What they said: Quotes from Saturday’s 4-1 loss for the Timbers

Yep, it was one of those games for the Portland Timbers. It was the kind of match where nothing seemed to go right and the result is a 4-1 loss to the LA Galaxy. Not exactly what a team that’s been struggling on the road needs.

Here’s what Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese and midfielder Diego Chara had to say after the match.

Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese

On the defensive woes for Portland...

“Definitely accurate that there were some moments in the second half in which [the LA Galaxy] were able to find space. But then it became a constant in the second half and it’s not because of anything I believe. Definitely there’s many things that we can improve in regards to that area. I just think that the second half today was a second half in which we can just pick on one thing. There’s been many things that could have been better in the second half and conceding two goals in the second half and losing 4-1 the way we started this match, it shouldn’t have been the case because the first 30 minutes we were very, very good. We should have been on top, but we came into the locker room [at halftime] losing 2-1 and unfortunately the team, we didn’t give what we needed to give in the second half. Unfortunately we need to work. We need to continue to work. Be better. Be our standard. Today wasn’t at our standard after the 30th minute.”

On the strong start but sad finish...

“It’s always difficult when you concede. But also, it’s important that when you are dominating a match that you can show what you have been putting into the game. I think the first 30 minutes, we should have been able to be more aggressive. We should have been more of a team that was able to put [the Galaxy] a little bit more against their back. We did many, many good things with the ball, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough for us to be able to capitalize on that performance up to the 30th minute and then everything changed right there. As I said, today is a game in which we needed to be much better. It’s not an excuse. We had a full team. Yes, we had a couple guys missing. That’s not enough. Today we had a team that played very well for 30 minutes and then we disappeared. We disappeared. We didn’t give the game what we needed and we lost against a team that I felt that we should have gotten points here, especially with the way we started.”

Timbers midfielder Diego Chara

On the difficulty of playing on the road this season...

“At the beginning of the season, we had a lot of injuries. It was tricky for us to play games. Now the team is coming back healthy, and that is really good for us, but I think we have to be focused for 90 plus minutes. The first 30 minutes we played really well, having the ball, and then after the Galaxy scored the second goal, we started playing the wrong way. Being more focused during the game has to be our priority for the next couple games.”