LA GALAXY II HEAD COACH MIKE MUÑOZ
On tonight’s performance:
“Obviously it was a great start. We wanted to be aggressive right from the beginning. We wanted to isolate the wingbacks. Miguel did a great job beating his man. Obviously a good early goal by [Ethan] Zubak. But then unfortunately, the way we conceded the set piece corner, that can’t happen. Then we responded back, then we gave up another soft goal defensively. I’m pleased with 95 percent of the first half, but we should have been up walking in at halftime.”
On if the result was more a cause of tactical or mental approach:
“We tried a new formation tonight. We played a 3-5-2, which I thought tactically we were very good going forward. We thought we were OK defensively. The changes that we created…their goalkeeper came up with some great saves. We have to stop bleeding soft goals. We know what we’ve capable of going forward. We just have to stop giving up those soft goals.”
On the how the team responds after goals are scored:
“It’s how you deal with getting punched down, you get back up. Which historically we’ve done. But these mental lapses where you have to concentrate for 90 minutes and not give the opposition anything. Portland had six or seven first team guys out on the field and you can’t give those guys time and space like that.”
On the debut performance of Diedie Traore:
“We were excited for him to start today. We were considering playing him as one of the wingbacks on the left, but we ended up playing him at the center back. We felt that he would be protected in the back with a back five setup. He’s extremely dangerous going forward. He creates things, he’s in the right spot defensively. Physically, he looks strong. It’s his first game at the professional level so obviously you can’t get too excited, but he’s got a lot of promise.”
On the two-game week ahead for Los Dos:
“I told the guys after the game that I’m going to focus on the positives. I thought there were a lot of positives today. We don’t have time to dwell on the result. We have to quickly, physically and mentally, get prepared for Swope Park, who’s another tough opponent. I’m going to focus on the positives because I thought there was a lot of good stuff. We should have at least got a point out of this game.”
