Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 2-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Head Coach Freddy Juarez
On the reason RSL has given up leads this season:Ā
āI donāt have the answer. Itās a combination of a lot of things. I donāt know that you could pinpoint one thing, but the guys have done fantastic jobs to get ahead of the game and to come out with energy. We talked about at halftime that the opponent is going to respond and those moments are where you have to be mentally stronger. You have to figure out moments of being more tidy with the ball and connecting the passes that matter. Because today it was too much of an open game. We were exciting in going forward and there was a lot of open game, which is awesome for the fans. But then we started creating so many gaps and if you donāt connect a pass, you always leave yourself exposed to counters down the other way. Itās too open. Thereās not enough control without the ball and with the ball, so youāre giving the opponent a chance. And in the West, every team is very good. LA was missing some big-name players and even then they kept themselves in the game so they could get a goal if they had the opportunity. Which they did in the first half, kind of out of nothing. Spectacular goal by the way, but I think we couldāve been a little more aggressive. And then now thereās a little bit of second guessing and āoh shootā. One more and theyāre in the game. And thatās where we need to get over the hump. The mentality just has to be stronger when we get in those situations.ā
On why midfielders are dropping deep on attacks:Ā
āI donāt think itās necessarily about the dropping deep. Weāll say this scenario: the centerback or goalkeeper have the ball and clip it all the way to the first line. But lines underneath have to spin out and travel vertically for that reason. Part of that is probably fatigue, some of it may be positioning. I can take a look at the video and see if I can put them in better positions so when thereās an option in the first line, thereās a third line. Maybe if we take a look at that we can challenge second balls more. But we talked about that at half. I didnāt think we were great at it in the first half. And thatās something we have to improve. These games are won and lost on second balls and midfield battles. And itās something I thought we were okay at, but we werenāt great at it. And if you donāt win those battles, youāre just giving life to the opponent. You hear all over the place, āsecond balls, second balls, second balls.ā We have to get that mentality. You have to roll up your sleeves and grind at the moments in the game that asks you to grind. Then when it asks for a little bit of silk, you have to add the silk.ā
On what needs to change moving forward:Ā
āMaybe we have to use a line of five or kick the ball more direct over the top. Thereās not an answer for it. If I had an answer for that, weād have more wins. We have to get better. It might be psychological, it might be effort or a lot of things. And as a group we have to double down on things weāre doing and also things that didnāt go right today and the goals. We have to get better at those phases so it doesnāt continue to repeat itself. I thought we had been doing well in dealing with service since the Nashville game and then today, the second goal was too easy, too innocent. We can be more aggressive closing down and better at organizing our back line and getting in the box. We can track back harder. Those are the moments. You canāt relax in this game, the opponents are too good.ā
Forward Rubio Rubin
On the result:Ā
āI think it's a lack of concentration from the whole team. Just being more savvy, closing out games is important. Sometimes a 2-0 lead or even 2-1 is what we need to win. As much as we want to go forward and attack, when we attack with numbers that can result in a counter attack. Obviously we were fatigued, it was a midweek game, but thereās no excuse. We have to be savvy, we have to win these games and close them out. Itās just the reality, it cost us again today and cost us points. Obviously we are a much better team and at the end of the day we came out with a draw and it hurt us.ā
On lack of help from the midfield:
āI just have to continue doing my job and the rest is something I can't control. Obviously I want to be able to have underneath help and be able to get runs in behind and look to attack to get in front of the goal. Weāre just disappointed that we gave up points today. We had it. We were up 2-0. We were attacking. We were the better team. Like I said before, we have to be much more savvy. We have to be killers. We have to finish out these games. We canāt keep giving up these games, especially when weāre winning the game with 15 minutes to go. Itās disappointing. It sucks.ā
On passing disconnect:Ā
āI think obviously in the first half we had moments. I think we lacked a little bit of going side by side wearing them down. Being a little more brave on the ball and trusting each other with the ball. Just trusting our abilities, I think ultimately thatās a big thing in soccer. We need to not be scared to receive the ball under pressure and trust our abilities. Weāre soccer players. We can make plays and stuff like that. We have to be able to not be afraid to get the ball, create gap spaces and movement off the ball. I think some of our passes killed us today and ultimately cost us three points.ā
Midfielder Albert Rusnak
On the result:Ā
āI mean it is as frustrating as anything Iāve experienced before. Trust me we are just as frustrated as the fans and everybody else around the club are. If it wasnāt for first half results this year, we might be top of the league. We are giving up leads, especially here at home. We go up one goal or two goals and then in the second half we somehow give it up. It's not going to be an easy couple of days now before the next game. We have to get it sorted out amongst ourselves and find out the reason that weāve given up these leads. It can happen once or twice, but I canāt even count how many times itās happened this year. Itās not an easy one. I donāt have an answer right now as to why we go a couple goals up and give it up or why weāre winning 1-0 and then all of a sudden we lose or tie. It seems like when the game is tied we are a much better team then when we take a lead. It should be the other way around. You should relax and you should feel a lot more comfortable and confident when you take the lead. I am just as frustrated as anyone else.ā
On the first half:Ā
āWe were on our front foot, we got into dangerous positions in their half and we created chances. We scored a couple of goals and we were good when we lost ball possession. We lost ball possession in the first half as well, but we reacted well as a team. We were pressed, we were strong in duels. We were the much better team in the first half and then just like it has happened before, in the second half it went against us and weāre on the backfoot and all of a sudden weāre losing the ball too easily. There isnāt the same movement that there was in the first half. There isnāt the same confidence to play these risky balls between the lines. Everything just goes away. At the moment weāre a team that is completely different in two halves. We have to sort that out. It isnāt the start of the season anymore. We are coming to the midpoint of the season. We gave up so many points that we donāt want to be sitting here at the end of the season and remembering that game when we were winning 2-0. Those are the points weāre missing to reach our goal. We canāt let that happen. As I said, we've got two days to solve this stuff before the next game.ā
On the teamās morale:Ā
āBefore this game it was good. Everybody was looking forward to the home game playing in front of our fans. The mood even at halftime we said to each other we gave up a goal, but you have to give him credit it was a great goal. We have to keep doing what we were doing well in the first half and that didnāt happen. We were on the back foot and later on conceded that second goal. Right now as I said before weāre frustrated. Everybody is mad and rightly so, because this has happened over and over again. We thought we fixed it last time and then it happened again. If something bad keeps happening over and over again, the morale and the mood in a team canāt be any good and it isnāt any good right now. As I said again we have two days to get things sorted out.ā