“It is impossible for me to do everything!” David Villa voices his frustration after NYCFC’s humiliating 5-1 defeat to LA Galaxy.

August 24, 2015

What was meant to be a debut of two of the most interesting Major League Soccer teams, infested with world-class soccer stars on both sides, turned out to be a mighty display of force for LA Galaxy, and nothing less than a disaster to expansion side New York City FC.

After an impressive start, the New York side pretty much imploded 15 minutes into the game, with a scattered and confused defense, and a helpless midfield that did not manage to move the ball forward to LA territory, let alone create chances.

David Villa was playing on his own up front, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Mix Diskerud, Thomas McNamara and Kwando Poku underneath with the intention of creating an attacking midfield.

Very little of this intention every materialized, as the trio generated between them no more than 3 passes inside Galaxy’s box for the entire match.

Villa ended up taking 10 of NYCFC’s 13 shots (compared to Galaxy’s 23), and took all of the 3 on-target shots for his team (compared to Galaxy’s 12).  He also scored New York’s only goal for the match, converting a penalty kick in the second half.

“I obviously did many great things in my career,” Villa told reporters after the match, “but I need the people around me to do things also”.  He added: “when I have two primary defenders marking me, it is impossible for only me to do everything against the other team”.

About the course of the game Villa said: “In the first 20 minutes we had big offensive plays, we then all of a sudden retrieved back too far from goal”.  On his outlook he said: “Obviously this is all part of the game.  I really try hard not to let frustration get to me, but after a game like that, I’m surely bothered”.

Another source of disappointment in yesterday’s game was Kwando Poku, who stunned earlier this week with his performance against Columbus Crew, but expectations from Poku in LA failed to materialize.

Poku said that he did his best to turn New York’s fortunes in the second half: “When we were down 2-0 and then 3-0, I thought we just had to push forward because we were already down.  That’s why I tried to push forward but it didn’t work that way”.

New York City FC is next hosting Columbus Crew at Yankee Stadium this coming Saturday.