CARSON, Calif. – Sigi Schmid owed up to his team’s issues after the LA Galaxy fell at home on Wednesday.
The Galaxy’s inconsistencies reared their head once more as Los Angeles’ two-game winning streak was snapped with a 3-2 defeat to FC Dallas at StubHub Center. As has been the case time and time again this season, Los Angeles fell behind early and needed a herculean comeback to pull to within striking distance off a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Postgame, Schmid took responsibility for the performance.
“Part of it is me. I made some lineup changes because I thought with the game coming up with Portland I thought we needed to make sure we had some guys who were fresh,” Schmid said. “So the first thing I’m going to do is analyze if I made the right decisions, but obviously there are other opportunities. We have more than 11 players on this team and when your number is called you’ve got to be ready. Just our intensity and our desire, our drive, our determination in the first 15 minutes was not good.”
With Ibrahimović back from a one-and-a-half game suspension, Los Angeles found themselves playing far more direct as they sought to send balls into the Swedish striker and Ola Kamara.
Schmid’s squad completed this with mixed success as the team completed just 20 percent of their crosses on the evening. Of the 19 open play crosses attempted, only Ola Kamara’s effort in the 73rd minute connected.
For the Galaxy boss, this must change if the team is to become more consistent this season.
“He changes how we play and we end up playing balls in the air. We’ve got to get on to second balls more often and our service has to improve. Our crossing is too inconsistent. It's too hit and miss. When Ibra is on the field, crossing the ball and being able to get to balls in the air becomes a strength of our team, so that part of our game needs to improve.”
