LA Galaxy: The something missing from MLS Cup contention

The LA Galaxy are a talented team who will contend for the MLS Cup. But there is something missing for them to be considered true favourites.

The Los Angeles Galaxy are fighting for a playoff spot in the standings. But their play on the field right now shows they might not be ready to contend for the MLS Cup.

Though many Galaxy fans believe their team has a chance at the Cup, I believe there is no chance the current squad can win games playing how they are now. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is playing well. Cristian Pavón has been a great addition. Jonathan Dos Santos is a consistent midfield presence too. But there is just something missing with the team competing at the sharp end.

Let’s start with the defense. The defenders aren’t bad. Jorgen Skjevik, Dave Romney, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Daniel Steres, Diego Polenta, and Rolf Feltscher in any combination is not a terrible unit. But they don’t seem to play well together. They get tired and start to make little mistakes. And these mistakes are being made time and time again. In moments, defenders get beat on a one-on-one and goalkeeper David Bingham has to work his magic. The defense have been caught ball-watching and allowed strikers to enjoy too much space in the penalty area.

Take the weekend’s defeat to the Seattle Sounders. The Galaxy gave up three open goals, two on crosses into the box and a one-on-one with Bingham, and another goal in the middle of the box in complete traffic. David Bingham is the league leader in saves with 118 and has faced 162 shots. The defense is making him work too hard. Assuming they earn a playoff spot, they cannot win any playoff games if these problems continue.

At the other end, the attack is not the same problem that the backline has been, but it is not the consistent force that it needs to be. In some games, they struggle to get anything going; in others, they are firing on all cylinders. And then, amidst all of this turbulence and uncertainty, there is the Zlatan Ibrahimovic problem.

Zlatan is an amazing player, but he also has a bit of a problem with his ego. He joined the LA Galaxy knowing he was the best person on the team, and that is troubling. If the attack is not running through him, he becomes lazy.

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And yet, when the attack is not running through him, LA struggle to create. Zlatan is undeniably a goal-scoring machine. At present, he is tied for second with Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez with 23 goals. And he has played almost 200 fewer minutes. He has scored a brace in three of the Galaxy’s last four regular-season games and scored 11 goals in his last 10 games. Before this weekend’s 4-3 loss to the Sounders, the LA Galaxy had not lost a game that Zlatan had scored in.

He also demands attention from the opposition defense, which creates space for those around him. Cristian Pavón scored his first goal as a member of the Galaxy, and that’s great, but he isn’t a consistent goalscorer and he required the presence of Zlatan to play off. But this overreliance on one player is not helpful. It makes LA predictable, which is what makes them so inconsistent. Teams know what they will do. So if they can stop it, the Galaxy attack cannot get going; if they can’t, the Galaxy begin to fire.

All in all, then, LA have the talent to compete for an MLS Cup. But there is just something missing at either end. And at the sharp end of MLS, the margins make all the difference.