Head Coach Adrian Heath
On having three wins…
“Well, it’s good. There’s nothing like a few victories to help everybody’s confidence and from where it was to up here. They’ve worked really hard for the three wins that they did. I was really pleased with everybody last week. The second team, virtually, going away at Madison in the Open Cup, were terrific. They go away at the weekend and play St. Louis [CITY2] and win as well so it was a very very good week for the club.”
On the goals against Chicago…
“It’s not a coincidence that Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] was involved. He scored one and made a couple. I said last week, I feel as though he’s coming back to clicking into gear a little bit. Robin’s [Lod] was a great finish. It’s nice to get a couple of set pieces as well, which is a criticism that has been labeled to us a little bit. It was a really good week but more importantly, I felt the level of performance was better than it had been. I still don’t think that we have put a full, really good 90 minutes together. But, them periods of good play are getting longer and getting bigger.”
On determining what constitutes a win…
“I’ve always talked about a level of performance that’s acceptable to us as a staff and to them as a team because if we can maintain that level of performance, the way that I know this team can play, invariably that would be enough to get us a victory. As much as we want to win, and that is always the bottom line, the level of performance is important.”
On defending in the attacking third…
“Our defensive shape has been pretty good all season. I think that it’s probably been in the attacking areas that there have been question marks asked and a bit more concern from us. In terms of defending as a group, that's never been in question. Obviously, our goalkeepers have been excellent this year, and Boxy [Michael Boxall] and Dibassy [Bakaye Dibassy] are so experienced, and whoever has come in at fullback has really contributed. It’s been a really good team effort. The days of just isolating the back four have gone. This is a 10-man defensive shape and a 10-man attacking shape. Everybody contributes on both sides of the ball.”
On LAFC as a club…
“They play in a similar shape, they play their 4-3-3 and they’ve got really good attacking pieces, whether it be [Cristian] Arango or whether it be [Carlos] Vela. Obviously, [Cristian] Fernandez is injured. [Kwadwo] Opoku has come in and done well. It’s going to be tough at their place. It always is. We’ve been there in the past and got a couple of results so it’s going to be tough but not impossible. Looking forward to it.”
On the warm weather in California…
“I’m sure Steve Cherundolo is not going into training with this hat on and these gloves. Don’t let this sun fool you… it’s not very warm here at the moment. It’ll be nice to get out there and get a nice training session under a nice bit of sun.”
Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair
On the level of confidence in the team…
“I think it’s very good. We talked about today, our goal unit. Eric [Dick] played two nights ago with the second team. Three games, three clean sheets in a week, which is of course, great for the GK [goalkeeper] unit and continuing to build on the game as a four. I think the guys that went down to Madison did a great job to keep the momentum and then a strong second half against Chicago. We’re looking to build upon that in LA.”
On his view of the team as a whole defensively…
“I think, especially Kervin [Arriaga], he’s come in and done a great job pressing all around the field. Our game style, it’s important for us to have a good team shape. We’ve done that and made it hard for teams to really break us down. The last goal [allowed], of course, you could knock down as an error on our behalf. I think that’s almost four games now with strong defensive performances. Building upon that and with our midfield and our attacking line, if we can press and get goals… that’s how we scored this weekend. Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] pressed their center back, we win the ball and we score and that changes the game for us.”
On a multi-goal game as an attacking unit…
“As soon as that first goal goes in, we get together as a backline and as a team and we know that it’s our job to step up and lead this team through. When you get the other goals, you have a little bit of that cushion but I think our mindset, always to keep a clean sheet though as well.”
On changes in the backline and communication differences…
“With those two guys specifically, [Oniel Fisher] and [Kemar Lawrence], my dad is from the Caribbean so we bonded immediately when those two guys have come. It’s been an easy transition for us, in terms of that, and I trust in all of the outside backs we have on the team. Everyone is still early on in the season so every time someone gets an opportunity, they’re fighting to show why they should be on the roster the next week. That’s been a good internal competition. The guys that aren’t playing are definitely backing them to do well as well.”
On LAFC from an attacking perspective and players such as Carlos Vela…
“His class definitely shows. He was a league MVP for a reason and he was in a contract year this year, so he’s going to be fighting for that and more internal motivations for himself. We know that when he does well, LAFC does well. Going into this weekend, if we can try to eliminate him and do our best job against them, we know we’ve gone there before and gotten a result, so it’s not impossible. We’re going to go in with the same mindset. We can go and get a result again.”
On looking forward to warm weather…
“Definitely. To be fair, it was nice that the weather held off on the weekend. It was definitely a little bit warmer. It was nice to see the sun a little bit and hopefully bring some of that LA weather back with us too.”
