New York Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch
On Sacha Klejstan's performance tonight:
After (last game's) red card, he took on a lot of responsibility and he felt like he let the Club down. I told him that these things happen and that he's going to have plenty of time to make it up to everybody. I think tonight, he wanted to make sure in a derby match that he's going to step on the field and make a big imprint and I think he did. He was good on set pieces too, so we may have to make a change and have him as the one over the ball. Overall, he's been an important guy from day one. His mentality and what he's brought to the group - how he trains and how he plays; the whole bit. It was good to see him have a good game.
On overcoming the 1-0 deficit in the first half:
We talked a lot, especially in the four game losing stretch, learning about ourselves, growing as individuals and as a team and a lot of it has been... whatever you want to call it, a competitive edge, a killer instinct, the sense of and belief that when the times are toughest that we were going to respond. When we were down 1-0, I felt like we systematically went about the game knowing that it was going to come. We came out in the second half and right away we had the lead and pushed it from there. I'm proud of the guys tonight and it showed a lot of character.
On Chris Duvall and Matt Miazga's development:
The starting point is that we've invested in young players. Chris has had a very good year for us. It's just a couple of moments one v. one defensively he's let a guy get a little bit of room on him and then maybe they get a shot or a cross that has led to a goal. I've told him often as a defender you're judged by how many mistakes that lead to goals. If he can clean that up, all the other good things that he does for us would show up more. I thought tonight whenever Villa came into space he helped deal with that really well. He was competitive. He was hard to play against. He was very active. He was good coming forward out on the wing and then he sniffed out a goal.
I've liked Matt from watching him last year. A major goal of mine was to help him establish himself within our group. He's talented man. He's got a lot of ability and now it's turning a young man into a man, into a pro, into a real center back. He's making big strides this year. We know he's only going to get better from here.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty
On tonight's match:
Tonight's a good feeling. Unbelievable atmosphere, credit to the NYCFC fans and obviously our fans for making it very enjoyable. Sometimes it's not easy to watch games on this field and I think you saw from the get go it was hectic, it was not ideal going down early. I thought once the game went on a little bit, 20 minutes in we started to settle down, we started to play better and then the second half we knew we were going to come out, we just needed an early one and what a finish from Brad, so it was a great second half, some of the best stuff we've played all season. Honestly, we scored three, it could've been five. They were gassed, we had energy, we had life, great performance in the second half and I'm just glad we got a win for our fans.
On Matt Miazga:
He's got confidence and so that's the one thing a young guy needs. I told Matt he was going to score off of a set-piece coming up soon and it's funny. We felt like we could take advantage of NYCFC on set-pieces and in the first half they kind of did a lot of things that confused us and we weren't ready for it. They were on top of the game in that way and got a little bit better and they got their goal. In the second half, obviously two set-piece goals that were well worked. Matt, he's a beast and he has to win his battles. If he starts to play more physical, if he starts to realize once he wins his physical battles, that's half the game for him. You know he's going to go very far in this league and hopefully in other leagues. He's been great since he's come back and obviously we need that depth with [Ronald] Zubar coming out.
On what the general message was at half time:
Keep going. We were going in the right direction. I think the game, we started a little bit nervous. Obviously in a big game that always tends to be the case, but we felt the game tilting in our favor the last 15, 20 minutes of the first half, we knew that we were going to be on top of the game in the second half so the message was keep going. Don't give up another goal and let's try to get an early one. We knew that our fitness was very good and that we were going to be able to run at them and continue to put them under pressure so I felt like we were able to get our deserved rewards with the goals and like I said defensively, I think Luis [Robles] was called on to make one or two saves, but we were pretty solid. Second half was just a great performance all around.
On Sacha Kljestan:
Sacha was hungry, Sacha was motivated. He felt like he let the team down against Vancouver. He made a mistake and he apologized to us for it and we forgave him and he's been working so hard in training to come back and make a difference. Credit to him, he found so many dangerous spots in the second half, he was a little bit gassed there at the end, but he created so many chances for us today. Obviously the cross on Bradley's goal was tremendous and he probably could've had two or three more assists. He had another one he played Bradley through, the keeper made an unbelievable save on. Sacha's just rounding into form and we need him. We need him to be our brain. We need him to make plays for us because that's what we brought him in for so he's been steadily getting better every game and hopefully this is a game where his confidence just goes through the roof and that he can continue this form.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan
On the first half:
The first half we started really slow. I think they came with a lot of energy. We weren't prepared. Then after 15 or 20 minutes, we had the rest of the game. We were creating chances and in the end we had a lot of confidence we would win the game.
New York Red Bulls defender Matt Miazga
On his first experience playing at Yankee Stadium:
It was awesome. It was a good experience. We were playing against our rival in a packed house. It was unbelievable. It was overall a great experience.
