LA Galaxy Postgame Quote Sheet:
LA Galaxy 2, Montreal Impact 0
Friday, April 7, 2017
2017 MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Los Angeles, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On getting a home win and a shutout:
“It was great. There are no two ways about it. Obviously it feels good, it’s a win. The guys deserved it and getting the shutout was important, especially given what happened last week.”
On what this win does for the team’s confidence:
“No two ways about it. It’s like last week. If we defended better for one minute, this week would have been much different because we would have been 2-2 going into this game. This is a hard league and the difference between winning and losing is a play or two. It’s slight. And last week it was a one-minute lapse where we just blew the game. And obviously now, getting this win today gives us confidence. I thought we worked extremely hard, I thought we moved the ball well. I thought we were dangerous the entire game and that’s two games in a row where I feel like we were dangerous going forward. Those are positive signs. Nothing comes easy and we just have to keep improving and keep getting better and keep building on this and the momentum that we just gained from this win.”
On if he saw what he wanted from the Galaxy in the early going:
“Yeah. We did a good job and we started the game well. We were dangerous and we played in their end and we started the right way.”
On Nathan Smith’s performance:
“Excellent. I thought he had a really good performance. It’s great to see a young player who played just one year with Galaxy II then gets his opportunity and look what he’s done with it. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I’m really pleased with his performance and how he’s played. He’s just stepped into that situation like it’s no big deal and he’ll continue to get better.”
On Romain Alessandrini’s performance and his successful start to the season:
“Alessandrini is exactly what we thought he would be. He’s a great player. He can beat you on the dribble, he can play-make, he can score, he can create goals. But the thing that’s difficult for people on the outside looking in is that he’s only been with us five weeks. If he was with us from day one is preseason… more points for sure. I don’t know how many, but he was signed later and it takes time for him to get his work visa and it just takes time for people to adjust. But he’s just going to keep getting better; he’s just quality. And his work ethic on top of it just makes him an exciting player to watch and a great asset for a coach.”
On Emmanuel Boateng’s performance:
“He’s just a really talented player. People know him for his speed that is world class. But for me, he’s a really intelligent person and he gets better each day with the information that we give him. He’s able to apply things and continually get better so I feel like he’s developed really nicely from day one in the preseason. It was really hard early in the season not to have him on the field, but again he put in a really good performance. Every time the ball is on the side of that field, you feel like you’re going to get a chance and that’s a good feeling.”
On what he’d like to improve on in the next week of training:
“I think that we need to find our attacking players earlier. I think we need to get Giovani [dos Santos] more involved. If you look at the game closely, he made world-class runs and he was in great spots and if we could just find him a bit earlier and more often, it’d be even better. So for me, we’ve got to teach some of our guys with less experience that they’ve got to know what to do before they get it. They’ve got to play to our top players earlier.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER JERMAINE JONES
On the performance:
“I think we controlled the game pretty good, but I still think we had some [moments] in the game sometimes where we almost brought them back. But like I said, we had to get cleaner… I think we’re all happy now with the three points.”
On his goal:
“I am happy, of course, to score the goal. Especially today, it’s my dad’s birthday and I told him I would try to score a goal. A goal is always good if you help your team win. In Salt Lake, I had a good chance, and in the first game here I had a good chance to score, and then again in the first half I had a chance, so it was time that one came and I hope I can get some more.”
On whether this was his best performance:
“Yeah, I have to prove to people, so I have to run. I always say I try to have fun. After the whole week, with all the talk – after the Panama game, especially – I think I said what I wanted to say and now the focus is on the Galaxy. I try to talk on the field, and that’s what I have to do.”
On Nathan Smith:
“He’s like a small Pit Bull. He’s going up and down. He’s good, and if he stays how he is right now, he has a future in this league.”
On whether he enjoys the leadership role:
“I’ve always done that in my career. So it wasn’t the point if I was one of the oldest. I was one of the leaders and helped players try to take the next step… It’s always good to see, when they make the next step. But we have so many [young players], I’ve always said we have so much talent in this group.”
LA GALAXY CAPTAIN AND DEFENDER JELLE VAN DAMME
On how he felt about the team’s response this week after last weekend’s loss to Vancouver:
“I think we did very well, even more so in the first half than in the second half. We played well and we fought for every ball. We were winning our 1v1s, our second balls. We were dangerous, we were pressing them and we kept the ball as well. We had a pretty good direction compared to the game last week.”
On if he felt that they were responding to last week’s performance with tonight’s win:
“Of course. We are professional soccer players. We missed our starts, even though most of the games we played well and we didn’t get anything out of it. We knew we deserved it and we knew that we have enough quality to win games and it was only the fifth game I think. But pressure is fun and pressure is good and we had a home game we knew we had to win and I think we responded very well as a team.”
On getting the first shutout of the season:
“It’s good. It only helps us, mentally as well. We’ve been doing well. The coaches have been putting great effort in the team. Hard work pays off and I think we showed that today. We played very well as a team and I’m very proud of everybody.”
On Romain Alessandrini and his string of performances:
“Romain is a big asset and a great player. He’s in a good flow and it’s up to him to keep that going as long as possible.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER ROMAIN ALESSANDRINI
On if it was the Galaxy’s most complete performance of the season:
“Yeah. Tonight it’s a good win because after Vancouver it was a little bit difficult. It was an odd week. We needed to speak and most important tonight was the result. After three losses, it’s very bad for the group and the team because we are a really good team but we have some new players, so we need to work hard together and after that we to win two or three games in a row to come back on top.”
On how happy he is with his start to the season:
“It was a little bit difficult because I changed my life. I changed countries, I changed team so I don’t think about that after these three goals and two assists. It’s nice for me. It’s very good for me, but I’m here to give assists and to score. And the most important thing is to win and tonight the whole team played well and we won the game so that’s the most important to me.”
On what is making him have such a successful start to the season:
“I try to give everything to the team. The result is very good and I’m glad to score for the team. I’m here to score, I’m here to give assist. But after five weeks of training it’s very good, because honestly, I’m not 100 percent. In the second half, I was very tired, and I need to work on that every day.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER EMMANUEL BOATENG
On his confidence:
“It’s pretty good that every time I have the ball in the final third I can help create a chance for our team. It’s kind of taking chances, and I feel like I can do that every game.”
On getting a chance this year:
“I feel I still haven’t won a starting spot yet, so every game I just come out trying to impress and help us get a win. I’m not comfortable yet. I’m just going to keep playing hard and try to get better every day.”
On his performance:
“I was very happy with my play. I don’t think I lost the ball that much, every time I had the ball I felt like I could get something going. Now I have a week to prepare for the next game and try to get better.”
On if he ever gets tired:
“I do (laughs), but I find ways to pace myself. But when I see a ball, with my competitive edge, I tell myself I have to go get it. I might be tired, but I’m sure all my teammates are working really hard and I have to keep pace.”
On getting the win:
“We needed to bounce back big and we controlled the game from the start. We’re very happy.”
MONTREAL IMPACT HEAD COACH MAURO BIELLO
On the game:
“I thought we were good in the first half. On the goal, the goalie slips but overall I thought we were better in possession. We were able to unbalance them and get good chances. Their goalie makes a really good save on Matteo [Mancosu], then the red card. For me, we are probably going to appeal it, we’re going to look at it because in the end it was nothing. More than anything it should be simulation but then a red card and at that point you ruin the game. It’s too bad but in the end these are things that need to improve.”
On how the overall season is going for the team:
“It’s been a difficult road but I thought we played a good first half. Those are good signs for my team. In the end we are going back home, we knew it was going to be difficult but now it’s about focusing on getting the results we want and need at home.”
On whether he has any concerns after the first five games:
“There’s always concerns that we need to improve at and get better at. We tied our last two road games and we felt that we could have come out of the Chicago game with a win. We know it’s a long season and now it’s about getting that first win and going from there.”
On what the team needs to fix:
“We always want to continue to be a team difficult to beat in terms of getting chances to other team. We want to be able to minimize those chances. I think if we’re able to do that on a good day, we’re able to create and we don’t have our best player. He’s been out and if he was playing today it could have been a different story.”
On the team’s play:
“I think in the first half we had more possession. We had more chances to score. Our goalie slips on the goal. Other than [Jermaine] Jones’ chance, I thought it was fairly even in terms of chances. In terms of play, I thought that we did a good job. We were dictating, we were growing as a team and it’s disappointing that a red card like that ruins a good game. To me it was a good game and in the end, I just reviewed it right now quickly, and there was no contact. It was more simulation than anything.”
MONTREAL IMPACT GOALKEEPER EVAN BUSH
Thoughts on the game and the red card:
"It's one of those games where if we didn't have bad luck we would have no luck at all. The red card, after looking at it in here it doesn't look like it it's not going to do much for us now outside maybe appealing it and getting him [Marco Donadel] back for the next game. Other than that, the first goal is just another time where it's just unlucky. I go through the warm up, I don't slip once and then in the second shot of the game, back across my body and I slip coming back. They get an easy goal there, even at that though, we go down a man, we create some chances to get back in the game and then the second goal, is a deflected goal, own goal, deflected goal, whatever you want to call it, but it's a guy trying to make a play. It's one of those things where it's just unlucky, it's unfortunate and it's frustrating, but so far this season it seems we've had a lot of those moments and hopefully it turns at some point."
On going back to Montreal and playing at Saputo Stadium:
"Yeah, it's going to be really nice especially being a Saputo. To get back there in front of our fans, you know the traveling it's been a lot, especially two west coast trips, so those are mostly done now. Just to get back home in front of our fans is going to be important for us and I think that they are going to be able to push us. At the end of the day we haven't been playing poorly. I think we controlled large portions of the game today, even when we were down to 10 men there was times where we were keeping the ball, breaking them down. I think that a lot of the time we were the better team today, so if we can continue that when we get home, not panic and I don't think we need to change a lot of things because we have been playing some decent soccer. It's just a matter of getting some breaks and finishing the games."
MONTREAL IMPACT MIDFIELDER MARCO DONADEL
On the red card:
“There’s no reason to talk about that because there’s really no reason. Everything is very clear. I also watched some video now and the referee was in perfect position to see. I don’t know what has happened, it’s just that we are unlucky. This was not to make things easy, but the problem is that maybe if we do a report at the end of the year for the Impact it is like we are unlucky forty times, and lucky once, maybe. So I want to just think that if the situation was opposite, me falling down and Jermaine Jones doing the same movement, what happens? That’s the only question in my mind, it’s the question without an answer, or maybe you have an answer, I don’t know. But the only thing that’s clear, the news today, is that Jermaine Jones, coming here to Los Angeles, is going to be very good to watch. Hollywood is here close by. He is training in the morning and in the afternoon he is going to Hollywood to act. He’s very, very good, because when you do this (covers face and peeks with one eye), then you see me and you say ‘no, you touched me here’ (places hand on chest), I think that in another month he will be ready for any kind of [acting] part. He’s only unlucky because two months before, he could have run for the Oscars, but that’s a good story. Maybe next February.”
MONTREAL IMPACT DEFENDER KYLE FISHER
On coming in to a tough game as a sub and how he lived the game:
"It was good. The first thing I wanted to do is make sure to win my challenges one versus one and make sure I was good in the air. That's what Hassoun [Camara] brings and when he left that's what part of my game is the best, that was big so on set pieces and stuff and when we were down to 10 guys too and they were putting balls in the box that's what my job is. I thought we did that well for the game and that's what we have been doing."
On the game and the red card:
"I don't know, at the end of the day it's the refs call and from that point on we had to get back together and had to come together as a team and figure out a way to get some points on the road here. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, but these are tough circumstances and this is something we learn from early in the season. This is an experience we can come onto if this happens later on."
On whether there is a sense of unfairness:
"I don't know; I mean you can put it any way. It depends on what side of the ball you're on, if you're the other team or you're us. At the end of the day it is what it is, there is nothing we can do about that. They'll look at it and they'll see if it should have been different or not. I have not seen the reply of it yet so we will know come around Monday or Tuesday."
