NEW YORK – LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano provides his Three Things We Learned from the LA Galaxy’s 1-0 defeat to New York City FC.
GALAXY ATTACK FALLS FLAT AGAINST NYCFC
The LA Galaxy’s big guns fell silent on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Bruce Arena’s men had the lion share of the dangerous scoring opportunities, particularly in the first half, but were flat for wide stretches of the 1-0 loss to New York City FC. Due to the host's compact defense and the narrow field, the Galaxy struggled to provide service to Robbie Keane and Gyasi Zardes. In fact, the Galaxy’s best attacking threat was the marauding defender Jelle Van Damme who had repeated looks at goal and almost found an equalizer in the 82nd minute.
Los Angeles will need to rebound from Sunday’s disappointing performance on Wednesday when they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Fire.
YANKEE STADIUM SNOOZER
There were few highlights in the LA Galaxy’s match against New York City FC.
Saturday’s game was a disorienting affair with both teams canceling each other out for extended stretches of the match on the narrow Yankee Stadium field. With both teams in such close confines, neither side was able to establish an attacking rhythm – or a coherent formation—and was forced to rely on counterattacks to generate offense.
After such a frustrating day for both sides, don’t expect Saturday’s game to live long in the memory.
CLEMENT DIOP LOOKS THE PART
Clement Diop proved up to the task Saturday against New York City FC.
Starting in place of the injured Brian Rowe, Diop was given the nod against NYCFC in his first career appearance in Major League Soccer. Diop’s debut was a busy one as the 22-year-old Parisian goalkeeper needed to make six saves on the afternoon—including several big stops on NYCFC striker David Villa.
After a surefooted debut, Galaxy boss Bruce Arena should have plenty of confidence in the youngster to play against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday, if Rowe is still unavailable.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog atLAGalaxy.com/Insiderand contact him atLAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
