Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.labluesprosoccer.com
Thursday, April 19, 2012
FULLERTON, Calif. – In reflecting on the season-opening 1-0 loss to the Rochester Rhinos, the Los Angeles Blues players and coaches identified key problem areas but also took away plenty of positives from the match that made them upbeat about Friday’s rematch with the traditional USL PRO power at Fullerton’s Titan Stadium at 7:30 p.m. PT. Tyler Rosenlund scored the winner for the visitors in the first meeting, beating several defenders to the ball to head home an in-swinging J.C. Banks cross in the first half.
“It was a very tightly contested game,” Blues Head Coach Charlie Naimo said. “Both teams turned in pretty good performances and neither one really deserved three points. Rochester took advantage of a mistake we made and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we created. In a game between two good teams, that’s the difference. Unfortunately that now puts us in a situation where our second match of the season is already crucial. That’s obviously not ideal, but I’m hopeful that the boys will come out and treat it like a playoff game.”
Midfielder Ricky Waddell, who received rave reviews for his performance anchoring the Blues midfield with Irving Garcia, offered a differentiated analysis of the defeat and looked ahead to Friday’s match with cautious optimism.
“Obviously it’s never fun to lose,” he said. “However, I felt like we dominated and had a lot of possession. Everyone who watched the game would probably agree with that. Give credit to Rochester though. They came in with a game plan that they stuck to and that worked for them. Our own game plan never quite worked out for us. A couple of times that was due to bad luck, and other times we were just missing that last bit of determination.
“I don’t think we should be too disappointed. Overall, the performance was decent and the result was bad. If we can improve the performance by 20 or 30 percent, that should tilt the result in our direction.”
Naimo agreed with Waddell’s point about the occasional lack of attacking determination.
“The biggest thing is that when we get the ball in dangerous spots, something has to come out of it,” he said. “If it’s wide, we need to whip it into the box. When there’s a chance to shoot, we need to take a shot. Whenever we’re in a promising attacking position, we need to make sure we commit numbers into the box. Throughout the game we put ourselves in better positions to score than Rochester but didn’t take advantage.”
The Rhinos did their part in keeping the Blues off the board on Saturday, former MLS defenders Troy Roberts and Quavas Kirk leading the field players in a disciplined defensive effort. Goalkeeper Kristian Nicht, a veteran of the German first and second divisions and the Norwegian top flight, turned in a strong performance of his own, earning USL PRO Team of the Week honors in the process.
Despite the quality of the opposition, Waddell is confident that the Blues have the personnel to generate more offense than in the season opener, provided his side can apply the lessons it has learned from the first meeting with the Rhinos.
“We have great pace out wide, whether it’s through Brian Farber, Izzy (Sesay), George (Davis IV), Matt Hall or (Sun-Hyung) Cho, so we should be able to create more chances from those spots,” Waddell said. “At the same time, we need to get more bodies in the box. That applies to all of our attacking players, including myself.”
While attempting to break through against the three-time champions, the Blues need to remain mindful of a dangerous Rochester attack led by former Toronto FC man Rosenlund and former Colorado Rapids and Scottish Premier League striker Tam McManus.
“Our defensive shape was pretty good, but we need to take advantage every single time we outnumber them in our own box,” said Naimo. “Not doing so led to the goal in the first game. It was our two guys against the server, yet we couldn’t prevent the cross. Then it was four versus two in the box and Rosenlund still got to the ball first. Sometimes we do all the hard work and then waste it away like that.”
Waddell agreed, “We did okay defensively, but in the end the two penalty areas decided the game. Their goal came from a cross in and a header in the area. First of all, we should prevent the cross. If we can’t, we need to make sure their outnumbered strikers don’t beat our defenders to the ball.”
Having identified specific weaknesses in an overall promising performance by his side, Naimo drew a positive conclusion.
“If we can improve on the points I mentioned, I think we’ll be in good shape,” he said. “Rochester is a great team. They’re better than they were last year, but so are we. I wouldn’t be surprised if we met again in the postseason.”