Head Coach Adrian Heath
On reacting after loss on Wednesday…
“Well we have to react. We are at that stage of the season where every game is really, really important. As I said after the game on Wednesday night, we weren’t good with the ball and we were probably even worse without it. So that’s not going to be good recipe for a good performance and it wasn’t a good performance. We have to put it behind us and move on. [Saturday] is a big game for sure.”
On the team’s mindset…
“We had a good long chat about things yesterday. The players know that we didn’t do ourselves justice on Wednesday night. But we can’t do anything about D.C. United, what we can do is try and learn some lessons. Now we have to focus on FC Dallas, Western Conference opposition, they still harbor ambitions of making the playoffs so it’s a big game for both teams for sure.”
On FC Dallas this season…
“Well obviously they’ve been a bit inconsistent, but one thing we all know is they have a lot of talent, a lot of good young players. [Ricardo] Pepi for me is one of the best young strikers in the league. They’ve got talent in [Jesús] Ferreira, we don’t know what FC Dallas we are going to face. Is it the one where they are very good or is the one where they don’t probably bring it as best they can. I think like everybody I was surprised that Luchi [Gonzalez] got fired, I think he’s done a great job under the parameters that he works, playing young players and actually putting them in the team and sticking with them.”
On approaching this game…
“Well it’s important that we go and get a result. We need a reaction from how we played on Wednesday and normally we do react after we put a bad performance in. But we need to be better than we were and if we play as we can – looks like we’ve got everybody fit and healthy – we can go there and win for sure”
Midfielder Wil Trapp
On the disappointing results against DC United Wednesday…
“D.C. is a team that is very aggressive. I don’t think we dealt with that particularly well. How they press. How they play forward, relentless running. For us it was, obviously, an Eastern Conference opponent so someone we’re not super familiar with but, at the same time, we need to be better with and without the ball to compete. We clawed a goal back, which was great, but to concede almost two or three minutes later, I think that really hurt us mounting more in the second half. It’s something where we just have to understand that these games, especially down the stretch, are going to get more and more intense.”
On giving up two PK’s in game, and several throughout the season…
“So much of it is being aware of where we are in the box and such, if we’re right outside. I also think being on the side of caution, of course, because referees, certainly, if they tend to see something coming along as a penalty, they’re more likely to call it and we can’t just sit there and rely on VAR to make it up for us.”
On facing FC Dallas away this weekend on short rest…
“Once again, whenever you have short weeks like this, it’s about recovery right? Getting guys ready to play again is never easy but at the same time, we’ve rested a couple guys in the midweek. It’s understanding that every point coming now is important. Every away game, every home game is points that we need to capitalize on to move up the chart. For us, it’s an opponent we’ve played a couple times, one home and one away, and I felt like the last time we played them away we had a plethora of opportunities to win the game. [Dallas] is a little low on confidence at the moment but at the same time, it’s a situation where they have guys that are playing for contracts, and that’s always a dangerous combination.”
On not being able to get results in Dallas and making sure this weekend is a win…
“Once again, it’s understanding…getting guys ready to play and understanding how we can hurt [Dallas]. So much of what gave us success in the game here as well as the game there was playing between lines quickly and getting them turned around. I thought our defensive pressure when we played them in Dallas was excellent. Jacori [Hayes], I think, won the ball and we had a great little spell that caused them a lot of problems and at the end of the game, we had an onslaught of chances. Understanding that they are gonna be desperate, they have nothing to lose, and we have to be smart about performing well on the road because at the end of the day, if we don’t capitalize on getting a home playoff game, we’re going to have to win games on the road and this is one of them.”
