New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch
On what he saw with the changes in lineup:
I thought that we were on top of the game from the start, getting an early goal always helps. Overall, I thought that we handled the game pretty well. First half we could have pressed at certain moments, not just pressed but really shifted and moved together a little quicker and allow fewer gaps in our team, but they weren't really ever able to threaten us except for maybe some set pieces and putting some balls in that way. I thought overall the team handled themselves well. I don't know all the statistics but that's probably one of the youngest teams that Red Bull has put on the field and we talked a lot about establishing things with young guys here, trusting young guys, helping them mature, grow, and get better, and in an important moment we put a lot of young guys on the field tonight and they came through for us so that was, I think, an important moment for the club to, 'a', get out of the losing streak, and 'b,' see a bunch of young guys help us do it.
On what Jesse learned from Davis and Abang in 90 min:
I think that you have to take them separately. Abang showed flashes of some really good stuff like we know he has. He's still a little bit raw so his sense of how to see the line and stay onside, how to not just think about plays for himself but how to make a final pass as well to set the next guy up, but overall I think the two defenders for Salt Lake would tell you they had a hard time with him on the day because he was such a big presence up there. And then Sean, we played him at attacking mid, left mid, right mid, and left back today. So he's very versatile, a very smart player, he's got great qualities, and the reason why we can put him in so many spots is because we trust him, we trust his intelligence, and he has the type of skills and awareness where you can literally put him anywhere on the field and he'll be successful, so Sean's going to be a big piece moving forward.
On what he's seen from Mike Grella, particularly on the right side tonight:
I spoke with Mike, maybe, a month ago, and there's been criticism about Mike, right? Publically, in the media, and I just said to him that first of all, within the team, he's established himself and the guys believe in him and having him on the field, everybody knows he's been a big piece for us. And then, when you're in this business, especially in this day in age, people are going to say a lot of things. I learned that from day one being with this organization. But it's important to believe in yourself, have confidence in who you are and what you're about, and in tough moments don't let things phase you, don't be sidetracked by anything and be strong. I think he took that the right way and ran with it and the confidence that he's had over the last month has grown and grown and grown. Even in this tough moment for the team with results, I think that Mike has been one of the guys that's been reliable and has gotten better. So that's been good to see and we're counting on him moving forward. The other part about moving him to the right, he's versatile enough that we know we can play him in any of the top four spots. We felt that moving him to the right allowed Bradley to go to the left where he's more comfortable; we may also move him back to the left. We think that with Sal, Dane, Mike, and Lloyd even, there's versatility with them playing on either side and it's about trying to look at matchups and see how we can take advantage of that.
On putting Bradley on left side:
We wanted to put Abang on the field and we thought that it would make room for Bradley to operate a bit because Abang attracts attention from the defenders. And when we had the ball we wanted him joining in and being a second forward coming from the left, which I think he was able to do at times. At halftime, we tried to make a little bit of an adjustment to try to get him even more involved. Once the second red comes, the only reason I take him out is just because we wanted to look forward to Sunday. I think Brad can be effective there. We know he's a goal scorer, we like having him around the goal, but we're also trying to just continue to find ways for him to find a little bit more space for himself.
On there being concern about not finishing chances:
It was a weird night. There was obviously a few different opportunities to score goals and put it away but right now I'm not concerned with that. Right now I'm happy to have three points and get out of a four game skid and look forward to the game on Sunday.
On playing without Kljestan:
Sacha is very clever and smart the way he moves around and finds the game and sets the next guy up. We certainly missed him tonight but I certainly felt good about what Sean [Davis] brought to us in there. When I talked at the beginning of the week about missing Sacha, I felt that having Sean in there, we know defensively we have another guy in there that will be able to put out some fires, and I think that he did. We missed Sacha in terms of putting some plays together, but overall I thought Sean filled in really well.
On building momentum heading into matchup with NYC FC:
I think it's hugely important. I think mentally, it's been a test, and I don't think we've been fazed too much by it, but we've been tested now so hopefully we are now through that stretch and we've gathered ourselves and our confidence and we're getting our guys back and physically ready to go so it's potential that Sunday will be a chance to put our legitimate first choice lineup out on the field, and if we do that, then we're going to go after it, and in a big game, feel like we're ready to go, so hugely important to get the result tonight.
On the change in the team since first matchup with NYC FC:
Well that was our last win so it feels like an eternity ago, but I think what we learned about ourselves in the past month in a half is that we need to continue to grow. Our leaders need to continue to grow and push themselves, the understanding of what a true team mentality is needed to grow, and in this stretch where we've lost some games, we've been able to uncover little things about ourselves that are going to be more important to ourselves going forward. I've said from the beginning that the results haven't been hugely important as much as I want to continue the progress of our team, and I think we're actually going to benefit from that four game losing streak because it forced us to look hard at ourselves-each individual and as a group in what we're doing and where we're going, both soccer wise and as a group. I feel like we're going to use that as good lessons for that and we'll move forward as a group.
On the impact of these next two local matches:
I think it's going to be awesome. I have a lot of respect for both of these organizations. There's going to be a lot of good players on the field for all three teams. It's going to be emotional, it's going to be charged, it's going to be waited. They're going to be two big heavyweight bouts. So if you're in this business, you look forward to moments like this, and the more you have, the better you are for it. So certainly we want to go at it one game at a time, and I hope one week from now we've grown a ton and are all better for this experiences and obviously I hope we come out on top in two really big matches.
On having the first choice lineup available for the two games:
I think I'm going to take it one game at a time, and we're going to take it one game at a time. It's going to be an important game on Sunday. There's going to be a lot of attention on it, I think it's going to be a sold out arena, so we want to make sure we get out of this physically the right way, and prepare ourselves for Sunday, and then once we get out of Sunday, we'll have to re-evaluate where we are and we'll have to figure out how to put the right team on the field after that game.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Mike Grella
On how important it what to get that first goal and set the tone:
Absolutely, they were coming from a long trip they had just played on Sunday I think it was. It was good to jump all over them high press we won a lot of balls up there (end) and got the goal right away. I was really surprised we didn't kick on from there. It just seemed like it (the ball) didn't want to go in. We could have been a little sharper, but it was very important to get the early one (goal).
On the importance of getting the win and jump-starting a new win streak:
It is always good to stop a skid like that one. I think being unbeaten took a lot of energy out from us and a lot of mental energy from us and I think that's why we kind of went on that skid but we need to learn to not let that happen again and I think throughout that skid we went through some tough times together trying to sort out what it was and what we need to do better and how we can execute better I think we are stronger from the losing streak and its great to have it over now.
On what the team learned about themselves from the losing streak:
We learned that it not good enough to do 95 percent of things or 99 percent of the things or play a great game and not get the result. Sometimes in football to be a winner a lot of the winners all over the world have a little bit of nastiness to them a little bit of cleverness to them and we thought maybe we were missing that little nastiness and cleverness in both boxes to finish games or to get the three points out of games because like I've said many times I don't think we've really been out played. I just think we didn't execute in both boxes as well as we should.
On if he thought the losing streak would never end:
No not at all I thought it was going to end a lot earlier and I honestly had no doubt we just kept working hard and we kept playing well and we just couldn't get results and I knew things would turn around it's a long season like I said and we can push on and learn a lot from this so well see where we end up.
On how this win will help long term building character:
When everything was fine it was easy to come in and enjoy training and working hard but when things go on a skid its very easy to start point fingers at other guys and at the management and no one ever in this room or apart of this organization did that no one pointed fingers we stuck together and continued to our roles and our jobs and we need to kick on from here.
On the effect of having Davis in and Abang up top:
It was good the younger guys stepped right in and did exactly what was asked of them they were brave. They're brave kids there was no nerves they came out confident they did their jobs and its good to have them out there and when they're playing I usually try take more of a role where I'm trying organize a bit more because I'm one of the older guys I suppose at 28 but they're fantastic to have around and have playing.
On his comfortable level on the right:
Yeah absolutely right or left anywhere on the attack really and anywhere I can make a difference and help the team is where I'll play.
On his mentality when the opponent is down two men:
It is a difficult one because you have to actually do the opposite of what you think you need to do. You want to kill them off and get the other goal and press, press, press but the thing is because they are two men down they sat in their own end they sat in their own box and they made it really difficult and the key for that is just being patient and I think we started to become more patient and figure it out but when they had the two guys sent off we were still playing long balls into them giving them chances playing into their keeper and I think we learned as the game went on we needed to be patient and build chances and just be sharper and making the ball hit the back of the net.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sean Davis
On how does the win affects team morale:
The most important thing going into tonight was the win, to get back on track. We worked really hard throughout the week and wanted to find ways to win. Coming off the field with three points is a great feeling and we're going to carry that into the game this Sunday.
On his mindset on the goal:
Damien clips a ball in, it gets blocked, but then Brad finds Kemar through, Kemar makes a great run forward, I find myself in the box which is what I have to do in that role, get in the box and try to be dangerous, I let it come across my body, I don't hit it completely right but I try to get it back to the back post and luckily Grella was there to clean up.
On his feeling after goal in Open Cup and now first MLS assist:
It definitely helps my confidence, I feel good about how the game went today, but I want to build on it. I want to give more, do more for the team, help out in anyway I can, be versatile, so I'm just trying to prepare for any role I can have on this team.
New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles
On the play of the team as a whole:
When he got hurt, Chris [Duvall] came back and that's not easy mentally so I thought the guys did really well. Sean Davis-same thing-and Abang gave us a presence up top, so from a defensive standpoint the guys did well, they shut it down, they looked very sharp when it came to limiting opportunities, but of course when we get a quick goal, all of the sudden that puts them on their back foot, and then the red card put it over the top.
On playing against 9 men on defense:
After the second red card, my message to them was the same thing, 'don't shut down mentally because the only way they're going to score is if we slip up.' At that point, I think they were okay leaving 1-0 if you just look at the way they were wasting time, they were alright with that 1-0 loss, they didn't want to get embarrassed. The message was simply to all the defenders and central midfielders to not shut down and the Red Bulls did a great job today.
