LA Galaxy Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 5, Real Salt Lake 2
Saturday, April 23, 2016
2016 MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Carson, California
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER BRUCE ARENA
On LA Galaxy midfielder Emmanuel Boateng’s performance: “Obviously, he helped us in the attack but defensively he played very well. Just a good performance.”
On Boateng’s strengths:
“He’s faster than most players. He’s left footed which helps on our attack on that side of the field. He’s a good overall player. He’s really grown during the preseason and the start of the season. He can play on both sides of the ball. He’s getting better. He’s understanding the qualities he brings to the field, and his teammates understand it, and that allows him to be more productive.”
On if the LA Galaxy are hitting their stride:
“I think in a couple of months, we’re going to be a real good team. Some other players are still waiting to get back in, and they’re going to be playing together, obviously, over the next few months and hopefully getting better each game. But I think we have a good team and a good balance with some young players, some pace, some real experienced players. Players like Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole and Jelle Van Damme were tremendous tonight in their experience. They love to play, and they bring a great attitude on the field, and that’s something I’m quite certain we didn’t have last season. So that, plus young players like Gyasi Zardes, Emmanuel Boateng, Sebastian Lletget and Daniel Steres…it’s a really nice balance. We have the potential to be a really good team.”
On how different this team is from what it was a month ago:
“Not to be critical of you people, but you get too nutty at the beginning of the season about what’s going on. We’ll hopefully have a good team in October, November, December. Everyone gets real excited about what’s going on early in the season and rightfully so. But there’s a lot of time left to find out who can really play in this league, and that is yet to be determined.”
On what the team could have done better tonight:
“We conceded two goals tonight; that’s not good. We probably could have scored more goals... Our finishing could have been a little bit better. We started a little slow. We needed to pass a little quicker, but as we keep playing and progressing through the season, hopefully, we’ll get better in every area.”
On what he’s thinking after the penalty was saved and then Giovani dos Santos’ shot hit the post:
“I’m thinking, ‘s* happens.’ That’s what I’m thinking actually. We were playing so well up to that point that it didn’t bother me and I don’t think it bothered the team. It took a great effort by Gyasi Zardes to bring us back in the game and I think his goal gave us a lot of confidence.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEVEN GERRARD
On his first goal of the season and the team’s performance:
“I needed it to make up for the penalty. But credit to their keeper it was a good save. I’d done everything right, but the keeper gambled and went the right way. The performance was good. The last two performances I was really pleased with and it was nice to get the goal at the end to make up for the penalty miss. But the team was sensational today and there’s a lot of positives to take from this one.”
On the performance of Emmanuel Boateng:
“Two days before the game, he’s probably going to be on the bench as a backup player but the manager gave him a shout yesterday because of Sebastian’s groin. He’s been professional all week and his reaction to the manager giving him the call was tremendous. He’s got energy, he’s got pace, and he’s got quality in the wide areas as you see from his assist. And he got off the mark today with a cheeky little finish. Certainly up for man of the match, the little fella’.”
On Rimando stopping 10 of the last 18 PK’s he’s faced:
“I know, I should have given it to someone else. He’s a phenomenal player and because he’s a Liverpool fan I missed it.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER EMMANUEL BOATENG
On how he prepared for his start on Saturday night:
“On Friday after the warmups. Bruce said Sebastian had some problems and couldn’t play so he told me to get ready. So I just tried to step in and help the team anyway I could, so it’s been a fun night.”
On the challenges he’s faced since joining the club all the way up until tonight:
“I think I’m learning a lot. We’ve got some great veterans on the team who are helping me out every game and in practice and everything. So I’m just learning from them and the coaches too and improving every day. So that’s definitely that’s been a big impact so far. Everyone’s been helping me out.”
On the assist he tallied on Mike Magee’s goal:
“It’s the same thing I’ve been saying. I saw the defender standing in between two of us and saw Mike Magee and just tried to pick out Mikey.”
On how it feels to get his first MLS goal:
“It was great. I just jumped in front of Gyasi and stole his goal I guess. He took his touch and I saw he was a little far behind so I just rushed in there and put it in.”
On how it feels to have reached this point as a professional soccer player:
“I still don’t think I’ve gotten to the place I want to be yet. I’m learning every day from the coaches and the veterans on the team so there’s still more that I need to learn as a player.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD GIOVANI DOS SANTOS
Translated from Spanish
On the game:
“I think we had a great first half; the team showed character in the first 45 minutes. We were able to come back in the first half and I think the second half was just part of the process.”
On coming from behind and whether it’s becoming a habit:
“No. Well I’ve been here a short time and the truth is that it is true we have to be more careful in the first minutes this season because it’s true we’ve had two goals scored early on the game in the last couple of games. Overall I think the team is doing things right.”
On his goal and any feelings that crossed his mind:
“The truth is it was pure joy. I think it was a beautiful goal. And as a forward you want to be in the score sheet and contribute to the team’s success as I’ve said before.”
On the similarities of his goal today with any others scored during his career:
“Yes it reminded me of the goal in 2011. I think it was practically the same, only it was on the different side. When the ball went in, that goal [from 2011] crossed my mind immediately.”
DELANTERO DEL LA GALAXY GIOVANI DOS SANTOS
Sobre el partido:
“Creo que hicimos un buen primer tiempo, el equipo mostró carácter en el primer tiempo. Repusimos un gol en contra y creo que ya el Segundo [tiempo] fue tramite”.
Sobre tener que remontar el partido, y si se ha vuelto costumbre:
“No. Bueno yo llevo poco tiempo aquí y la verdad que es verdad que tenemos que prestar un poquito más de atención en los primeros minutos de esta temporada que es verdad nos han encajado dos goles muy temprano en los últimos partidos pero bueno, en general creo que el equipo está haciendo muy bien las cosas”.
Sobre su gol y los sentimientos que pasaron por su cabeza:
“La verdad fue felicidad. Creo que fue un muy bonito gol. Y bueno siempre uno como delantero quiere estar ahí presente en el marcador y más aportar al equipo como lo dije”.
Sobre su la similitud del gol marcado hoy con algún otro gol marcado en su carrera:
“Si me recordó al gol del 2011. Creo que fue prácticamente exactamente igual solo que fue del otro lado y si fue el recuerdo. Prácticamente cuando el balón entra, lo primero que se me vino a la cabeza ese recuerdo”.
Sobre de quien fue la decisión de patear el penalti:
“La verdad que tenemos buenos pateadores en el equipo y [Steven] Gerrard es uno de ellos y lamentablemente no pudo conseguirlo y sabemos de la calidad de él”.
Sobre porque es que este partido tomó relevancia:
“Yo creo que porque el equipo está mostrando una solidez muy buena en todas las líneas creo que cada vez nos estamos entendiendo mejor y bueno, esperemos seguir así”.
LA GALAXY FORWARD GYASI ZARDES
On the team’s current form:
“I feel like we’re working extremely hard and working for each other. Once again, this is another game where we came out and were very aggressive.”
On his goal that seemed to change the momentum of the match:
“I always say this: when we go down a goal, the momentum of the team is always positive. It’s always going forward. I knew we were going to get back into the game and progress and score more goals.”
On why this team is good coming back:
“It’s early in the game when we’re conceding. We know there’s a lot of game left to play, so I feel like we have a lot of confidence in our attacking play. It’s just little things that we need to critique and the coaches are doing and amazing job of doing that.”
On the increased responsibility he has when Robbie Keane is not on the field and on if he feels like he can be a leader:
“Like you said, Robbie Keane was out and while I’m up top, I’m trying to give it all up. I’m trying to work with my players and my captain, Steven Gerrard…he’s doing a phenomenal job at keeping the whole team compact and aggressive.”
On how important it is two have back-to-back statement wins:
“It’s very important. Wins early in the season are crucial, because at the end of the year, the table’s going to be tight.”
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JEFF CASSAR
On the starting lineup and the substitutions that he used:
“I have full confidence in our players and to be frank, they’ve been doing it all year long. I think we just didn’t get enough pressure to Van Damme, mainly. His direct play, whether it was a diagonal or directly over the top, it was causing us a lot of problems. We had been preparing all week to Lletget up there as well, but Boateng throws a different look to their play and we found out obviously today that he wasn’t playing and he was a difference in the way they played. LA was good tonight. Very good. They were firing on all cylinders. Our shape wasn’t great, but we didn’t have a good second half and a good response. I think our small tactical change of playing with two number 10s, Luke Mullholland and Javier Morales, to take Steven Gerrard and Baggio Husidic out of the game slowed them down just a hair, but they’re very good players and they can still find ways.”
On what went wrong after LA went up 2-1:
“I thought our backline was a little bit stretched. They could play through us, they could play over us, around us, and we didn’t solve it. I didn’t solve it for them and we didn’t solve it out there and it was leaving big gaps. Kyle Beckerman and John Stertzer were doing a lot of running and we got hammered.”
On if Jamison Olave is partly to blame for the amount of goals the team has allowed this season:
“I think we’re going to look at this game and it starts with me. I made some mistakes in preparing the team. But it doesn’t fall on one person’s shoulder by any means. There was some mistakes all over the place and listen, at the end of the day, the defenders take a lot of the heat because they’re the last line but they have to go through everyone else. I didn’t have the guys getting enough pressure to LA’s backline. I thought that we were going to be able to make them predictable with their direct play, but we just didn’t deal with it very well. I thought that Magee and Boateng were a handful coming inside and it was four-on-four at times in the back. We just didn’t deal with it well.”
REAL SALT LAKE CAPTAIN AND MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On how much the team missed Joao Plata Saturday night:
“We just lost a really important player for us. I think it was a really tough place to play. Not many teams come in here and pick up points. They beat us tonight, so we’ve got to learn from it and get back to work this week and do better next week.”
On what went wrong in the last 15 minutes of the first half:
“I’ll have to watch some video, but maybe we got a little stretched. They did really well finishing and I think…I don’t know what the stats were, but it seemed like every shot they started to score. They got hot and really started to feel it. We just didn’t manage it well enough and we paid the price. It was an uphill battle from there.”
On the team’s performance in the second half:
“Our biggest thing was just to try and show some character and win the half, see if we could get one and get back into it. I thought the response was really good. I thought we showed a lot of heart and nobody really quit. I thought maybe if we could get a third, maybe we could make the last 5-10 minutes interesting and see if we could get a point out of it. It didn’t happen, but there was a lot of heart that was shown and it’s something to build on for next week.”
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER JAVIER MORALES
On the match:
“In the second half, we tried to push as far as we could go but we couldn’t tie the game.”
On seeing Juan Manuel get hurt:
“Like everyone, I don’t like to be out because of injury. And with Juan [Manuel] or whoever, we need everyone as soon as possible, especially those that are very important for us.”
On bouncing back from the loss:
“We have to be smart. We know it is going to be a long season. We tried to stay undefeated as long as we can, but today we lost, so now we have to think about Houston at home and try to keep looking forward. It’s going to be a long season and now we have to get three points at home.”
