The Los Angeles Galaxy offense has run into a bit of a brick wall over the last couple of weeks. Two weekends ago against Houston, the Galaxy took an early lead only to watch it slip away. Dwayne De Rosario scored the game-winning goal for Dynamo in the 56th minute, and Houston effectively closed up shop the rest of the match.
Last weekend, Colorado openly admitted that they came to The Home Depot Center looking for a draw, and dropped as many players as they could behind the ball to stifle the Galaxy attack. The result was a scoreless draw, a result that heavily favored the Rapids.
The problem the Galaxy face isn't necessarily the attack. Instead, teams are just bunkering in and doing all they can to limit the scoring chances for L.A. Things won't get any easier either. Every team left on the Galaxy's schedule is in a playoff position in the Western Conference. That means that while the Galaxy are chasing results, the teams they are playing will more than likely want to protect their playoff position.
"The frustrating thing is when you play a team that really doesn't need anything and is really content slapping high fives after a 0-0 draw," said Pete Vagenas about last Saturday's game.
Moving forward from Saturday's game, leading scorer Landon Donovan doesn't feel the Galaxy need to change their approach very much. What they really need is to play someone who will attack them to allow the game to open up a bit.
"I don't think we change the way we do things," said Donovan. "Colorado made it difficult because they didn't come to play the game. It doesn't matter who you're playing against -- when they play like that it's tough."
Los Angeles is hoping that since Chicago is playing at home they will try to play attractive, attacking soccer. If they do decide to sit back and defend though, head coach Frank Yallop is preparing his side accordingly.
"We've got to move the ball quicker. We have to use the width of the field," said Yallop. "We have to not panic as much about forcing things. When a team is sitting back and you're forcing things up the middle, they're happy."
The Galaxy's problem, especially in their last game against Houston, is that when they are searching for goals in the latter stages of the game they have a tendency to just pump balls into the box rather than build the attack through midfield. If the Galaxy find themselves in a similar situation on Saturday, they will need to find a sense of urgency without panicking.
"(Not panicking) requires patience. It requires a more intellectual side to the game," said Vagenas. "This type of style where teams are bunkering in, it would be something I would do if I were playing us. It requires a mental understanding of the game that it might not be pretty."
greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
