CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza admitted he has driven himself crazy trying to come up with reasons why the defending MLS Cup champions are wallowing in the depths of the Western Conference.
Yes, he said, frustration is building as they prepare for Saturday’s game in Montreal against the expansion Impact. The former second round draft pick (17th overall) in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft hasn’t been through a difficult spell like this since he was a sophomore at Henry E. Lackey High School in Indian Head, Md.
“We were 0-16 that year,” he recalled Tuesday. “We lost five guys, five starters, to a hazing incident on the first day of school. We lost them for the whole year.”
The Galaxy are far from winless (3-5-1, 10 points), but their performances to date certainly have left something to be desired. That needs to change in a hurry, DeLaGarza said.
Sweeping changes, he cautioned, are not the answer.
“You can over-analyze things way too much when you’re losing,” he said. “We know it’s a team game. We’re not pointing fingers at any one person. The goal the other day (in a 1-0 loss to New York), multiple people shut down on the play and it led to their goal.
“We’re still pretty upbeat. It’s still early, but we’ve got to stop saying that. We have to get results, and that has to start this week.”
Veteran defender Todd Dunivant said the atmosphere surrounding the Galaxy isn’t “doom and gloom,” but their resolve definitely has been tested lately.
And the Galaxy don’t have to look far for a solution to their problems.
“It’s just the mentality of the fact we need to get back to being a blue-collar team that worked hard and had a defensive mentality first,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we have to sit back and defend, but it means when we lose the ball we’re working hard to get after it and backing up the guy next to you. Little things have consistently cost us games.
“I think we know we have a team that can be successful. We have been successful and we know we can be successful going forward. We’re not looking to blow this thing up by any means.”
Midfielder Mike Magee echoed those sentiments.
“We have the recipe,” he said. “We have the players, we have the coach, we’ve built up enough credit where we don’t need to get too drastic. We have to get back to doing the things that made us successful the last couple of years, and we haven’t done them.
“The good news is we all know that’s the case. The bad news is we’re not doing them for whatever reason. We know the things we need to fix, it’s just taking us longer to actually do them as opposed to keep talking about fixing it.
“At this point enough’s been said,” he went on. “We all know what the problem is, now it’s just guys stepping up and fighting and battling for each other. And then the rest will take care of itself.”
