L.A. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit had serious questions to ask of his more experienced players following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls. Gullit didn’t name names, but David Beckham and Landon Donovan were both conspicuous by their lack of influence. Poor individual performances notwithstanding, what the Galaxy was missing, Gullit said, was leadership. “Today, not all the senior players were having a good game,” the Dutchman told ESPN’s Andrea Canales. “You need players who tell everyone, ‘Stay tight, go a little bit backwards and do your job.'”
Gullit’s talking about the moment when, after tying the match, the Galaxy players lost their concentration and New York scored. The response to scoring a goal, particularly a late goal, should be to tighten up the defense, but after the kick-off, the Galaxy players, Beckham included, pressed forward down the right, leaving a hole which the Red Bulls exploited in a counterattack that eventually led to Juan Pablo Angel’s goal.
“You see the possibility [for an attack on goal] and you tell them, ‘OK, use your head,’ and then you give a goal away immediately after that,'” said Gullit. “That is frustrating. It’s a little bit lack of leadership in moments like that. That costs you the game. It’s a pity.” Asked if situations like that made him wish he were still playing, Gullit said. “The moment — you see it coming…If you were there, you would know what to do in those situations. But that is because you have more experience.”