CARSON, Calif. – Jermaine Jones says it’s time for the LA Galaxy to understand the pressure that the team faces amid their 1-3-0 start to the season.
Speaking to Herculez Gomez and Max Bretos’ ESPN FC Podcast, Jones spoke candidly about the Galaxy’s first four games of the season following the team’s disappointing 4-2 defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps FC last weekend. After the match, Jones stated that it was time for the team to be smarter about the way they play heading into their clash with Montreal on Friday.
"We're still the process. We're still trying to build something. We have a young team. Of course, we have some experienced guys and some good names. I think the whole club is trying to change something and find themselves right now. The season hasn’t started perfectly as we wanted, but if you see the game in Vancouver, we controlled the whole game. We were down 1-0 and then went 2-1 up. It’s a learning process. It’s a learning process especially if you’re LA Galaxy that you cannot give games away like that. We have an important game on Friday and Montreal is a good counter-attacking team, but when we play at home, we have to win.”
Throughout the podcast, Jones touched on a number of topics including his U.S. National Team future and his connection in midfield with his USMNT partner Michael Bradley. However, his most interesting quotes were about the Galaxy where he voiced his full support for the club's younger squad but admitted that they need to understand the magnitude of playing for the league's winningest club.
"It’s always tough. Especially, if you come up from a year like last year where we had Keane, Gerrard, and Dos Santos, at the end of the day, the last two seasons LA had the big names and won nothing. That’s a fact. This year, we tried something new and maybe we don’t have the big names like Gerrard, but in another way, we still have a good team," Jones said. "The important thing that I say that everyone has to understand is that I’ve played in New England and Colorado where you don’t have the pressure and no one has their eye on you. People say, ‘oh, surprise! They made it almost to the final.’ In LA, everyone says that you have to get to the final. That’s the pressure that we have, and everyone has to understand that.
"It’s easy. If you talk about MLS, then you talk about the Galaxy. LA Galaxy for years has been the cream of MLS. They’ve won the most championships, and I think the club is the biggest in MLS. The pressure is normal. When you have that jersey, and you play for the club, you have understand that the teams play harder and want to show because the players want to show that they have a chance to maybe get traded to LA.
"That’s the point that we have to understand that if you step on the field, the opponents will go 110 percent against you. We saw it. We’ve seen video from other teams who will play one way against other teams and then completely different against us. That’s the respect that they have for LA, but in the other way, every team goes harder than they do normal."
