CARSON, Calif. – A month ago the LA Galaxy were scoring goals almost at will: at least three in every home game, and more often five – the most visceral benefit of arguably the most explosive front six MLS has ever seen.
It's all dried up. LA have scored no goals in their last three league outings, and it might cost them a legitimate shot at the Western Conference title and Supporters' Shield, and harm their seeding for postseason if they can't right things right now.
The Galaxy's buildup play has been poor, they've been outworked by foes – especially in the first 15 minutes of matches – and they've struggled to create the kind of chances on which they feasted from mid-June into the final week of August.
They're in some kind of lull, right?
“I wouldn't say we're in a lull,” captain Robbie Keane said as the Galaxy (13-8-7) prepared for Sunday's showdown with FC Dallas (14-9-5) at StubHub Center (9:30 pm ET; FS1, FOX Deportes). “I just think we haven't been playing as well as we know we can do.
“[The deficiencies are] simple: no hitting the back of the net. But, honestly, that is making a big deal of something that is completely nothing, to be honest with you. If you're scoring goals before this, certainly you're not worried.”
Arena agrees.
“We're not in a rut. We're fine,” he said. “Don't worry about us. We're fine.”
The scoreboard, at least since their last MLS victory, a 5-1 rout of New York City FC on Aug. 23, argues otherwise. A team that had scored 50 goals in 15 competitive matches from June 17 through Aug. 23 hasn't hit the net in a league game in 279 minutes, through a 1-0 loss Aug. 28 at San Jose, a scoreless draw at home with Montreal on Sept. 12 and last weekend's 3-0 defeat at Real Salt Lake.
What will it take to do so?
“Just score a goal. We'll be fine,” Arena said. “I think teams are, obviously, playing a certain way to shut us down, getting numbers behind the ball, and one of the mistakes we make is position ourselves where we're chasing the game. When teams have a defensive posture and you concede a goal early, that is not the recipe for success.”
There seems to be more to it than that. Steven Gerrard and especially Giovani Dos Santos are still acclimating to a new team, new league and new culture, and Sebastian Lletget is going through the typical troubles first-year players face when confronted with a seemingly never-ending series of matches.
It's been a most challenging season for Gyasi Zardes, made heavier by his US national team responsibilities. The Galaxy have been uneven defensively. It all adds up.
“We had a great month in August, and July, too, so we understand when things are clicking and what makes it click,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “And I'm not offering excuses, but I think when we finished with San Jose before the break [for international games the first week of September] and once we came back from the break, it disrupted us a little bit as a group.
“Teams are tightening up now – it's that time of year – and we need other ways to break down teams, and patience and a little better execution. I think we lost our rhythm a little, but we still haven't lost the confidence with the group.”
Keane had scored a dozen MLS goals in just nine games, with two hat tricks and two two-goal outings. Lletget, the biggest surprise for LA this season, had netted seven in 11 matches while causing havoc for foes from the left flank. Yet he has not been effective the past month.
“In some ways, he's a first-year professional player,” Arena said. “He has not played a full schedule, probably, in his professional career, so I think he's hit a wall a little bit physically.
“What happens is you generally have a lull for some weeks, and then you start getting your legs back, and you're back again to normal. I would think that will likely be the scenario for him.”
Opposing defenses have responded to the Galaxy's summer outburst, marking Keane and Dos Santos more tightly and clogging the passing lanes to cut down service in the attacking third. LA are still creating chances, just not enough good ones.
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“They know what we're capable of, they know our personnel,” Sarachan said. “And so they're paying attention to key guys and putting numbers around us where they're making it hard on us.”
Gerrard says opponents “are showing us an awful lot more respect.”
“It's everyone's cup final to play LA Galaxy. You get that feeling,” he said. “You can see the way they celebrate when they beat you, that it's such a big deal for them. We have to be ready for that, and we have to match that.”
The Galaxy sent their reserves to Trinidad for the 1-1 CONCACAF Champions League draw Wednesday night with Central FC, keeping the first team in Southern California to work out the kinks, starting with a team meeting Monday morning.
“I see some changes coming,” defender Omar Gonzalez said. “We had a really good week of training, everyone's focused. The other guys went to Trinidad, and the starters stayed back and really, I think, built a lot of chemistry this week.”
Said Sarachan: “We've all sort of done an auto-correct this week ... and I think from here on in, you're going to see a little more of a dangerous team.”
