Bob Bradley Team Quotations

Landon has the ability to drift wide if he thinks things are tight in the middle. It's just important that as a team we can keep track of him and whoever is called on is ready to deal with him, especially his speed. His timing, his running into the attack is something that works real well for him.

It was good for our team to trade the first pick, because we got three excellent players and not just one. Jason is a great defender. I like the way Sacha sees the game and the way that Jonathan moves on the left side. I'm really happy about our picks.

It's like any other game. Early on it will be a battle to see which team can get the edge, can impose itself on the other team. They'll enter the game with more optimism, excited about some new talent. But then it's our job, especially at home, to get on top of them in a way that takes that factor out of the picture.

It's not just about the defenders because we must defend well as a team starting with the frontrunners and make sure that in the midfield things are tighter.

Most of our preseason is focused here around The Home Depot Center. The fact that so many MLS teams will be in this area gives us a chance to play against them and to really focus ourselves on what it takes to be successful here.

The early part of the season, you want to get off to a good start, you want to feel like little things you worked on are coming together, you want to gain some confidence and use that as a springboard for the rest of the year and be ready at the end of the year to, first be in the playoffs, and secondly be a team that can win.

I believe that the starting points for building a good team are in place. Now we've got to keep going. It's a process. Then as we go, you know what, we can start to figure out what's realistic and where we are. Where are we in the standings? Are we still in position to set our sights on other things? Are we fighting to make the playoffs? You go a little bit at a time.

Looking back on calls never gets a team anywhere. The game is still like that and you have to focus on how you improve. You hope the breaks balance out over the season. Things have gone against us a little bit the last two games but it doesn't change what we want to do.

When he was let go, I knew in our building process that having a player like Timmy can only help us in all ways. Timmy is a great professional and he's a plus to every team he's on. He works hard every day. He has a terrific attitude and mentality. He can play a number of positions. He's one of the fittest guys on the team.

All of that fits with how a team is coming together. When you have new players and trial players and everything else, it's silly to start talking about anything else.

He is a winner and he is a fighter. I had great respect for the way he played when he joined the team last year. That is a great starting point. Peter Nowak was a winner and a fighter and when you have that mentality from your best players it sets the tone.

We've tried to create a good understanding of how to play as a unit based upon the team we're playing against. We always try to build around the strengths of the players.

The makeup of our team has changed a great deal. When you put players like Claudio Suarez on the field who have been in so many big games ... players with that kind of experience, it gives us a different mentality. With this group, there will be no concessions. Our guys feel like we're a good team and now we're ready to really go after the Galaxy and try to put them on their heels and really make it a good game.

I think you have to make it a two-way game that puts them under pressure and highlights some of the areas where they are not as strong. Give them credit. They've had a good season. They're a balanced team and work hard. They've got a bunch of players that have been together, know each other and seem to have fun playing together.

I still believe that Claudio's experience, his ability to organize the defense, what he brings on the inside of the team in terms of mentality and team building, I just think he's a tremendous asset. He has a tremendous understanding of how to organize people around him, of how to communicate, of how to make (people) better and I think that will go a long way for our team.

We feel like we are going in the right direction. But we also recognize that becoming a good team is hard work and you learn to deal with things that go against you, whether it's a game that goes against you or calls at key moments because you have to be able to deal with the things that don't go your way in order to become very good.