LA Galaxy Media Conference

Dejan Joveljić Dejan Joveljić

Press Conference

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Los Angeles, California, USA


Q. You're tied in the Golden Boot race in the League, 5-5. What's working for you and what's working for the team and what was the key to the turnaround?

DEJAN JOVELJIC: I'm very happy because we took three points after 2-0 down. At halftime we were talking between each other and with the coach. We made good, good, good, managed to score three goals, it's not too bad. Yeah, great mentality, and especially I'm not sure if you recognize that when I scored the goal, only one guy was celebrating with me I think, and the other nine or eight nine guys were not happy because it's just 2-2. So that's the big difference.

Q. Looked like you and Ricky were figuring out a little pattern because you had the one that you scored that was waved off and then you stayed on for the one that I did score. Was there something happening in terms of your understanding of the space with Ricky?

I know just it's my job to just make a good run and he's going to put the ball in the right place, so I did that two times and unfortunately the first time was off-sides, and the second one was perfect. So it was just easy goal.

Q. You guys did not play a good first half, the first 45 minutes, maybe it was the worst that you guys have played this year. What was it like in halftime. You said it was a good talk but was there belief that you guys could turn it around?

Of course it was belief. I remember that I said, guys, we need just one goal, and everything is going to turn out, and it's like that. We score one goal and we created some chances. In the first half I was thinking, am I going to shoot one ball in this game. You see it's completely two different halfs by two different matches. In the second half, we came out and we killed it.

Q. Five games in a row now that you've scored. What is your thinking going forward here?

My job is always to score. I always thinking about that, and about how I can help the team to take all three points. Yes, I was thinking about how to score. If the team plays like this, if they feed me with the balls, it's going to be a lot more.

Q. You're the longest tenured player on this team. What else feels different from years prior with the Galaxy so far?

I cannot tell you a specific what is that but it's some different energy this year. I mean, this is the great example, when I score the second goal, it's just one guy was celebrating with me. And this here is the different thing. Since I am here, this is our first win here. One game we play 0-0 and other games we lost here. It's a tough place to play and I'm happy because we won all three points in such a hard place.

Q. We saw the picture in the locker room of you guys celebrating after the win. Tough stretch of games how important was this comeback win on the road for these next tough opponents?

This win is very, very important, especially on the road and I think the previous game we should have won at least one out of two, and this is good covered boost and direction. So yeah, we needed that and we are going to keep pushing and working hard, and next game against Seattle is minimum three points.

Q. The team has created a lot of chances in the first few matches and seemed to leave a couple on the table. Today there was not a lot of chances like you said. You were wondering if you were going to be able to shoot in the first half but the chances you guys did get, you guys seemed to take and convert. What was the different in preparation this week? Was anything spoken about in regard to changing your chances?

I mean, there is nothing special. It's always the same preparation depending on which team we are playing against. But we knew that this is hard team, good team, also unbeaten, not any more, but yeah, nothing special. I mean, every game is the same game. We want all three points, we want to play our game. I mean, other teams, they need to think how they are going to play against us, not us against them.

Q. Excellent goal. You said it was an easy goal. Go into detail what made it easy?

When the ball is perfect, it's easy to score. I looked for its keeper, I just shoot next to him. Very good ball, also, I made very good first touch and after that, it wasn't that hard to score.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
142596-1-1003 2024-03-24 03:46:00 GMT

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