LA Galaxy Media Conference

Greg Vanney

Press Conference

Saturday, November 30, 2024

Los Angeles, California, USA


LA Galaxy 1, Seattle Sounders 0

GREG VANNEY: I felt in the second half we were rushing sometimes and that means a lot of work in the transition and defending. So more than anything, to get us to find the right tempo and allow ourselves to set up so that we can stay in control of the game and not be kind of end-to-end or having to drop and defend low.

For, me I was focused more on just in the moments trying to get the right messages across and trying to get guys on the -- thinking the same thing because sometimes in these games you feel like you have to go get the goal right away, this is the play.

I feel like, you know, when we got the goal, it was a huge sigh of relief, but also it switches your mentality immediately now. Because now you're protecting a goal and it's thinking through all the potential changes, personnel, shape, anything that you have to do now to see the game out because now your objective has just shifted from staying in control of the game and working to make sure you're the only one that gets a chance to win this thing and finish it off in regulation and managing things on the other side.

I'm super excited for these guys to be able to lift a trophy tonight, but the objective is still one week away. As one game ends, the anxiety for the next game already emerges, right.

Q. Would you walk us through that moment there, the pass from Riqui? And you've been here, four years, what does this moment mean to you to be going to the MLS Cup? And the longer it went on, seemed like the more that played into Seattle's hands. They play a lot of games like this and went to penalty kicks twice in the playoffs. Did you get more and more concerned as the game went on? And you've been on these journey before, this is not your first MLS Cup. How different has this journey been, and how does it stack up to the others?

GREG VANNEY: To start, they are a team that is very, very stingy, and a really good team and a hard-fighting team and a very good defensive team and really committed to that cause. And obviously they know how to play in possession, as well.

So as the game progressed and it wasn't breaking for us, for me, I was again focused on us trying to remain patient and to make sure that we were as much defending with the ball as we were trying to break them down and catch them on an action, or find a right moment to transition and catch them on an action.

For me I don't get too caught up in the big picture when the game is going. I try to stay focused on what the game needs in the moment and make sure that that messaging is getting across. And for me it was trying at times to slow down and set our numbers in the right spots and see if we could create a chance without exposing ourselves in the other way.

They are used to these games. A 1-0 game is a lot of weeks for them. For us especially in this event, this tournament, we've had a lot of games that have really opened up, and the scores have been big and we have not had to play down to the last minute in the same exact way.

I was proud of the guys for staying locked in and seeing how plays, defending our box, defending our goal and the necessary times when it was 0-0 and seeing out the game. This is how the playoffs can be. I think it was wonderful that we had three games like we did before, but this is typically a little bit more what the playoffs would look like in general.

And so the question was, you know, not from me, but in general, was can you win a 1-0 game it you need to in the playoffs? And we certainly did. And we dealt with set pieces and dealt with a lot of other things and proved tonight that we can beat a team that can go through stretches of defending and still get you in a 1-0. Proud of these guys.

As far as, this year, it's a kind of a combination of 2016, in the early round, we scored a lot of goals and got ourselves into, you know, what ended up being a lot of goals and got ourselves to the finals. Where in 2017, we had a really good team and a high-scoring team in Toronto, and it was a defensive effort that got us all the way until final game.

No two roads to this point are ever exactly the same, and this group has created their own path and done what they needed to do to get there.

And now it's going to be about refocusing our attention and energies on the Red Bulls. I will say that it's intriguing to me that probably the two most aggressive teams in some way, shape or form in the West and the East, them, and the defensive side, us on the attacking side, have found ourselves into the finals in what tends to be a dogged, defensive hard-fought playoffs, is usually what you get out of that.

It's interesting. It's an interesting match-up because they are not going to sit on the top and wait for us. They are going to come after us, and it's going to be a different challenge for us.

Q. I thought Seattle was, fantastic and I want to get your thoughts on some of the details of the two stacked lines right on top of their box and the way that they position themselves to deal two the runs that Riqui makes.

GREG VANNEY: Yeah, they are very, very good and well schooled on the defensive side, well-organized. They really never let anybody get isolated in too many one-on-one situations. They are providing cover and they are running through with guys that are running through.

They are clogging up channels a lot of times, and so sometimes it feels like for our guys, I think it felt like, man, there's no space to run through and we would stop our runs, when we needed to continue our runs.

But they do a great job between the two pivots, who are machines, and really helping to protect the center backs, but also they provide inside cover for the fullbacks sometimes.

And then I think the work of the wingers in addition, in terms of helping their fullbacks at the right times was there. They never -- it was hard for us to try to stack numbers in certain areas of the field because their proximity was there and their movement is very good. And again, they get into good covering positions for one another, and it makes it difficult to break them down; and when you do, they do a good job of protecting the goal, whether it's the two center backs or whomever, they get some numbers right in front of Frei, and they do a good job of protecting the face of the goal, and it's hard to get clean looks. It almost has to be in a play that's in transition and is a little more open.

And as such, we get the ball where Dejan plays inside and he continues his run, and you find him just a little stretched out and that's not a situation they wanted to be in. But we were able to find our moment. Again, they are really well-organized, and they did a good job in possession moments, for them, shortening the defensive load by being good in position and pulling us apart in certain ways in that way, as well.

Q. Maybe you didn't get out of this one unscathed. Marco had come out at halftime. Do you have an update on him? And Riqui seemed to be limping and had to be pulled back out of the locker room for the trophy celebration. Is there concern they will make it for next week?

GREG VANNEY: I have to see what's going on with both of them.

With Marco, it was something early that he felt. I think it was more of a knock. He had an issue coming out of the last game, but he had trained for the last part of the week and felt like he was in a good spot. But he said probably 15 or 20 minutes in he felt something, and I don't know if it was an actual hit. Last week it was more of a contusion type of scenario.

Riqui, I don't know exactly what happened. It was right at the end of the game, and I know -- next thing I know he was walking off the field, and I don't know exactly what the situation is and what happened. So I have to find out when we go back in the room, and probably be assessed over the next day or so and see where these guys are at.

Q. Dejan continues to have an incredible season, maybe the best of his career, and has that big moment tonight. What does that mean for you to see him have that moment, and what has he brought this year?

GREG VANNEY: I'm really happy for Dejan. Again, the first season he came in he was coming off the bench and giving us the last 20, 30 minutes a game when the game as opening up and the space was there.

The question that he was answering was, could he be a 90-minute guy and still score those kinds of goals. And you see that when you put the right players with the right striker, you see the intelligence of his movements off the ball, when we can disorganize the opposition a little bit, he's very clever about his movements and his finishing and he's a finisher. When you can get him in the box and facing the goal a couple times tonight, he was in the box but facing the wrong direction and wasn't able to get the shot after.

And then the one play Marco played across him, just escaped, his run didn't quite get there. But when the group is able to move some defenders around and he's able to have some space to work, this is when he's deadly.

I'm proud of him because he's been working really hard. We've been talking about a lot of different things with him to try to help him to connect with those guys and get himself some chances. He's a striker that scores goals, and really proud of the work that he's put in and where he's at. He deserves the moment, and he's got one more week to try to continue to be the hero striker for us that I know he wants to be and that he believes he can be and we believe he can be.

Q. What do you attribute where this team was a year ago to now being Western Conference Champions?

GREG VANNEY: Last year -- I'm going to end last year. I don't want to keep talking about last year too much.

But last year it was a perfect storm of a lot of challenges within this group, and we managed through those without -- I always say we didn't sacrifice last year for where we could be at the beginning of this year, and we took it on the chin last year.

But we held tight the notion that we were going to have two open DP slots, and we needed to find the right guys to fit what we were trying to do and we knew there would be a couple other spaces that we would have to fill.

As we got to this off-season and all through part of last year was really talking about, what do we really need to theme to look like when we come out of the of penalties from last year and all the challenges we had. A lot of people were doing some really good work here to identify the right types of and players the right options for us.

And then I give a lot of credit to the guys that were here last year that when they came back from the first day of preseason, that the year prior was behind them and they were ready to attack this year. They were confident and fit and ready to go.

When we add the new pieces right off from game one against Miami, which is a wonderful game to start the season because it gets all of your attention because it's a big one, it's like an MLS Cup almost the opening game of the year. The guys were focused and ready and proved on that day that they could be here, if they continued to grow together as a group that, they could be many this moment playing for a MLS Cup.

They have done a lot of things right over the course of the year to make sure that they have given themselves this opportunity and this opportunity to play at home with our fans, who also from day one of the start of this year were a hundred percent behind this group and saw the changes and saw the group and saw the first game against Miami; and also I think felt that there was something different that was going on inside of this group.

So I am proud of these guys. Again, they have answered every challenge over the course of the year and now we've got one more.

Q. I'm going to go even further back. Talk about trusting the process, since you game the head coach of this club, the whole idea was to be back on top fighting for the opportunity to get more trophies. What has that journey meant for you? How has it been for you personally?

GREG VANNEY: That's a long story if I were to get into all of that. There's so many things from when I joined the club, which was coming out of COVID, and we were trying to reconstruct the team coming out of COVID where you couldn't really go to too many places to watch games, and it was hard to get anywhere.

We were trying to talk about how we were going to rebuild the image of the team of what we wanted it to took like.

Obviously it wasn't simple and it wasn't smooth, and we had some guys who we thought we were going to have on the team and who didn't come back to the team and they were a big part of how we were going to build this team. We were working through that.

So at the same time, rebuilding infrastructure here to be able to support the team. A lot of things going on. I'm proud of all the work that everybody has done over the years to help rebuild this club. And when I say that, I mean from a sports science, from the scouting, from every aspect that you need.

When I sat down with the opportunity to get this job, I said in order to win a championship, nowadays in MLS, you have to have every piece of the infrastructure that is necessary to support a really good team. You can't just have a good team and no infrastructure and win. Too many clubs are too good now and have too many things going right for us to be in that position. We have to have all the bits and pieces that are underneath to support a really good team.

And then it took us a couple years to get all the pieces of that really good team, and certainly we have gotten there, and this group fits together nicely. They complement each other and when you have a good team that's what should happen. They should complement each other especially in this league and the way we go about having to build teams, you want pieces that can really fit together and you don't need any redundancies or things like that, and we have that with this group.

Then it's about building spirit so that they trust each other and believe in each other and believe in the process. I think we have all of those things.

I'm really just proud of the group. The process to get here is never going easy especially when you encounter the challenges we had last year which were clearly unexpected. But liked we stayed to the vision and everybody in here has that same vision and manufacturing in that course and all supporting each other and working with each other to achievement, and good things can happen when you do that.

Q. Besides to be the coach this time on the MLS Cup for the Galaxy what different from what happened in 1996 when you were a player with the Galaxy getting to the first-ever final?

GREG VANNEY: I hope the first thing is that we win it next week. That's the first thing I hope is different. I've played in three MLS Cups, with the LA Galaxy and I managed to lose all three.

One of my personal goals coming back here was to try to rectify that situation so that I didn't have to live with that forever. So no pressure next week, but that's what I'm trying to do personally.

But the league is so different now. One of the things I will say about the team is 1996 and the team now is it's the camaraderie of the group. Like the guys in 1996, we were like a family on the field and with the staff and everybody else. We were so close together as a group and just battled for each other and with each other and we got there. It was a hard road to get there.

This group is also very close. They have a lot of -- they are tight. Some of them were doing Thanksgiving together, the ones who didn't have family were all together and this group has a really close bond. I think that's one of the X-factors in MLS is that if you have a group that is close together and wants to fight for each other and work for each other and trust each other, then that's one of the things that can separates you sometimes from other teams and this team has this which is similar to that team back in '96.

Q. You touched a little bit on this earlier. Obviously in the previous games you guys were scoring a ton of goals, and you're always going to have a ton of confidence going into an MLS Cup final. But just the way you guys won this game tonight, how much more confidence does that give you knowing that you can win a variety of ways?

GREG VANNEY: I think it's important for our group who, we haven't played a ton of games, playoff games together, and now you have the joys of getting early goals and in some ways extending leads and kind of running away in games, and that can build, like you said, a lot of attacking covered. Tonight it wasn't too much -- tonight it wasn't about resiliency. It was about patience. It was about when things don't go perfect, how do you control the game, protect your goal, keep yourself in there and work for your moments when they do arise.

We need that. We knew we were going to need that to get to this point. It wasn't going to be loads and loads of goals. It would have been nice but it's just not form. And we were playing the best defensive team in the league who just doesn't give up goals. They just don't make mistakes.

And so I think this group it take a lot from this. The collective work that was necessary, and again, the fact that we had to work till the very end of the game to get the goal that makes a difference, and we did it; and show again in trust and patience, and that you just have to stick to the process, and see the game out all the way to the end and good things can come.

Q. We talked a fair bit this season about home-field advantage, and building a fortress, I think one of your biggest achievements is that, is making this team unbeatable at home. The fans have been amazing. I just thought it would be nice to kind of hear what you have to say to them this evening, and just how incredible they have been, and your team's delivered playing at home all season.

GREG VANNEY: Yeah, as I said earlier, from, again, the opening day, and even before that, I think there was just a genuine excitement about the roster that was being put together, and then also what this team showed on the first day. That's been carried through by the fans all year.

I always believe that relationship is reciprocal. The fans are here to be entertained. They us want to win games. So when they come to their stadium, they want to feel good about when they leave, about the product and about the results.

And we've been able to give that to them, and they have been able to in return give us all the energy, and again, the fight and all the things that they give to the guys on the field and to us to fight for the last minute to fight for the badge, to fight for them.

Again, when that synergy is working in the right way, and it has been all year, we achieve together, you know. I think that's the biggest thing this year is that with the fans, this team has been able to do great things at home. And now because of it, they have earned the opportunity together to play one more game, MLS Cup, and try to got same one more time together.

We look forward to it. The other thing I'll say, when the guys walk into the stadium waiting for the game to start and it's full and the crowd is going before the whistle blows, and right when they walk in, I can sense the energy and the passion before the whistle even blows just to get after it right from the start. I don't know, one of the things in the past is I felt like we gave away early goals and little things.

Now I just feel like this group is right from the whistle with the fans ready to go and all 90 minutes matter, and we saw that again tonight. All 90-plus minutes mattered. We are appreciative and want to do it one more time and want to get the sixth one for them, so we are looking forward to it.

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