Saturday, August 22, 2020
Bob Bradley
Postgame Press Conference
LAFC 0, LA Galaxy 2
THE MODERATOR: We'll have Bob start out with a brief opening statement. Thank you. Go ahead, Bob.
BOB BRADLEY: It was a terrible game for us. I told the team, it's a day where I'm going to take responsibility because we didn't look like ourselves. We never found any rhythm. The game had no tempo. We weren't dangerous, and we just looked like we were second best throughout the day.
Throughout our history, we've always had a way to push games, play a certain kind of football, and today we didn't come close. We had so few guys that played in the way that they normally play.
So to have a terrible game like that in a Derby, obviously, is something where we're looking hard at ourselves as coaches and thinking about all the details in terms of how we've been training lately, why certain guys are not in the form that they need to be. We've given up another goal on a set piece that we have to look harder at how we defend set pieces. We were very slow to defend when they played the ball back to the trailer coming in.
So these are all details where, again, mistakes, but it was a game where we just -- in all way, we were just poor. That's a difficult thing to say in a big game.
Q. Bob, I wanted to ask about Carlos; he went down suddenly in the second half and came right off. Do you have any update on his status and perhaps what injury he suffered?
BOB BRADLEY: We'll need at least a day or two to fully assess, but just before that play he took a shot. The shot was blocked, so that is usually an MCL-type situation, so that's what we will look at in the next day or two.
Q. I just wanted to find out your assessment of Carlos even though it was a short period. Is it fine that he would just be back already and play the way that he used to?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, it's great to have him back, but Carlos was -- when I say that we don't have anyone that played well, Carlos didn't play well at all today. He wasn't active, he wasn't dangerous. He looked like somebody who hadn't played a game in a long time.
Q. Obviously a disappointing game but thoughts on just kind of finally being able to play back here at the Banc?
BOB BRADLEY: We love playing in the Banc, and of course we talked about that beforehand. We talked about it being a Derby. We talked about the fact that we had a big result against the Galaxy in Orlando, so we knew what to expect. We were excited to step on the field. The game was very slow today, and the game didn't have any real flow or rhythm.
On days where maybe we don't find our normal tempo, we still have to be able to do other things to keep ourselves in games on days like today and then little by little see if we can start to get the game back going the way we would like. I thought our passing was poor. When we had chances to take the ball on the move and dribble aggressively, we never really got into the box and dribbled in ways that put their defenders in a real tough situation.
So yes, we will look hard. It's great to be back, but it's not what we're all about, and so it's a day where we're very honest with ourselves and very, very -- we are going to find a way to push ourselves out of it. We've been a good team. We're a team that has played at a high level, and a day like today is not acceptable for any of us.
Q. I know obviously that you don't make excuses and stuff, you never have, but that said, it was really, really hot today. I know that there are TV considerations and stuff like that, but any thoughts on kind of the 3:00 p.m. start time and how that might have affected you guys?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, I'd like to separate the two because what I don't want to do is to use the starting time as an excuse for how poor we were today. We were terrible, and we have to take responsibility for that. But I also don't feel that an afternoon kickoff in rhythm like this gives -- creates a good opportunity for both teams to play an exciting game, to play a game that has tempo, to play a game where we see two teams really going after each other.
TV considerations always come into play, but certainly -- we had asked during the week when we were going through this heat wave if the game could be moved to a nighttime kickoff. Again, to be clear, if we played the way we did this afternoon and the game was at night, we would have still lost. But when we're talking about quality of games, when we're talking about tempo of games, starting times are very, very important.
All we can do is request a change, and at the end of the day the request didn't go very far.
Q. Considering it was the first game that Carlos was back since March, how much do you think that had to do with the fact that he didn't find that rhythm and then eventually the injury and also what's the status of Atuesta?
BOB BRADLEY: Edward is back running, not in full training. We're pleased with the progress he is making, but I would still think that he is a couple of weeks away at the minimum from being back on the field in games. So we will need to see how quickly he moves through the next days when he starts to do more. Most of his running at the moment is straight ahead, and so we need to continue to move him along step by step.
Of course, when a player is out for a period of time, doesn't get matches, even when you work hard, it's not possible to be in top form. Carlos, with his experience, he was so excited to play, but he knows that how we need to get him back, and now we've had a little setback today with the possible MCL. So we just have to continue to push him in a good way, first things first, an assessment in the next few days on the degree of the MCL.
