Sports stats



MLS LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy Postgame Notes and Quotes: LA Galaxy 0, Seattle Sounders FC 3

May 3, 2021 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
LA Galaxy News Release


The LA Galaxy fell 3-0 against Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday evening on the road at Lumen Field in Seattle.

With the result, the LA Galaxy are now 2-0-1 (6 points) in the 2021 MLS Regular Season with six goals scored and seven conceded.

The Galaxy are now 10-9-12 all-time against Sounders FC, including 4-5-6 in matches played at Lumen Field.

On the road this season, the Galaxy are 1-0-1 with three goals scored and five conceded.

LA Galaxy Goalkeeper Jonathan Bond leads MLS with 15 saves this season for the LA Galaxy.

LA Galaxy Defender Derrick Williams made his club and MLS debut in the starting XI.

18-year-old LA Galaxy Forward Jonathan Perez made his MLS debut after coming on in the 83rd minute of the match.

LA Galaxy Defender Daniel Steres made his third-straight start in central defense. Steres is one of the longest tenured Galaxy defenders with 125 previous appearances.

LA Galaxy Midfielder Efrain Alvarez tallied his first MLS start this season, making his 11th MLS start in his 31st appearance for the LA Galaxy.

In their next match, the LA Galaxy will return home to face LAFC at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. PT live on FS1 and Fox Deportes.

In all, the club had seven players feature during Sunday's match that came through the club's developmental system (LA Galaxy II and LA Galaxy Academy): Daniel Steres, Nick DePuy, Julian Araujo, Efrain Alvarez, Cameron Dunbar, Ethan Zubak and Jonathan Perez.

For more information, visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Postgame Quotes

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY

Thoughts on the game:

"Initial thoughts on the game, I own a lot of how we set up in the game. I wanted us to get a hold of the ball a little bit more. We had guys in decent spots, but we didn't keep the ball, we didn't get the ball switched from one side to the other as quickly as we would have liked. We turned it over too much, and then we were exposed. We were too far apart from each other defensively. Our backline wasn't so much connected with our midfield. Front two stepping out and they were able to too easily just play through us. We were just disconnected; we didn't defend the widths very well so that was kind of the theme that kept happening through most of the first half. We were losing balls too often and too easily and then we were exposed and defensively we just never ended up back together as a group where could just defend and protect ourselves as a group. There was always just gaps between us and again we struggled to defend a bit on the wide channels with those wingbacks getting forward. A lot of things to take away. Learned a lot of things about our group. I continue to learn about them every day and things that I would definitely not do again as we went through this experience. And a lot of things that as a group that we have to, just behaviors and things that we are not recognizing, not reading, that we as a group need to be better at to protect ourselves specifically but also to be able to unbalance teams and to hurt them more. We didn't hurt them enough."

On the three halftime subs and the team's second half performance:

"The objective was, we weren't close enough to where we needed to be in the first half, so we needed to change something. Derrick Williams took a knock which was the reason for taking him out. So that's why Nick [DePuy] came in, then we just needed to change the shape. We needed to have two holding midfielders to try to protect the space that they were just playing in off their strikers to link things up, so I wanted another guy sitting in front. But I didn't want to get too defensive, so I wanted Sacha [Kljestan] to be in there to try to help us create attacks and step forward in the spaces. And we went for it for the first 15-20 minutes to see if we could get one back and change the flow and the momentum of the game. We did so in some ways. We left a couple of chances I thought on the table that we didn't finish, or we didn't finish the attacks the way we would have liked to. And then I thought as we didn't get that goal and guys started to wear down. Little things started to happen. We started to get more exposed again as we were pushing the game a little bit too fast and getting separated."

On where he feels the team is defensively:

"The easy short answer is no; we are not where we want to be defensively. Again, not collectively. But defending is a lot of different things. Again, today, losing too many balls between lines. Not advancing our attacks deep enough into the opposition's half. When you lose balls between your lines, then you tend to put your group into a little bit more pressure in transition play. We did that tonight. Also, defensively, again I've said this, we have to get better about recognizing what is more dangerous than something else. Sometimes we go stepping out and trying to defend things that are less dangerous than the space that we are leaving, and it exposes us. That's something we have to get way better at. The second is proactively organizing each other and pulling the group back together and not feeling like we have to chase every ball, to press every ball and then transition press every ball, but actually just reorganizing our block and knowing how to just defend to protect ourselves a little more. I think we were a little overanxious to try to step to recover balls too fast and we were just getting played through because we were creating gaps in between us. A little bit of it is reading, a little bit of it is proactive defending and organizing as the opposition is moving and changing their shape. And some of it is just a behavior. Collectively we just need to get our blocks from front to back tighter so we that when we aren't in control of the ball, we can stay in control of the game from a defensive positioning. Today we struggled a little bit, as I said, with the wide spaces, the relationship between our full backs and our wide players struggled a lot today in managing the wide spaces. Ultimately, they are a team that loves to whip balls in and cut balls back and get to the end lines and we did a poor job of managing that today which is something we have to get better that. They are just a very good team whose been together for a while and it exposed a lot of things for us and for me that we need to continue to improve upon and that's what today was."

On whether this loss was a step back for the team:

"It's a step back from our game points and the confidence you get from every win, this is a bit of a reality check for all of us, for myself, for everybody. When I say reality, it's also getting to know each other, it's getting to understand the style and where we are against a team that's played in the final so many times over the last several years. They are still, for me, the standard of teams, between their experiences they have done as a group for the last five years, they are still the standard, you can talk about any other team in the league, they are still the standard for what needs to be done. They have a lot of experienced players who have played together in a lot of big games and in big moments and they are very comfortable on the field together. For us, it was a challenge, to see a little bit of where we are at and some things that we need to continue to improve upon. I think we are better than what we showed today if we approach the game a little bit differently to start and we are a little bit smarter about some of our decisions and some of those things. We are better than we are today, but it also showed us some things that we need to continue to improve on if we want to get to that level where we are competing to win championships."

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SACHA KLJESTAN

On the team's second half performance:

"Sharing my thoughts on the second half being in the game, at that point we are down 2-0 and we are chasing the game a bit so then lines definitely get open too much and Seattle is a team that is comfortable sitting behind the ball and being able to hit you on the counter attack. On the second half, I thought we came out pretty good, pushing the tempo of the game, trying to create some chances early and ultimately the lines get too open later in the game as the game gets stretched and guys get tired."

On takeaways from this game ahead of the team's next home game on Saturday:

"I think we just have to clean up a few things. I think coming into a difficult place to play like Seattle, we have to have a little bit more of an edge to us. So, winning duels, winning fifty fifties, winning headers, just being up for the challenge really. I think we can just learn from this game that obviously we have to have an edge to us when we play against good teams away from home. When we are playing at home, I think we are going to be a little bit more comfortable, we are going to have the ball a lot more, so we'll control the game that way. Coming on the road in a difficult place I think we have to match their intensity a little bit better."

On what can be learned from this game and whether it's a step backwards:

"I don't know if it's a step backwards. A loss was bound to happen at some point and typically you learn a lot more about yourself in the difficult moments if you are willing to actually look in the mirror and take some things from it. Like I said earlier, I think we have to have a little bit more of an edge about us and be a little bit more competitive in duels and fifty fifties and things like that, and really letting the other team know that we are here to play. We lacked a little bit of that tonight and we got punished during a few minutes in the first half where they put away two goals. Other than that, I think we just have to keep pushing this thing along and keep our focus on what we have been doing, the way we are trying to play, the way we are trying to control games with the ball. Just get better at all those things."

LA Galaxy 0, Seattle Sounders FC 3

Sunday, May 2, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. PT

MLS Regular Season

Lumen Field - Seattle, WA

Postgame Notes

Scoring Summary:

SEA - Raul Ruidiaz (Assisted by Brad Smith) 20'

SEA - Brad Smith 23'

SEA - Raul Ruidiaz (Assisted by Jimmy Medrana, Nouhou Tolo) 90'+3'

Misconduct Summary:

None

Lineups:

LA Galaxy: Jonathan Bond; Oniel Fisher (Ethan Zubak 46'), Daniel Steres, Derrick Williams (Nick DePuy 46'), Jorge Villafaña; Efrain Alvarez (Sacha Kljestan 46'), Jonathan dos Santos ©, Victor Vazquez (Cameron Dunbar 65'); Julian Araujo, Javier Hernandez, Samuel Grandsir (Jonathan Perez 83').

Substitutions not used: Jonathan Klinsmann, Danilo Acosta, Adam Saldaña, Carlos Harvey.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 6.

Head Coach: Greg Vanney

Seattle Sounders FC: Stefan Frei ©; Nouhou, Brad Smith (Jimmy Medrana 79'), Shane O'Neill, Yeimar Gomez Andrade; Joao Paulo (Danny Leyva 79'), Cristian Roldan, Alex Roldan, Kelyn Rowe (Jordy Delem 89'); Raul Ruidiaz, Will Bruin (Nicolas Lodeiro 66').

Substitutions not used: Spencer Richey, Stefan Cleveland, Xavier Arriaga, Ethan Dobbelaere, Fredy Montero.

TOTAL SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 6; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 2.

Head Coach: Brian Schmetzer

Referee: Jair Marrufo

Lineman 1: Frank Anderson

Lineman 2: Jeff Hosking

Fourth official: Michael Radchuk

VAR: Malik Badawi

Ast. VAR: Joshua Patlak

Attendance: 7,148

Check out the LA Galaxy Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from May 3, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central