Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.bluessoccerclub.com
Thursday, July 11, 2011
LOS ANGELES – Following their disappointing road matches at Wilmington and Antigua, the Los Angeles Blues’ focus in training this week was on the upcoming back-to-back home meetings with the Richmond Kickers. The games against the visitors from Virginia have huge playoff implications, as both sides have secured their berths and are looking to be in the best possible form once the knockout stages roll around.
Blues defender Mike Randolph provided his analysis of Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Wilmington Hammerheads and the 3-0 defeat to Antigua Barracuda FC two days later.
“In the first game, we just weren’t very good at creating anything for ourselves,” he said. “We weren’t dangerous anywhere near the penalty area. On our corner kicks, we didn’t have enough people in the box attacking the ball. In the second game, the problem was the trip as a whole, including the travel to Wilmington for the previous match. We hit several different airports over the course of the weekend and sat through layover after layover. That definitely hurt us against Antigua. We just couldn’t find a rhythm.”
Los Angeles Head Coach Charlie Naimo joined his players in identifying external factors as influential in the result against Antigua.
“I’m not going to read too much into Sunday’s game,” he said. “That has nothing to do with the opponent. I have a lot of respect for Antigua. They’ve played us extremely well this year and are a very organized team, but the amount of traveling we had to do definitely affected the match.
“Our trainer added it all up. Between flights, airports and buses, we spent between 50 and 60 hours traveling in three days. In addition, we only had two substitutes at Antigua because of visa issues. So I didn’t have very high expectations for the game in the first place. Still, we had a chance to get something from it and the 3-0 scoreline didn’t really tell the entire tale in my mind.”
Given the difficult circumstances surrounding his side’s clash with Antigua, Naimo focused mainly on the performance against the Hammerheads in his analysis of the road trip. While a recurring theme this season has been the Blues’ vulnerability to counter-attacks after stretches of maintaining good possession, the man at the helm made out a new problem during the match in North Carolina.
“The loss to Wilmington was very disappointing because we found a way to solve our issue of being surprised by the occasional breakaway,” Naimo said. “We really haven’t allowed teams to create chances like that in several games. Instead, we’ve now developed a weakness on set plays.”
The Blues did look sharp from the run of play after the break Friday, which made Andriy Budnyy’s 77th minute game-winner for the Hammerheads all the more frustrating for players and staff. Peter Byers had tied the score for Los Angeles only 15 minutes before Budnyy’s strike.
“After we came back to tie the game on a great goal, I really felt like we could have won it because we didn’t allow them to create much offensively in the second half,” Naimo said. “Their game-winner was extremely unfortunate. We were defending well and had a lot of players around the ball, and then one of our guys sticks his foot in and happens to toe-poke it right to Andryi. He did well to finish.
“A win in Wilmington would have been amazing. It’s a tough place to play because of their great fans and the small pitch. I really felt like we could have walked out of there with a minimum of one point. It helped that our subs did a great job as well after coming on.”
Naimo’s men don’t have much time to dwell on their disappointment.
“We have to forget about that now,” Edwin Miranda said. “We have two more games and I feel like this weekend could help us get ready for the postseason, so we have to take the games against Richmond very seriously. The playoffs are really like a new, really short season for us. If we do well, what happened over the course of five months won’t matter so much anymore.
“At the same time, if we do poorly against Richmond, we might head into the postseason with a losing mentality and continue to do poorly. It’s important that we treat the upcoming two matches like playoff games so that we’re ready for the real thing.”
As the Blues prepare for the back-to-back matches against the American Division side, much of the coaching staff’s focus has been on identifying the players who can give the first-year club the best shot at winning the championship. Los Angeles will have to turn things around quickly, as a continuation of the team’s recent run of form would not bode well for the playoffs.
“I’ve stopped worrying about the fact that we won’t have a record to brag about for years to come,” Naimo said. “At this point, it’s all about what happens in the postseason. We’re using our training sessions to find out who’s going to be our warriors. We need guys who are going to defend our box effectively and who are ready to be aggressive everywhere on the field and especially on set plays.”
The Blues Head Coach will likely be giving a number of different players a look in the upcoming back-to-back meetings with the Kickers.
“I believe that most of our guys are capable of starting, so we may see two very different lineups Friday and Sunday,” he said. “We almost have two separate teams of starters, all the way to the ‘keeper, so there are only a couple of spots where I’ll have to use the same players twice. We also want to give our key guys some rest to prepare for the playoffs, so there could be as many as seven changes between the two games against Richmond.”
The Blues are 1-2-2 in their last five matches and as a result find their goal of capturing the USL PRO National Division crown out of their reach. Naimo is determined to find a winning formula before the playoffs role around
“We need to show we can defend and attack on set pieces better,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on in training. When we pick a lineup, a lot of our decisions will be based on who dominated these exercises. There are 16 or 17 players in consideration for starting spots right now, and I told everyone that I’m going to pick the guys I feel are hungriest for wins. I don’t care what you did in the past. I need players who are committed to the team and willing to put aside any selfish goals.”
Despite recent results, the Blues Head Coach has not lost his optimism, as he continues to show faith in the personnel at his disposal. However, he was adamant about his conviction that the entire team will need to step up the intensity in order to have a realistic shot at the title.
“USL PRO is a very good, even league and all the teams who have qualified for the postseason have a chance,” he said. “So if we can find the right group, I believe anything is possible. The problematic part of having so many talented players is that a lot of times you really don’t know who you’re going to field. We have to take five months into account, but with an emphasis on what we’ve seen lately.
“This staff has shown that we give chances and don’t go with the same guys all the time. There’s plenty of opportunity to prove that you belong on the pitch, but everyone has to realize that they need to keep doing whatever got them the chance in the first place. You don’t rest on your laurels around here because I’m not that type of guy. If you have three great games in a row, your leash gets longer with each of them, but ultimately I also have to reward the guys who have been training well.”
Naimo concluded his outlook on the Blues’ home matches against the Richmond Kickers and on the 2011 USL PRO playoffs with an optimistic note.
“I’m still confident,” he said. “All that matters now is doing well in three games in the postseason. We started the campaign with three wins and we can easily finish it with three wins if we get a bit of luck and a lot of commitment from the players we end up choosing. I’m 100 percent focused on the playoffs and on using this coming weekend to find a winning formula.”
The sentiment was echoed by Randolph.
“These last two games are about us coming together as a team and getting better at the things we need to do to win in the playoffs, such as being a little feistier everywhere on the field, getting forward on corners and being tough to beat defensively,” the 25-year-old said. “If we can do all those things, we have a good chance of being successful in the postseason.”