Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit has been a lot more forthright with visiting reporters from Europe than he has been with the local ink-stained wretches -- or perhaps the locals have simply not been asking the correct questions.

Over the weekend, for instance, in a story that ran in England's Sunday Times, Gullit bemoaned the all-too-frequently amateur nature of the Galaxy operation.

"I'm sure that when people think of the Galaxy the picture that comes to mind is not of our staff making phone calls to friends on Friday to see if they can play in a reserve game on Sunday," Gullit told writer Brian Doogan. "But, strange as it may seem, this is the reality."

The Galaxy did not have enough players and had to play with only 10 men in a reserve game against Colorado in Denver. The following weekend, the team plucked a ticket salesman out of the front office to make up the numbers in a reserve game against San Jose.

It is this sort of shambolic organization -- brought on in part by injuries, in part by Galaxy inefficiency and lack of foresight, and in part by MLS rules that limit the amount of minutes a player can play in a 48-hour period -- that has left Gullit shaking his head.

"We laugh about it a little bit, but in the end it's not a laughing matter," he said.

"I'm not trying to change it yet, I'm trying to adapt to it. But in the end I'll say, 'You need to do things in a certain way because otherwise it's not serious.' Really, it's ridiculous."

Read between the lines of that statement and the message is clear: Either things improve or the Galaxy will be looking for a new coach before too long.

Gullit also is not thrilled by the level of MLS talent coming out of the college ranks.

"When these players come into the professional game . . . it means that I have to go back to basics with them," he said. "They're just rough diamonds and they don't have the tactical vision."

The reserve team is where the learning is supposed to take place. It's not meant to be a place where a ticket salesman can put on a Galaxy jersey and call himself a teammate of David Beckham.

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The last time Sigi Schmid had a team in first place in MLS, he was fired, so perhaps this is not the moment to congratulate the Columbus Crew coach on his 100th MLS victory.

The former UCLA and Galaxy mentor became only the second coach in league history to notch 100 regular-season wins when the Crew shut out the defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo, 1-0, on Saturday.

That put the 55-year-old Schmid in the same company as U.S. national team Coach Bob Bradley, who won 124 regular-season games with the Chicago Fire, New York Red Bulls and Chivas USA before taking over the U.S. team.

Schmid, who was cast aside by the Galaxy in 2005 even though the team led the Western Conference standings, said reaching the century mark was not that significant to him. "It means I've been around for a little while," he told reporters in Columbus. "It means I'm old. It also means I've had some good players and some good teams.

"The one number I do know is that I've got 16 wins in the playoffs, and I want to add to that one. I know that's the highest of any coach in the league, and I want to stretch that one out a little bit."

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Chivas USA Coach Preki is unlikely to second-guess his decision to send Honduran midfielder Amado Guevara packing last season, or his subsequent decision this season to trade the player's rights to Toronto FC.

But Preki, after three consecutive losses, will have taken note that Guevara scored two second-half goals Saturday to lead Toronto to its third consecutive victory for the first time in team history, a 2-0 home triumph over Kansas City.

Why is Chivas USA faltering?

Preki said there were several reasons for Saturday night's 5-2 drubbing by the Galaxy, pointing to the defense in particular.

"Our sharpness in front of our goal hasn't been the best," he said. "The team made mistakes all over the place and we got punished for them."

For comments or questions on soccer, e-mail: grahame.jones@latimes.com