The key word this week for the Galaxy has been patience.
Not because of last week’s 2-1 loss to LAFC, the first of season, which goalkeeper John McCarthy perfectly summed up saying, “I think we had to lose at some point.”
The patience that Galaxy coach Greg Vanney is looking for could go a long way in determining how the remainder of the season unfolds.
The Galaxy will be on the road Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps, who reside atop the Western Conference.
“By giving up a goal in the first three or four minutes, we give them the green light to sit back in a very low block and protect something and counter against us,” Vanney said. “If we can be a little bit more patient, draw teams out if they sit back and then work through the spaces that they open up when they step out.
“We have to learn to be a little more patient and then manipulate the space and the time and those things that we want to get to maybe a little better. We were rushing it at times in that game, but I think we also have to do a better job at defending set pieces.”
A bit of that falls on midfielder Riqui Puig, who engineers the attack. Despite losing, the Galaxy (3-1-3, 12 points) dominated possession, but managed only one goal
“He’s dropping down a lot picking up the ball and he picks up the ball, he’s looking to try to get our attack started, which sometimes means trying to play through the lines or trying to push the ball through spaces that has led to transitions that come right back at us,” Vanney said. “I think we have to be very wary of trying to play balls through the middle of the field. That’s what everybody is looking for. Those are sure-fire transition balls if you’re going to force things through the middle.
“He needs to be more patient, connect with everybody, needs to sometimes bring the wide guys into the game and sometimes just stay high (up the field) and be patient and let us get the ball to him.”
Defending set pieces,…
Read the full article here
