LA Galaxy 4, LAFC 2.
Q. Halftime, down 2-0, what was the message to the group? How did you see them turn the game around in the first 20 minutes?
GREG VANNEY: I thought first off we got ourselves into a hole. I thought our setup wasn't the right setup given the circumstances. We were kind of expecting one thing, saw a little bit of another.
So a part of it was adjusting our shape, our positioning, understanding where the spaces were, where the over loads were going to be and the movements that I felt like even in the first half we created chances. We didn't finish them. There weren't a ton and they weren't amazing, but we created some chances even though we were down 2-0.
So it was looking at the first half and saying okay we can't do anything about what has happened behind us, and here are the things I think we need to do and then we just need to raise our intensity and raise the intention and -- well, I'm not going to say everything I said in there, right but the guys came out and they were flying.
We were getting numbers in the right places. We were moving through spaces. We were moving through lines. Combination play was really good. But we were not just standing in pockets passing. We were moving through their lines and that becomes credibly difficult to deal with. When Riqui and Marco were pretty close together, Dejan was in good spots to combine at times.
It just became a good, collective performance in the second half. I thought we were better with the ball, right, because in the first half, it was just some losses of possession that were coming back to us, and then in the first half, Bouanga getting a lot of open space and running at Jalen is not a great match-up. We didn't want to be in that.
Some different things I felt like we had to address structurally and see the opportunities and the guys just had to go for it and they did. It changed the momentum of the game.
The first goal coming relatively early in the second half was huge because it sparked, again, another layer of just that belief that if you keep it up, it can come.
So just I'm proud of the guys, because they got punched in the mouth at the beginning but responded really well.
Q. You guys fought back from two-goal deficits before, but to do it in this atmosphere with so much on the line, what does that say about the group?
GREG VANNEY: It's a group that's maturing. That's the thing that we talked about all season is with the roster additions and the way we have kind of built the team, and then it was just about maturing together as a group competitively and having big experiences. And this was a moment that we felt was a big experience.
It was a huge, important game for us to be able to control the best, solidify a playoff spot, be at home. And then, like I said, to get punched in the mouth in the first, whatever it was, 15 minutes, to be down two; the response just showed a lot of maturity and a lot of belief, and it showed that we can execute. And the quality that was on the polled stepped up and made things happen.
Q. What were you expecting from LAFC?
GREG VANNEY: Doesn't matter too get too far into tactics and things. We were looking at a little bit set up because obviously Marco and Riqui being on the field for the first tile together, and what does that look like behind the ball and defensively, and what does that look like in front of the ball in terms of providing them with options to be able to play forward and to connect with guys structurally. What is LAFC going to set up: Sometimes they are in a five, sometimes they are in a four; you don't really know. You try to take inventory, Plan A, Plan B. Things didn't change a lot.
We just took, basically, Gabe, and put him out wider, and he held his position wide a little longer versus being narrower. And Miki didn't get so high so early because the first two goals got caught where Miki was breaking out too fast to try to try get involved in the attack; and then we turn over the ball and he gets attacked in the space that he left. So we held him a little bit more.
But again we were cleaner with the ball. We didn't lose balls in difficult situations. So when you do that, you can add numbers into the attack from behind because you are not posing yourself. A combination of things came together, if you will.
Q. You've done this before, a game that comes to my mind is Kansas City. Given the first half, this team has that ability to come back no matter what the and a half is like. Maybe more so than any other team in the League right now. What are elements of the DNA that enable to you to that?
GREG VANNEY: Look, by and large, the team is built to attack, especially when you look at the guys that were on the field today when you have Riqui and Marco on the field today, you have Dejan, you have Diego, you have Gabe. I mean, those are some high-quality, attacking guys.
Over the course of the year, we've grown a ton of confidence in our ability to create chances, score goals, finish chances. Again it's going to come down to the balance to being able to do that and being able to defend and not give up things, and we did give up things, a couple early. Luckily they were early. That gave us a stretch of game that we could dig ourselves out of the hole and then you started to see our attacking quality kind of come together.
It's the first time I think that Riqui and Marco, they have started together and they have had a stretch of game to kind of get to feel each other out inside of a match, inside of the stadium. We had a few minutes together in, I think it was St. Louis or something.
But this is the first time for me, too, to really kind of be able to see in a game what some of their tendencies together are going to look like; so that we in the first half, part of it for me was observing where Marco was going to feel like was best for him to take space, and observing what they are doing and trying to help them, again, find the best spaces to punish the other team.
And again, at some point, you just let them do what they do, but you have to structure the team around that as well.
Q. In reference to Reus, this is his third game, his first full 90. Can you tell me what he actually brings other than the goal and the assist, the obvious?
GREG VANNEY: Well, I've said this, from the first day I had a Zoom with him discussing even the possibility and him feeling us out, I could tell just high-character person, wanted to integrate and be part of the team. Wanted a new experience. You don't have to understand his quality, because tonight -- I'm getting there, I'm getting there.
So you know, he came here right way and he's just tried to integrate himself with the players. He's not trying to take over games and not trying to do anything. He's trying to fit into the team. That's kind of what I'm getting at with his character piece. And so by doing that, you make it a lot easier for everybody else and you make it a lot easier for the group to find ways to bring you into the game, and he's been really smart that way.
What does he bring to us? The intelligence in his move; his capacity to understand the moment and read the game. His quality on the ball. His vision to find runners, to play out of situations, to recognize where the superiorities are and where the game is at, and also to be able to create those situations.
And then you see, again, just the rhythm that he's able to play in, when he and Riqui were getting moving together, how soft the ball was flowing between them, and just how soft his feet are, right. But doing that on the run is the difference in what world-class players are and good players.
You know, good players can pass the ball and stand around. World-class players do all that at a top speed and run, and you see that, his capacity to be able to do those things out there in conjunction with Riqui and combining with the rest of his teammates. It was almost like the second half, they freed up a little bit, and they were just -- and they were playing, and they were playing off what they say.
So it was fun to watch. But he just brings the things that a world-class player would bring, and we saw that tonight, and we saw that in his first game. I thought he got punched in the mouth, not to use that term, again in St. Louis at two o'clock in the afternoon, 95 degrees. It was a "welcome to the MLS" moment where the conditions were really difficult. He was being man-marked around the field and trying to get used to his teammates, as well.
But again, his two home games here, I think you see something that just he's a special player.
Q. You talk about you have been able to come back a couple times this year but this is the first time LAFC has lost when leading at halftime the entire season. Does that give you confidence going into the playoffs to be able to come back against these top teams, and securing that playoff spot what does that mean?
GREG VANNEY: First off, in terms of being able to come back against LAFC, they are a team that we have seen over the years and over the course of the season, they thrive when they get the first goal. Because it's almost like they invite teams on to them and the power and speed they have in transition is one of the things that makes them great. That's what hurt us in the first half.
But we've seen three teams beat them since May, Houston, Columbus and now us, if I recall correctly. All three teams that are ball-dominant. Three teams that win on their best days, move the ball really well and are dangerous in attacking situations.
So if you take care of the ball and you finish attacks, then I think you can neutralize some of those things they are really, really good at, and I thought what's what we were able to do as the game progressed. We were able to take care of the ball, finish our attacks, score our opportunities and build our momentum back into the game.
You know, that's how we got ourselves back in. That's how I think we were able to come back. I think what we saw tonight for us and the message in there was the win tonight shows exactly why it's so important to win the west and be able to play this game or this type of game in the playoffs in this building. Because when we started going and the energy started to get going and the momentum started to go, the fans got behind us because we finally brought them into the game. And that's what you want on a playoff night or a big night when you've got to get a result; and I think credit to everybody, the energy in the stadium, too, because that gets the guys going, too. I think it's positive.
As far as sealing the playoff spot, as I said to the guys in there, I think after last year, you don't take anything for granted. But it's been a little while where we felt like we were going to be in the playoffs. And so to have that behind us, I think it's good that we get it early enough, it's behind us.
But now our eyes are set on we control our destiny and trying to win the West, which again, positions us in the playoffs in what I believe is the best possible scenario which is playing here in our building which we've done really well with over the course of the season.
Q. Halftime says a lot about a team, especially when they perform so poorly in the first half. You've had some massive victories in your career, won big ones. This has to be one of the most satisfying wins of your career, playing the enemy, and coming from behind and doing all the right things in the second half.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, as I said to the guys after, and for sure in my, what, nearly four years here, this is one of the proudest moments if not the proudest moment I've had of this group, this team here at the L.A. Galaxy.
Just the response on such a big night, the covered they showed and the personality they showed in the second half, as a coach, it was fun to watch, right, as much as it was to be a part of it. It was fun to watch. I think, yeah, you know, look, I don't think regular-season games necessarily equate to finals and some of the things that we've been around in the past.
But in terms of regular season games that are vital and important and are putting us in position, and you could probably put them up there with some playoff games, this is one that I'm really proud of the group and the way they came together and believed in what they are doing and believed in the mission on the night and got it done.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports