Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 1, New York Red Bulls 1
Saturday, April 26, 2015 – 2:00 p.m. PT
MLS Regular Season
Red Bull Arena – Harrison, NJ
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the result…
"I think this year we've been in a few matches where we walked off the field with a point and today we deserved to get a point out of the game so it's not a perfect result by any means but a well earned point on the road ."
On Bradford Jamieson's play…
"Obviously it was a great goal. He's still a young kid, he had some good moments and some that weren't so good but overall a real good performance by a good young players."
On doing the little things to get the point…
"We did that things you're supposed to do when you're playing on the road."
On dealing with RBNY's high pressure…
"They did a good job in the first half, I think the game slowed down in the second half and we got a little bit better. Our passing wasn't real good in the first half. Overall, in the game, it wasn't as good as it needs to be but we survived that. Defensively, I think we did a solid job throughout in preventing too many chances. Over the last fifteen minutes or so I would say we conceded too many set pieces, but we got away with it."
On goalkeeper Jamie Penedo's play…
"Penedo made a big save on Wright-Phillips. It really was a big save. Jamie did a good job today."
On referee's decision not to give McCarty a second yellow card…
"The referee was giving away cards like they were candy. At the end of the game you don't want to see any players get sent off, but certainly that tackle merited a yellow card, especially on the day, the way [the referee] gave away cards."
On how Arena sees Jamieson progressing…
"Who knows, it's a long way away. Let's talk in a couple years on that. He's doing well. Let's wait a while. Let's not get crazy like everybody does every time a young player does something right. This is a long haul in becoming a player. He's many years away from being where we would like him to be and where he's going to be so let's just be patient and see what happens down the road."
On gaining confidence on the road…
"We're fine on the road. We should win games on the road, and get points on the road so this is just a start and hopefully it gets a little bit better as the year goes on."
LA GALAXY DEFENDER OMAR GONZALEZ
On the result away from home…
"I'm very pleased with this result. It's more than we've gotten in the past. We haven't won away from home and to get a point here at New York who is undefeated, and is a very good team at home, we're pleased with it, it's better than leaving with zero."
On reacting to the tempo of the game…
"[The game] was very stop and go, that's because we were trying to be aggressive and not let them get into a rhythm. We got the first goal which was a great individual play from [Jamieson] and a great goal, and they happen to get a lucky goal themselves but it ended up being a pretty even game. They weren't that threatening to be honest. They had a lot of possession, but we never felt really threatened. The one chance by Bradley Wright-Phillips in the beginning was good but [Penedo] saved us out of that one."
On dealing with Red Bulls' pressure…
"They didn’t allow us to get comfortable at the back. When I got the ball and I looked up, I saw four or five white shirts sprinting towards me so the only thing I saw to do was to play it back to [Penedo] or play it up to [Gordon] or [Jamieson] so they did well with that…"
On trying to get the first win away from home…
"I thought we did good. Having a starting point in defending, we started at the top of the circle and once they entered that zone, I felt like our forwards put pressure on their center backs, made them make a decision and we won a few balls in the middle of the park, and I thought we all defended well as a team, and that's one of the reasons why we got the point."
On the play of Gyasi Zardes this season…
"Going up against Zardes every day in practice, he's a guy who wants to keep on improving and he wants to get better every single day, he's committed to his craft and it's hard going up against him in practice. It's hard because some days I'm tired and he wants to keep going and always wants to get more, always wants to keep shooting with the coaches, always wanting to improve his game. It's great to see in a young guy like that and it's a good sign for the future of the Galaxy, and if he keeps on working like that, it will be great for years to come."
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH JESSE MARSCH
On going up against a short-handed LA team:
"I mean when you say short handed it's maybe just missing Robbie Keane and obviously that's a big piece, but that's still a very good LA team on the field and for me I thought that we controlled the game from the opening whistle and for 90 minutes we were on top of the match. Getting the early goal for them really changed the match a little bit and meant that we were pushing and they were sitting back but overall I thought that the little tactical details for what we needed to do to be on top of the match were good. The guys pushed and pushed to get the equalizer and we were a little bit unlucky not to find the lead. So overall I would give it a positive performance."
On what the team worked on from San Jose game to LA Game:
"Yeah, I thought that our reactions and awareness and our movement as a group was all very good. Very very good. So in a lot of ways the first half might be one of the better halves of the season. These are positive I feel like we continue to move ourselves along against a good team you know we played really well and again we were a little bit unlucky not to get three points."
What Felipe put in today's game:
"Yeah he does so many little things well. He sees the game fast, his feet are sharp so in tight spots he can collect balls and see things quickly and deliver the next play, he covers so much ground, he breaks up so many plays, he's a connecter, an attacker, his engine is at a very high level so I thought another very good performance for him in the middle of the field. You know, he is only 24 but he is wise beyond his years and I think that he shows that every day he's grasping what we want to do and he is growing and I think he's going to get only better. So very good start to the season for him and another very good night and I know he will be very happy that he got on the board even if it was a little bit of a weird play, but still goal nonetheless and an important one."
On if the play improved
"Yeah I don't think it was a tale of two halves personally. I think it was one game where we were dictating pretty much a lot of the play at all moments in possession, in pressing, in recovering balls, in set pieces, in almost every aspect of the game I felt like we were on top of it. And again we were a little unlucky not to find a way to be a little bit more dangerous to get the third so, I mean the second, and get the three points. You know and that's against a good LA team so overall I think it's a step forward, that's my main thing right now. Even though it's a draw it's a step forward for me."
On his history with Bradford Jamieson and Lloyd Sam's health:
"I'll start with Llyod. You know, Lloyd just didn't get a full week of training but I thought overall I think he was sharp. At half time we wanted him to be a little more aggressive to be on the move. We just felt like he wasn't at his peak fitness wise so we decided to make a change. But, you know, I still thought overall a good night for him. BJ I know from when I was with US Soccer I would go with a lot of the youth national teams so I got to know a lot of these young guy. BJ was a young fringe player on the U-15 team that I worked with. I spent a lot of time with that team I like BJ a lot. He has a lot of personality, he comes to training with a lot of energy and I am happy for him that he got a goal, obviously I prefer not against us but I think he has a big career ahead of him and I am happy to see him be successful."
On the team's resiliency:
"At half the message was the goals coming. Make sure that we all believe that and know that if we are on top of the game that it's coming. We have gone down in games but we haven't wavered so that's a really good sign. Again in that way I think it is another step forward too. This team continues to grow and it's only early so if we can grow like this every game then we are in good shape."
On inserting Zizzo into starting lineup:
"We felt that we like the match-up between Sal vs Gargan. I think that helped us get the goal. Sal has been very good in training; he has been very good when he has played for us. We think he's dynamic, aggressive and Mike, we were also looking a little bit to make sure we had legs for the all three games and thinking about rotations and figuring out how to get through all three games and manage it the right way. Mike will start on Wednesday try to figure out where exactly on the field. Some of it was the match-up and some of it was the three games in a week."
On Chris Duvall's play:
"Yeah, you know he could have done a little bit better with the goal, but Chris has been a reliable guy for us all year. We want to push our young guys and trust them, believe in them and help them continue to grow and get better. Chris, I think has been fantastic all year so there is no chance I would take him out of that game. He still had a very good game and continues to get better."
On whether Zubar or Miller will play midweek:
"I would guess yes. We are aiming to see which guys come out of this game and will be ready for Wednesday and then how to use the guys that didn't start tonight. I would guess that we will see those guys this week. We have a very good roster; a deep roster and we are going to call on it now."
On managing three games in a week:
"First of all, we have to assess physically where we are at. We want to make sure that tonight all the players that played major minutes handle themselves physically in the right way to give themselves the best chance on Wednesday. We have some guys that I think have been earning some playing time that haven't quite got it yet because of the way the schedule has worked out. Two weeks ago we talked about making sure to use the USL pro games, use training, using supplemental fitness after training to make sure that in this stretch of games whoever was going to get called on know their roles and they are ready to go. We will test it on Wednesday and see how it goes."
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER SACHA KLJESTAN
On how the team improved this week:
“I think we controlled the game more today, we did a lot of the things that we wanted to today - put them under pressure, create chances, things like that. Overall we leave disappointed because we gave up an early goal off of a little small defensive one-on-one mistake, but I think the mentality was good to come back again. We got an ugly goal, we created some good chances and we probably should have scored a few more. So overall, disappointed. The Galaxy tried to kill off the game from the first minute and must've wasted 10 minutes of actual playing time so that annoys me.”
On the proactive approach from the Red Bulls:
“I think that's our style and that's the way we're going to play every game this season no matter where we play or who we play against. We got that positive energy, we got that momentum, we like to put teams under pressure and tonight I think we did ok.”
On the positives to take away from the result:
“The mentality again, the comeback, the way we pressed, the way we played fast and put them under pressure, things like that. All the things that we've worked on in training I thought were pretty good today, minus giving up an early goal.”
On the confidence of the team:
“Yeah we never had any doubt. We came in here pretty positive at halftime and we knew that we had a lot of moments in the game where we put them under pressure and created chances. I don't think we created so many chances in the second half, we really had a good one in the first half but the belief has been there since day one. I think Jesse [Marsch] has instilled a great mentality into this team and it's been good.”
On the midfield and how sharp they were today:
“Yeah we cleaned it up a bit today. I think in the game against San Jose we gave too many small turnovers, little technical plays that we need to be better at. Tonight we cleaned it up. I think the Galaxy midfield tried to make it hard on us tonight and tried to be physical with us, but I think we had a lot better of the play, we had a lot of the ball, we looked pretty sharp building out of the back which was good to see. Overall, a decent performance, but result-wise, like I said, very disappointed.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER FELIPE
On the goal:
"No, it was a little bit lucky but I think the good thing was we came back and tied the game."
On how difficult this team was:
"I think they came here to sit back and counter against us. But I think they did a pretty good job, they played well but we were unlucky to not get three points so it was a little disappointing."
On the goal again:
"We have been working on the midfield going to the offensive part and I was lucky to follow the action and the ball went right to my head. That was the goal, I had to look again but I was completely lucky. But most important was we scored a goal. I didn't score many but I think it was the luck.
On team's confidence level:
"I completely happy to be a part of this organization. We are a family, we run for each other, we play for each other and every day we go to training happy to be a part of the team. This team is so motivated and this staff is putting us in the best way to play. We have to continue to working hard and see what happens in the end."
On how he fits into Jessie's style
"I think Jessie is a great coach. The way he want to play with a lot of pressure, hard work and gives everyone confidence on the team. Everyday work, push very hard and that's the way I train every day and do work for the team. That is the way that Jessie wants us to play."
On the unbeaten run to start the season:
"I think tonight we don't feel good because we could win this game, we had to win this game. In the end we came back and tied the game. Now we just focus on Wednesday night and three points."
