The LA Galaxy’s Goal Production

While we patiently wait for the Galaxy’s plans for 2021 to materialize, there is an area where the team needs to take a hard look at: overall goal production.

There has been a steady decline of goal contribution coming from the players positioned on the front lines for LA.

Much of this has to do with the severe lack of depth in the attacking line. However, since 2018 the Galaxy have seen a decrease in available strikers and goals for the team, especially since they no longer have the never-ending goal services from the enigmatic Zlatan Ibrahimović.

A Brief Analysis of the Galaxy’s Attacking Line for the Past Three Years

2018 Season

Source: LAGalaxy.com

In 2018, although the team did not make the playoffs, they saw more goals coming from all of the forwards on the team.  There was more depth in this position and the difference that it made it clear from the statistics shown above. There were three players that had scored 10 goals or more, something that has not been seen in the past two seasons from LA.

That being said, aside from Zlatan Ibrahimović, there was also a pure striker available who could fill in the gap in Ola Kamara, who had 14 goals on the season. Romain Alessandrini was another attacking power that the Galaxy relied on, as he was not only able to make assists, but he contributed to the goal numbers as well.

2019 Season

Source: LAGalaxy.com

The Galaxy made the playoffs in 2019 and even won their first playoff game against Minnesota United, but it was clear that the main tactic that defined them during their campaign was to ultimately, “Get the ball to Zlatan”.  The Super-Swede had notched 30 goals last season, setting a new franchise record.

Unfortunately, no other player on the team even came close to this, with Uriel Antuna in second place with six goals. Without Zlatan, it would be difficult to say if the Galaxy would have even qualified for a playoff spot.

2020 Season

Source: LAGalaxy.com

In a previous post, we discussed the things that the team needs to change, but the Galaxy have had very minimal attacking power and it is evident that overall production has decreased. For 2020, Cristian Pavon was single-handedly the only real offensive threat that the Galaxy had as he led the team with 10 goals. Thankfully, he remained healthy and managed to play every minute of every match this year. Sebastian Lletget contributed with six goals, followed by a couple from the young Ethan Zubak.

Missing from this list was the man who was thought to be the “replacement” for Zlatan, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. The striker has only scored 2 goals since coming to the Galaxy.

If the target for next season will be to feed the ball to Chicharito, I would venture to say that the Galaxy need to add quality strikers alongside him in order for the entire team to see an increase in goal production and most importantly, to see success.

The main takeaway from these statistics is that there are fewer goals coming from other parts of the field, but more importantly from the forwards.

This exposes their lack of depth, and goal production needs to desperately be spread onto more players on the field.

Let’s hope that this offseason sees the front office make adjustments for the Galaxy.

Featured Image: The Canadian Press/TSN