If LA Galaxy's Greg Vanney is on the hot seat, he shouldn't be | OneFootball

The folks over at Goal.com took a look at managers who they believe could be the next candidates to potentially be given their marching orders after the dismissals of Laurent Courtois and Peter Vermes set the 2025 coaching carousel off earlier this year.

Among them is LA Galaxy boss Greg Vanney, who stunningly is still seeking his first win this season after helping the Galaxy to their 2024 MLS Cup triumph.

But the use of the word "stunningly" is only meant to indicate how drastically the Galaxy's form has shifted since that triumphant day, not that it should be so surprising when you dig a bit deeper. And those who think otherwise are underselling just how different the personnel Vanney has to pick from has been in 2025.

Yes, by now everyone knows that the Galaxy are playing without 2024 MVP Riqui Puig for most of the season, after he suffered an ACL tear in the late stages of a Western Conference final triumph. But it's almost as though his absence has obscured just how shorthanded the Galaxy have been.

Missing way more than Puig

Seattle Sounders v Los Angeles Galaxy | Shaun Clark/GettyImages

With Dejan Joveljic departing to Sporting Kansas City in a move fueled by MLS roster constraints, and several other regulars being hit with injuries, the 11 players who started that West final have played only 4,989 combined minutes so far, or 50.4% of the total minutes available.

Two of the three substitutes in that game, Mark Delgado and Gaston Brugman, were also among the offseason departures.

This is far more of a roster rule-driven overhaul than most understand. And while maybe the Galaxy should have a couple more points on the board, these kinds of struggles are reasonable in the context of a season that began without a trio of players -- Puig, Joveljic and Joseph Paintsil -- that scored 55.8% of your goals. (Paintsil began the season on the injured list but has since returned).

The critic might suggest Gabriel Pec and Marco Reus should be doing more to pick up the slack. But while Reus has looked ineffective at times, he's also been hurt. And Pec, as good as he was in 2024, clearly benefitted from being able to play the flank against defenses that were terrified of what Puig could do in the center of the park.

Vanney shouldn't be guaranteed the Galaxy job forever. That's madness in any pro sport. But he deserves a considerable amount of leeway given that he's overseeing a considerable rebuilding, not a minor retooling. If it's a year from now and little has changed, then we can have the conversation.