Portland 0, LA Galaxy 0
Q. Just your thoughts on the game?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I thought we had good control of the game for, you know, 80 minutes, 70-something minutes, and then it started to get very wide open and a little bit chaotic there at the end. Again the game comes down to moments. We've got to put away some chances that we had inside of that 80 minutes where we have good control of things and we were unable to.
I would say, yeah, I was pleased with the possession. I was pleased with our ball movement. The issue we run into here on days like today is the field is like playing on Velcro: It's dry; it doesn't move fast. And when you're a team that tries to go from a possession to then speeding up tempo to try to create goal-scoring chances and score goals, the field is just slow. So you have to be very precise. Your timing has to be excellent. A lot of things have to go for you in those finals actions to get clear chances.
So I felt like that, some of that timing, some of that speed in the final actions, we needed a little bit more because we were also playing against the field a little bit, and that became a little bit of a challenge.
Having said that, we were in some decent spots. There was a couple times I felt like we needed to release some shots and we held on to the ball a little too long and then they got into positions to block so we then over-pass. Obviously we hit the post but there were some really good moments in there. Again, I thought we had good control of the game.
Also, sometimes it's difficult when you play a team that's just really direct and then you have to deal with a very direct ball and then you have to break down nine and ten guys on a consistent basis, because where they were losing the balls majority of the times because of how direct they were, were out in front of them; and then you have to break down their whole team. And again, when you have to do that over and over and over again in a slow field, it just gets bogged down.
I was pleased with our guys. I thought the effort was great. I thought our awareness around the field was really good. Again, I just think we needed to change speeds in that final action and just get more good chances and punish them. We have to finish some things off.
Q. Your thoughts on Lucas Calegari and his debut with the club?
GREG VANNEY: For a guy who got off the plane not too long ago and was thrown into his first 90 minutes, I thought he was exceptional. Very good, smart defensively, again, positional play inside of the possession, all those kinds of things was really good.
I think again, just getting the timing of things and understanding what his teammates are looking for sometimes are things that are going to continue to come. I thought he -- again, not easy to step into your first game and to be on turf in Portland and to play as solid and consistent as he did for -- for 90 minutes. I mean, that's an exceptional start to things.
Q. My last question, I think during the four games so far this season, you guys have yet to score in the second half. Is that concerning to you?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I guess whenever you don't score, whether it's the first or second half, it's a little bit concerning.
I would take a step back and look at, again, I don't think we played great in the first couple of games. I also think we have a little bit of firepower that is not on the team, inside the team today, and some of those guys have been missing all the games.
So you know, yes and no. I'm not overly concerned about it because I know what we are capable of and I know where we will be once we get -- once we fill out the roster. I was pleased again with the fact that we really controlled the majority of the game and the way I would like us to control the majority of the game.
Again, now it comes to scoring the first goal and building upon that first goal. I also like that we -- I thought JK made a huge save at the end. He was caught by surprise there when the ball slipped through Martin's legs and he made a great reaction save. Outside of that, he didn't have much to do.
I thought again as a group we defended well with and without the ball, except for I don't like when things get wide open like they did at the end. I think we need to be a little bit disciplined in that stretch of the game; and we make sure we get out of here with one or three, and that one, that got a little bit fuzzy there at the end.
Q. The trio on the back line with Neal, Edwards and Cáceras, what have you liked about that group the last two or three weeks?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, good consistency. In the run of play, they have given up no goals in the last three games. We gave up one in a set piece in the last game but they have managed some situations in crisis in the previous games. I thought they helped us to keep control of things through the majority of this game, so they have just -- they have done a nice job.
This game, we used Rah a little bit deeper and kept him a little bit more as a control player; and previous games, we used Kelvin as a little bit more of a control player. But I think that has helped us sometimes to manage some of these transitions, and it's kept us a little more solid.
Again, I think sometimes that just goes with repetition and working together and getting on the same page with certain situations, and some of that is just, you know, the guys have had a good, solid run at it.
But when we were better with the ball as, we were much of the day, it really helps you on the defensive side. Until the latter part of the game, we were not turning the balls over with guys running forward and guys leaving positions, until we got a little bit anxious at the end of game.
But prior to that, our possessions and the quality of our possessions, they weren't able to get much in the transition unless they wanted it and just hammered it our back line and tried to get somebody running on to it. But again, I thought our control of the transitions was solid tonight which helped us.
Q. The last three consecutive draws, at least the last two, does it frustrate you or disappoint you the way you've come away with, basically, just draws the last three weeks here?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I mean, the home draw was definitely disappointing. I think we deserved more out of it but also it's a home game and you want to get three points.
We played three of our four games on the road to start the season so far. That's not the easiest way to get momentum. Sometimes if you get go play three at home, one on the road, you can start the season off building momentum, but that's not really been the case for us. We have had to go to some tough places to play and, you know, those games are not going to be in our future because we are getting them behind us. I think the home one we would have loved to have got three point out of.
This one, I think we -- again, with some final actions and the way we controlled the game, this was three points worthy, again, if we could get that final action done with our overall performance.
But again, considering -- all things considered in the grand scheme of things, to play three on a road and to take a point today isn't worst thing in the world, but I think we could have gotten three out of it.
A couple weeks ago, going to Kansas City really grinding out a point was a really big point, a great point. We are three games unbeaten in this stretch, we would have loved to have the three at home for sure. But the guys are grinding through what is -- one of these stretches where a lot of games are on the road and you have some guys missing; and yeah, it's been from the character perspective and the growth, I like where the guys' heads are at right now.
We just need to be a little bit more efficient in some of these areas on the field, and especially the final third.
Q. Your dominance showed in how little Klinsmann really had to do much of the game, and in the 89th minute they get into the middle and he makes that save. I know he feels he's ready to be a starter in this league. Your thoughts on what he did today and how ready he is?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I think today, he benefitted. I think he was part of a good performance. But he also benefitted from the performance in front of him which was good which is what you want. You want that at a goalkeeper. Don't call on me too many times but the one time you call on me, which he did tonight, he was ready, and he made the save.
That's sometimes the most difficult part of being a goalkeeper when you don't see much action, and then you have this one sort of moment that doesn't look like a moment and becomes a moment instantly in front of you; and with great reaction that showed in his quickness, his athleticism, his size, to make that play.
I thought his distribution buy and large was smart and good over the course of the day, which is probably most of what he had to do. He took a couple balls out of the air which I love. I think that should be one of his great strengths because he's such a physical specimen with incredible athleticism. Again the more he has days like this, the more confidence he builds; the more confidence he builds, the more presence you get behind your back line.
So all those things are good for a keeper who doesn't have a ton of matches under his belt to continue to build on those things that he need to become the keeper that I think he's capable of becoming.
Q. You've got a lot of missing pieces and some pieces that haven't arrived. At what point do you expect to be able to do what it is you want to do? How far off are you from that?
GREG VANNEY: Again, I thought for, you know, three quarters of the field today, I thought we were quite good. In the final actions and the finishing zone, we would call it, again, I felt like we -- the game slowed down too much when it needed to get faster. We needed to release shots and we looked for an extra pass. We did a lot of things where we lost time and speed, which makes it difficult to create clear chances.
So that's one thing that we can continue to improve upon. Some of that is going to be, again, we continue to get guys back and as the group continues to get sharper, that stuff is going to come along.
But I was pleased with the group's ability to control the majority of the game. I would like us to be just a tad bit more professional about closing that thing out in the end and not allowing it to get so open but I think those are the things that we need to keep winning these little battles as we continue to build the team and get guys back and get everybody moving forward and playing road games and all this stuff.
So again, it's -- the improvements are there. I'm seeing them week-to-week. We certainly controlled the game today in positive ways.
Q. I guess what I'm asking is your options are limited right now. You don't have all of your options in front of you. When do you think you will have all your options and this team will be in a position to start building some momentum as a team that you can orchestrate however it is you like? Are we a month or two out of that?
GREG VANNEY: I think we're close. I mean, guys are going to start coming back or coming in here in the next week to two weeks. Those guys, you know, who missed a portion of the beginning of our season probably need to continue to get their legs under them and get re-acclimated into the group, and how quickly they can adapt and get themselves into that will help us out partner.
I don't know what the timeline is, but I like when guys start coming in and arriving and getting into the group and getting into the training environment, then I certainly feel like we'll start to make those final steps that we want to continue to make.
Yeah, and I ultimately believe that when it's all said and done, we'll be a team that's quite deep. The issue right now is just, again, the importance of and the qualities of the guys that are missing or yet to come in are going to contribute to that depth, and also that quality that will help us to continue to get better.
I don't know if it's a month; if it's weeks; I don't know exactly what it is, but again, I feel like what we have got to do is whatever group we have at any given moment, we've got to keep taking steps forward and I thought today was another step forward in some ways.
Q. The Velcro field, the dryness of that field, do you feel like that was targeted to you guys to slowdown?
GREG VANNEY: Certainly it doesn't hurt. I don't know if it's targeted. Usually they water the field. I didn't notice them watering the field today, and the guys said they didn't water the field. Sometimes maybe in the Pacific Northwest, you get a fair amount of rain. Today the rain stayed away which kept it a little bit dry.
I don't know, I don't play that game too much. All I know is the field was dry and that makes it slow, and if it makes it slow, it always benefits the defending teams when the field is slow. That's facts, reality, anything, especially if you keep the ball on the ground and you try to play; it slows down the game.
It doesn't matter. We have to figure out ways to create chances to score goals to play within that. Just for me, it felt like when we got into those final actions, we weren't fast enough as a group but also on the surface to be as clear about our final actions as we would like to be and need to be.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports