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There was really nothing pretty about Sunday’s 5-1 loss at Minnesota United for Los Angeles Football Club.
Nothing at all.
“We had a bad mentality about the game.”
— #VoteVela (@LAFC) July 23, 2018
Bob Bradley on tonight's match. pic.twitter.com/6di8xuPA9h
With that, here are our five takeaways from the road loss:
Defense, defense, defense
LAFC’s defense was abysmal. It was almost as if they weren’t even there.
#MINvLAFC 5-1 | #MLS
— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) July 23, 2018
42.4%-57.6% possession
409-547 passes
78%-85% pass accuracy
8-24 crosses
4-15 corners
16-13 shots
11-7 shots on target
6-6 saves
64-53 duels won
6-3 fouls
0-1 YCs#MNUFC offensive explosion for 3rd straight win (4 wins in last 5). #LAFC shambolic defending. pic.twitter.com/PRSG12TO9W
First, the lineup contained changes that really were head-scratching. Combining Tristan Blackmon with Joao Moutinho on the backline proved to be disastrous. Dejan Jakovic was virtually an empty shirt and Laurent Ciman nearly scored an own goal which is unheard of.
I’m not sure what the deal was but it seemed the defense was never really in the game and Minnesota took full advantage.
More missed opportunities.
The Black-and-Gold had an attack plan that never really materialized. The front line never amassed much in the way of a threat.
Great save by Bobby Shuttleworth to tip over a fierce strike from Benny Feilhaber. #LAFC have started on the front foot, putting #MNUFC under a lot of early pressure. #MINvLAFC #MLS pic.twitter.com/w2tbnONKVB
— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) July 22, 2018
Marco Ureña was left on an island by himself and received little to no support up front.
Players were given opportunities to prove themselves and, for all intents and purposes, they failed … badly.
Turnovers
This was the real killer for LAFC Sunday night.
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While attempting to collapse on Minnesota with numbers, LAFC failed to account for what would happen if they turned the ball over with that strategy.
The end result, players like Darwin Quintero and Christian Ramirez were able to find a lot of space running up front. LAFC failed in their attempts to counter this error after the break and it resulted in a complete letdown from the middle to the back.
Failure to force the wings
Minnesota was content to play predominantly in the middle and the Black-and-Gold let them.
LAFC never got their wing game in the mix and let the Loons dictate the tempo in the middle. It resulted in too much crowding in the middle which led to turnovers by LAFC and space for Minnesota’s counter-attack.
Road woes
Yes, Minnesota had a good run at home, but LAFC completely failed to account for the fact they were on the road.
The #Loons are absolutely flying! Christian Ramirez scores a tap-in from Miguel Ibarra's assist, and #MNUFC lead 5-1 now. #LAFC defense is all over the place and getting torn apart so easily. #MINvLAFC #MLS pic.twitter.com/Z8ZCGhC2Nu
— Jason Foster (@JogaBonito_USA) July 23, 2018
For the first 15 minutes, LAFC played like it was a home game for them and seemed to take the crowd out of the game, but that was it. After that, it was all Minnesota, all the time.
What do you think? Post your comment below!