LAFC far from panic mode despite no goals in 3 games
LOS ANGELES >> If you have serious concerns about the Los Angeles Football Club's underwhelming opening month, chances are you don't work at their performance center.
LAFC is not doing any hand-wringing over the slowest start in its history, shut out in three consecutive matches with just four out of a possible 12 points on the season heading into this evening's contest at BMO Stadium against stingy Nashville SC (1-0-3, 6 points).
“We've been thrown off the last few weeks and we're trying to get to the bottom of what that is,” said Ante Razov, an LAFC assistant coach in his seventh year on
the staff. “But it's a long season. We've all been through this for a long time. Nobody is really panicking about where we are.”
Razov, listed among the top 10 all-time leading scorers in Major League Soccer, has contributed from the bench since 2018 while LAFC compiled the most wins and points in the league through early this season.
After connecting on the only two goals LAFC has this year, its MLS record seventh consecutive opening-day victory seems like ages ago. Its fewest goals after a handful of games is five, when the 2021 squad started 1-2-2 and missed the postseason for the only time in club history.
Midfielder Ilie Sanchez says, after observations in practice, that LAFC (1-2-1) has not forgotten how to score, defend in the box or secure three points.
“It may look naive to say `I'm not worried' or `everything is going to be fine,' ” said Sanchez, who slipped on the captain's armband in each of LAFC's four matches. “But because I have arguments, I can come here and tell you guys this is going to work. I'm seeing it every day. We just need to see it more weekends than not.”
Coming off a substandard performance in Minnesota last Saturday, LAFC engaged in another set of weeklong training sessions, which the coaching staff expects will benefit everyone as the year progresses.
“That's why there's no real panic,” Razov said. “We are working daily to try and get this thing on the right track. It's not very far.”
Better control on the ball, connecting passes, maintaining concentration and avoiding what Razov described as “bizarre and rare” mental lapses when LAFC is pressing, generally on opposing goal kicks, remain points of emphasis.
Wingers Denis Bouanga and Cristian Olivera have not scored despite taking more than half of the team's 58 shots. A quarter of Bouanga's 20 attempts hit the target, a far cry from last year's Golden Boot campaign when he placed 40% of his shots on frame.
Slow out of the gate, Bouanga has had a run of tough luck, too, as five shots collided with a post or the crossbar.
Razov, credited by Cherundolo for priming the LAFC attack, says the group is “almost too eager to go forward when we're not really prepared. We have two very fast wingers that at times outrun their coverage and so we're trying to find ways to enter the field of play with control mixed as balanced, which is the hardest thing to do in our sport, to play fast and have possession.
“That's what's kind of separated us from the rest of the league in the successful years, and we're working on that and that's always a challenge.”