CARSON, Calif. -- LA Galaxy head coach Curt Onalfo spoke to reporters following the Galaxy's 2-1 defeat to FC Dallas.
Onalfo's thoughts are below:
On the match:
“I thought it was a game we shouldn’t lose. I thought we played well enough to get points out of the game. I thought our reaction….if you look at the first half, I think we’re sloppy at times. But we had some good, extended possession. We defended well for the most part, a little disjointed on a couple players but normal for this time of the season. They come out and score a quick goal. I think our reaction is excellent. And then we’re pushing the game and I’m really disappointed with the second goal we gave up. Having said that, a couple clear chances. Jermaine [Jones]’s chance off the post, Ariel [Lassiter] has two chances and we’re dangerous. You think you have to get something out of the game, so I’m disappointed from that standpoint. But for me it’s a matter of getting better each day. We faced a very good FC Dallas team. They were the best team in the regular season last year. They were the best team in MLS and they’re better this year. We faced a very, very good team that punishes you when you make mistakes.”
On his central midfielders:
“I thought Joáo [Pedro] and Jermaine were handfuls. I thought they were very good the whole game. It’s too bad they picked up yellow cards early on because that affects how you play the rest of the game.”
On Jack McBean:
“I thought Jack [McBean] played very well. I thought he held up the ball well, he laid off the ball well. You could see him growing as a young player. He had a good physical presence playing against two central defenders.
On Ema Boateng:
“Ema [Boateng] came in and made a difference immediately and that’s what he has. He has the ability to get in behind. There’s going to be games he starts, there’s going to be games he comes off the bench. He’s a weapon that we need to utilize.”
On how the game measured with his expectations:
“It’s kind of what I expected. I think last week rattled us a little bit because we played a very good Portland team. Any time you play a good team you learn a little bit more about yourself. But we’ve added really good pieces. All the pieces that we added are quality and you can see it. You can see it in today’s game. Just getting it to gel and getting it to be fine-tuned, to turn those chances into goals and then not conceding the goals we give up…we can’t give up those kinds of goals and expect to be in every game especially when you’re playing a really good team. Very good starting point, a lot of optimism, we’ll just build on it.”
