PASADENA, Calif. – The LA Galaxy admitted that they received a major lesson in the “little things” in their 7-0 defeat to Manchester United at the Rose Bowl Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Throughout the defeat—which was LA’s largest defeat in a friendly match— United. Following the match, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and captain Robbie Keane stressed that LA could learn plenty from the crisp passing and quick movement that United displayed throughout their runaway victory.
A lesson that second-year Galaxy forward Gyasi Zardes took to heart.
“I felt like we learned that when the pressure is on that we have to deal with it,” said Zardes after the defeat. “We can definitely learn from United who are a fast team whose speed of play is superb. We can definitely start working on our own speed of play…I still feel like this was a good game going into our Seattle game so we get prepared mentally and physically.”
But for Landon Donovan, it’ll be important that the players apply those lessons heading into the all-important match against Seattle Sounders FC on Monday.
“You see what happens at higher level [where] everything happens at least a second or two faster. The speed of thought, the speed of play, the way they move, the way they react to things—technically, tactically, all those things,” said Landon Donovan. “And you hope when you come out of the game, especially the young guys, that they are not saying ‘Oh my god, they were so amazing,’ but ‘they do all the little things right’ and ‘how can I be better individually.’”
