Saturday, September 6, 2008

Postgame Quote Sheet

A number of guys from both sides spoke to the media postgame, here is some of what they had to say.

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA…
Overall thoughts on the match…
Overall I am obviously pleased. We went into the game with some issues in terms of the roster and trying to fit some of the pieces together. It was a challenge, but I think we have to give a lot of credit to our team. Salt Lake threw everything they had at us in the first half. They are a good team and it showed. I think it took our guys 30 minutes to figure some things out, but as for the second half we played pretty well for the most part. Given some of our limitations tonight, I'm really pleased with the effort and the result.

On Bryan Jordan…
He had a great night tonight. I don't want to single out and one, two or three players. It stands out in my mind the performance of Bryan Jordan. Brandon McDonald coming in gave us a great 35 minutes, and Edson Buddle. In terms of Bryan getting more minutes, we will have to wait and see. His performance tonight certainly doesn't hurt his cause at all. I think if you could look at our roster you would understand. Bringing three players up from Portland gave us 18. We were thin in several positions tonight. Bryan was obviously having a good year with Portland and I am aware of him through our preseason coaching staff, and he had a good training this week.

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER JOSH WICKS
On his first Galaxy start…
I felt solid. I could do a little better on the first goal. My voice is gone, so my communication must have been good. I felt comfortable. I guess we’ll take the point because we have too. I think I can improve and be better than I was tonight.

LA GALAXY FORWARD BRYAN JORDAN
On being back with the Galaxy…
I came out here to just work hard, and I got a great opportunity to do so. I stepped out on the field and played as hard as I can and try to create opportunities.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER BRANDON MCDONALD
On being back with the team…
Good, man. It’s good to be back out there and work for my teammates. It’s really good to be back on the pitch, and show what I can do, and try to help my team get a victory.

REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS…
Overall thoughts on the match…
I think in our locker room we are a bit disappointed. I think we came into this game knowing they were missing a lot of key players. We were confident enough to think we could come here and take away the full three points. We haven't been doing to well on the road this season. On a positive not a played some good soccer and at the end of the day we came away with one point, which is better than most of our road games this year.

On the team’s improvement…
Well, I just think overall we are a more talented team, with a higher number of talented players. Our top players are better than they have been in the past. Also, I think we are really buying into the team mentality. Our guys really fight for each other, work hard for each other and have an understanding of what we are trying to do.

REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On how Real Salt Lake has improved…
It used to be when I was playing for another team and we would be playing Salt Lake—it was a team that you would expect to get a win. You knew that there was going to be a point in the game that you would get a chance to win, and Real Salt Lake would find ways to lose. We’ve tried to clean that up right away. We’ve seem to have done that at home so far. It’s just a different mentality in the guys.

On going down a goal…
When we went down a goal, we knew the Galaxy is known for giving up goals, so we knew we would have our chances. It didn’t affect us at all; we just kept playing and tied it up, which we expected and then took the lead, which we expected. Edson Buddle is playing with some great confidence. He’s a great player. If you give him an inch, he’s going to bury it. He was excellent tonight. We felt like we lost two points tonight.

REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD KENNY DEUCHAR
On his team’s opening goal…
“When Wingert had the ball I saw he had a bit of time and I was trying to point to Yura because I knew that his guy had been drawn in on me, so I put my hand up and he hit a great ball in to my head and as soon as he hit it I knew that Yura was on his own so I knew that if I just got a touch on it Yura would be in and it was a great finish.

On the RSL attack…I think that we had a good number of chances, maybe not a lot of clean cut chances, but we did well. Will finished clinically, it was a really good goal and he worked well with Yura. We were keeping possession, communicating and the chances were coming, it’s unfortunate really that we didn’t get any other clean cut chances besides the ones we finished. But to come on the road and dominate like that is a positive.

6 comments:

charlesj27 said...

Josh Wicks reacted adn acted much better tonight! He was decisive, commanding, and constantly communicating. He made some good saves. RSL was clearly the stronger, punchier, more attacking, offensive, creative team. LA Galaxy MUST have its core, creative, expert members with the team. LA Galaxy can no longer afford to be "nice" / "naeive". It's absolute nonsense to fill the HDC to capacity to watch us concede goals & have a stronger team find holes, exploit, and start to tear what little cohesiveness we displayed tonight "at the seams"!

charlesj27 said...

Welcome back to pitch and the starting/sub role, Brandon & Eduardo. May we see & experience many, many more of both of your expertise and skills. Eduardo is gaining in collectiveness and tactics and awareness with each game. He needs more actual matches to give him a true idea of the physical, fast, hard nature of playing in this league.

charlesj27 said...

I want Landon, David, and Eddie to understand where this club/team is at right now. Yes, they do need to understand and take responsibility. Why? If those players can hold out their hands to receive paychecks that are substantially greater than their team-mates... then, they better bet their expensive behinds that they also have a hand in and share the insults behind our losses. Fine... Fine... Hey, it's national team duties - who really have a right in stopping them from going, participating, and contributing. Okay - then, what are Bruce and Dave planning oto do with the rest of this squad to ensure we still play quality, competitive soccer. Because, all I see are jerseys being sold, Stadium Club and Luxury Boxes being filled - and the stinging, bitter, "spat-on" faces of all the LAG fans as we bear more games without wins!!! Improve the damn squad! Improve the squad! It doesn't take a clairevoyant genius to see we need strength, we need fight, we need pace, and we need creativity. How much longer do we have to put up with all of these "buffoon-type" mistakes and "oopsies"? If players do not make the grade - TERMINATE!!! Why all this hand-holding? Yes, I understand that the younger players need more time, more education, better sessions, more MLS playing time. Okay, fine! What sort of excuses are we assigning to Alan or Mikey or Troy??? Enough is enough!!! Improve this squad!!!
Oh by the way - reality check: Houston just demolished Kansas City. Real Salt Lake unleashed their crafty, speedy, attacking vipers. Columbus "nuked" the best Eastern Conference MLS team. What do we got? Why don't we have any say in MLS HQ??? Improve this squad!

charlesj27 said...

Again, a reminder to everyone: As of today (Sun. Sept. 7th) we are in LAST PLACE in the Western Conference. LAST PLACE!!! I hope it's making many of you upset and sick to your stomach. We need to have players on this team that are true warriors and fighters - players that live, crave, and drean this sport. Because, right now - we are a team facing lions, wolves, vultures, and snakes. And, we've adopted a "show-horse / stallion" as our battling mentality and image. Bruce & Dave - you guys have to act quickly and make some necessary moves to change this team's course. Only you guys have the means and the power.

charlesj27 said...

Also, it is very important to note that Landon, Eddie, David, and Ante will not be back with our team until Thursday at the earliest. They still have to stick around for WCQ on Wed, Sept. 10th. And, Sept. 13th (Saturday) is our AWAY game at Kansas City (Yes, Kansas City, where the pitch dimesions are DIFFERENT from HDC and other stadiums!!!) That means as a team we'll probably fly out to KC on Friday, Sept. 12th. So, Landon, David, Eddie, and Ante will not be able to train with the rest of the guys. Can any of you spell "Mis-timing" or "Oh-so-Close" or "Not-on-the-same-page"?

Anonymous said...

Charles, stop the whining and the pessimism. You want players to refrain from playing for their national teams....news flash, 99% of players will take their NATION over their team any day of the week. Pride and the fact that it means they are their nation's best of the best. If fans do not want to see the team play with guys out of the lineup, they can sell their tickets or stay home. HDC was a sell-out again..guess no one is willing to stay away. Teams are teams..players are players...what will you do when Beckham and Donovan leave? Boycott the club? How do you want LA to improve? The transfer window is closed and we are at the cap....what do you suggest?