CARSON, Calif. -- It's not been the finest of starts this season for the LA Galaxy, who are winless in three games since capturing the MLS opener nearly a month ago and are coming off a last-second loss last weekend.
They've taken just five points in four games, have struggled to build attacking connections and have watched as defensive breakdowns have been punished, denying them one likely draw and two potential victories.
They're not all that concerned but know they're going to have to be better if they're going to contend for the Supporters' Shield and another MLS Cup championship.
“It's not the worst, but it's not where we want to be ...,” defender Omar Gonzalez said Thursday as the Galaxy prepared for Saturday's Western Conference clash at Vancouver (10 pm ET, MLS LIVE in US, TSN1 in Canada). “At the end of the day, we're not in the worst position. We just have to find a way to keep moving forward, keep progressing, keep on getting better as a team.”
They're 1-1-2 after conceding in stoppage last week to fall, 1-0, at D.C. United, and just two weeks after surrendering a 90th-minute strike in a 2-2 draw at Portland. Sandwiched between was a 1-1 draw with Houston, who scored when Robbie Rogers let his mark run free into the goalmouth to finish from a corner kick.
“My benchmark [on making early assessments] is 10 games,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “The beginning part of the season is always a little bit of feeling out. We would say our fitness has been pretty good, and I think defensively, overall as a collective, it's been pretty solid. We've limited teams in every game to very few clear opportunities.
“It's also pretty clear we've got to close games out. We've faltered there. It can always be better, it could probably be a little worse.”
The Galaxy have been the protagonist in three of their four games -- and to start the match with the Dynamo, who outworked LA after Robbie Keane's early goal -- and looked pretty good, without the DP forward and Gyasi Zardes, in difficult conditions last weekend at RFK Stadium.
“I think we've started fairly well,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “I could argue we shouldn't have a loss at this point. I could argue that maybe we should have another win. But we don't. So that part's disappointing.”
What's missing is the flair that propelled them last year, when they put on several majestic displays built on constant interchange and ball movement and featuring mesmerizing goal sequences of 25 passes or more.
“There are times we feel we're right back in that rhythm that we were in at the end of last year,” defender Dan Gargan said. “There's times things aren't clicking, as well, and it's a process to get all the [parts] moving again and get everybody on the same page and same fitness and to kind of have that kind of streamline that we had last year.
“I think we are almost that, but not quite.”
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The Galaxy are transitioning to life without Landon Donovan, who held such mammoth influence over the attack the previous decade, and they also lost Marcelo Sarvas, traded in January to Colorado, whose partnership with Juninho in central midfield provided LA its engine. Finding the perfect balance and building chemistry requires patience.
“We're attempting to put all the pieces in their right places and find that rhythm without those two guys,” Gargan said. “Landon is clearly an irreplaceable player, and that's both on and off the field. We're working on figuring out that rhythm of how that's going to play out. ... It's a process, and it takes a little bit of time, and we're only four games into that process.”
It's not an excuse, because nobody's satisfied with the results.
“We hold ourselves to that standard, where we want to be the best we can be,” Gonzalez said. “When we aren't getting points, then we start asking questions. It's good to hold yourself to that standard, but you also don't want to be too hard on yourself. We know we'll start clicking. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.”
