What's Going On.... With Landon Donovan?

Let me open by saying: Yes, I'm aware that Landon Donovan has been involved in all of LA's goals.

But what's going on with Landon Donovan?

He's been largely absent through long stretches of most matches so far, and unlike a "droughting" player that does everything right but can't find the net, Landon seems to be doing little right despite his scoring.

This year's Landon, 5 games in, has not been the same 20 goal / 19 assist Landon we saw last season, not even a half of that. And while, yes, Landon has been involved in all of LA's goals, the team also has only 5 goals in as many games, and 3 of those games have had 1 goal or less.

Perhaps Landon is under more pressure without Buddle and Beckham to help lift markers off of LA's #10, but something is certainly going on with Landon that has essentially turned him from constant threat and difference maker to goal poacher.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Landon Donovan and I can't wait for him to break out of this slump (which I do think he'll do sooner rather than later) but I'm also somewhat concerned about his play.

Doing Things Right

Today's post San Jose vs. Los Angeles game article from MLSnet.com has a lot of interesting quotes from the Galaxy standpoint.

I've been reading the post-game pressers and interviews lately and I think the one guy who seems to "get it" is Landon Donovan.

Often, with so many rookies, you get the feeling that a good number of them have a hard time assessing the team's situation, and are just happy to be here.

From new "reinforcement" type players, you'll often get the "we want to do our part and contribute" quotes.

I think this is generally true of most teams. With Alan Gordon and Landon Donovan though, you tend to get more 'bigger picture' comments. I believe that has to do 100% with the fact that they have been around since 2005 and have seen the team go from Champions to the mess we've been seeing recently. In short, they've really "seen it all" with this club.

Gordon doesn't get interviewed as often, so Donovan's usually the one that's delivering these gems, which in turn, make Donovan's "soccer IQ" seem quite high.

Today's quote from Landon:

"We're doing almost everything right. We've got to stop spotting teams a goal early. (San Jose) didn't have a lot of chances and it's unfortunate that we gave them such an easy one. Our play, in the run of play was good. We were very good defensively, we were good on set pieces. We keep going, and the wins are going to come."

... and referees ruin them!

Last night's derby ended up in an enjoyable, though troubling (at least for Galaxy faithful) game which could have been much better were it not for referee Tim Weyland and his questionable refereeing.

In the end, Weyland ended up making errors both ways, but hurt Galaxy much more by his inconsistent refereeing.

In the first half, already sitting on one yellow, Shavar Thomas took a piggy back ride from Landon Donovan and Weyland called the foul but swallowed the card.

Minutes later, Sacha Kljestan, also sitting on his first caution takes a dive, which was acknowledged and castigated by the ref, but no second yellow to speak of. Followed by a strong late tackle by Sacha which prompted a nice civil "take it easy" speech from the ref, but still no card.

In the second half, the ref becomes trigger happy with the ejections and both Gordon and Berhalter are sent off (both cards completely warranted) and the ref essentially turns into a Galaxy 8-man backline.

Sometimes I consider putting the referee's names on the previews as soon as they have been assigned. Unfortunately, that seems rather pointless as there's hardly a competent ref to be had in MLS.


Before all that though, the game was very enjoyable and fitting of a derby.

Galaxy is showing slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Greg Berhalter is good addition and showed what you would expect from an aging defender. Good positioning, good communication, and goo leadership.

Omar Gonzalez is a stone wall. Sacha simply could not handle Omar.

Todd Dunivant's return (if he's on form) should change the face of this team. Bruce is having to make a lot of shifts in unexpected places to make the back line work, but I think Todd, Greg, Omar + Franklin will give this team much needed stability. I'm also very high on De La Garza at the moment, but he needs to be more scrappy.

Midfield was muddy yesterday. Miglioranzi isn't showing much at the moment. We already knew he was going to be a downgrade from Kovalenko on ball recovery, but his passing needs to be more accurate. Tudela's doing a lot of dirty work, and I can appreciate that. He's nowhere near ready to handling that on his own, but he should learn well under Dema.

Alan Gordon is getting a lot of criticism up top, but under the current system, until Buddle gets back, he's our go-to-guy. Gordon works very hard, and helps in holding up the ball and pulling the team forward, but please, Gordo, put the ball away when you get a chance.

I still maintain that Gordon is a strong THIRD option, which means he's best off the bench when he can use his physical style of play and his hustle to outpower and outlast tired defenders. Buddle is needed to establish a rhythm and set play right before a guy like Gordon is allowed to come in.

Progress is a slow process, but progress is being made, and that makes me happy.