Head Coach Adrian Health
On the positives and frustrations in the tie against San Jose…
“Frustrations were certainly the start that we made. Gifted them a goal, and when you do that against a team that’s fully running, which they are, and a team that doesn’t give in, then you put yourself in a difficult spot. Pleasing aspect was we nearly dug ourselves out of it. Our second half performance was excellent at times and probably created to win a couple games. So that was pleasing. But overall, it was just a disappointment for what we consider to be two points dropped.”
On the chances created…
“Certainly that’s not been an issue. You look at what we’ve gone through in the last four or five weeks in terms of opportunities, it’s probably a long time since we’ve created this many. Obviously at the weekend, two or three of those chances that we didn’t take and had we gotten the third goal, I think we would have put the game to bed. But when you leave teams hanging around like we did, and you always leave yourself one mistake, one decision from the referee, etcetera, coming back and biting you and that’s what had happened at the weekend.”
On being unbeaten in seven games…
“There’s only Kansas who’s got more points than us in this period. We’ve scored more goals and we’ve conceded less. So there’s a lot of positives but you take each game on the merit of that game and we threw two points away at the weekend.”
On facing Colorado Rapids this Wednesday…
“It’s regen stuff for the players who played. We’ll have to look, do we make one or two changes give one or two people rest, put people in who are fresh, and we’ll decide that tomorrow. Team’s not been announced and we’ll do that tomorrow before kickoff.”
On the challenge he expects from Colorado…
“They’re always traditionally good at home. We played exceptionally well in the first half. To be two-nil up and then we threw away the initiative early on. We started the second half poorly and they picked up and got a good goal, and it got them back in the game. But watching the game at the weekend against Seattle, they’re obviously playing with a lot of confidence. Robin [Fraser] has done a great job there in the short period that he’s been there and we know it’s going to be tough. Obviously the fact that they’re missing two or three players away on international duty, you would think would be helpful for us but regardless of who they play, we know they’re going to be well-organized, well-motivated and hopefully continue the the run that they’ve been on.”
On the previous result at Colorado…
“We know that if we play as well as can, we can dominate possession of the ball, which is what we did there. But we also know that if we don’t defend as well as we can, and we spoke about making sure we defend as a group. And I don’t just mean the back four, it’s a collective. And if we defend the way that we can and don’t allow too many balls in our box because they’re pretty good at set pieces, I think we can go there can win the game.”
Midfielder Hassani Dotson
On this proposal after the game…
“Thank you. I was pretty nervous because some of my plan didn’t go how it was supposed to but very excited with the moment. Got the video and my family, her family were very excited.”
On if his fiancé was surprised…
“Actually I told her I wanted to take a picture by the field with one of our photographers like we did in my rookie season. We’ll go to dinner and I helped pick out the outfit so she’d be ready. She was completely surprised, she was shaking when we got back in the tunnel still. It was really, really special.”
On a disappointing result against San Jose…
“I was pretty disappointed. I think I had a couple chances myself. When we started the second half, we came out with a lot of energy, really strong. We created loads of chances and when you do that and don’t get the win, it’s pretty disappointing. Feels, like you said, like two points lost. For us now, it’s important to learn from our mistakes and focus on this next game and get three points on the road.”
On Colorado on Wednesday night with a quick turnaround…
“It’s first and foremost recovery, trying to get everybody healthy and in the best spot to play the game and try to focus on attention to detail, things that we can improve on. Obviously last time we played them, we were up two-zero and let that one slip so just trying to get the mental strength and try and be ready.”
On if the group has the mental makeup to win at Colorado…
“It’s a little different. I think there are spells in games where, absolutely we’re dominant. We’re playing very nicely, loads of possession. When we do that, go up a couple it’s kind of natural to play slower, go on the back foot, hold the lead. But as we’re learning in this league, the score line can change very quickly. We’ve got a lot of leaders in this group and we know it’s unacceptable. We’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves and other people.”
On the group heading into the match…
“We’ve just got to be tough. It’s not going to be an easy place to play at all. They’re a good team, it’s a difficult place to play. Win your moment and get ready for the next chance to do your job. Be ready.
On how he would define his role on the team…
“Cover ground, win tackles, gain possession and don’t be a passenger on the field and try to help the team. Lead it, or lead in my own way. Hopefully guys can pick up off my energy.”
