I like goals. You like goals. We all like goals. But as someone who has chosen to break down every open-play goal from every CITY match this season, even I can find myself thinking, "ok fellas, that'll do" when they scored five, yes FIVE, first-half goals against a completely overwhelmed (and extremely rotated) LA Galaxy side en route to a dominant 6-2 win against the only Western Conference club never to beat CITY. Buckle up, cause there's a lot to get through:
Carlo Holse - Goal (2')
CITY got on the board early (again, which has been a very nice trend as of late for them) via a Rafael Navarro takeaway and assist to Carlo Holse. The play originates simply, with Chris Durkin volleying a ball upfield to Galaxy CB Justin Haak, who plays the ball back away from pressure and seemingly looks to either hit it back down the pitch or out to Harbor Miller to his right.
Miller is covered up by Tomas Totland, and Haak hesitates, enabling the onrushing Rafael Navarro to close down on him and Haak does the typical defender maneuver of turning his back to draw contact and earn a foul - but as he does, his left foot slips and Navarro makes minimal contact. Referee Joe Dickerson correctly lets the play continue as the ball squirts free, and Navarro heads upfield with Holse to his right.
Navarro had two choices here - open his hips for a difficult shot to the left of Galaxy GK JT Marcinkowski, or lay the ball off to a streaking Holse, who had beaten his nearest defender, Julián Aude (#3), into the box. Navarro showed his unselfishness by making the right play and passing, enabling Holse to slide and deflect the ball into the net.
While there are times you want your striker to be selfish and try to score, Navarro has shown a willingness to work within the team structure and has more often than not made excellent choices on when to shoot and when to pass. Navarro's pressure, Haak's mistake, Holse's hustle, and finally Navarro's decision-making gave CITY an early lead.
Carlo Holse - Goal (7')
LA tried to put pressure on CITY early in the match by pressing quite high, but as CITY has shown this season, they are able to beat high pressing in a variety of ways. Often it's short passing sequences, but here, Dante Polvara makes the right choice to hit a ball into space upfield rather than try to work the ball out of the corner. His options for passing were very limited, with Totland out to his left and maybe Chris Durkin in the channel, but Polvara wisely just relieved the pressure instead.
The ball bounces to Navarro, who chests it down with no other CITY players near him, but his strength on the ball lets him hold off Galaxy midfielder Sergi Roberto. As Navarro cuts inside, Carlo Holse makes a fantastic diagonal run into the box past Justin Haak, who at this point probably would have liked to be on the flight home already, as Navarro lays off a beautifully placed, weighted pass that Holse gets his body around, hammering a first-time shot past Marcinkowski. While the Danish DP's time in St. Louis started a bit slowly, his hustle and speed are undeniable, and his quality has started to show as he's become more comfortable in coach Yoann Damet's system.
While Holse rightfully deserves credit for an incredible shot, and Navarro with a great run and even better pass, Polvara should get some flowers here - his growth as a CB this year has been one of the stories of the season. His recognition of the situation, the press from the Galaxy, and his refusal to overcomplicate things with the ball led directly to the opportunity to score.
Carlo Holse - Goal (21')
With old friend João Klauss, the only CITY player to score a hat trick before last night in the building, Holse completes the 2nd-fastest hat trick in MLS history (only behind Nashville's Hany Mukhtar) off a nicely chipped ball from Chris Durkin.
Durkin, as our friend Michael from ChatCityTactics pointed out last night, repeatedly got time and space from the Galaxy to survey the pitch and make passes. Durkin struggles when forced to play with his back to defenders, but if you give him free rein to pick his passes, he can really hurt you, as he did here.
Holse calls for the pass into the box and times his run perfectly, but Galaxy defender Julián Aude (#3) keeps him onside by not stepping up to the defensive line. Durkin's ball over the top beats Justin Haak (who, at this point, was thinking about calling an Uber to the airport), and Holse chested it down. Holse fought off Haak and banged a shot back across his body past Marcinkowski.
One of the things that Doyle, Bogert, and Gass have discussed on the Soccerwise podcast is that CITY's attack is so unpredictable and comes from seemingly everywhere - you can't key on one guy to shut them down, and if all of a sudden Holse is contributing goals and not just assists, this is an offense that compete with any team in the league.
Robert Taylor - Goal (31')
The Galaxy did have a bright spot in the match last night, which was this absolute screamer of a goal from Robert Taylor. Taylor moves with the ball along the left wing, with Lukas MacNaughton in a one-on-one defending position as Erik Thommy jogs into the channel, defended by Daniel Edleman.
MacNaughton's hip positioning shades outside, trying to force Taylor wide, but as Taylor cuts inside, Edelman doesn't step up to support MacNaughton (he drifted back to continue covering Thommy in the empty space behind). Polvara and Timo also dropped too deep, keeping Thommy in an onside position that Edelman had to worry about defending.
Compounding the problem was Conrad Wallem jogging back defensively and arriving too late to help - either player being there to provide cover on the inside for MacNaughton probably negates the opportunity, but instead, Taylor has time and space to rip a very nice, curled shot that Timo might have gotten a slight headed deflection on, but not enough to keep it out of the net as the Galaxy got one back.
All coaches want something negative to point out for teaching purposes, even in blowout wins, and this will give Damet material to discuss in training, I'm sure. This one wasn't really on MacNaughton, as he was left on an island to defend Taylor and didn't get any help.
Lukas MacNaughton - Goal (45+7')
MacNaughton surely felt better about 15 minutes after Taylor beat him, as he got on the end of a well placed Alex Mățan free kick just before halftime to give CITY a 5-1 lead at the break.
Not much to say here - CITY loves to place the ball down and immediately start play on free kicks, and MacNaughton, despite having his shirt pulled back by Galaxy midfielder Sergi Roberto, is able to complete a spectacular diving header in space. Great positioning by MacNaughton to curl his run around Roberto and also clear space for Navarro next to him, overloading the near side of the Galaxy defense. An excellent ball in from Mățan wonderfully finished by MacNaughton.
Rafael Navarro - Goal (53')
Yes, Rafael Navarro made a great turn and quick shot to beat a flat-footed Galaxy defense, but this goal came directly from a setup by Chris Durkin. As Taylor Twellman pointed out on the broadcast, Durkin plays a really nice against-the-grain pass into CITY's #9 on the back shoulder of Galaxy center back Jakob Glesnes, who is caught by surprise and in a terrible position to defend Navarro.
Navarro had a distribution option here as well, as Wallem was cutting into space and would have had an excellent scoring opportunity had Navarro made the pass, but instead the CITY striker fired a quick curled shot around Glesnes and past a helpless Marcinkowski for a club record-tying sixth CITY goal, equaling their output against Austin at home in 2023.
João Klauss - Goal (71')
Finally, CITY's all-time leading scorer got a goal in his return to Energizer Park. Klauss received a very warm welcome back from the fans, rightfully saluting his contribution to the club over their first three seasons, and the feeling among most CITY fans pre-match was that a CITY win and a Klauss goal would be a fine result.
That's what we got, with a headed goal in space in the 71st minute after Marco Reus flipped a pass into the area over Durkin and onto the head of the big Brazilian, who made a nice cut into an empty pocket between Edelman and the backline, which was slightly too deep. Polvara was caught in no mans land, and Timo got dragged even deeper by LA's Troy Elgersma.
This is the type of goal you give up when you're up 5, and CITY fans got to acknowledge Klauss again, who responded with a nice gesture to the crowd following his header. Not much to break down here, just a momentary lapse in positioning and situational awareness.
