Three Burning Questions: 2024 LA Galaxy
Opening kickoff is tomorrow and I just cracked open a Celsius. Let’s talk Blue White and Gold ahead of LA’s home opener vs. Messi and Inter Miami on Sunday. (6 pm, Apple Season Pass)
Riqui advances the ball up the pitch (LA Galaxy)
Who starts at goalkeeper?
From the opening presser of the 2024 MLS preseason, Vanney made it clear the starting job was potentially up for grabs between Jonathan Bond, free agent signing John McCarthy and young Novak Micovic.
“I think everybody’s competing right now for their spot, and it’s to show who’s the guy that’s ready and can help the team,” the LA Galaxy manager explained at the time. “There’s some that Bondy probably could have saved, we can all say that, and there’s some that Novak [Micovic] probably could have saved.”
How has the trio responded? Despite spending seven figures to lure Micovic from the same Serbian club who developed Revs and currrent Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic, the 22-year old is still a work-in-progress and too inconsistent to challenge for the starting spot.
The stats and eye test told us Jonathan Bond was mediocre in goal last season, and the Englishman hasn’t done much in the past six weeks to change that perception. If anything Bond has been indecisive on multiple occasions, giving up the opener vs. St. Louis City SC when he failed to challenge a half-volley at the near post while a soft pass to a teammate inside the area cascaded into Austin FC’s second goal of the day.
John McCarthy is perceived as a borderline starter in this league, but the former LAFC and Philly Union keeper has come into the group and demonstrated strong communication with the back line, a willingness to command the box, and a bit of grit. Crucially he’s made the most of his opportunities, making several key stops as a first-choice Galaxy squad registered their first win and clean sheet of 2024 with a 2-0 victory over the Red Bulls.
Does Vanney stick with the incumbent in Bond or go with McCarthy, the keeper in better form who IMO has a slight edge?
Who’s scoring the goals?
Diego Fagundez up-close, one of the benefits of attending Coachella (Mike Gray)
With all the optimism surrounding the club lately, it’s easy to forgot this is a rebuilding year of sorts. There’s been a few attacking developments, such as the form of Diego Fagundez and Tucker Lepley’s midfield cameos.
The attack itself is still a work in progress. Right now the plan is for incoming DP wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil (who haven’t arrived yet) to help provide service for striker Dejan Joveljic (who isn’t scoring). To be fair, Pec and Paintsil are expected to shoulder part of the goalscoring burden.
It does seem like this is all riding on how Joveljic performs in front of net. New signing Miguel Berry had a pair of goals to lead the group in preseason but was brought in to provide depth.
Joveljic began 2023 with a promising performance for Serbia vs. the USMNT but ended the league campaign with just five goals.
“It’s for Dejan to become a more complete striker,” Vanney emphasized. “Which means you’re still getting your goals and assists, but you’re also doing all the other little things that help the team to be successful, on the defending side, holding up possession at the right times, just connecting inside of the group.”
The theory according to Vanney? Pec and Painstil in the open field should free up the space for Joveljic to thrive.
“I think given the qualities and the profiles of the players that will be around him, I think he’s going to start to see a lot of those chances he saw [in 2022], where he’s not neccessarily fighting for his own space to finish, I think the space will be created and it’ll be up to him to finish.”
“So I think he’ll get his opportunities and score goals, the question is again for him, can you stay inside of the details of what you need to do for 90 minutes and all of those other moments inside the game to help the team be successful with and without the ball and being detailed oriented in that aspect.”
During the second half of the the Red Bull win, Johnny Perez rifled an inch-perfect cross to Jolvejic who fluffed a header from very close range.
With funds likely available in the summer to pursue attacking reinforcements up top, those are the opportunities Dejan must finish.
How much time does Vanney have?
Miki Yamane with manager Greg Vanney and GM Will Kuntz (Mike Gray)
Greg Vanney is a polarizing figure around Victoria Block these days. Many fans rate Vanney as an elite manager victimized by an incompetent front office and last year’s clusterf**k in particular. Anyone would struggle to overcome a seemingly endless set of hurdles which included a crippling injury crisis, supporters boycott, sanctions, fines, the suspension of club president Chris Klein…I can go on.
Others point to the results. LA have qualified for the playoffs just once in three years during Vanney’s tenure, limping to a 8-12-14 record and 13th place finish last season. It didn’t help Vanney drew the ire of many for describing the criticism as “total bulls**t” and “noise”. (For the record, I believe Greg was unfairly maligned for that)
Fortunately Will Kuntz had a successful winter, replacing the departing Calegari with Japanese international Miki Yamane and promptly filling all three Designated Player spots.
”In MLS, DPs are your three magic bullets.” remarked Kuntz at the opening presser. “I don’t think there’s been a hyper-successful team in MLS let alone MLS Cup winner that hasn’t had really strong contributions from its 3 Designated Players. So if you're waiting until the summer, which is a viable strategy at times, you're gonna be down potentially a massive piece for the team.”
LA have traditionally started slow under Vanney, so it can’t be said enough how important it is for the manager to have a complete squad available from the get-go.
Unfortunately for Vanney the heavy lifting is done for Kuntz, and with the season kicking off now all the attention shifts to him. Few managers will be under a brighter microscope. Josh Wolff maybe?
The Achilles heel of the Galaxy side during the Vanney era has been the club’s terrible rest defense, a contributing factor to the league-worst 67 goals LA conceded. Matt Doyle’s been a real hard ass on the subject, and admittedly the thought crossed my mind when I inquired about Vanney using Miki Yamane as an inverted midfielder á la Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“When you talk about a transitioning defense going from attacking to defending, you put your best defenders in positions to control the transition moments so you’re not as exposed.” Vanney replied. “Sometimes when you drop defenders and they disappear, then you leave yourself exposed to transition. Some of it’s just to help us from a control standpoint and taking some of the verticality out of the game because you have your best defenders in those positions.”
The center back pairing is still a question mark. Maya Yoshida and Martín Cácares are vastly experienced, but Jalen Neal’s return can’t come soon enough. (His breaking-line passes are an underrated contribution to the Galaxy attack.)
Barring a horrendous run of form, I expect Vanney to remain the manager until the end of the season despite the immense pressure he’ll face from the get-go. For his job to remain secure, Vanney must transform Riqui Puig and the new DP signings into an elite attack while shoring up a leaky defense.
It all starts on Sunday.
Bonus observation: LA cannot suffer another injury crisis this year.