On his thoughts on the performance, especially the defensive side…
“Yeah, I think we suffered more than we needed to. I just said to the players that there, it's almost like we enjoy the suffering, we enjoy defending the box, because I think we could have made the game far easier for ourselves. Now, obviously, we've had a number of really good chances. We've definitely had the better chances. I'd be very surprised if the quality of our chances didn't sort of far exceed the ones they had than we would have liked because we did turn the ball over very, very easily in the middle. But if you strip that away and you look at the raw sort of defensive performance, or willingness to defend the box, the willingness to put bodies on the line and stop shots and stop crosses, it was a phenomenal effort, and it's no mean feat to come here and put on a defensive performance like that, because, as you've seen in the first two games there, it's almost as if it's a different club in comparison to last year. They are full of talent at the top of the pitch. They're very difficult to keep to relatively little in front of goal, and we've done that tonight. I think they had one shot on goal over the course of 90 minutes, yes, a decent amount of possession, yes, lots of play around our box. But as I've said previously, we were comfortable defending relatively low. We do it in a very purposeful, detailed way. And whilst there is that framework that sits beneath it, the players have to then go and fill that with real life and intensity and aggression and willingness, and they've done that tonight. So I was really proud of the nature of the performance, because I'd stress that's a really good result at what is, at the moment, a very difficult place to come against a team that has a lot of momentum.
On what he saw from San Jose that had the team playing more on the ground and out of the back…
“We were very conscious of the fact that they are an aggressive pressing team. They press man for man. They leave big spaces, but almost in order to get those spaces. You have to have enough of the ball in certain areas of the pitch. You have to play a certain number of passes, those passes need to look a certain way, and then from that point onwards, you need to be able to find a space in behind it. We had a couple of really good moments. Actually, I think Kelvin’s [Yeboah] chance from Morris [Duggan] playing over the top in the first half was probably one of the few occasions where we showed the composure to almost turn down a counter-attack. Obviously, we're a very good counter-attacking team. We've got players that want to play forward quickly and run forward in threes, fours, fives, with real intensity and pace. But we can't do that every time we have the ball. And we showed on a couple of occasions the composure to come back out, use the middle of the pitch, connect some passes in the middle that brings the opposition out of their shape, and then, we find the spacing behind a couple of times really, really well. So that was a message, and it was something I was also keen at halftime to impress, because I felt like we almost let ourselves down a little bit in the middle, in how easily we turned the ball over, and how desperate we were to play forward. Obviously, the way we play it's a very fine balance between wanting to be that relentless attacking. We want to play with a real good rhythm. We've got forwards that want to attack the goal. It's as simple as that, so I want to make sure we play to those strengths. But there is a fine line you tread there. And I felt like we certainly overdid that in the first half, and we looked forward far too often and it almost felt like we had to score on every attack, whereas I felt like it called for real balance today. I think the second half the nature of the game, it's one where, given the circumstances, we go ahead, we're away from home against a team that's got lots of creative, crafty players in the final third. I think those conditions, in our case, will likely lead to us defending the box for long periods, and we're obviously fortunate. We can do that well in something and it’s something we work on a lot.
On getting Robin Lod on the ball more and getting him in positions to use his skills…
“Yeah, we have to be more secure on the ball at certain points in the game. We talk a lot as a group about striking that balance between playing forward quickly, playing the right rhythm, taking counter-attacking opportunities, but also making sure that we have enough of the ball to keep the team connected and we didn't strike that balance well enough today. I think I'd be able to, in fact, I did at half time pull one clip up of Hasani [Dotson] and Wil [Trapp] really connecting well with the backline, and then Robin, taking the space that the movement that those two take up gives him, and then Robin picks up a really good bit of space in between the lines, and they're the positions that we want to get Robin in. Robin also has huge strengths as you regain the ball, because he can get the first pass off well with real detail. He can drive through the ball. He can beat people one-on-one. He's got multiple strengths. So he's one that can help you in phases where you want more control possession, but he can also help you in phases where you want to attack quickly. I don't think tonight was a shining example of a really balanced performance, but it was a really good example of, I would say what these conditions here often demand. I would say a team in form, a team with confidence, a team with some of the top attacking players in the league, and in our case, it required us defending the way that we defended for long periods. I think probably the biggest regret is we didn't strike that balance well, but we didn't take a number of the very, very good, clean cut chances that arose from counter-attacking opportunities, set play opportunities, so that will be something we look at for sure.
On the biggest thing the team needs to improve on…
“I would say what I've set up until this point probably captures how I think about that. Again, I talk a lot about being a coach and being a group of staff that wants to be able to look at a group of players, really feel what their strengths are, try and build a way of playing the model around those and make sure that we're putting players in positions where as often as possible, where they can show what their real strengths are. If you look across the set of forwards that we've got, it's very obvious what their strengths are. So I steer the team toward playing in a certain way. And it does pay dividends, or has paid dividends up until this point when it comes to results. But we, as I say, tread a very fine line between being overly direct, too goal oriented, attacking too quickly, and not having enough passes and enough control and enough composure as we reach the middle of the pitch to keep the team well connected, so we defend. We defended today more than we would have liked, more than I'm sure we would have been able to dictate had we been slightly better on the ball. But I will also stress that again, the conditions of this particular game tonight going ahead, being one of them. Again, in our case, it was probably only likely to lead one way. And again, the big regret being that we didn't take one of the chances that arose from us being very organized, very tight, very disciplined, and then counter-attacking in a really strategic way.”
On traveling the next day instead of late after the game and thinking behind that…
“Yeah, we want to make sure that flying from the West Coast back after a late game is pretty brutal, and I think it sets everyone up for a difficult couple of days. I think last year, we often took the stance that we wanted to get back in order for people to see their families. But I can speak from my own experience—I'm obviously desperate. We've been away for a long time this week, and I'm desperate to get back and see the little ones. But if I get back at four or five A.M., or if there's a delay, then I'm not the same person as I normally am on that Sunday. So I feel like, for the betterment of the group, it's in our interest to stay over and put ourselves in a better position come Monday when we regroup.”
On Kelvin Yeboah coming off early and potential injury concerns…
“No, not particularly. There were one or two concerns over the course of this week, but nothing major—nothing that surfaced with any severity over the course of today. I just wanted to make sure that we were really sensible with him. And, obviously, we'd gone ahead at that point. I felt like the game was very likely to open up for us from a counter-attacking perspective. Sang Bin [Jeong] is obviously very strong in that sense, and it was more with that in mind, I would say. Tani [Oluwaseyi] was in a good place physically, and Kelvin [Yeboah] had obviously played two 90-minute games up until this point, so it felt pretty logical.”
On if he chatted with Bruce Arena in playing his first game against him…
“Yeah, briefly at the beginning, I was keen to I suppose I should pay my respects to the career he has had because it's a phenomenal career. I hope that when I'm that age, when I'm past 70, I hope I've still got the same enthusiasm and passion that he obviously has for taking a team in a difficult place. And he's obviously done a phenomenal job so far. So I think that's incredibly impressive for me as a young coach to look at. If I'm doing this in thirty-odd years' time, then I'll be incredibly pleased—and hopefully, well, if I had a similar level of success. Because, as you say, what he's done up until this point is, I think, right up there, isn't it, if not the best record in American history [in MLS]?”
