CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena’s comments following LA’s 2-1 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Arena’s thoughts are below…
ARENA: “I wouldn’t say that it was dominant because we obviously conceded a goal in the first 20 minutes and didn’t make it easy on ourselves. “I thought the goal that they allowed for us was an excellent decision by the officiating crew. We thought that Gyasi didn’t touch the ball and to be able to communicate that and get it right was, obviously, a big play in the game. Second half, outstanding individual effort by Gyasi on the second goal, but I thought that the team played pretty solid throughout the night. Not exactly where we need to be, but I hope that we’ve learned our lesson from previous games because we really have been giving away a lot of points at the end of games this year. I’m happy that we could hang on tonight. That’s good for the players’ confidence. It’s an important win. I thought that we got a very good effort out of our back line again. Carlo [Cudicini] made a big save towards the end of the game, which was important. Our two young players up top did a good job. I thought [Hector] Jimenez played well. Our midfield played well and I thought the players that came in did a good job. An important three points for our team tonight so I’m pleased.”
(On the team’s performance in the last 15 minutes…)
ARENA: “Everyone knows what you have to do at the end of the game, but you just have to do it. It wasn’t perfect; a better performance is getting a third goal, and really placing Vancouver in a difficult position. We let them hang around, which is a lesson to be learned as well. I thought for the most part our guys played well and certainly in the last 15 minutes, keeping Vancouver off the scoreboard was important.”
(On his thoughts on Vancouver’s goal…)
ARENA: “The ball got deflected [off Russell Teibert], those things happen. A.J. [DeLaGarza] fell off the line which is a tactical mistake. The finish was excellent. That was probably their first shot of the half, not that that means anything, but I thought that it was a little bit of a fluke play. But Camilo did a remarkable job taking the ball down and getting it in the back of the net. What more can you say? Give them credit.”
(On the defensive success…)
ARENA: “We’ve been like that most of the year. Last week in Portland, we were better defensively. Portland had very few chances at the end of the game; however, we conceded a goal at the end of the first half on a free kick. We played better defensively last Saturday. As we back track over the last five or six games, I think that we’ve been excellent in the defense.”
(On Villarreal’s performance…)
ARENA: “He worked really hard. Obviously got a little tired towards the end, but I think that he played well.”
(On the switching that he did in midfield…)
ARENA: “They did a good job. It was an important game for Pablo [Mastroeni], he played in the reserve game last week and we gave him 75 minutes tonight, which was good. We played Marcelo a bit out of position, but I thought that he did a good job. I removed him from the game, simply because I wanted to protect him because of [yellow cards]. Juni had a good game, made a few mistakes later, but they played well. [Hector Jimenez] did well, so it was a good effort. Then Mike Stephens did a good job filling in nicely as did Courtois and Garcia.”
(On whether Gyasi Zardes is showing better shot selection…)
ARENA: “Shot selection? I’m not sure of that, but he got a goal tonight with his feet. I don’t think his issue is necessarily shot selection, but being a bit better technically in the penalty area. The goal was an important goal and it’s going to take a little time.”
(On whether the Galaxy have a deep enough team for their upcoming competitions…)
ARENA: “We’re going to find out. We should. We’ll have Keane coming back, we’ll have Donovan back. We should have a big enough squad, we played a bunch of players this year in the back line with [Tommy] Meyer and [Greg] Cochrane, Leonardo is coming back and is healthy. Now that we have Pablo, we have a little extra depth in central midfield as well as Rogers and Clark in the left side of the midfield; we have a little bit more depth. We’re going to find out. I can’t answer that question right now. I can probably answer it a little bit later in the year.”
