Weekend update: Dos Santos, Vanney tinker with poor results

There was a brief moment during the 8th minute at Dignity Health Sports Park when the Galaxy weaved out of Sporting KC’s press with breathtaking ease, pinging 10 passes in 10 seconds before Justin Haak sprung Harbor Miller on the wing.

With only Jake Davis to beat, the 18 y/o Next Pro product starting in place of Joseph Paintsil attempted to touch the ball around Davis but his effort was blocked and the transition died.

It was that kind of evening for the Galaxy, who limped to a 2-0 loss vs. Sporting Kansas City leaving us with more questions than answers.

I don’t think I’ve watched a single match of Novak Micovic in goal and not been impressed with his potential in front of net. The issue is, can Micovic play at a consistent level for 90 minutes every week? The 24 y/o Serbian was culpable of poor positioning for SKC’s second tally as Lasse Johnsen’s effort easily beat Micovic.

“I thought it was savable, to be honest,” lamented Greg Vanney during the postgame presser. The Galaxy manager chalked up LA’s struggles in the final third to a lack of combination play among the attackers.

Look, I get that. I get struggling without Gabriel Pec (suspension) and Joseph Paintsil (thigh injury). And we know all about Riqui Puig.

However, Greg isn’t being paid to provide eloquent excuses for losses, it’s his job to get results. Falling at home to a Sporting KC side full of roster holes is an unacceptable result, period.

Moving on…

So I guess LAFC is FC Bangers now?

Mathieu Choiniére was the hero Saturday night, scoring a pair of goals from distance to secure a 2-0 win over St. Louis SC at BMO despite another lackluster performance in attack. (Marc Dos Santos deployed a 4-2-3-1 with Son as an central attacking midfielder but the South Korean international was ineffective)

Incredulously, the Black and Gold’s past five goals have all come outside the 18-yard box. I mused last week if this was sustainable and had mixed thoughts, but when teams laser focus on Bouanga and Son to the extent that supporting attackers like Choiniére have time and space to strike outside the area, the long distance blast is a legitimate weapon.

(It’s not like these are all miracle bangers either. Choiniére’s first tally came in transition and was frankly a bog standard strike, whereas the second came from St. Louis parking the bus)

On the flip side LAFC haven’t conceded a single goal in four MLS matches this season, giving Dos Santos more time to work on the sputtering attack.