SEATTLE -- LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena spoke to media after the Galaxy's 3-2 defeat to Seattle Sounders FC in the Western Conference Knockout Round. The loss eliminated the Galaxy from the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.
(On his thoughts on the loss...)
"Well, I think that Christmas came early in Seattle. We absolutely gift-wrapped that game tonight. Our play in front of our goal was atrocious. We just gift-wrapped three goals for them. Give them credit because they jumped on our mistakes but we were shockingly poor. The officiating didn't help, on the second goal, we make maybe the best tackle of the night and he somehow calls it a foul and it ends up in the back of the net. That's our fault; we still need to defend better. We gift-wrapped the game. We played really well at times, but it's a game that we should have won."
(On if it was surprising that the experienced team played so poorly defensively...)
"Not good. It wasn't good. Shocking mistakes."
(On Donovan Ricketts' performance...)
"There were a lot of mistakes back there."
(On the offense...)
"We played pretty well. We should have won this game tonight. We literally gift-wrapped the game. If you're going to give away goals like that, you don't deserve to win that's for sure."
(On if he's surprised about the early end to the season...)
"Yeah. This game was there to win tonight. For us to concede a goal right to start the game then get a goal, and give up another one which wasn't helped by officiating, we're certainly at fault for that. On the third goal, we can certainly do better. You're giving a home team goals and that's not the way to play on the road. We should have come out in the second half because you knew that they'd come at us a little bit. If we could have found a third goal, it would get us into extra time, but to concede the three goals that we conceded was absolutely poor."
(On if Gerrard and Ricketts could have done better on the second goal...)
"Both. And the referee doesn't call a foul. Ridiculous calls. It wasn't a foul. It was a clean tackle all the way. We have to do better. We made a lot of mistakes.
(On how disappointing the season's end is...)
"Of course, it's disappointing. You think that we're happy about it? We have no one to look at but ourselves. I think we gift-wrapped this game."
(On if the loss will lead to changes...)
"Like every year, there's going to be changes. It's not any different one year to the next."
