LAFC - Postmatch

[hatt91]

Mata was the worst player on the field today, followed by Sweat. Not good when your worst two players play the same position. As I said in the shoutbox, Mata was sucking as left back so Sweat was brought in. Then Mata sucked in the midfield which is why Medina was brought in. So many giveaways from both of them.

Sands is a beast. He’s more gutsy then he appears. I’m becoming more comfortable with a Ring as an eight since Sands has the six locked down. I think Ring is enjoying it also.

Maxi looks frustrated and confused because I think he’s not been given a consistent role. He needs to be able to receive the ball on the ground and survey the field in front of him. When he’s played on the wing he’s so far up the field the service comes through the air which he can’t win. And when he does get control of the ball, he’s on a wing. That completely limits his options.

Medina is useless. He’s had two coaches and hasn’t impressed either one. He doesn’t seem to put in much of an effort when he does play. I don’t know what else we can do for the guy.

Taty played better today especially in the first half. It looked like he was fighting for a spot. He was being aggressive and making runs and playing defense. Second-half he kind of disappeared and was a little more absent.

Mitrita is the real deal. Obviously we all saw he’s very quick, very aggressive, kept the ball at his feet. But holy crap does he just try and dribble through people. I suppose he doesn’t have many other options. He’s probably been told just to shoot and score goals. Getting someone else with quality finishing will alleviate his selfishness somewhat.

 

[canchon]

Imagine if this team had Falcao as a DP up top instead of Medina’s waste of space.

Then you put Maxi underneath him, have Jimmy play the 6 and Ring roam box to box. Mitrita on one side and Lewis/Isi (if Isi stops being a head case) on either side. Boom.

 

[canchon]

A couple of things about the left back position:

1. Matarrita is for lack of a better description, all sizzle and no steak. He’s defined by making two great technical moves and then passing the ball to the other team.

2. Sweat, c’mon son. He literally cost the team 3 points and continually is a black hole. When he gets forward, just wait for the play to break down. Remember him literally turning the ball over in stoppage time at the top of his 18? Facepalm. That penalty was ridiculous too.

 

[Ulrich]

You literally can’t play worse than he does. He made so many stupid plays, poor toouches, insane challenges, and zero contribution touches that we’d need a bigger server to list them.

Actually Mata played so badly they brought Sweat in to replace him, but don’t let that get in the way of your narrative.

 

[Ulrich]

A couple of things about the left back position:

1. Matarrita is for lack of a better description, all sizzle and no steak. He’s defined by making two great technical moves and then passing the ball to the other team.

2. Sweat, c’mon son. He literally cost the team 3 points and continually is a black hole. When he gets forward, just wait for the play to break down. Remember him literally turning the ball over in stoppage time at the top of his 18? Facepalm. That penalty was ridiculous too.

Point of information.... he created the 2nd goal, so while he gave up a PK, it was a push with his assist. He didn’t cost the team 2 points.

 

[canchon]

Point of information.... he created the 2nd goal, so while he gave up a PK, it was a push with his assist. He didn’t cost the team 2 points.

So this is what annoys me about Sweat supporters. A few times he makes a good offensive play which may result in an assist, but he is a complete calamity in the back. I’m sorry, but the number of brain farts he has cannot be overcome with any smart plays on the front end. He did cost the team 2 points - it was in the last 20 minutes and changed the course of the game.

LAFC smashed and grabbed this one - a goal on a counter and a PK. Did their left back cause a penalty? Did he pass the ball to the other team? A good team wins games that they are leading with 20 minutes to go. Timing of your “oops” matters. Chanot should be getting roasted too as he had several huge defensive mistakes. That ball where Chanot coughed it up for Diamande to shoot wide in the dying minutes is also unacceptable.

 

[Ulrich]

So this is what annoys me about Sweat supporters. A few times he makes a good offensive play which may result in an assist, but he is a complete calamity in the back. I’m sorry, but the number of brain farts he has cannot be overcome with any smart plays on the front end. He did cost the team 2 points - it was in the last 20 minutes and changed the course of the game.

LAFC smashed and grabbed this one - a goal on a counter and a PK. Did their left back cause a penalty? Did he pass the ball to the other team? A good team wins games that they are leading with 20 minutes to go. Timing of your “oops” matters. Chanot should be getting roasted too as he had several huge defensive mistakes. That ball where Chanot coughed it up for Diamande to shoot wide in the dying minutes is also unacceptable.

It’s not me being a sweat supporter when I responded to you - it’s just math. Without sweats assist, our team has one goal. Without the PK he gave up, LA has one goal. That’s a push. You can’t crucify him on only the bad. And if he wasn’t in, you’d have Mata not even playing defense so who knows how many through balls Vela gets to latch on to.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

Actually Mata played so badly they brought Sweat in to replace him, but don’t let that get in the way of your narrative.

Mata made us so much better going forward because he moves the ball and can beat a man.

I don’t think he’s the best player ever. But he doesn’t do nearly the amount of dumb shit. That’s my only narrative: Sweat is far and away the worst player on the team.

 

[Ulrich]

Mata made us so much better going forward because he moves the ball and can beat a man.

I don’t think he’s the best player ever. But he doesn’t do nearly the amount of dumb shit. That’s my only narrative: Sweat is far and away the worst player on the team.

You must’ve been in the bathroom the entire time Mata was playing LB and leaving his zone open for Vela to exploit. He was utter crap, hence why he was moved out of LB. and he was crap in the Midfield, hence why Medina subbed in for him. Mata is a liability wherever he plays because he’s shitty at defending.

 

[LIexpat]

I feel like sweat needs to play left mid on an old fashioned 4-4-2 where he can make the attacking runs and cross but he isn’t the last man on the left to beat and there is someone there to cover when he loses it

And to be honest probably the same for Mata

 

[Midas Mulligan]

You must’ve been in the bathroom the entire time Mata was playing LB and leaving his zone open for Vela to exploit. He was utter crap, hence why he was moved out of LB. and he was crap in the Midfield, hence why Medina subbed in for him. Mata is a liability wherever he plays because he’s shitty at defending.

So Dome knows what he’s doing now? Cool. Was def in the bathroom for that revelation.

 

[hatt91]

You must’ve been in the bathroom the entire time Mata was playing LB and leaving his zone open for Vela to exploit. He was utter crap, hence why he was moved out of LB. and he was crap in the Midfield, hence why Medina subbed in for him. Mata is a liability wherever he plays because he’s shitty at defending.

Mata has zero positional discipline. Zero. It has not improved in all the time we’ve had him. It’s entirely mental. He has tremendous physical potential. But he can’t stay focused and make good decisions.

 

[canchon]

I feel like sweat needs to play left mid on an old fashioned 4-4-2 where he can make the attacking runs and cross but he isn’t the last man on the left to beat and there is someone there to cover when he loses it

And to be honest probably the same for Mata

There are two holes on this team. Striker and a LB who can defend. Put Kemar Lawrence or Harrison Afful at LB and this team is so much better.

 

[Davo15]

If we can can get some help up top for Mitrita, Move Maxi into his natural position and sort out the defense (Which should be a strength with Callens/Chanot) we'll be OK but we really need to sign a real forward ASAP ...

 

[Kjbert]

Could have had Afful and we didn’t pull the trigger.

Sands is getting noticeably better every game. I wasn’t sure after Week 1 but he’s a revelation. He’s going to be something when he grows into his body.

Makes me think his final position actually is CB.

 

[Revfugee]

I thought aside from his mistake Chanot was a beast, breaking up a ton of chances. Callens also a rock...

Chanot IS a beast. And we leave him exposed far too often. But he also shanked a clearance at the end that almost lost the match.

I try to hold our players equally accountable. I imagine the team does too.

 

[engine46]

Only two thoughts at this moment.

I somehow threw out my entire back after eating in Legends. No idea how it happened. My entire back was spasming and in pain throughout the entire match. I can't even remotely twist. Had to go to the first aid station it was so bad. Still bad even getting home

Hope you feel better.

 

[LionNYC]

Hope you feel better.

Thank you! I was going to ask the team doctor for something during the game but he wasn't on the bench (or at least not the one I know)

 

[ManhattanValley]

Everyone predicted we would get battered, but we were actually pretty good value throughout. Have a feeling we're going to see Mitrita score a lot of those kind of goals in the future. The sky's the limit for James Sands.

Add an Ola Kamara-level striker to this team and we can be really dangerous. Looking forward to seeing how this squad fares against a non-contender.

Great turnout from the LAFC fans today.

 

[Christopher Jee]

Mata has zero positional discipline. Zero. It has not improved in all the time we’ve had him. It’s entirely mental. He has tremendous physical potential. But he can’t stay focused and make good decisions.

Thing is, I think it worked with Ofori, who while seeming completely static, did a good job of filling the lanes that Mata was leaving open.

In the second half, when Ofori went off, we lost midfield completely due to Mata's inability to just sit in space. That forced Ring to come back, which disconnected the midfield and forward lines.