LA Galaxy 3, LAFC 3
Q. You're 3-1 down. How do you see the rest of the game play out?
MARCO REUS: I mean, this game shows again a little bit of the roller coaster this season. We struggle a lot with counterattacks especially today.
We knew that Bouanga isn't doing that much defensively-wise, so that means that we have to be careful. If we lose the ball, it was on three goals I think, three times almost on the left side, and then it's of course hard to come back.
But on the other side what I mean with the roller coaster is like somehow we keep our mentality. It shows in the game that we are not giving up, especially in this situation away in a derby. And it means a lot to us coming back from 2-0, 3-1.
But at the end I had the feeling that we could win this game if we play a little bit faster, and especially not losing much balls, yeah.
Q. Final play, as you're watching it, as you're in there, crossing the finish and all that, the joy from that?
MARCO REUS: Yeah, Maya was coming to me earlier, five minutes before asking me should he go. Yes, of course. If we play long ball it's everything can happen in the situation. I guess Chris did a great job of having two or three guys in his back or in his front. Yeah, first time that Maya scored finally with the head, with his big head. Very happy for him.
But like I said before, I'm more frustrated or disappointed about the result because our goal was to win here. Yeah, now it's a tie. It's okay, but not what we wanted.
Q. The absence of (indiscernible) for the Galaxy, how much this affected the group?
MARCO REUS: I mean, of course when we play home of course we want all the fans showing up in our stadium. We need them, especially in the last two, three games the atmosphere was not that good.
And it means a lot to the team. I spoke with a lot of guys and they are thinking the same, that we need supporters and, yeah, I don't know how the situation are. Honestly I'm not that much involved.
For sure for us, for the team, we need them.
Q. You said in the locker room there was frustration. Some people might say joy. This is one point, but how do you guys move forward?
MARCO REUS: Yeah, we have to look forward. We have no other solution. We are still last I guess. So this is not our ambition.
So I don't know how many points until the playoff place, but, yeah. I mean, in the last weeks we didn't lose that much games. Today, like I said, it shows again the mentality of the team, but our goal has to be and is, yeah, win all games.
Because, yeah, we are not giving up until it's over. So it starts again Friday in Houston with another away game. Yeah, if we want to continue, then we have to win.
Q. Mauricio, the tackle and everything started from there. At that point are you trying to keep guys away? Seemed like it just started growing and growing.
MARCO REUS: The 3-3 or the 2-3?
Q. No, the brawl.
MARCO REUS: Ah, the fight.
Q. Yeah.
MARCO REUS: Me in this situation?
Q. Yeah. Were you trying to keep guys away or...
MARCO REUS: I mean, what can I do? It was almost all players involved. For me it makes no sense to go also there. I mean, let them -- if they want to fight, let them fight. Maybe the guy from LAFC get more games suggestion suspended, because I guess after his red card he was going again to Diego and pushing him and hit him.
I mean, it's also a derby and shows that everybody wants to win. Especially for us when you play away we have to be there emotional. Yeah, it's like this. Sometimes in football this can happen. It's not a big thing for us.
Q. You have 13 goal contributions in 14 games. Is anything different at the moment as you're preparing or is it simply down to you staying healthy at the moment?
MARCO REUS: Yeah, I mean, most importantly staying healthy. That's the biggest key for me. Even in the last two, three games was not my best games. A little bit missing the combination with the guys up front; had not so many chances.
But even today, like I was a little bit disappointed that the opener was staying so deep and just want to play through the counterattacks. We didn't understand that we have to give the ball to the outside and then change the sides and then we will open the space for me, especially.
And then took some time.
And then our second goal was something like that.
And especially with Diego, he gives us a little bit more of ball movement, staying on the side, and give-and-go. I would say this is the most important thing for us, give-and-go, not staying in a position when you pass the ball. Just open the space.
And, yeah I mean, it's okay for me now, but like I said before, the most important thing is that we win games, yeah.
Q. You say you're disappointed with the result. Do you also think that a performance like this and a goal at the end like that brings the team closer together?
MARCO REUS: I mean, we are so close together. You cannot imagine. It shows. We have to show it today, and especially like I said against this team when you're two times 2-0 and 3-1 down, then coming back, it means a lot for us.
But like I said, I didn't had the feeling that when they had the ball that they play us like through the lines or something like that. We were staying okay, but it just was the counterattacks that, yeah, where we are not in our best positioning, especially against Bouanga.
Yeah, but like I said before, something can happen. It happens to us a lot of times this season. Again, we were coming back and we have to learn from it. Yeah, try to avoid this in the next game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports