Montreal Impact continue winless start to the season as they lose 2-0 at LA Galaxy
By Rohit Menon
Montreal Impact continues to struggle in the MLS after picking up a 2-0 loss at LA Galaxy in week 6. Here are the three takeaways from that game.
LA Galaxy condemned the Montreal Impact to a 2-0 defeat at the StubHub Center as the Canadian side’s struggles in the MLS drags on. The Bleu-Blanc-Noir’s third defeat of the 2017 season came courtesy of goals in either half from Romain Alessandrini and Jermaine Jones.
Mauro Biello setup his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation for this game and made two changes to the side that drew Chicago Fire the week before. Ambroise Oyongo made his way back to the starting line-up at the expense of Daniel Lovitz while Laurent Ciman also got a start after recovering from an injury he picked up during the international break.
1. Donadel’s sending-off ended the game as a contest
Montreal Impact midfielder Marco Donadel was shown a controversial red card in the 44th minute for a fairly innocuous challenge on Jermaine Jones. While the former seemed to have initiated some kind of contact during an aerial duel, the latter made a meal of it to convince the referee into making a somewhat dubious decision.
Already a goal down and without a defensive midfielder to shield the back four for the second half of the game, the visitors were unable mount any sort of a comeback to help kick-start their flailing season.
This recent sending off increases the Impact’s red card tally to three players, making them the worst behaved team in the MLS so far (Chicago Fire is second with two red cards).
2. Impact concede the first goal yet again
Montreal Impact’s defense was static and pretty disorganized from the get-go, which meant that they would concede the opening goal for the fourth time in five matches.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush had enough time to take care of Alessandrini’s 15th-minute shot but failed to do so as he barely got a dive across to keep the ball from bulging the net. It wasn’t completely his fault either; the back four failed to put pressure on Emmanuel Boateng, who was allowed to drift in and pick out the Frenchman with a simple pass.
While Impact’s goal difference of -3 (five scored, eight conceded) isn’t the worst in the league, they need to stop being so fragile to finally start winning games.
3. No wins in their last seven regular season games
The last time Montreal Impact won a regular season game in the MLS was in a 1-0 win away at Orlando City SC on October 2, 2016. Since then, the Bleu-Blanc-Noir have registered four draws and three losses, which makes for a pretty miserable reading.
The lack of any quality additions to the squad before the start of the season has definitely hurt the team, as they continue to disappoint despite finishing last season’s MLS Cup playoffs as the Eastern Conference finalists.
Next: 3 Takeaways from Seattle Sounders 1-1 draw at San Jose
The biggest priority for Mauro Biello in the games to come will be to instill a winning mentality in his players. Otherwise, it could be the beginning of a long and embarrassing season for the Impact.