MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Fall 1-0 on the Road to Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday Afternoon

Published on April 30, 2022 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


SANDY, Utah -The LA Galaxy fell 1-0 on the road to Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium, snapping the club's five-match unbeaten run across all competitions on Saturday afternoon.

LA Galaxy in April

In six matches played across all competitions during the month of April, the LA Galaxy held a record of 4-1-1, outscoring their opponents 7-3 during that span. Across all competitions in April, LA held an unbeaten record at home (3-0-0) and lost only once on the road (1-1-1).

Goal-Scoring Plays

RSL - Marcelo Silva (Pablo Ruiz), 49th minute: Marcelo Silva headed in Pablo Ruiz's in-swinging corner kick delivery into the back of the net.

Postgame Notes

Saturday's match marked the 46th MLS Regular Season meeting between LA and Real Salt Lake, with the Galaxy leading the series 19-17-10.

In five regular season games played on the road during the 2022 campaign, the LA Galaxy hold a 2-2-1 record.

In six matches played across all competitions during the month of April, the LA Galaxy held a record of 4-1-1, outscoring their opponents 7-3 during that span.

The loss to Real Salt Lake snapped a five-match unbeaten run for the Galaxy across all competitions dating back to April 3.

Across all competitions in April, LA held an unbeaten record at home (3-0-0) and lost only once on the road (1-1-1).

LA is 3-2-0 against Western Conference opponents this season.

The Galaxy have allowed a league-low one goal scored from open play during the 2022 campaign.

In 29 minutes of action as a second-half substitute, Dejan Joveljić finished the match tied for a game-high three chances created.

Samuel Grandsir has played in 44 consecutive matches across all competitions for the Galaxy dating back to April 18, 2021.

Julián Araujo tallied a team-high three interceptions against RSL.

Rayan Raveloson registered a game-high nine possessions won.

Eriq Zavaleta played in his first MLS Regular Season match for LA, starting and playing 61 minutes against Real Salt Lake.

Nick DePuy made his 50th career appearance across all competitions for the Galaxy.

Next Game

Next up, the Galaxy travel to face Austin FC at Q2 Stadium on Sunday, May 8. The May 8 match kicks off at 4:00 p.m. PT and will feature a national broadcast on FS1 and FOX Deportes.

LA Galaxy (5-3-1, 16pts) at Real Salt Lake (4-2-4, 16pts)

April 30, 2022 - Rio Tinto Stadium (Sandy, Utah)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

LA Galaxy 0 0 0

Real Salt Lake 0 1 1

Scoring Summary:

RSL: Silva (Ruiz), 49

Misconduct Summary:

RSL: Cordova (caution), 42

RSL: Silva (caution), 50

Lineups:

LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Julián Araujo, D Eriq Zavaleta (Sacha Kljestan, 61), D Derrick Williams, D Raheem Edwards; M Mark Delgado (Nick DePuy, 83), M Rayan Raveloson, M Efraín Álvarez, M Douglas Costa (Dejan Joveljić, 61), M Kévin Cabral (Samuel Grandsir, 61); F Javier "Chicharito" Hernández ©

Substitutes Not Used: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Nick DePuy, D Kelvin Leerdam; M Daniel Aguirre, M Jonathan Pérez

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Efraín Álvarez, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Samuel Grandsir, 2); FOULS: 8 (Julián Araujo, 2) OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 3

RSL: GK Zac MacMath; D Andrew Brody, D Justen Glad, D Aaron Herrera, D Marcelo Silva ©; M Pablo Ruiz, M Justin Meram (Tate Schmitt, 85), M Maikel Chang (Jasper Loffelsend, 72), M Everton Luiz; (Scott Caldwell, 72) F Bobby Wood (Nick Besler, 85), F Sergio Cordova (Rubio Rubin, 44)

Substitutes Not Used: GK David Ochoa; M Chris Garcia, M Bode Davis

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Bobby Wood, 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Bobby Wood, 2); FOULS: 6 (Bobby Wood, 2) OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 4

Referee: Drew Fischer

Assistant Referees: Kathryn Nesbitt, Frank Anderson

Fourth Official: Joshua Encarnacion

VAR: Younes Marrakchi

Weather: Clear, 58 degrees

Attendance: 20,755

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

On the VAR call:

"Yeah they called off side, and I think what they called offside was Derrick [Williams] coming back from what they perceived an offside position. And kind of looked like he blocked [Justen] Glad a little bit as he was trying to get to the ball. That's the only thing that I could pull out of it. I was just told that it was offside but when I watched it back, that's the only thing that could have been offside."

On the disappointment of how the game ended:

"I thought it was a rather disappointing day for most of it. From an energy level, speed of play level, things like that. I thought it was just a little slow. The first half we were playing a little bit underwater. Ball was not moving fast enough. We were taking a chance with the ball, turning it over then having to sprint back and transition defending. So that's an expense energy wise when you're having to sprint backwards to defend because we're losing balls in bad places. Just felt like the game was slow, you know, I thought the guys had about 10 minutes between when we arrived at the stadium and when they had to go out to warm up because of a bus, that was delayed, nobody found it in their hearts to give us a few minutes to get our guys ready. So, we were into it pretty fast, and I felt like we were pretty slow in the first half with everything. It just felt like we never caught speed. A little better in the second half. But again, when you go slow, teams like this are going to put a lot of numbers behind the ball. You don't have a lot of space. You've got to find your ways in through, through some tempo and some timing. And we did have a couple good looks in the second half. Samuel [Grandsir] I think had a really good look and maybe one other good look. But yeah, I just felt like the tempo at by and large on the day was just too slow for the day."

On the defensive play today:

"Defensively I thought in general, we were fine. I mean, we had to manage some transitions because of the ridiculous losses of possession. Again, just the unnecessary, I guess, not ridiculous, but unnecessary losses of possession and then you're not organized. I felt like in the first half guys were again, not as careful with the ball. Our awareness I thought wasn't where it needed to be, where pressure was coming from, where our next pass needed to go. And again, we were losing balls that we shouldn't lose, maybe resting a little bit and not great positions. And then we were having to manage some transitions and I thought by and large, obviously, the guys did a good job of managing those transitions, That wasn't what killed us at the end of the day. As you said, it was a set piece goal that that we gave up. I saw [Jonathan] Bond come for it and he didn't get to it, which is problematic. If he's coming, he's got to get it. I don't know what else happened inside of it. I just remember that from the actual moment that it happened. But I thought by and large they defended well. The issue for me on the day in terms of us not being more dangerous and us exposing ourselves in transition was again, the on the ball stuff was just too slow. It was too slow. And at times we needed to keep things simple because I didn't think it was a very complicated game. We needed to keep things simple. We needed to keep things clean, and we needed to find the right tempo in the game to be able to unbalance them and be able to get in to create some chances. And I felt like it not enough [times] through the game that we found the right tempo with the ball."

On today's chance creation:

"The chance creation is what are our chances look like? And I felt like our chances through good chunks of the game, we need to still get behind the opposition. We still need to get to the end line, we need to force defenders out of their block and out of their centerback positions, to open up the face of the goal. We need to do more to stretch the back line and I felt like too much of it was just in between the lines. We needed a little bit more behind the lines. I thought their play by and large, the way they combine off of each other is a good thing, because it moves some pieces around. But that needs to then lead it to us, getting Julian [Araujo] behind the line, getting Raheem [Edwards] or getting Kevin [Cabral] behind the line, getting guys behind the line that make our chances a little bit better than if we're just curling balls in from distance, or shooting from distance, but finding different and a better balance in terms of the types of chances we create. I thought it was a little bit better in the second half. I thought we were able to get in between them. And part of it, it's just because at the start of the possession it's too slow and they're allowed to get so many numbers back and organize and then it becomes a trick and breaking teams down. Some of the transitions, some of the direct balls even at the end, started to create some problems, just because they weren't able to constantly just get back and set in there in their blocks."

On whether or not we will see more of a two-forward system with Dejan Joveljić starting up top next to Chicharito:

"Maybe. I mean, it just depends on sort of the image of the game, you know. The way they were defending us, setting up into three, could get us into the next line pretty easily. If we're only going to use three, then there was the opportunity there to potentially have a second forward on the on the field. I felt like, you know we could have possession of the ball. They weren't able to really press us and stop us or take balls off of us. So, I felt like we were able to back them up and so using a second forward was something we could certainly do in this game again. It's useful. I don't know if it's useful 100 percent of the time. Well, I do know it, I don't think it's useful 100 percent of the time because there is some give and take there. You can go with two forwards, but sometimes you lose a little bit in your ability to possess. Especially when another team is pressing you. There's a give and take, but I felt like in the context of this game, we had enough of the ball and we were still going to have the ball that we could afford to have two guys working in front of the goal with [Dejan] Joveljić and Javier [Hernández] and so it was an opportunity to get two on and I thought again, our chances started to get a little bit better after that."

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SACHA KLJESTAN

On his view of the VAR call and how he saw the way the team attacked today:

"First with the goal that got waived off, it's a difficult one. I've only seen it back once very quickly. It's tough to digest you know, the to see if Derrick [Williams] is really making a play on the ball and really obstructing Justin Glad, I don't know. I think he definitely comes from an off-site position. I don't think that's in dispute, so I don't know. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. That one can go either way and unfortunately it didn't go our way this time. You know, we can also look back at the LAFC game and, you know, VAR helped us win that one in the end and this one took it away. So, these things all even out over the course of the season in my opinion. Secondly, how we attacked. I think in the first half, we weren't really playing the way that we are supposed to be playing and I think sometimes we're trying to hit the final pass too early and too often and then it turns our game into a bit of a track meet of running back and forth and against the team that's sitting back deep, you just have to be better with the ball and take more care of the ball and pass and pass and pass and pass them to death until something opens up, which I think we did really well in the last, you know, 30 minutes. I think the second half was a different type of game, of course they scored, and they were defending their lead, but the way that we passed and moved and tried to get to the end line and tried to get balls into the box and definitely created some chances in the last 30 minutes. Unfortunately, we weren't able to score."

On how the bus delay affects the team ahead of a match like today's:

"It was definitely annoying that's for sure because some guys have different routines before the game and they take longer to get their bodies ready or their tape, or their treatment or whatever they need before the game starts, and all that got shrunk down today. On the other hand, these are excuses if we're going to talk about altitude or being late to the game, and I don't like looking for excuses. So maybe we had a slow start to the game today, but ultimately, I think, you know, we did enough in the second half I think to get ourselves back in the game and just unfortunately we weren't able to score."

On whether a change of formation needs to happen to or if there's enough chance creation in the team's current formation:

"I'm not too concerned about formations either. I think, often the game, as the game happens, it dictates the way that you start to set up and find pockets tactically. I think in a game like this, where the other team takes the lead and they're starting to sit back deeper and deeper that a second striker really helps. So I was happy with the 4-4-2 as the game went on because we were still able to create little overloads in midfield and then as we got into the attack. No matter what formation you're playing, we have to stick to our principles and that's playing across the field. You know, trying to create speed, getting to the end line and creating chances. We haven't really had a game yet where we've really created good chance, after good chance, after good chance. We've also played against quite a few teams now who know how good we are with the ball, and they can't really press us high. So they end up sitting really deep, and that's the toughest to break down, when there's a team that gets 10 guys behind the ball and sits deep. Then you don't really have a lot of space behind their backline, and we still have to threaten that space, even though it maybe gets drunk down to only about 18 yards of space behind their back line. These are things that when you're a good team with the ball that you have to really master. We're not there yet, but these are our principles, and we'll stick to them. And we just have to keep going and try to keep improving at that."

On how he has seen Dejan Joveljić's confidence grow in the last weeks:

"Yeah, just in the last 10 days, too. He was frustrated after the game against San Diego, because he played a pretty good game. But most of the chances felt to other guys. And so, he was waiting for a good chance to score, you know, he's a goal scorer. He's like Chicharito, they live and breathe goals. And so, I have to give him a lot of credit because he's kept a positive attitude through everything. It's not easy being stuck on the bench behind Chicharito, who for the last year and a half has been scoring a lot of goals and doing so well for our team. So, his attitude has been fine. He's kept the respect for the coaches and his teammates. He's kept working. He puts a lot of work in the gym that nobody sees. And does a lot of finishing in training too. So when he gets his chances, we know that he's a guy that can bury them. He's just going to have to keep working. When he keeps getting his chances, try to keep making them pay."

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Major League Soccer Stories from April 30, 2022


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