Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 2, FC Shirak 1
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016
Preseason Exhibition
StubHub Center – Carson, California
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On his thoughts about the game:
"I thought it was a very good exercise for our team tonight. Very good for our fitness, good to get back playing together, good for evaluating players. I thought the pace of the game in the first half was good for the first time out so I think that was a real positive. We had a couple chances perhaps we could have finished in the first half. The second half had the two good goals and might have been a little sloppy giving away a goal, buy I think overall the 90 minutes was good for us and I think we got a lot out of it."
On the play of LA Galaxy Midfielder Emmanuel Boateng"
"I think he did well. Our players are learning a little bit about him and he has to figure out some of our players. He was dangerous at times with a good effort on both sides of the ball and I think he had a good performance."
On the play of LA Galaxy Midfielder Jose Villarreal:
"Two good goals, no question about that. You could see his fitness has to get a little bit better, that is always a challenge for Jose, but he is a good player, he is a player that we think has a future with the Los Angeles Galaxy. We keep pushing him every year to get him a little better, last year was a difficult year for him. He started off well and just suffered a series of injuries throughout the year so that kind of put him out last year. We are hopeful he can stay healthy and get some experience this year."
On the partnership between Baggio Husidic and Steven Gerrard:
"It was alright. First time out I thought it was okay, we will keep looking at that as we go through the pre-season. There are other options we will have there as well."
On the play of LA Galaxy Defender Robbie Rogers:
"Robbie is probably more of a right footed player than a left footed player, so the transition to the other side should be pretty easy, and I think he had a solid night. He can easily make this transition, easier than most players; he really is a two footed player."
On the level of play tonight from the Galaxy:
"I thought overall the night was good. Again, we saw a lot of good things out of the players, and as a group they were attempting to do some of the things we have been working on so that is good. Hopefully a week from today, we have another game scrimmage, and hopefully we can pick up some of the minutes for our players and keep getting better. We have to push pretty hard over the next couple of weeks to try and catch up to our Mexican friends [Santos Laguna] to be in a position to give them a good game."
LA GALAXY FORWARD JOSE VILLARREAL
On his performance:
“I feel good, obviously it is still early in preseason. We have a big game coming up pretty quick that I have to get in shape for and have to get used to new teammates and see what we can do.”
The team’s second half performance:
“The most important thing for me and the group in the second half was just to play well and show what we can do. Obviously, if it means coming off the bench or a starting role in the future, they know that we can step up and play.”
On his two goals tonight:
“To me they are just goals, great team goals, and nothing but the best out of my teammates and that is what I like to do. We have been training pretty hard this past week and this group in particular, we've been working hard and showing Bruce [Arena] what we can do and it came out pretty well tonight.”
LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DAN KENNEDY
On how the exhibition against FC Shirak helps the team along in preseason:
“It was formal as it was, you know? Sometimes that helps us move along a little bit quicker when you have some fans in the stands and it's not up on the track field. It feels a little more real so it should put us in a better frame of mind. But yeah, it was great to get the first one out of the way.”
On judging the performance of the backbone:
“For me, it's just about communication and being organized and tonight I think we did well on both those things. We'll continue to get sharper as it goes on.”
On the fresh pitch:
“I don't know how that field is in that good of condition after being laid down just a few days ago. It was in really good shape considering that.”
