When the final whistle blew Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park, boos rained down from what remained of the 17,434 fans who watched the LA Galaxy fall to Charlotte FC, 1-0, on Matchday 15.
Combined with Chicharito’s sending off five minutes earlier, it felt like perhaps the Galaxy had hit rock bottom.
And the club’s most passionate supporters let their frustrations be heard.
The Angel City Brigade chanted “We want better" as the players and head coach/sporting director Greg Vanney went over to have a “conversation” with the supporters' group.
“It was a cordial conversation, to be fair," Vanney said after the match. “They expect more. They want more from the group. … We don’t need to go into specifics. Yes, we need to improve upon our performance today and secure the result. They want the same thing. It wasn’t heated or anything that was more. Again, we’re all on the same team. We’re all trying to achieve those things.”
The defeat was the Galaxy’s third straight without scoring a goal in league play and undoes any positivity remaining from a US Open Cup Round-of-16 2-0 victory over rival LAFC Tuesday night. LA (2W-9L-3D) are last in the league with nine points from 14 matches.
“Obviously the results haven't been going our way so we're going to continue hearing it and I'm not here to say that they're wrong. They're right,” midfielder Mark Delgado said of the fans. "Every time we step on the field, we have to be ready. Whatever that is. Whatever we're doing away from training, away from the game, we have to get ourselves ready. This is our job. If you're not fully focused then why are you doing this?”
Delgado said the Galaxy have struggled to stick to Vanney’s game plan across 90 minutes. The request is to play simple, but the team’s actions on the field at times say otherwise.
“It's a simple game. You’ve just got to play the game simple,” Delgado said. “There will be moments for creativity and that will happen, but we’ve just got to be patient and a lot of times we're not patient. So they're right. The fans are right. We need to be better.”
The next chance to get better is Wednesday (9:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass) when the Galaxy head to America First Field to meet Real Salt Lake. LA are 0W-5L-2D on the road this season.
Surely their first three points on the road would do wonders to appease their frustrated fans who demand more from the league’s most decorated club.
“When we came over initially, it was, ‘We want better,’ which is a plea for better. When we walked away after the few words that we shared, it was a different one,” Vanney said.
“It was ‘We’re behind you and this is what we can do, and this is what it is.’ So, that was, again, without detail, more of less of what it was.”
