Locker Room Reaction

We'll have audio Monday, but for now, here is some of the postgame reaction from the Galaxy locker room to the 0-0 draw with Chivas USA.

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the game:
I think it was a fair result for both teams. There’s not much more to say than that. I think our team gave a good effort. They are getting better. New players contributed well tonight. I was pleased this week at training and tonight’s game. It’s encouraging.

On Donovan Ricketts’ contribution to the game:
Excellent. It’s the reason why we acquired him. He can be an outstanding goalkeeper in the league. Unfortunately he’s been sidelined with some injuries for the last six or seven weeks. But I think that when he gets into form he’s going to show that he’s a good addition to this team.

On all the cards given throughout the game:
They impacted the game. It was difficult for the players out there. Some bad tackles that went by; other plays that were called. It was a game that was difficult for the players to play. I think a lot of cards were merited. There was a play at the end of the first half that [Shavar] Thomas has a strangle hold on [Landon] Donovan. It would have been his second yellow card, and he was gone. It was too much of an act that I gave one to them, I’m going to give one to make it even. It was that become that right from the beginning. You knew it was going to happen. It was very obvious from the early part of the first half.

On Gregg Berhalter’s first MLS match:
I think he played well until right at the end. He got caught with square ball and [Alecko] Eskandarian was shrewd and picked him off. Again like the contribution we saw from Donovan Ricketts tonight, I think Gregg Berhalter contributed well to our team. It’s a real positive. The red card is not good, and we are going to miss him next week. It’s all part of it. It’s the first MLS games for Ricketts and Berhalter, and it’s good to get those games under your belt and move forward.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER GREGG BERHALTER
On the team’s performance:
If you take that one play away, I think it was a good performance by the team. We defended well. We had an opportunity to win the game. All in all, I think it was a decent performance. Obviously I’m disappointed with that one play, that one red card; it could have hurt the team. Luckily it didn’t .Next week, I’m not going to be playing and that’s disappointing as well.

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DONOVAN RICKETTS
On the difference between playing in England and MLS:
The English league plays more quick and never stops moving. This league is more technically and methodically. The build up is relatively slower than the English league, but not that much.

On Bruce Arena’s confidence in him:
Bruce put a lot of faith in me, so each game I try to repay him. That’s all I do. I just go and play from the heart.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On the game:
Games change. I thought our effort was really good tonight. I thought we played really well. We deserved everything we got, until our red card. That kind of changed the game. We still played well. But after you are down two men, you try to get out of there with a point. At that point, I was proud of what we did out there.

On Donovan Ricketts:
Yeah, he was great tonight. He didn’t have a ton to do, but two maybe one distance shots and a couple big saves he made really helped us. It’s too bad we couldn’t score on the other end.