LA Galaxy 2, Minnesota 2
Q. What are your initial thoughts on the first half? I don't think you guys had a shot on goal. And what adjustments did you have in the second half and how that played out for you.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, we in the first half, I felt like we were creating actions to try to play that one pass that was going to open up the game or unlock the game or to give us that one chance on goal. And every time we looked to play that type of pass we were either off-sides or we hit somebody with the pass.
I felt like we needed to be a bit more patient and back them up and maybe somebody makes the run, but we don't have to play the run and we can back them up and keep moving the game more into their half of the field.
So showing patience and not being too enticed. We knew they played a high line and there would be opportunities for Joe or Gabe or some of the guys to get in behind, but I felt like we were really looking for that so much that it kind of disrupted the flow of things.
I wanted us at halftime to get a little closer together to just allow the game to move a little bit more in terms of our connections to get up, to play from side-to-side a little more and not to play so vertical and look for the moment and see if we could win some field position a little bit, maybe our attacks would finish from a little deeper attacks, and not try to finish, like that one ball from behind that would break things. That was part of it, in terms of managing the game a little bit better, and maybe again playing the game in a little bit different area of the field.
We knew they were stepping out of the line pretty aggressively. If we could keep the ball moving and play more in combination, the spaces for us to run through and play through would open up and become a little more visible for us.
Yeah, I thought in the second half, we found more opportunities. We dissected them with some passes that were a little clearer, and the timing was a little better. We were able to play off the sides a little bit cleaner and not necessarily be in a rush and just play balls in behind. And I thought we started to establish a little bit more rhythm and obviously Riqui finds some great balls that -- where the distances weren't so great necessarily for those final passes. They were still at a little bit of distance but not safe from half-field.
I thought it was a better second half. I think the energy and we just started to lose a bit of gas there at the end, Joe, some hamstring tightness so we had to make a move there. You know, he started to feel like he was tightening up. So we had to be smart with the string of games that were going. We had some other guys with just some things that were starting to feel a little bit -- it's our first game in midweek and guys were starting to feel a little bit of some things.
So we wanted to be mindful of not trying to risk people and overplay people but still try to win the game. It became a little bit of a trick down there at the end to figure out the best way to sort of manage some of that as well as now going up 2-1, trying to close out the game. We wanted to close some of those spaces we were going to by running five, and ironically we gave up a goal on a set piece again. Yeah, we looked it as it was 2-1, knowing how the game had gone to try to -- where we were physically to try to shut the game down a little bit more and try to keep the ball, but also be able to protect ourselves in some of those attack moments.
We got a point out of it. It was a hard-earned point and we take and right now as I said to the guys, we're in the grind. We are in the MLS grind right now where you're playing four out of five or whatever it is on the road, and we're in, you know, kind of the tough part of it, East Coast swing going Midwest to East Coast.
Every point is a tough point, and I know we wanted three and we were in position with 15 minutes to go to take three, but we've got to try to take this point and start to heal and start to recover and move on to the next one knowing that on the other side of this, we've got a string of home games that are waiting for us. You know, good, hard-earned point at the end of the day even though there was a chance for us to get three there at sort of the tail end.
Q. Any regrets on going with the defenses you did when you did? Would you have liked to shift that closer towards the end of the game or do you think if you had five defenders back there, maybe you shouldn't have given up a set piece goal?
Yeah, I don't think we should have given up a set piece goal. Doesn't mean everything was perfect. I feel like one of the things as we got 2-1, wanted to be mindful of Riqui and the minutes he's played, knowing he's been nursing things through the course of the season as well and how much we have going on right now.
So I had one sub left and so I couldn't -- if I needed to get him off the field, as one of the things, I couldn't take two more subs to switch everything. It was the moment that I needed to try to get all the adjustments necessary.
So the other thing I wanted to close off is the thing I felt like was getting us at times was the run-outs from those half-spaces and our center backs or our defensive midfielders having to chase those guys running into the depth in behind us and us getting stretched apart or giving our defensive midfielders even more work to chase guys through.
So I figured five would close those spaces up a little bit more and make it a little bit clearer for us managing some of their attacking runs, and get you go a little bit bigger for set pieces. As I said, I always have regrets when we give up a goal, but having said that, we shouldn't give up. We've got three center backs on the field, a striker and other pieces. We need to defend the set piece and see that play out. It's not like the only way they had chances but it's the only way they got goal and we have to be better at that.
Second goal was off of a set piece where we don't recover the second ball or keep it from us, and it ends up in the back of the net. So I think, again, you go on the road and you score two goals, you've got to get something out of the game and we were able to get a point and there was three there for us at one point.
Q. As you look at Joveljic last year to this year, is there a big change or just confidence for him right now?
Yeah, look, I think it's the same thing. We talk about Dejan and the way he's scoring goals, it's always kind of the same thing. We get guys working into the depth like Gabe was able to do. He got to the end line. It opened some space in front of the goal.
Dejan does a great job of finding where the space is, getting himself to the front of the goal and Gabe plays a ball and he does what he does which is he's a good finisher and he took that one well. It wasn't an easy ball it was kind of coming in on the bounce, and he was able to stay over the top of it and finish it. I think that's one of the big things, yeah, confidence is always important for strikers but he's got guys who are getting deep and getting behind which is opening spaces that make his runs a little bit clearer to the front of the goal.
He made a great run at the end to get in behind and he had a chance maybe to seal it there towards the end and maybe, maybe rushed it but I know he felt Boxall coming from behind and you know he ends up finishing it into the keeper.
Again I think it's a combination of things. I think, you know, getting the right pieces around him has helped which is what we've always said but him being able to do the things that help him be a good goal scorer are all there for him.
Q. Just a couple of quick ones for you. First one is the Achilles' heel being set pieces. Are you thinking about trying something different, bringing in a set piece coach? And Paintsil, what was the situation there?
A, not bringing in a set piece coach. That's not in the cards right now. Yeah, we are going to keep training, keep working and keep getting better at them. I know it's been an issue for us but it's something that we have to keep working. It's not bringing in somebody to make a difference. Each of our guys just within each play has to be able to fulfill their role and responsibility inside of it. Sometimes it's marking and sometimes it's the zonal things that need to get dealt with so we've got to keep working on it.
In terms of Paintsil, as I said earlier, there was some hamstring tightness when he went for a run in behind, so he immediately kind of looked over and gave me kind of the signal that he was tight and we made the change, and we'll evaluate and see where he's at.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports