LA Galaxy 3, Portland Timbers 2
Q. I got two questions for you. First off, talk a little bit about what you're seeing from Paintsil in this position and what you're looking for. We're seeing that he's starting at a nine but he's in many places and he's doing many things in various places.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I think he's done a great job adapting to the role. He's played a little of it over the years with teams. Again, I don't think with Joe, with the way he runs and you don't necessarily want him just staying in one place, let him threaten different channels, different gaps behind different defenders, creating all kinds of issues for guys. We get balls on the outside and he's running. We just curl things around like we saw later in the game. He's keeping the oppositions' back lines very busy and very worried. I think he's involved. He's really involved. He's done a great job of holding up play and linking people in and things like that. If again, I think the last two games when we play against a team that presses us. In this game we were able to get up in the game which opens up some space behind. At times I felt like we were rushing attacks and we were really going fast and when you do that, the game gets separated so we can also be deadly in separation but we also give yourselves some stuff to deal with on the defensive side when it gets open like that. So it's a little bit of a catch-22 but Joe's been -- he's just brought us over the last bit, everything he's brought us some juice and stretch and he's been involved. I think with him, Riqui and Gabe being closer together because he's not on the opposite tide of the field we're seeing them link up a little bit more when they're both on the wing os so it's fun to watch and at times it's nerve racking but it's fun to watch.
Q. Yeah, the nerve racking part. Each of the last two wins seems like they should have been simpler than they were.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I agree. For the quantity of good chances we created and how in a way soft the goals were that we gave up, that's the issue, right? And that's something that just has to be clean and I'll go back to saying in the league sometimes you can get away with that but in a knockout tournament you can't do that, whether it's MLS Cup or Leagues Cup or any of those kinds of things. Yeah, it's a high risk type of scenario and we just have to, again, as we go through the last part of the season, this tournament and final eight games, it's finding the balance between opening it up and doing the things that we do and what makes us really dangerous and also managing control of the game because of in the knockout tournament, one mistake can knock you out of the whole thing and so we've got to make sure we're mindful of that as we keep pushing here down the stretch.
Q. Greg, I know one of your goals was to win this game and be in first place for the next three or four weeks. You accomplished that. What does that do for you over the next three, four weeks and do you expect that that pays dividends in the next eight games that you get to play?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I think it's good for us just to see rewards for our labor. Getting these points helps you down the stretch. You never know in Leagues Cup, too, what can happen with teams. It can be anywhere from two to five, six games and you never know with teams. You don't know what teams are going to do in the window to re-enforce so every point matters. Set yourself up, have the confidence being in the position that we're in I think is always beneficial. So winning before we go on this stretch is, again, it's beneficial and so I think emotionally it puts us in a good start and it helps me re-enforce some messages because you can see we can be at the top of the table. Now the question is how do we evolve to become a knockout champion type of team versus a team that, yeah, we can win games through the season but what's the evolution to become that threat to lift a trophy at the end.
Q. Just the production that you're getting from Riqui, Gabriel, and Paintsil, you look at where they have come from the beginning of the season to right now, what are your thoughts on that trio working together?
GREG VANNEY: I think a couple of things, one of them is I think these games and because of the way the group is running. Coming out of Dallas which is not how we want to play the game, we saw some running in behind, some stretching in terms of our runs and us being more dynamic as a group and I don't know how many teams can play with us when we're dynamic. When Gabe is running and his capacity one-on-one and his ability in transition. Riqui's ability to slip on gaps and move and make additions on the run. Joseph's ability to find another gear and speed and get into speed as well. One, we got moving in the last two games. We were moving. I feel like in Dallas we weren't moving as an example. When we get moving I don't know how many teams can stay with us when we're doing that well.
The second part I think is just familiarly amongst them is continuing to grow. I'm seeing a lot more guys leaving the ball to a guy a little bit early and then continuing and making another run with the anticipation that they're going to get the ball back. It's not give the ball to the guy and let's see what he does. They're moving for each other, they're moving after the pass, before the pass. There's familiarity I think that's continuing to grow with each of them with each other that also makes them not just individually dangerous but collectively more dangerous. We're seeing now each of them has a goal, each has an assist involved with the other one and they can enjoy each other's success not just their success, but a they know together they're each going to benefit from that. I feel like that's growing amongst them. We had a little break in there because Riqui was out and Joe was out and now Joe is up to speed and Gabe has found his form for sure and Riqui's back flying so I just feel like those things are coming together and they're enjoying, really enjoying playing and taking the game to another speed together.
Q. Hey, Greg. Congratulations on the victory tonight. I wanted to ask your thoughts on the final 15 minutes defensively and the impact that your subs had like Mauricio Cuevas and Emiro Garces.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, the guys came in and did the job. At times, it became a challenge because when we won the ball, we were so fast to go and try to get the next one to separate the game. If that didn't come off, we're a little separated and having to manage situations, having to manage some balls. Emiro won a couple of headers and balls and he got out tight on a couple of guys where he dogged a couple of guys. He made the one thing coming across the face of the goal which was a huge play. Maudi I think just coming in fresh legs, Miki had done a ton of work up and down and Maudi came in, gave us fresh legs defending tough guys out there and gave us some fresh legs in the possession and he was clean in his possession moments. Miguel came in and won a header right off the corner kick which was huge. We've dealt with corner kicks at time and he got first contact, which was really big. Each guy contributed a lot specifically on the defending side of things which is important because that's where the game was at that point. It was don't give up anything at that point. If we can get another one, great, which we weren't able to do but we saw the game out. We managed the corners kind of sort of but, yeah, we got to keep getting better at seeing games out, whether staying connected, getting the third, getting the extra goal and making sure we're protecting our goal and box and tonight we did the job at 3-2. I feel like we should have done it earlier but at 3-2 we got it done. Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports