This LA Galaxy bugbear is starting to get old. As is the “lots of chances, but unable to put it away” storyline that defined a lot of the sounders 2010 season. Don’t get me wrong last night was an entertaining game of football, obviously not happy with the result but Seattle played well enough to have won. For the Sounders there are way more positives than negatives to take out of tonights game.
One more thing, it felt good to be back in RBP. It was rather wonderful to spend a couple of hours in The Pyramid with friends, a couple of pints of really good IPA and a great burger. Then to the game. There are a few changes to what’s going on, biggest is the Ninkasi Total Domination IPA is on tap in Qwest Field this year (this is a big deal), if I’m going to spent $7 on beer it needs to be a good one.
Other than the beer situation, other big news was of the day broke just before the game when the Sounders announced they had agreed to end their association with veteran striker Blaise Nkufo. A big surprise as he looked effective last year. It seems there is a disagreement between himself and Sigi about how he should be used.
I do hope it’s not going to become a trend; Ljungberg had issues with Sigi last year. I think they were wider than just how he was being used, but it does cause me to maybe question how the organization is dealing with the higher priced, experienced designated players. If it really is a problem with the players rather than the leadership inside the team then perhaps they will think again before signing a mid 30’s European star in the last couple of years of their career.
Having said all that, even with hindsight I do think Ljungberg was the right player. He gave this team instant credibility when he chose Seattle over the Premier League. In that first year he did a lot of this team on and off the field. However his clear displeasure and frustrations at some of the younger players became more and more obvious.
To the game, as I said the result is disappointing, but it’s the start of a long year and the schedule for Seattle was not fair as they go to Red Bull Saturday.
Nkufo was replaced by O’Brian White, starting his first game for the sounders after a move from Toronto and hopefully greener pastures. White had a busy night and had a couple of good chances, both set up by through balls from Zakuani. With 20 minutes left to play White put the best chance of the night wide when the Galaxy keeper (backup Josh Saunders) made one of his rare mistakes and was out of position. 
Zakuani did not look at full speed all night and while the conditions were miserable and hardly conducive to good football, he did not look 100% when he had the ball. Of the other new boys Eric Freiberg looked good, he seemed to be everywhere and covered a lot of ground during the game. His touches forward were typically good and he had some quality linkups with Montero.
When he is playing well, Montero is electric to watch, but he does need to start putting balls in the back of the net to warrant the $800K he’s being paid as a DP this year.
It was a tight game and there was very little in it between the two teams. The midfield possession game was very close and fun to watch. Alonso and Freiberg were in the middle of everything for Seattle.
The defence is as solid as expected; JK Hurtardo and Jeff Parke may be the best center defence pairing in the league. Leo Gonzales and James Riley had license to move forward to fill in space as the midfielders supported the forwards. In all it looked like a well prepared team, it’s just the finishing that was missing. 
For LA Beckham is clearly getting on a little, for a start the first 5 yard burst of speed is long gone and he does not scare defenders the way he used to. However the precision passes are still there and he still wants the ball for his specialty; set pieces. I’m sure his value to he team as a whole goes beyond his role on the field, but he is not what he was even a couple of years ago. 
I’m not a fan of Bruce Arena. He has a very well drilled team, they know what to do in any situation. Unfortunately that is shut the game down once they get ahead on the break. An LA is very good at that and that tactic was very evident at Quest.
Saturday is New York, two of the toughest games straight away for Seattle is a tough way to start the year. There are 33 games left in the year, lots of football left to go.