LA Galaxy 3, Vancouver 1
Q. What was the discussion after that game coming into this one?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, our discussion this week coming out of Portland was, I felt like the first half was one of our poorer halves of the year. I feel like in Portland that we, yeah, that we just were very careless with the ball against a team that's very good in the transition. And you know, we were forcing things. We were impatient. Jamming things into different areas and we just got ourselves on the wrong side of that game pretty fast. We tried to dig ourselves out and we didn't and that game is history.
Tonight you turn around in only a couple days and so there's only so much you can really get through. Some of it was trying to find our balance between being patient and inviting teams to come defend us and then play forward versus just forcing games into teams that sometimes are sitting in a little lower block losing the balls in the middle of the field and then teams coming at us.
There was a little bit of, again, finding the right testimony toe inside the game, choosing to play the game in the right spot. I thought even in the first half, we were not so, at the beginning of the game, I don't think we were fining the right solutions early in the game and then as we started to get a little closer together. Then the ball started to move a little faster. They started to want to close us down, and then spaces that we wanted to attack into started to open up a little bit more.
I thought we were very, I don't know if I would say careless or carefree, in some of our attacking actions that probably should have finished in the first half where we make an extra pass that maybe we don't need and we need to be a little bit more selfish. Sometimes we don't execute on the pass. But I felt like we left a lot on the table in the course of the night that keeps an opponent in the game and it makes the game tough.
And yeah, so I mea, we got through it tonight, and always the third game in a busy week, you've got to do what you've got to do in some ways. But for us, again, a lot of the discussion is trying to continue to set a championship-type of behavior. I think when we are talking about closing out games, when you have a goal-lead or a two-goal lead making sure that we are making championship decisions because we're going to have to when it really get down to it and I think we need to be thinking about it that way now.
Sometimes we cheat the defensive moment. We wait for the transition and then we score and so it looks like it's okay but it's not okay. So those are things we've got to tighten up.
Q. You talk about being selfish. Is that personality in this group? It seems like a group that always looks for that extra pass when you're close.
GREG VANNEY: I think sometimes it's not a bad thing. I think sometimes the unselfishness is that we are trying to make a more perfect moment to finish, you know. I think there was a couple guys who had chances and I know who they are, it doesn't matter, but we had a chance to take a little bit of risk at top speed because the ball is there and then we take a touch try to make it a little more cleaner, a little more perfect. The defender recovers. The goalkeeper gets set. Things like that happen. And sometimes, you know, sometimes the chance doesn't have to be perfect. You just have to take it at speed and the goalkeeper is not ready, the defenders can't recover and things work out for you.
We scored four goals tonight but we are talking about some things we left on the table which is how many good attacks and promising attacks we had through the course of the night as well.
Yeah, the frustrating piece is we gave up goals, two goals in ways that we knew they would attack which is just hanging up these balls at the back post and things like that, that, you know, we didn't deal with them in the way we need to.
But again, third game in seven days, three points, put ourselves even farther ahead now or reestablish our distance, if I heard correctly in the West. I'm not upset with it. I'm just really trying focus us in on that concept of like it's not just about tonight but it's about championship behaviors and decisions and actions. Because we love to attack, you know. You see.
Q. In that unselfishness, maybe one too many passes, it seems that Marco wants to lay it off rather than take it to goal. Is that something that you guys have discussed or is that something you would discuss?
GREG VANNEY: He makes his decisions on the field. He's a top, top player. So he goes with what he feels is the best solution in the moment. There's probably one or two in, there I would have liked to see him go for it, you know, but I also think that's who he is as a player. He plays for his teammates. He plays a very unselfish, team-oriented game, and I think he takes some joy in setting up his teammates and watching them score.
I think he'll find his balance and as things go, he'll be fine with all that. I'm not too concerned about him.
Q. Emiro in the middle, in what ways does that change your back line? In what ways does that make you guys a better back line?
GREG VANNEY: You saw when we've been talking about with him. His physical quality is just so good. His quickness, speed, his strength in the duel but also how quickly he can recover to things.
Sometimes even when balls are kind of hanging out there and there are sort of second balls, how quickly he pounces on those second balls and what might become something just doesn't; he just cleaned it up. I was really happy for him tonight because he's had a hard time getting to full fitness with little setbacks, with different things that have gone on as he's been settling in.
So for him to get his first 90 minutes since he's arrived, not just for us, but like even with the second team, everything, tonight was his first 90 minutes, I thought without stating comfortable in many ways, and I was happy with his decisions on the ball, and I was happy with his defending efforts. I was really pleased. He's going to help us. We need him to step up because he does bring something different to our back group.
Q. Do you have any update on Marco's medical condition? Looked like he had to be subbed out because he was injured.
GREG VANNEY: I don't know exactly. He said that he was just starting to feel something and he didn't want to keep pushing it, and so whatever hopefully he just started feeling tight again, it's the third game this week, he didn't play a ton in the midweek game. But third game, hopefully he just started to feel himself tighten up a little bit, and it's nothing that these next ten days can't recover from.
So we'll see. I don't know exactly. So I know he was talking with everybody in there.
Q. What did you make of his game until the substitution?
GREG VANNEY: Smart. Clever. Again, how he's finding pockets in passing lanes underneath and in between the midfield line and back line. He's intelligent about his movements. There's times where, again, they play a back three so he makes a darting run between these two, it narrows them up and now we are putting Gabe on the ball.
He's out there and he's playing the game against kind of the opposition and working against them, which is fun to watch because he's such a smart player, soft feet, very good in his decisions.
I don't think -- I think sometimes when we get going really fast and this and this, it's not so suitable for him all the time. I think when we can be, again, a little bit more controlled and choose the right moments to transition fast but not let the game just get end-to-end like some MLS games can get because I don't think that's going to be in his favor sometimes. But again, I can't say enough about how much of a team guy he is and how he's just kind of fit into this group and helped the other guys.
Q. I know at this time of the year, there's a lot of scoreboard watching with everything that's going on but this game ended up being really significant for you guys in terms of the other results. I'm sure you saw the LAFC result beforehand but were you also at halftime looking at the RSL game?
GREG VANNEY: No. Because I was too focused on trying to organize a few things from the first half so the first half. I didn't even think to take a look. I was just as I was walking here that it ended 3-3 in Salt Lake.
That's great for us. Any cushion we'll take at this point. We have two on the road obviously and one at home. So we've got a tough finish in the season, and we'll take anything that we can get to try to finish on top. So I think that's big.
You can see, like there's -- at this time of year, just some teams are just fighting for their lives. In teams are in good spots. Some teams are not in good spots. You want to keep it smooth down the stretch.
Q. With Paintsil's goal today, the Galaxy become the first team in history to have four players to have scored ten goals in the same season. Did you think that was possible in year one of this project?
GREG VANNEY: As we started to put the team together and looking at the characteristics of the group, I'm not totally surprised. You know, when the group hits form and starts hitting speed, I think that capacity, and as you said, some of the unselfish nature of the group at times in actions, I think that bodes well for us.
Because if you have multiple game winners, guys who can get it done, that's hard to defend against. If it's one guy, then you can organize that a little bit. If it's multiple guys, it's really tough to defend against. I still think the group is continuing to, in some ways, just scratch the surface of their relationships. And adding a guy like Marco who can create great, great situations for himself; and guys like Diego who has had a great season. We still have a lot of guys, whether those four guys or others, we still have guys who can impact the game, which is fantastic.
We have a lot of attacking quality in the group which I think makes the games entertaining. Too many of them are 4-2, though. I would prefer if they were 4-0.
Q. Congratulations on the win tonight. You've already hit your best points total here as Galaxy coach but if the Galaxy wins out, they will be tied for historical best pots total all-time as well. How do you feel to be potentially in that historical category with some of the championship teams of Galaxy past?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, look, a lot of credit to our guys because when he haven't had great games and got bad results, we've bounced back quickly. I think that's important for our group in showing some resiliency after every single time we've had a lot this year, we've come back with a win. That says a lot because momentum is so important.
What does that mean for us ultimately? I think it's great. I think again it shows that we've had consistency throughout the season but I think the measure for our group is going to be the capacity to compete in the playoffs to show that maturity and to keep trying to build to that legacy for this group, is and it's not just the regular season. Not to minimize it because I think it's big.
But I think it's also us learning as a group how that we can become a championship type of team. Some of those teams won championships, and so that's the next step for are for us is, as I said, graduating from being a good in-season team to now being that step to being a championship type of team, and that's what we are wishing for here as we get down the stretch; and even some of these games, our decisions, some of our actions are just making sure that's how we set our behaviors as we get to this final stretch.
Q. It seemed like you were in total control of this game and when the team conceded, it felt like perhaps they weren't doing what you're talking about, developing that championship-winning mentality. Do you think there's a fine line between cockiness and confidence?
GREG VANNEY: For sure. I definitely think so. Sometimes we just make defensive mistakes. I felt like we have done our fair share of making defensive mistakes in situations that we should be able to deal with duels better, deal with situations better. Sometimes I think we get so comfortable in our ability to attack and go create chances and go score goals. And we love that part of the game that when the game feels like we are in total control and when there's goals out there for us, we start thinking about how we can get those goals and not necessarily how we close this out and make sure that we give up nothing or if it's one, we give up one.
But sometimes I think we will at times we trade defending for the opportunity to go attack again and that's what I'm talking about because if you get into playoff games, knock-out games, again, the teams that win championships are the teams that can put zeros up or give away not very much, things like that.
And so I just want us to continue to push and challenge ourselves to stay focused on that side of things and commit to that side of things because I know the other side of it, we're going to create opportunities and we're going to find our chances to score goals.
It's finding a balance because certainly because of the way we can attack, it puts the opposition on their heels as well but we've just got to make sure that we stay stingy about protecting our goal at all times.
Q. When players often come to MLS they struggle to adapt, whether that's the physicality or travel. Saw that in the first few games with Gabriel Pec but he has turned into an incredible player. What have you seen with how well he's adapted? Do you see him as a candidate for new comer of the year award?
GREG VANNEY: When Gabriel first came, what he was used to being is a guy who stays on the sideline, the team gets him the ball and he goes one-on-one against the opposition. And what we've tried to encourage him to do so to be on the line, but how to stay connected to the team. Find the ball in different areas. Get himself more touches, more involved, and to work in partnerships and relationships with other guys. And not just be a one-on-one guy on the wing but how to -- when this guy clears a space, boom, you're coming inside. If the fullback is coming around you, you're taking up a more narrow position so we can find you here or there.
I think because he's continued to adapt with that, he's starting to get more -- he's gotten a lot more touches and he's gotten touches in better positions. He's now in two-versus-one situations instead of always one-versus-one situations, which is even better for him.
So I think he's just, again, I think he has continued to evolve which is what I had hoped. He can still go one-on-one but he's added sort of more options to his game in my opinion because he's now working within a system and with other guys to create more scenarios where he can continue to be dangerous. If I add one thing that I still want him to continue to do is to execute at top speed. Sometimes he gets himself into really good positions and he decelerates a little bit because he's trying to hit the perfect finish instead of staying at top speed and trusting his technique and finishing at top speed. So things don't get blocked and he puts power into some of these things. These are nuances, and when he gets them, he's going to be so difficult to deal with, which he already is.
Can he be Newcomer of the Year? Sure. I think he's evolved since he's been here, and he's certainly been very influential for our team, and it's had a very good season. Usually those things are what comes together. Your team has to play well and your team has to be successful and then you have to have a player who is impactful, and then when you can do that, that put yourself in that conversation for sure..
Q. You have two Japanese players. The opponent has a Japanese guy. How do you feel about his play, the goalkeeper?
GREG VANNEY: I've seen him play a lot. He's a very athletic goalkeeper. He moves around the box. He's smart. He made a safe on Miki which I know Miki took offense to.
But he's a very good goalkeeper. Very good soccer player. He's intelligent, athletic. Again, the way he covers the goal, great angles, and he's very competent with his feet. They don't build out of a lot of situations but he's very comfortable with the ball at his feet. And he also hits the ball a long way. I like his game.
I think the Japanese players come here and they are very suited to our league once they can adapt to some of the physicality and pieces that are a little different. Technically in game intelligence, especially for teams who play similar to our team, I think the Japanese players really fit into what it is we are trying to do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports