LA Galaxy 2, Real Salt Lake 2
Q. First of all, can we get your thoughts on that last few seconds there, Riqui out, ball went to Miguel?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I thought we were, you know -- well, we can talk about the whole game later I guess but the last few seconds we were all over them. Especially on the right side, we just had numbers over there and we were constantly working to get behind them, to get crossing situations, to try to get some numbers in the box. About three or four minutes before, I had told Maya to try to get in the box if we had sustained possession, see we could get another big body in the box and Eddy to just stay and cover him.
So those guys on the right side were just kind of working together to see if they could get something to look like a reasonable look across. The ball came back -- I thought we had a chance to cross it a little bit earlier, glad we didn't. When it came back to Riqui, he didn't even have a great look. He just kind of hooked it around the back of the line. And whenever you do that, it's just abut who can get their first.
And Maya was on the back side of Miguel, which means that the center backs are all occupied, and so it just means that Miguel was able to get a step and a long leg in front of his man. And as the keeper came, it was one of those balls that's a tweener, a tough one to read. And Miguel was the first one to get a touch on it and it found it's way into the back of the net.
But I felt like the guys were working hard for it. Scoring a goal was not easy for us tonight. It was not our night when it came to that side of things; the amount of chances that we had over the course of the game was pretty significant I felt like and we just were not able to execute at the right speed or put the ball in the right spot. But we were able to stick with it and get something out of it.
Q. The game itself, the first 15, 20 minutes, if you put two away, whatever. But then you look at the scoreboard at halftime, you're down 2-0 and you have to fight and scrap for something.
It was a tough one. It was an interesting game because I thought our start was outstanding. I thought the first 20 minutes or so, I don't know exactly what time they scored, but I thought we were excellent. I thought the ball was moving. We were getting into good spots. We were getting behind them. We were getting into what looked like good finishing chances. We had a couple of chances, like you said, maybe two, three, maybe more if you consider like half-chances, and we just couldn't get it but you felt the momentum was definitely in our favor.
And then you know, we get kind of a counterattack sucker punch on the other side where Maya is one-on-one at the back side and this is Arango, he's powerful, gets up in the air and he got out first and he got over the top of him. One chance, one goal, bang, thanks for coming, you're down 1-0 after such a great start.
I think as we go through the next part, this is the thing that I think our team is still learning and maturing and growing up together, which is, bad things can happen to you in the game, and you've got to stick with the plan and you've got to stick with the program and you've got to trust each other and trust the process that you've been in because it was working for us at the beginning.
But then we get a little bit all over. We start to try to force things to get ourselves back in it, and then we start turning over balls. We start exposing ourselves in transition and we start rotating into random spots and that's what leads to some of our vulnerabilities in transition. Then we end and a lot of energy trying to just deal with certain situations and it became for maybe the last 10 or 15 minutes of the first half it just became like a little bit -- a lot chaotic and just kind of random. My message at the group at halftime was, it's counterintuitive because you're down 2-0, but it's like slow down. Slow down and get back to doing the right things. Get to the right spots. Let the ball move.
45 minutes is a long time, and in the first 45 minutes we probably had four or five good chances. So if we continue to execute them the right way, we can get the chances we need to get ourselves back into this game.
And defensively we were so stretched out in the first half, too, where we were trying to chase some of our set presses and the distance between front and back was so big, and wanted us to stay together a little bit more. Maybe to find at times when we could get more man-to-man in the set press, we were able to win some balls and I think we were able to build a little momentum in the second half to get the first goal. Gabe got us back into things, and we stuck with it and we were able to get the second one down at the end.
But again I think it's part of the growth and maturity of our group to stick together, stick with the plan. Don't try to force things. Trust over 90 minutes that what we do is going to really be successful. It could have been tonight.
On a better night with better execution, we could have won this game on a bigger number. They are a good team and they have some really good players. But I think with the amount of chances that we created especially through the early portions of the game this could have been a really different feeling game.
Q. Dejan came back from injury tonight. What did you see from him and his return?
It was nice to get him back. He was in some good spots. He linked us up pretty good. He was moving well. Doesn't seem like he was quite as sharp as he will continue to get after being away for two weeks, and not have a ton of finishing and final action stuff this week because we don't want to overload him too much and we know we are going into a busy week so he didn't have a lot.
But his actions, movements, things like that were good. I also felt like just from a physical standpoint it was going to be a heavy load, as not really training for really eight of those 12 days and then putting out a shift in a night like tonight it's going to be a physical challenge. It's nice to have him back. I think again as he integrates and continues to get sharp, he's going to help us a lot.
Q. The team is still unbeaten at home, but you found yourselves in a hole early today. Do you feel like it was two points gained because you were able to rescue something or two points dropped because you gave away opportunities in the first half?
Yeah, I appreciate that. Again, games can have different feelings at the start, to the finish. There's a lot of ebbs and flows in this one. You know, early on I felt like, man, we are really playing well. The ball is really moving nice. We are creating things. We are organized underneath our possessions. We are recovering balls back.
And I feel like, can we really sustain this for the larger part of the game because if we can, then we've turned over a major stone in our development. We were unable to get that thing that rewards you, which is a lot of good play from early on that's important.
The thing that I think we still need to, as I said before, we still need to be able to manage adversity a little bit cleaner with our group. And that's -- so at the beginning, I thought, wow, we have a real chance to not just score one but to score multiple. We've really found our ways through them and to dangerous spots.
But then as the game progresses and you start to get disjointed and now you find yourself down two, it becomes a different challenge. Now it's to battle yourself back into the game and to remain unbeaten and to just one goal at a time to get yourself back into things.
At the end, I'm pleased. It was the last play of the game. I'm pleased we took a point and not to be too greedy but the game early on, as I said before, if we execute there's more in this game for us.
I was pleased with our start, though. I've got to be honest. At home, I felt like we have started really well over the course of the season, and games earlier we have been able to get goals early on in, which has set a good tone for us. But tonight we were not able to finish.
Q. You came back from a two-goal deficit today and you've done that a couple times this season. Seems to me like that sort of fight might not have been in some past teams. Wonder if you see the character of the team developing especially with -- you out-shot them 21-10 or 21-12, ten corners but you never quit against a great defensive team. Can you speak about the character, and in addition, the Paintsil situation, what's going on with Joseph?
We'll start with the resiliency and the fight in the group. I think this group has shown that this year. I think, look, last year, there were so many things going on that I'm not even going to refer to that.
I think this group has shown that they believe they can score. They believe that they can get back into a game. It's just a matter about how we go about doing that, right, and that to me is really kind of the discussion tonight. When we try to force ourselves back into a game we become more vulnerable. When we play in the moment and play the game, we actually are good enough to create those chances and to bring ourselves into the game.
It's just, again, trusting kind of the process and when all of the guys are out there, I feel like the game flows nicely. And different guys are set up for chances through different parts of the game. It's not like just one guy. So different guys had chances and different guys had a chance to step up tonight, and in the end, ended up being Gabe off a great ball from Riqui; and its end up being Miguel from a great ball from Riqui.
So different guys stepped up tonight. But I think the group believes what they are capable of. I think it's just a matter of us managing emotionally through the course of the game where there's a little bit of adversity and sticking to the program and trusting ourselves over the long haul.
As far as Joe, yeah, I just spoke to him in there. He was just really disappointed. He was disappointed that he let some chances fall and he felt like he let the group down because he had some chances, and I respect that. I've said this about Joe since the day he's arrived, whether it's training or whether it's a game, he holds himself to a really high standard and expectation.
When a guy feels like he didn't put away the chances he has and then he's taken off, that's the end of his chances to get it. So I'm sure he's disappointed that I took him off in a game where he was having a hard time finishing chances because that puts the cap on it, but at the end of the day as I said to him, for whatever reason, you've really helped us through this season and tonight just wasn't your night.
So it just became, like if we put Diego on or somebody else, maybe their night tonight. He's done a lot to help us, really carry us through this early part of the season, and tonight somebody else had to step up and that's just the way it was.
He's fine. He'll be okay. I told him, you want to be a great goal scorer in this league you just have to forget stuff and let it go and move on to the next one. That's what I want him to do is not worry about tonight and move on to the next one, and he's such an important part of this team. The next one, he's going to get.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports