David Beckham stormed out after suffering the embarrassment of being substituted at half-time during LA Galaxy's 3-1 home defeat to New England Revolution on Saturday night.
The former England captain, 36, did not speak to reporters as he left the Home Depot Center after being told by boss Bruce Arena to make way for youngster Michael Stephens.
Beckham flirted with a move back to Europe with megabucks Paris Saint-Germain this summer but elected to sign a new two-year deal in California.
But the decision looks to have backfired with the defending MLS Cup champions having lost two of their opening three games of the new season.
'I'm sure he is not pleased about it,' said Arena. 'But that's not the issue in the game. The issue in the game was that 11 players from New England soundly outplayed 11 players from the Galaxy. And coach Arena admitted that the decision to haul off Beckham at half-time had angered the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan star.
'I don't [know] of any players that would be happy about coming out at half-time. I just felt we needed a little bit more.
'We needed to make a change in the midfield. It was purely a coach's decision.
'I couldn't change 11 players. That's what I told the team at half-time. If I had 11 substitutions, I would have considered that. I can't give you all the answers right now, that's for sure. It wasn't good.'
Robbie Keane, who captained the Galaxy on Saturday with Landon Donovan out injured, demanded an improvement from his team-mates.
He said: 'We did the exact same as what we have been doing in the last few games, conceding sloppy goals.
'It is stuff you do when you are a kid. We didn't do it properly, so I guess we have only got ourselves to blame.
'It will be a long week for the boys. It is up to everyone to pick their heads up and be men and get on with it. It wasn't good enough from any of us.'