.
His backline is clearly much stronger with any combination of Glesnes, Haak, and Yoshida complemented by Garcés using his blistering pace to make recovery runs should the team get caught in transition.
In front of them Puig will take the reigns in dictating play and will have safe options to pass to in the midfield with Edwin Cerillo, Marco Reus, Elijah Wynder, and Haak, out wide with Julian Aude, John Nelson, and Mauricio Cuevas as the wingbacks, and up front with Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil. This will allow the Galaxy to dominate possession and flex their attacking muscle, possibly even more than they did in 2024.
Once the players get comfortable in this system it will unlock a scary amount of unpredictability.
Even during the peak of the 2024 season it was common for opponents to neutralize the Galaxy’s threat as they knew exactly what the gameplan was. Adding a 3-5-2 into the arsenal will allow Vanney to make changes mid-game or line up in unexpected ways from the first whistle, giving opposing coaches a massive headache when they try to prepare their teams to defend against the 2026 Galaxy.
The sooner Vanney can get his team to learn a 3-5-2 or any of the other systems he now has the option to experiment with, the sooner the Galaxy will return to being a fixture opposing fans dread.
Vanney may yet choose to not implement any variety in tactics and stick with the system that worked for him in 2024, but that would bring in even more doubt from fans who already questioned his renewal in the middle of a historically bad season last year.
This outsider believes that added tactical flexibility will unlock an even higher level than the team showed in 2024. If Greg Vanney achieves this and succeeds, even his detractors will applaud his ability to get the team to successfully adapt to both of his favorite systems. If he doesn’t and fails again, Will Kuntz will be forced to question if Vanney is the right man to make the most of the continuously improving squad.
A new cycle is about to begin for the LA Galaxy and it’s up to Greg Vanney and the players to prove that they can reinvent themselves and achieve their best version in 2026.
PHOTO: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images, Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images, Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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