Geniuses can see the invisible, imagine the unthinkable and do the impossible. Often misunderstood, isolated and maligned, names like Copernicus, Bacon, Turing and Edison come to mind. They changed the course of history, lived a life of controversy and died penniless.
For every famous genius, dozens never succeed, succumbing to insanity, depression, addiction or worse. Many of us know someone, extraordinarily gifted but unable to find a niche, remarkable at one thing but incapable of developing the skills to make it useful. Because every genius possesses a unique gift, a one-of-kind ability, they live a solitary life. No companion could ever hope to truly understand.
Geniuses can learn to understand others but cannot expect others to understand them. Therein lies the problem for the Galaxy brain-trust, Will Kuntz and Greg Vanney. They cannot fully understand what Riqui Puig sees and anticipates at breakneck speed with the ball dancing on his toes. They will never know why he tried the impossible pass because they cannot comprehend what Riqui perceives. But can they help him to develop an understanding with his teammates, helping them so they can help him?
Perhaps a smaller dose of genius succeeds where pure genius fails. Take Lionel Messi, who sees several seconds ahead of the present and influences the outcome with and without the ball. He relates well enough to his teammates to help them or put them in a position to help him. He incorporates the skills of his teammates into what he sees. His genius makes him special. His ability to draw others into it makes him the GOAT.
Aside from perhaps Maradona, no player comes to mind who can pull away from fast defenders with the ball and play any kind of pass at any moment like Puig. While Messi manipulates the spaces and passing angles available, Riqui changes the dimensions of the spaces and creates new angles. He can dribble the ball through a thicket of defenders and leave the entire defense in a desperate scramble to catch up.
Some Galaxy players adapt to his unique qualities better than others. So far in 2024 Puig created more chances for winger Gabriel Pec and striker Dejan Jovelic than wingers Joseph Paintsil and Diego Fagundez. He combines better with fullback Julian Aude and midfielder Gaston Brugman than he does fullback Miki Yamane and Mark Delgado. Several important giveaways occurred when attempting to combine with holding midfielder Edwin Cerrillo.
Despite evident clashes between possession-based style favored by the Galaxy and Puig’s swashbuckling escapades, the system and the coach may not be the problem. As Puig integrated into the first team at Barcelona, he gradually faded to the bench. He could not, or perhaps wasn’t given the chance, to adapt his genius to the style of play favored by manager Xavi Hernandez. Eventually for financial reasons, they sold him to the Galaxy.
The 2023 Galaxy season may be remembered as one of the greatest series of unfortunate events to plague any team since the founding of the North American Soccer League. Kuntz and Vanney obviously want Puig to be the center of the Galaxy, spending big on two DP wingers to help Puig work his magic. With the Galaxy sitting fourth in the Western Conference at the halfway point, even after leaving four or five points on the table, the approach is working.
Vanney does not criticize Puig like Xavi did. Rather he keeps focusing on those things that improve the way the team plays. He wants his wingers to stretch the field. Paintsil terrorized defenses early in the campaign until the wear and tear of a long European season shut him down. JP will be back after the international break.
He wants Pec to receive the ball running at the defense. When Pec drops back to defend and quickly transitions, Puig finds him running at pace. Pec’s goals and assists came for the most part from exactly what Vanney says he wants to see.
He wants the team to play quickly with one and two touch passing until they can create overloads in the attacking third. The Galaxy scored between six and ten of their goals doing exactly that, depending on what counts as an overload versus a transition goal.
When the Galaxy play out of the back, he wants them to split the lines with incisive passes and advance the ball. At least four goals from Fagundez and Jovelic resulted from that kind of play. Vanney also talks about creating transition moments and breaking quickly. Those moments highlight Puig’s genius, especially late in games when the Galaxy need a goal.
When the Galaxy defenders stay connected to the midfield like Vanney wants, they continuously recover the ball with the repress, wearing out the opponent like they did in Vancouver. All of the elements that Vanney describes work extremely well when the Galaxy execute them. In short, Vanney-ball works.
But the genius of Puig also works. It creates a set of problems that opponents rarely see. When Puig escapes three or four defenders in his own half with acres of space to attack, it puts the opponent in panic mode. If the Galaxy could be more patient when Puig breaks the lines, allowing their defenders to join the attack, they would not expose the their own defense. Vanney repeatedly points this out during press conferences. When the Galaxy show patience, they score some of the best team goals recorded this season.
The best teams in the league, Miami, Real Salt Lake, Minnesota and Vancouver could not overcome quality and resilience of this Galaxy group. Vanney has them working together and believing that they can get a result, even when trailing late in games. It appears that the Galaxy brass believe that Riqui can integrate his genius into this roster and Galaxy style of play. Puig himself seems willing to work at it.
If the Galaxy can push the Marco Reus deal over the line, a world class field general will join Riqui on the pitch every day. Whether at Rot Weiss Ahlen, Monchengladbach or Dortmund, the whole team always played better with Reus on the roster. Reus can play behind the striker or anywhere across the attacking third. His movement always balances the team and he can repress with the best in the world.
Now that fans see a Galaxy roster full of worthy players, they want to see results immediately. Vanney finally has the complementary pieces he needed to take advantage of Puig’s unique gifts. The team still falls back into unhelpful habits at times, but after the international break, Puig will take the field with all the pieces at his disposal. Perhaps a bit more patience is in order.
Kuntz and Vanney seem to believe that the Galaxy can find the balance between the high octane transition game that Puig creates and the cohesive team dynamics Vanney coaches. They see Puig as the centerpiece of a team so powerful, flexible and unpredictable, they can beat any tactic thrown at them. The players seem to realize that they have a once in a lifetime chance to play with a genius.