GREG VANNEY: You could see by the number of fouls all over the field, referee couldn't find his yellow card for a hell of a long time, so it just plays into their hands. I'll say it over and over again, in this league and if referees don't call fouls, the teams that have the ball are going to lose a lot of games. That's the way it is. Referees don't know, the standard of the penalty foul was not the standard of the foul for the whole game. That's the especially baring part of it all. If that contact was the contact that set the standard for what is a foul in this game, Maya got mucked three or four times on set pieces. It's just so inconsistent and it's hard.
But we made mistakes. We didn't play great. We didn't find the right shape at the beginning of the game, which then afforded them some opportunities, really, to counter. We got back to 1-1 and then we immediately got -- for me, I don't believe it's a penalty. I believe he kicks his leg out to our guy who slides and then goes down and it's minimal at best. My opinion, anybody can have their own opinion.
But we get back the lead instantly, and that's a problem, because again, like you saw, they sat in a relatively low block. They waited to try to turn us over and they broke out, and if we don't give them the lead, it stays 0-0 or they are 1-1 or something, they have to consider coming off of their low block which then opens up the space for us to get after it. We also didn't do ourselves any justice on the night.
And I think because we're chasing the game through large stretches we expose ourselves sometimes in the counters that certainly gave them opportunities because one thing they certainly are is fast and powerful on the other side with loose balls and you give them spaces to love. We obviously did a little bit of a manufactured center back job. I didn't want to risk Martín, he is very, very close to being ready but just it's early in the season and doesn't make sense for Martín it be out there.
So we manufactured some -- tried to manufacture some stuff. I thought he did a solid job. It was not an easy game. But that to me is it. It's a frustrating game where these big games come down to moments and emotions, and when goals happen like those, first one is just us not executing and the second is a tough one to swallow.
Q. The game plan for you guys --
I don't think if it changed the game plan, but I think immediately the guys start to think a little bit like, oh, we have to rush and get this back, and we can be more patient because again they were sitting in a lower block and we could have been more patient. Stayed in our positions a little bit more consistently. That way we can protect ourselves when turnovers happen and I felt like we started moving to too many different spots and then you're displaced when the ball turns over and now we are chasing the wrong direction and that becomes a little bit expensive. Doesn't change the game plan but I think it does change the emotion of the day which affects the thought process sometimes for guys feeling like we have got to go get the ball back right away. Sometimes we have to play the long game and stay consistent.
Q. You have given up more goals on set pieces. Is there something with set pieces or is it different every time?
Well, this one, for me, again, is that we lose the near post. They get from us at the near post, they skip it on, and we lose the back post but it makes all of -- when you lose the near post, which has happened a couple times, it makes all of the zone players a little more passive because they don't know where the deflection is going to go and they can't attack the ball. Our front guys in the zones and the front guys who are supposed to be covering the near post have to do a better job of protecting it because if they get first touch in the front, everybody is vulnerable. It happened a couple games ago and it happened again today. We talked about it but you know, we have to execute. We have to execute. We worked on it. We have to execute. We worked on it.
Q. Yesterday -- (inaudible).
Starts out, ten minutes, you know, because Erik's concussion came the day before. We weren't sure if it was going to be significant or not significant in terms of just he got his in the nose, so you're not really sure what that is going to look like, bloody nose and you're not really sure if that's a concussion ultimately. It was, like I said, game day minus one. We put them back there with this is what we have to go with. So yeah, it wasn't great for the preparation plan but to me, it wasn't the difference in the day?
Q. Getting the right -- (inaudible).
He's played back there a little bit in the back five or back three. I feel like athletically, he can do it back there, and the second is, I wanted Mickey having to deal more with Bouanga and didn't want to have to put somebody else out there trying to dealing with Bouanga. I knew Bogusz is more of -- not a nine, he's a guy that is going to drop off, so I knew we could probably get away with a midfielder next, it's not a true nine that is going to back you in and do all that kind of stuff. We felt like the opportunity -- I thought there was a possibility for us to have a little bit of the ball which gave us -- in the back to help us to control some of the game. So that became the reason. We'll didn't have a lot of time to ponder over it and try different things. You have to go with your gut instinct.
Q. What about (Frank)?
Yeah, good day. Great day for him. He had some tough things to say but he made the moments that he could. Yeah, I think he did what he's supposed to do.
Q. When we talked earlier this week -- you were talking about needing to be more patient -- with how good you guys are in space --
Yeah, for sure. Again, I think -- teams like to attack with speed and pace and there can be those moments inside the game that arrive and we had a couple where we didn't execute as well as we would like to on a couple, especially one really late at the end where I thought we could go with some speed. We didn't execute on it. But when teams take space away from us we do need to be a little more patient and a little bit more responsible to our spaces and positions. We don't need to be running all over the place and we don't need to rush and force balls in areas that are not available to us. We can invite teams out of those spaces and play into those spaces when we open up.
But as we go down a goal, I think there's a little bit more of an enticement, if you will, to try to split things through lines or force things against a team with the power and speed they have in transition, that's what they are looking for and we at times played into that. Sometimes again we just need to be more patient. No team wants to play in their lower defensive block for extended periods of time. At some point they are going to want to try to get pressure to the ball. We just have to be a little bit more patient in some of those moments. The other thing they did is they dropped Bailey back to almost be like a middle center back or create a back five at times which really kind of closed off some spaces at times and we love to counter that with two forwards. But that time and that shift, we had some moments that we were not quite as effective yet as I would like us to be.
Q. The DP seemed more disconnected. Was that because of the low block?
A little bit of that and a little bit of they are fouling half the time to touch the ball. You know, I mean, Joseph was fouled by Palencia probably eight times before he got a yellow card, and then eventually gets a yellow card. So that will slow you down. You don't have any choice.
Again I think sometimes our impatience and trying to rush things and not being patient and getting the wide guys a touch on the ball a little bit more often and trying to split means they just didn't get as many activities and as many touches. Certainly they didn't have the space to run into stretches of the game that we've had in others. I think it's a combination of a certain -- a number of things.
But I think LAFC did what they want to do, which is disrupt as much of what we were trying to do and where we were going, and trying to hit us on the counter and set pieces. Both of those things worked for them today.
Q. What did you think of McCarthy's performance?
Just that he did excellent. He was excellent today. He did what he's supposed do on the day. Yeah, there was nothing more. He's not going to save the corner kick and he's not going to save the penalty pick. He did an excellent job. I was happy for him because I know had he came back here and wants to perform, obviously, in this situation.
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