LA Galaxy 6, Minnesota 2
Q. As you look at this playoff run, you guys have 15 goals in three games. We sue how they work together, but what are you seeing now in the playoffs? Is there anything different that you notice or see?
GREG VANNEY: Each of them is playing at a high level right now. Each of them is the shark playing with a lot of intention and purpose. I think they are really connected with each other and each of them individually is playing at a high level. You know, cutoffs are strange because some of those goals came late in games when the opposition is extending themselves, especially in the second night of Colorado.
But again, I mean, Gab is on fire. He's running without the ball, running with the ball. He's been a handful. Obviously Riqui's movements. I just think they are really well connected, focused and playing with real intention.
Q. First game in three weeks -- within the first minute --
GREG VANNEY: Give them a break and let them come down which is the part that makes you a little anxious if you're a coach and then try to get them ramped back up and peaking at the time that you've got to back on the field again and play.
I know being at home helps. The crowd is amazing and the energy in the stadium was outstanding, which I know just the guys were feeding off that from minute one. And we get a goal to start off, and that's helpful when you have not played in 23 days to get off to a start like that.
Again, I thought the performance in general was obviously really good. There was some really, really good attacking moments. I thought as the game progressed we showed the right balance between being patient with our attacks and being direct and purposeful within our attacks.
We took advantage of good moments and yeah, I thought defensively we were pretty sound. There's a couple actions where balls drop when they shouldn't or second balls stick around a little bit longer than they should. We don't clean them up.
Yeah, for being 23 days off, I'm certainly pleased and proud of these guys for the way they responded to the moment.
Q. Right now you guys are looking unstoppable. Wondering your thoughts on that. Is this the best we've seen this team this last stretch, the best we've seen this team season? And lastly, you guys now get Seattle. It was quite a rivalry there for awhile, almost like a dormant rivalry that might be reawakened. Your thoughts on that that?
GREG VANNEY: Again, I think the group is locked in, our group in particular, locked in and playing with purpose. Again, connected and playing with real intention and again I think when we do that we are a really good team. We make good decisions.
They have a group that's just playoff experienced. They know how to go in tough places and get results, and we saw that last night.
We are only as good as our last game, and our last game is over now. We'll celebrate and recover and now we have another really difficult opponent ahead of us that we'll get to preparing for in the next couple days. But obviously we have a ton of respect for them and what they are capable of doing, and as much as anything, just the gritty determination that that group has.
And they understand how to win in big moments. Sometimes that's unteachable but they have learned it as a collective group. It's the culture that they have developed up there, and it doesn't matter if it was Obed Vargas is 19 or 20 years old or it's João Paulo. They have the culture up there and that's subpoenaing that obviously that we are continuing to strive for and it comes from putting championships under your belt. That's something we look forward to.
To be fair to our group, I will say that we put some goals on a good defensive team. Minnesota is a good defensive team and they are well-organized. In watching them, I was concerned about this game because they have a way of slowing you down and turning you over and some guys in the attack that can hurt you. I was pleased that when we were attacking, we were direct; and when we were direct we were able to cause them some problems and keep them off balance through the course of the night. But they are a good team. They've done a great job since he's gotten here and learned the league and got his team together; they have done a great job.
Q. Is this the best the team has played --
GREG VANNEY: I guess I started, we're in good form. I think that's balls everybody is locked -- I don't. It's hard to say because every game is so different, right, from the last.
And because of the nature of the game next week, we're going to have a very different opponent that's going to ask different questions of us and we are going to have to find solutions in that game and ditto for any other game that's to come and ditto for any game in the past. It's tough to say.
And I love that the group is locked in everyone and is fulfilling their responsibilities on the field at a high level and they are connected to each other, and when you do that, I think we have a lot of talent and a good group.
Q. Can you guys get better? Tonight was dominant, and the whole playoffs have been dominant. Can you get better than this?
GREG VANNEY: Well, you can always get better because I'm not sure I've ever seen a perfect game in football in my life. There's always some way to get better. A couple direct balls that were played between the first and second balls. I felt like they landed in between our lines and they gave us a little bit of problems. The throw-in was an example of that, where a ball kind of lands in our box and shouldn't be landing in our box. There's details. There's always details that you can try to tighten up, and as coaches, we always see those things.
But I'm pleased with the general overall body of work, and there's always going to be something in there that we are going to want to be mindful of, and Seattle will present some different challenges than Minnesota did and we'll have to be ready for those. That's why this task and job is never-ending, and there's always something to look forward to.
I like most importantly where the mentality of the group and the head of the group is at. I think when you're in a good spot, the way the guys are and locked in, then you can make those adjustments and adapt along the way for whoever is next. I look forward to it, and it's nice to be at home because our crowd has been amazing.
I'm going to keep saying that. The energy in the stadium has been amazing, and our guys like to put on a show, as you can see when they play, and I think that really plays well for us.
Q. You talked a little bit about the defense but only allowing one goal -- where has that developed because maybe we didn't see that as much during the regular season. In the playoffs you guys have become a pretty good defensive team.
GREG VANNEY: I think it's something that we were essentially gauging over the course of the year. When you go through those guys, a guy like Emi, he's a defender first. That's his mentality and his athleticism and his speed and his tenacity in one-on-one situations, and to defend, it's like it's his strength.
With John Nelson, he's a defender first. Just he reads games. He reads situations. He's quick to pick up balls. He's quick to see weighs going to happen next.
So I just think between the four of them, there's a little bit more of -- just a touch more of a defensive mindset where maybe earlier in the year we had a little combination of guys who were more comfortable on the ball and more attack minded. This group really thinks defending first and how can they help in terms of possessions or attacks and things like that.
So I think their instincts are very good on that side of things, and the way we played and having as much as of the ball as we have, sometimes it's instinctual sometimes what you have to do defensively. You have to recognize things quickly, react and anticipate, and this group has shown that they have sharp defensive instincts and they have been able to manage these different moments and situations.
Q. Just your reaction to Gabriel Pec's second goal on the night and does he have another gear left in him to go in these playoffs?
GREG VANNEY: I hope. Yeah, it's fun to watch. He's a handful. Again, he's the type of winger who when he's on thinks day, and today was one of them, and he's been around there a lot this year. He can beat you in one-on-one situations. He can beat you right. He can beat you left. Today, he was running hard without the ball, which creates a lot of problems for you.
He can play in combination with other guys. Like when you have a winger that is, I don't know, triple, quadruple threat and doesn't have just one thing, it becomes almost undefendable because he always has -- whoever is dealing with him, is always guessing.
And that's kind of where Gab is at right now, and I think that's a tribute to him. I think it's a tribute to the guys that are over there together working together that they are able to create different scenarios. The goal he scored on that particular occasion was pretty individually special. That wasn't a product of anybody else other than him making -- I think they tried to foul him hard twice to end the play, and he was able to get out of that and keep his speed and momentum and finish with his right foot if I recall, right. Like that's pretty impressive.
That's nothing that I can say, had it happened on the training field or anywhere else. That's just the young man doing some stuff that not many people can do.
Q. Very special win on a special night. My mother is in from Virginia; so I want to appreciate yourself and the team for putting on such a show for her. Something she's admired about you is how you've stuck to your principles regardless of how bad or good things were going, this entire season, and especially this playoff run has shown that it was worth the wait and any patience that fans pain did or didn't show you, how satisfying has this year's renaissance been after such a long dark age?
GREG VANNEY: First of all, I appreciate that.
Second, I'm from Virginia originally, as well, so welcome to your mom. I'm glad she enjoyed the game.
Listen, first and foremost, as coaches, if we don't live on our principles, what do we have actually to live on and believe in and understand what we're doing. You know, part of that is when you're really clear on what your principles are and what the things are that you need and you wanted to have out there and your team doing, then you can continue to drive the team in that direction.
This year, the pieces have worked together. The pieces have grown together and they fit together.
As I said to them coming out, the way we play is to be aggressive and to be bold and to take risks and to go for it. We are not a hang-out, sit back, be conservative. That's not the way we do it. We go, and we live with the consequences at the end of the day, and we react when situations don't go well and we go for it when they do.
And it doesn't matter if it's the MLS Cup finals or first game of the season or middle game of the season. That's who we are and who we are going to be, and we need to be the best version of that that we can and we have got the players who can deliver on that.
The other is just to solve the problems of the day. To understand within our principles to understand what the game is asking and what the challenges are that are from us. Every opposition could potentially show up and give us a different -- someone press high, go man-on-man; someone could sit low, and we always want to have solutions to those things; and that's what we tried to preach around here. And sometimes it doesn't happen overnight, but eventually we get there and this year we certainly seem to have gotten there. I think we are moving in the right direction.
So I appreciate the kind words, as well.
Q. We've spoken a lot about Gabriel Pec tonight but Paintsil, didn't get a lot of touches -- can you talk about his performance and his ability to pop up at the right time, right place?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, it's funny because Joe knows that on certain occasions there's going to be certain games where he doesn't get a ton much touches because of a little bit of where we positioned him in the situation but also just the way things, the game flows. And sometimes as I said to him tonight, patience is a virtue and get yourself into the right spots and good things can come your way. Sometimes it's not the amount of touches; it's what you do with however many touches you get.
Today he was outstanding and in the right spots and he put on a great defensive shift. Sometimes in his role, and we talked about this, too, that he just tactically has to be sound and help give us all the little things that we need, and he could also be the benefactor of some of the things that go off on the right.
And today he certainly was, and he finished his opportunities and he looked sharp and he looked refreshed a little bit after the break to be fair to him, and so I was really pleased.
Again, just staying engaged when you're not getting a ton of touches is important. And he benefitted from it today and he was out standing in that regard.
Q. Can you talk about what Riqui does? He orchestrates the entire game. And Paintsil talked you don't like him dropping a lot?
GREG VANNEY: I never said that.
Q. Today he was playing with Maya and Emir and rekindled that.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, he's a unique and special player. There's no two ways about that. What we've learned with Riqui is how to give him the right spaces to allow him the space to move around because he's unplayable when he's on the move.
And it's so hard if you try to Marc him and chase him around because he is so mobile and he's so quick, and so a lot for us is how to not put him in the box but for other guys who are playing with Riqui but to understand how to best be effective and to allow his movements to take place and to work off of those things.
And he's clever about how he obviously does those things. You know, it's just when you have somebody who can kind of dictate the game like that, I don't think the right thing is to say, hey, you have to say high. It's his specialty to do the things that he does, and then we have to then organize the field and the pockets and the gaps and the runs and different things like that to help him be effective, and so he can help others to be even more effective.
That's a little bit of a product of how we think about things. And that's something that as a coach I had to adapt to a little bit. You know, maybe it's not exactly how I saw the position on paper. But then when you get a player that can change the way -- it's important for me to adapt, as well, right, and help everybody else adapt within that. And that's just knowing how to use your pieces, especially when you are as talented as he is.
Q. You guys have had a dominant season, and this is, of course, a storied franchise in MLS. You mentioned the fans, and even hosting the MLS Cup what does this moment mean to the organization?
GREG VANNEY: Well, I think it's just, again, the patience in some ways and sometimes not so patient; that the fans have had those moments when as an organization, we weren't delivering on the expectations that were -- expectations were created by the successes of the past. It's not anything other than living up to our legacy really in many ways.
So them suffering through that but also finding patience at times but now reaping the reward of the moment that this team is exciting to watch, it's fun to watch -- it's getting results and now is in a position to do something special, which is always what I think the standard is for the L.A. Galaxy.
You can't win a championship every year; it's just not feasible, I think, when you have 30 teams that are trying to win a championship. But to put yourself in contention and give your 70 the best chance to do so is the expectation of the Galaxy and the Galaxy fan base is. And that's where we are at this point, and we have a lot of work to do still in the next game to even be there.
But I think there's a lot of energy and excitement about the group we have and the direction that we're going, which is a statement that the Galaxy are back, and that's what people are looking for.
Q. If ever a coach in this league deserved this moment, it's you, considering the journey you've had and the different chapters at L.A. Galaxy to get to this moment, but for a lot of that time, you've been the underdogs and now everybody has L.A. Galaxy as the favorite to win the MLS Cup. How does that sit with you, and how do you like being in that position?
GREG VANNEY: I think it's just discussion points at the end of the day. It's talk. We were supposed to be like 13th in the West or something at the beginning of the season, and that's certainly changed a little bit, and now we are supposed to win it. So people can't really figure out where we should be. So to me, it's just a bunch of chatter.
Our group has to stay really focused internally about our locker room and how we are going to approach the next game, when it's training session, to be ready to play, and it's for all of you all to talk about who the favorite is and who can't and not for us to worry about.
I think we always have to find the balance between subtly being aware of not wanting to lose but being really confident in who we are and going after it. Especially in this league, I don't believe in favorites because as you saw across this league, anybody can win on any given day. It's about performance and execution on the day is the only thing that matters.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports