The LA Galaxy are stuck at the bottom of the Western Conference, eliminated from international competition, and off to the worst start of any season in their history. Injuries and transfers have changed the personnel, but something much deeper has impacted the side that lifted the Philip F. Anschutz trophy just 5 months ago in all areas of the pitch.
The goalkeeping situation at the LA Galaxy has been unfortunate to say the least. Both John McCarthy and Novak Micovic have made a couple of mistakes that have directly lead to goals and dropped points each.
A series of mistakes against San Diego FC and St. Louis City SC saw Micovic quickly lose the starting spot he finally earned after spending the last two years as the Galaxy’s understudy.
John McCarthy hasn’t been perfect either. After dropping what looked to be a routine catch in Minnesota he had another howler at home to gift Orlando City SC a late win.
Greg Vanney has decided to stick McCarthy as his starter for now, giving the two-time MLS Cup champion the nod in both league and cup competition. He’s avoided mistakes in his last two appearances but still gave up four goals in that span. Fortunately for him, they were mostly due to breakdowns further up the pitch.
The backline has remained largely unchanged through the trials and tribulations of the off season. Veteran defender Zanka has joined the fold, bringing some mixed performances. While he’s stepped up as a leader within the team during Maya Yoshida’s first long-term injury as a Galaxy player, Zanka is still struggling for consistency.
He didn’t cover himself in glory when he failed to challenge Brian White as he scored the winner in Vancouver and made a mistake which led to a Real Salt Lake’s second goal during the most recent league fixture.
The midfield has seen the most change since the Galaxy lifted the cup in December.
Mark Delgado and Gaston Brugman were both obligated to leave as the “reward bonus” for winning the title squeezed their growing salaries beyond the Galaxy’s cap space. Although Riqui Puig will remain a G until 2027, he’ll continue to be out for most of the season with an ACL injury.
Delgado and Brugman are veterans with title-winning and top-league experience. Together they helped foster the growth of Edwin Cerillo, who excelled in a support role alongside them and Puig. Cerillo has been tasked with being the leading presence in the Galaxy’s midfield without their influence.
Being a leader on the pitch requires experience with overcoming challenging situations and the personality to inspire others to do so, a quality that Cerillo is still developing at this stage in his young career.
The front line got more experienced with 34-year-old Christian Ramirez coming in to replace Dejan Joveljic. As the team’s top-scorer, Ramirez’s experience has paid off in goals, but the issue up front isn’t experience, it’s systematic.
Christian Ramirez has done a solid job of learning how to play in Greg Vanney’s system, making impressive contributions on the defensive side of the game. Even with his continual improvement, it will take much longer for Ramirez to reach the level Joveljic was at during his 29 goal-contribution 2024 season after four years growing into a Greg Vanney striker. Ramirez might be able to mold himself to suit the Galaxy’s systems sooner than Joveljic did thanks to his experience, but other players in the attacking unit are still struggling.
Joseph Paintsil has spent nearly all of the 2025 season thus far on the sideline after suffering a thigh injury during a closed-door pre season before the Coachella Valley Invitational. Since appearing for the first time in the 2-1 loss to Orlando City SC, Paintsil has played 222 minutes in four appearances, including his first goal during the 3-2 Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal loss to Tigres.
Although he doesn’t look bad for a player just returning from injury, Paintsil is still finding his feet and place in the team. His injury robbed him of a preseason, meaning he’s playing catch-up in competitive matches.
Gabriel Pec is fully up to speed but hasn’t been showing the best version of himself so far on the other side of the pitch. He has two goals in 10 appearances in 2025, an underwhelming start for 2024’s MLS newcomer of the year. He struggled earlier in the season as defenses double and triple-teamed him out of games and the frustration seems to still be frustrating his play.
Gabriel Pec has been looked to as the Galaxy’s most important attacker after losing Dejan Joveljic to the salary cap and Riqui Puig to an ACL injury, but he just hasn’t been the incisive, multidimensional threat he was in 2024. With no one to find him in dangerous places, Pec has had to create his own threat, something he’s struggled to do on a consistent basis with so much of the defensive emphasis for opponents on him.
With Pec and Paintsil both struggling to find their 2024 form and Christian Ramirez still working towards integrating himself, the LA Galaxy’s attacking system is simply not working.
They’ve scored just five goals in seven league games and 10 in 11 in all competitions, including the four scored at home against C.S. Herediano. This is a wild deviation from the norm for a team who won a championship by serially outscoring their opponents.
Some supporters may have predicted a difficult season with Riqui Puig’s long-term injury, but the current crisis extends far beyond the impact of one missing superstar. The Galaxy seem to be suffering from a mental block in all areas of the pitch.
Whether it’s defenders or goalkeepers giving up goals, young midfielders struggling to match the quality of their mentors, or forwards not quite adjusted to a system, there seems to be a lack of belief permeating the team. The performances haven’t been bad for the most part, but they need to prove to themselves that they are capable of seeing results through.
Fans saved the LA Galaxy in 2023, helping guide the team to a title in ‘24. Now, it’s up to the LA Galaxy to find a way to save themselves.
PHOTO: Andre Bannis Photography//LAXSportsNation
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