Portland 1, LA Galaxy 1
Q. If I can get your thoughts on this game and maybe the last ten minutes and how you guys closed it out.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I felt like the first half, the first half we didn't really settle in great. I felt like defensively what we were looking to do, we were kind of in between which led to them having a lot more possession than we wanted, and us being a little bit on our heels.
In attack, I felt like we were rushing things and I felt like we could be a little bit more patient. Because of that, I felt like the first half we didn't have control of the game and I felt like we were inefficient and we were spending a lot of energy kind of on the defensive side and not accomplishing a whole lot on the attacking side.
So again, just some adjustment of our positions and our distances, and our structure, which we just weren't really finding, and I feel like we didn't really need to go rushing the game. I felt like if we were more patient, they would open up spaces for us.
Second half we came out we were structurally more stable. Guys were in good spots. The ball was moving a little bit smoother and freer amongst us, a little bit quicker, and again we were more efficient about how we were playing the game and as such we dominated the ball.
We played most of the game in their half of the field second half, we had some good looks, and Gab had a number of shots from reasonable distances. We were able to get to the end line a few times. We obviously get behind and score the goal.
I felt like once we got into the second half we started to really control and dictate the game. Again, second phase of a set piece where we have enough numbers in the box, we contest the ball outside. We let them get to the end line and then we just lose our marks inside of the box and they get up 1-0. So that becomes the goal they score.
I like the way we played the second half. Mind you, the last ten minutes, we were managing a couple guys. Diego came into the game a little bit with a hip issue, and so you know was hoping we could see the game out without him but get a little bit more defensive in some of our posture, help bring some of those positions.
I felt like the last substitution with Emiro, it unbalanced us a little bit in terms of our positional responsibilities. We started getting extended in bad areas and opening ourselves up to some situations.
Yeah, but in the end, you've got to kind of see it out. But I thought we had control of -- very much had control the second half and deserved to at least get a point out of that thing based on the second half performance.
Q. I wanted to ask you, obviously, one of the big changes in the game is John McCarthy being the starter. We've seen Novak be the starter in these situations. Is he now the top of the dept chart and going to be the starter the rest of the way?
GREG VANNEY: I'm not making a decision today. I don't pick any of my other positions as starters for the rest of the year. So I'm not going to pick a starter.
We're committed to bringing Novak along. We like his quality and we like his upside. John certainly has proven his stability and he's done a great job.
But I'm not doing to sit here and tell you one guy isn't in competition for a position, and whether that's to hold it or to win it. So those guys will be competing. We have plenty of games from us in tournaments and everything else.
So we're going to move forward accordingly and each guy, when given the opportunity, he has to perform at his level just like every other position.
Q. Can you get and tell us a little bit about your rationale with going with Zanka over Garcés today, and then just how -- what you saw on the pitch from Ramirez and if he's giving you guys what you're looking for now.
GREG VANNEY: Zanka played and not Amir because he's more under control and he's more involved. When we are in possessions and we're in build, Zanka is seeking to be involved, wants the ball and gives us that extra sort of number in possession; that sometimes I feel like Emi, we need him to be more involved and willing to get on the ball; will help us in possessions. I think his decisions defensively need to become more consistently reliable.
He obviously has an incredible ability to track people down and to make these incredible plays. But inside of all of that, I want him to grow and understand, you know, the positional responsibilities, the priorities, how playing next to somebody, all the things that are, I think, details that are going to be important for him to continue to improve as a player, and for him to be able to reach the next level of what he's able to do. These are things that I want from Emi, and he's aware of that.
We want him to get better and to grow. We want to be making less mistakes as a team, not just cleaning up these mistakes, and we want to make less mistakes. We feel like this is that opportunity.
I felt like the other night Zanka and Maya had very much control of the game against a different opposition. As you saw in the second half once we got our spacing right and we were in control of the ball, we dominated the game and everybody was involved.
So it's upside. It's a learning thing for Emi, right. He's got some great natural gifts, and now it's about tactically becoming more aware and more connected to the entire group as we continue to build this team forward and what we want it to be able to do.
As far as Christian, he came in and he gave us some things that we needed. He linked up a couple plays and he made a good run in behind the back line which obviously was the difference. It's nice to get a goal from him.
Yeah, and he helped us out on some of the defensive reads and things like that.
So I mean he wasn't out there a ton, so it was hard to say that, you know, he put in the full game that we need from our strikers, but he certainly gave us the one or two moments that we needed tonight that helped us to get a point out of this thing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports