Minnesota 2, LA Galaxy 2
Q. 2-2 draw. Your thoughts on the game, just how you guys were able to come back and fight back, and I know you've talked a lot about not giving up bad goals and maybe the first one was one of those.
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, it was kind of the game we were expecting in some ways, which is having to work to break down a pretty low 5-3-2, figuring out how to create final sort of actions and create goal scoring chances when they are well organized and dense and low.
Just trying to figure out how to be goal dangerous was always go going to be a challenge and then we knew they were a direct team, and given any opportunities to play direct and to play as deep into our half as they could, whether it was in our box or longer balls, it was going to become a game of first and second balls and duels and all those kinds of things to try to be able to clean up those moments and get back into playing the game that we wanted the game to look like.
We knew it was going to look like that. First goal, yeah, I felt like we were dealing with a situation, it looked like it was probably headed out of bounds. John's read maybe was a little different, and he tries to hang on to it, and as such, kind of spills it and they finish it, which is disappoint. They didn't have much then. They just some balls and things into the box that were just kind of being lumped in.
Anyways, the guys kept heir heads and we found our way back into controlling the game as much as possible with the ball, still looking for ways get dangerous. Get action that gets Miki around the outside and to the end line, and a really good finish from Christian. That was not easy based on how the ball was played into him. He kind of skipped it into the back post. So a really good finish.
The second half becomes the second half. It was, again, a lot of the same, and just us trying to win first and second balls, things like that. So them dumping things, everything they could in their box, defending a lot of set pieces, a little unfortunate for Maya on the hand ball.
I actually think the shot was probably going closer to the corner flag than the goal. So it's a little bit disappointing because it probably was nothing and then it becomes something. But a lot of credit to our guys for digging down, digging in and going for it at the end, and Miggy keeping it alive, and Emiro of all people, finding a way to put it in the back.
It was great for him. He was really excited. We grinded. It was a game that has a different challenge because again so many direct balls and just trying to compete and win and pick up second balls.
Q. Maybe John's at fault for the first one, but he came up with some really big saves there in the second half. Do you think his play and those plays gives you confidence back there?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I think John's played generally almost always just really steady. I think he's been able to over the last year and change now, just come up with the safe when he needs to. He rarely makes the mistake like he did today, and that's okay. We can live with that, especially given he made some big saves during it, as well.
So it's good. I think it's just, for us, it's continuing to find ways where we can take a game like that. And as we continue to get healthy and settle in and do all those things, if there's times that we cannot play the big ball, because that's what they love, and see if we can't put it on the floor and build out of some of their pressure and open them up from those situations.
So those are some decisions and also just collectively us being more confident but also cleaner to be able to play through some of those moments. Because I think that will create better situations for our attacking group than hitting longer balls where we're trying to win. But for today it was all good. It was just for us it was about working ways to get something out of this game, and we did.
Q. You had Christian Ramirez, three goals and three games back-to-back in league play. Have you seen him settle in? He's talk about settling in off the field but have you seen him settle in on the field?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I think he's getting a better sense of what we ask for from our striker in terms of staying a little higher and not necessarily coming lower and trying to pick up balls in midfield or between the lines, but working off of the angles when we are coming in from the sides, and being able to play into him.
There's a couple chances I thought he did nice linking us up, and there's a couple that I think he's got to continue to help us in those situations, which is part of the process.
But he's gotten himself in the last couple games, and most importantly into some good finishing positions, some scoring positions. He gets himself to the near post, which is something we've talked about. A lot of times if you're in midfield, it's really hard to get to the near post. So him taking that higher position allowed him to get that goal in my opinion, because he's able to get himself across and to the front side.
So yeah, he's growing into it and getting more comfortable with the guys around him and the things that he needs to to see the opportunities that he's going to get. We'll keep working. Miguel had a contusion on his foot. So that was a little bit nasty from the last game.
So we are trying to also manage him and get him back to healthy, the way he came in, and he helped us keep that play alive, and Nasci, we are trying to bring along. Between the three of them, we are going to give us what we need and we are going to keep building them into what we need them to be.
Q. Updates on John Nelson and Marco, and sort of what their injury prognosis is? And has this momentum, does this point give you the momentum that you needed to carry over from Portland, to take it back to Orlando, do you feel like you're building in the right direction?
GREG VANNEY: Yeah, I hope so. I think part of this is we've had a lot of guys that have gone out due to injury, some early in preseason, some just kind of been in and out. Like Marco, John is in and out.
Part of it is sustaining and withstanding some of these difficult road trips and getting something out of it and getting ourselves healthy, and trying to rebuild this group back up into where we have as many of our guys available as possible so we can attack these games and try to build some momentum into it.
But I think two difficult road draws where the group really just battled and competed, but also had good moments and controlled the game with the ball; there's definitely some positives to take away.
John will be back by the weekend, next weekend. The situation wasn't growing, it was a grade one. Already he's running and doing things like that. We think he'll be back by next weekend.
We think Joe will be back into the mix next weekend.
Marco, hope he's back into the mix next weekend, just working through what he's got going on day-to-day.
So hopefully we start to see some guys trickling in through this next week, and then going into what is going to be a busy couple weeks after that, we should start to get a few guys back.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports