The Burden of Continuity: LAFC's Coaching Change and the First Crisis of the Son Era

On Sunday night in Texas, LAFC lost 1-2 to FC Dallas. But the real match was happening in the boardroom. LAFC announced head coach Marc Dos Santos had been dismissed. John Thorrington, the GM who had appointed Dos Santos as Steve Cherundolo's successor nine months earlier, delivered the statement. His words were full of gratitude. That gratitude felt almost ironic. LAFC are a 2026 expansion club. They have now had three coaches; Dos Santos was the third. He had been Cherundolo's assistant for four campaigns. The plan was continuity through internal promotion. But that continuity became the fans' frustration. After a marquee signing like Son Heung-min, supporters wanted new tactics and a new attacking structure. Under Dos Santos, that expectation was not met. The report says the squad is led by Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. Whether Son's name is on the official LAFC roster is not something I could verify at this moment. That matters because the whole story rests on that squad structure. From years of watching matches, I can say a star-dependent team's first crisis is often structural rather than coaching. The numbers say Dos Santos's team are sixth in the Western Conference with an 11-9-8 record. They have one win in their last nine matches in all competitions and a 1-4-5 MLS record since July. After their CONCACAF Champions League exit in May, the decline accelerated. The opening 3-0 win over defending champion Inter Miami looked impressive. But it was not repeated. Opponents soon solved Dos Santos's initial template. In my rewatch, the problem was not possession or passing; it was positional error. Many attacks broke down before the ball could reach someone like Son. Son did not arrive; he was already moving before the pass. But the ball did not come. In empty stadiums, I could hear pressing triggers before the goals. This match was not in an empty stadium, but the tape told the same story. When the opponent's defensive line was high, LAFC could create pressure. When the line dropped, spaces vanished. A team built around sprints from Bouanga and Son could not break down a deep block. Dos Santos had several problems. An internal hire meant living in Cherundolo's shadow. The Son-era expectations were huge for a first-year coach. And in a star-heavy squad, defensive responsibilities often disappeared. I have no xG or PPDA data from this report, so I am speaking from results alone. But the run of results is clear enough: 1-4-5 means the winning habit broke; one win in nine means confidence cracked. The press box doubted me, so I rewatched the second half twice. Live, the 3-0 win looked like proof that the team were fine. In the rewatch, that win owed more to the opponent's passivity than to LAFC's actual quality. The dismissal is not complicated: one win in nine is enough to end a coach's tenure. But the club's real illness is not Dos Santos; it is the hiring philosophy. Two consecutive internal appointments mean a repetition of the same thinking. When fans ask for new tactics, a continuity hire walks in the opposite direction. The hype around Son showed the club invested in marketing, but not in a structure to make that star effective. Dos Santos was not the sole architect of this failure. Thorrington took the risk of internal promotion. If that risk fails, responsibility falls on the process as much as the coach. Fans now need more than a coaching change; they want a change in the hiring model. The missing variable here is structure versus execution. The squad was described as talented, but talent turns into results through correct positioning, timing and passing. Dos Santos's team never showed that consistently. Thorrington's position is now fascinating: he owns two internal hires. Now his third choice will define his own future. The biggest question now is the successor. An external hire would reset the club's model. Another internal hire would deepen fan anger. Given Son's age and contract, LAFC do not have much time. The playoff run-in is ahead; they need a fast, brave decision. My old experience tells me the worst mistake in such moments is rushing to pick a familiar face. If LAFC truly want to benefit from the Son era, they must look at their own structure through outside eyes. The next few matches will show whether an interim coach can change the team's shape. If the same pattern continues, we will know the problem was not the coach; it was the structure.