The LA Galaxy's 2-1 loss in St. Louis leaves sour taste heading into the international break
The LA Galaxy's 2-1 loss in St. Louis leaves sour taste heading into the international break
The LA Galaxy's mistakes lead to loss in St, Louis ; Joseph Paintsil under scrutiny for late yellow card
The LA Galaxy slump in St. Louis as the SoCal club suffered a 2-1 defeat in the MidWest on a hot Sunday afternoon.
With Riqui Puig out due to yellow card accumulation, Marco Reus made his first start in LA Galaxy colors on the road. LAFC’s loss the night prior gave the Galaxy the perfect opportunity to extend its lead atop the Western Conference.
The G’s had a less-than-ideal start with St. Louis City’s Cedric Teuchert finding the back of the net in the ninth minute of the match. A poor pass in the build-up from John McCarthy led to City winning possession in LA’s half and capitalizing on the opportunity.
There weren’t many chances for Greg Vanney’s team in the first half but the inclusion of striker Miguel Berry gave an immediate spark. The Spanish forward set up winger Gabriel Pec for his 11th goal of the season just a minute into the second half.
The home side would regain the lead as Marcel Hartel took advantage of LA losing the ball in its own half. The Galaxy shot themselves in the foot on both occasions and couldn’t recover from those mistakes.
“We were not at the right speed of things. We were not moving to support each other. We were casual. Our decisions were sometimes ones that put us in trouble,” said Vanney to reporters.
“We didn't really put the ball behind them at all just to turn them and see if we should shift the game out of our half of the field and ultimately, when you're not up to speed, the opposition is pressing you and is going to play pretty direct and we are making mistakes. We made enough mistakes to get ourselves down a goal,” said Vanney.
That message was then reiterated by Reus during his press conference with reporters following the loss.
“We lost, I think, too many balls in areas where we should not do many mistakes, and then we lost the control of the game because of the mistakes,” said Reus. “I think we make a stupid mistake, and then was a countercheck and then was 2-1 and was even harder to comeback.”
“Honestly it was not difficult. It's just it was on us and I think we play our game far from our best game,” said Reus when I asked him about the difficulty of this match.
“If we stick to the plan in the offense when we have the ball, then we control the game. It was too many unnecessary situations where we lost the ball and it's even harder to come back in other situations. I think that is the reason why we don't win the game or where we lost the game,” he added.
Aside from the mistakes that led to goals, Joseph Paintsil’s performance was put under a microscope following his yellow card in the second half.
Paintsil, who was told before the match that he was a yellow card away from suspension, got into an argument with the referee Joe Dickerson over a foul on City’s side of the pitch which led to the Ghanian getting booked for dissent.
This now means Paintsil will not be available for the Galaxy’s upcoming match against LAFC on Sept. 14.
When asked about Paintsil’s yellow card, a frustrated Vanney made his thoughts clear on the situation.
“It's unacceptable at this time of the year, and it's made us just a little more vulnerable as we go,” said Vanney to reporters.
“That's just stuff that just can't happen. We're too experienced. We've been around too much, too long to understand to be in those situations. So the rest of it we’ll take care of internally and have a discussion on that,” added Vanney.
Aside from the yellow card, Paintsil lost the initial ball that led to the game-wnining goal for City.
“(Paintsil) missed the pass going out, but then Joe's reaction is very stagnant. He stands in the guy who was kind of stepping to press him and keeps moving into the box and the cutback cross finds the guy that kind of ghosts in the box at the top of the -- at the penalty spot and he scores,” said Vanney
“I'm a coach who understands that mistakes happen in the game. No one is going to play the perfect game across the board. But how we react to the things that don't go well is going to be pivotal and is going to potentially determine our season.”
Paintsil is off to be with Ghana National Team for the upcoming international break. A sour taste will remain with Paintsil during his travels and the rest of the LA Galaxy during this two-week break until El Trafico.