CARSON, Calif. – Sebastian Lletget's terrific form to start his MLS career has slowed in the past month or so as a heavy summer workload, in heat he's not accustomed to, took a toll on his body, but he now believes he's ready to contribute as the LA Galaxy enter the stretch run.
The 23-year-old midfielder, acquired in May, isn't officially a rookie – he spent six years at West Ham United, where he played just once for the first-team – but this has been akin to a first campaign for the Bay Area product, who has been a fixture on the Galaxy’s left flank since mid-June.
Lletget scored seven goals and added two assists in an 11-match span that began with his initial MLS start, a June 13 draw at Columbus. He registered at least one goal or one assist in all but three of those matches, and notched another goal and two more assists in US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League play. But he's looked a little ragged in recent weeks, with neither goal nor assist since 1624422517" tabindex="0">LA’s win against New York City FC on Aug. 23.
He followed the 5-1 win against NYCFC with three subpar matches, all coming in games in which LA failed to score. But he bounced back in the 3-2 triumph 1624422518" tabindex="0">on Sunday over FC Dallas that pushed LA atop the Supporters' Shield table and says he's ready for what's to come as the regular season winds down and the playoffs begin to come into view.
“Physically, [this summer has taken] a toll,” Lletget said on Wednesday as the Galaxy began preparation for Sunday's Western Conference showdown at Seattle (9:30 pm ET, FS1, FOX Deportes). “I've never done this before, really, to be honest, but I feel great now. I feel ready for every game.
“I think [the summer schedule], for everybody, it's taken a toll on their bodies. It was a lot of run of games in that middle part of the season, but now we have to finish strong, and I'll be ready.”
Lletget's skill set – good pace, great skill, fine vision, a penchant for beating defenders on the dribble and a knack for popping up in the right place – has been critical to the Galaxy's success since mid-June, adding a spark LA missed during an injury-filled first three-and-a-half months of the season.
That dynamism was absent through the team's late-summer slump, in which they went more than a month without a victory.
“In some ways he's a first-year professional,” head coach Bruce Arena said last week. “He has not played a full schedule, probably, in his professional career, so I think he's hit the wall a little bit physically. What happens is you generally have a lull for some weeks, and they you start getting your legs back, and you're back to normal. I would think that will likely be the scenario for him.”
Lletget acknowledged Arena's assessment was fair.
“[The work] has really taken a toll. I'm not just saying that,” he said. “It's been difficult. Just so many games, so much training, barely any days off, and that's tough. [It manifests itself in that] mentally, you know what to do, you know what you want to execute, but it just doesn't come. The speed that your body wants to go to, it doesn't allow you [to do that] sometimes, and that's just the way it works.”
Lletget is getting more attention from defenders, who he says now position themselves more conservatively and take a patient approach when taking him on one-on-one.
“I feel the difference, whether that's real or not,” he said. “It's different ways of marking – you can just tell. Maybe they don't go forward as much, because they're worried about Robbie [Rogers, LA's left back] and me on the counter. They're waiting [on me], and they're doing that well. I just have to be better.”
He looked stronger against Dallas last weekend, and it was his run up the left channel and feed above the box to Giovani dos Santos that led to LA's second goal.
“I think I was back to my old ways, I guess,” he said. “Being aggressive and running at players and trying to create something.”
It's what the Galaxy want to see. They've got three regular season games remaining and then want to make a run at a fourth MLS Cup championship in five seasons, and Lletget figures heavily in their plans.
“I think the break [in early September] might have been OK for him,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “Sebastian, we feel, still has the tools to break down teams individually.”
