AUDIO: Curtis and Marsch Media Day Press Conference
Ali Curtis on if they have altered their plans for the team:
We've got a process, we've got a plan that we're putting in place and there's a number of different programs and initiatives that we were able to activate last year. I think we probably implemented about 21 new initiatives into the club last year. This year, we're looking to implement 38 new ones and so on and so forth so we're still tracking along in terms of what's happening with the club and the different platforms - the academy, the USL team and the first team. In terms of the results of the first team, that was fantastic for us. We had a great year and a great season and we were fortunate to stay healthy and all the things kind of aligned. Right now we're just focused on one day at a time, sticking to our plan and we're trying to win the best we can so we feel good about it.
Jesse Marsch on Bradley Wright-Phillips:
Well, you know I actually think the luxury that Bradley provides has nothing to do with goals. It actually has to do with the way that he trains and treats his teammates, the kind of man he is within our team. He continually impresses me with his work rate every day. He's one of the hardest-working guys on the team, he's one of the most humble players on the team, and for him to be our big player, our big scorer - for his mentality to be so grounded and so humble means there's little room for anyone else to act any differently. So, you know, you guys see I think the byproduct of many of the hard work that he puts behind the scenes. And you know the first day that I came with this team last year - it was a training session that I put him through - I was amazed at how hard Brad works. Because I watched him from afar, but working with him up close has been a real pleasure. We're lucky to have him for many different levels and this preseason he's looked really sharp and I expect him to have another big year for many different levels. So I understand why you referenced the goals, but it's really so much more.
Marsch on the new partnership between Gideon Baah and Ronald Zubar:
Obviously it's early in the process for those two. There are some comparisons to last year, when we had to get the back line sorted out rather quickly, but I think that obviously everyone along the back line I think understands their roles very clearly and it's just about integrating Gideon in a way to help him understand how to fit, how to use his strengths, what the demands are. I think that so far him and Ronald have meshed really well together, and I think there are strong possibilities for them being a really good partnership. Now that being said I also think Karl Ouimette's done really well and I think Zach Carroll's done really well, so those are two other young guys that we hope can establish themselves this year within the team - maybe not on the same level that Matt [Miazga] did, but I certainly think that using Matt as an example, we're going to really push those two to try and establish themselves this year. And then obviously it's exciting that Damien [Perrinelle] is ahead of schedule on his recovery, and you know we expect him to be back some point in May and know that when he comes back that he'll be a very solid player for us. So I've gotten a lot of questions this preseason about the center-back position and in that sense, I mean, Ali and I had a million more questions a year ago today - but the center-back was a question mark last year and I think it wound up being a position of strength, and I expect nothing differently this year as well.
Marsch on tactics:
Well, you know, I will say this: we're not changing much. We believe in what we're doing, and we're asking ourselves, 'how good can we be at what we do? And even though teams know what's coming, can we still be exceptional and now grow the levels at which we're able to commit to what we do and be better at it?' That being said, I think that the two ways to address mixing up what we're doing and making it harder to prepare for us and play against us are to vary our tactics a little bit and to use more of a rotation and look a little bit more at matchups. So I think that that's what we'll add to the sophistication of what we do this year, and a lot of that falls on my shoulders, to do that the right way without trying to over-think certain situations. But it's very different when Shaun Wright[-Phillips] plays in a wide midfield spot than Lloyd Sam than Mike Grella than Gonzalo Veron, and Sacha Kljestan playing with two up top I think will give teams a different look. Our ability to, even within a game, play with two and then switch to three - I think that we have more flexibility to how we play, we can use players in a lot of different ways, and I think it'll be even harder to prepare for us this year. So I knew that we needed that even last year, but things were going so well last year that there wasn't a need to change and I didn't want to disturb the rhythm of what we were doing as a team. But this year I think you'll see a more varied approach on many different levels and I think it'll help us be harder to play against.
Marsch on going farther in the playoffs:
I mean, speaking of the playoffs, I also want to be very clear that we were three and one in the playoffs, which isn't a bad record. We fell short, but in many ways, I think our players responded to some tough moments in the playoffs. And we also learned a lot about ourselves - which is I think what we're trying to take away from our overall experience last year, is that with our successes and with our failures to really be able to look at it objectively and understand what we did well, what we need to do better, and individually how to grow and how to grow as a unit. And I think this team is very focused on that. They understand that, they're hungrier than ever, and I think that partly because we fell short at the end of the year, that's meant that there's a lot of built-in anger and hunger for this season. Now, that being said, we're not catching anybody by surprise. Teams know how we play, they respect how we play, and now it's going to be up to us to handle this season in a manner that sets us up for success at the end of the year.
Curtis and Marsch on expectations for this season:
[Curtis]: I mean I think we have - first and foremost, it's one game at a time. And so, you know, our focus is on Toronto, for Sunday, and taking it one step at a time. You know, every team in this league wants to win MLS Cup and they go into the season looking to do that. We're no different. So that's a goal of ours, but to do that is to take it one step at a time. We have a very good group of coaches and staff, and we have a very good group of players, and we're all self-motivated. We're all very competitive. And a part of the way we play, it's high-press, it's high-energy, but that's also the way in which we think, that's the way in which we operate, and so we're a very competitive group. Our group of guys knows that we have an opportunity to win MLS Cup. And we came a little bit short last year but we're going to do everything we can to be better than we were last year. And, you know, next year we'll do everything we can to be better than we were in the previous year. So it all starts with Sunday - or it actually started before that, in terms of everything that we've been doing in preseason and in the offseason, but we'll take it one game at a time. We're ready to go. It should be an exciting season.
[Marsch]: I'll add to that by saying, you know, what a great position for us to be in. And in this business, if you don't enjoy the spotlight and you don't enjoy pressure and you don't enjoy big moments, then you shouldn't be in it. And so certainly we had a spotlight and some pressure on us last year for various different reasons, and I think that we've earned the right to now have some pressure and spotlight on us again, in a different way. And you know it's all about now, I think, 'what are the expectations?' How do you set a daily plan in place that is - a little bit of what Ali's talking about - that helps your team understand that when the lights come on and when they're the brightest, that they're going to be at their best. So that's a big emphasis here, day in and day out, and we're going to make sure that in all ways we're ready for every challenge that's thrown at us.
Curtis and Marsch on the new Homegrown Players:
[Curtis]: You know, we brought the players in because we think that they're going to - they know who we are, they have a good understanding of who they are as players, and we brought them in because we think they can help our club. They're good young men. They need to develop, they're young, this is their first time as pros, and so they'll learn - they started to learn in preseason and they'll learn more each day moving forward. So we feel really good about this group. This is probably a unique year, where we were able to sign a number of our young homegrown players. Every year is not going to look like this year. So, you know, we'll see. There have been a number of players that will probably have more minutes early on than some of the other players but we've got a really good group of young men so we feel good about them. You know, it's more of a long-term thing. Some of them will contribute sooner than later.
[Marsch]: I would say that, just from a roster perspective, we're way ahead of where we were last year and a lot of it is due to the talent and some of those Homegrown Players. The benefit we have is that there isn't pressure for them to perform immediately and they have an established group of players to learn from and to help push them every day. But that being said, I think that there's a really good chance that there's a few of them that could emerge this year as contributors and find, you know, legitimate minutes for the first team. Right now as a coach I'm excited to have this team and this group and I think there's a lot of potential here from every level.
Curtis on the offseason signings:
So, again, this was somewhat of a unique year in terms of - we had such a really talented group of young Homegrown Players that we were able to kind of sign right away and bring into the first team. So that's not going to happen every year, but I think most clubs around the league if they looked at our Homegrown Players that we signed, if they had the opportunity to sign them they would love that. In terms of going into the international market and bringing in different players, we've always believed that there's a correlation between consistency and success, and this was an opportunity for us not reshape the entire roster. Really, we had - year one was last year, when we had an opportunity to change the style of play, have the players learn the tactics, understand different tendencies and different moments and things like that, and we believe we're better for it this year. Guys have a year under their belt; they know their responsibilities, they know their roles, they know their teammates, they know our style of play, and we hope that will translate into success and we're looking forward to that. So again, consistency with the roster we believe will lead to success and then bringing in some of these young homegrown players that are really, really talented we feel were the right moves.
Marsch on players' health:
Yeah I think Chris [Duvall] is pretty much back to one-hundred percent and he's looked really sharp and good in training and the games we've had, so I think Chris is pretty much back to where he left off and if not all the way, pretty close. That's a really great thing to see. You know, we were confident that he could be healthy and come back one-hundred percent and I think he has. Right now, Sal's [Zizzo] done a really good job of establishing himself, but I know that Chris is going to continue to be a big part of this and when we look at rotation throughout the year, I think that Chris is going to find ways to make himself into the lineup and make himself very useful. And I would say that almost across the board. I mean, I think that we're too deep in just about every position on our roster. So that's where, when I talk about my job this year being a little bit trickier and getting the rotation right and tactics and everything else, last year was about trying to establish a way that we wanted to play and act and talk and be and this year it's about now me managing all the assets the right way so that every guy feels hungry and sharp and in all ways engaged and totally ready to go when we call upon him. So it's not going to be easy but it's a good position to be in as a coach, that's for sure.
Curtis and Marsch on the 38 initiatives:
[Curtis]: So, in terms of the different initiatives and programs that we want to implement, I don't think that this is the right forum to go into detail in terms of each one of them. What I will say is that they're all designed to improve our environment, so to really have a healthy environment for our staff or our players that impact our youth development system, that impact our reserve system in terms of our USL team, and that impact our first team. It's not just designed at players but at staff as well, whether that's continuing education programs, helping players transition from professional soccer life to life after soccer - all those different things and different programs that we can implement to enrich our environment.
[Marsch]: It's really fun to be a part of a club that's trying at all levels to enrich the experience. And I think that along with what Marc de Grandpre is doing in the front office, this is a really engaging place to work. I hope you guys feel that energy when you come here because it's pretty neat. I don't use the word, 'neat,' very often because it makes me feel old, but it's really a pretty neat place to work and we I think all feel the great leadership we have in this club.
Marsch on how to win MLS Cup:
When I look at the end of last year, and I look at the playoffs, we were still - you know, obviously we were built in a way to have success in the regular season and I think that, I said this at the end of last season, that where we were at is we need bigger challenges to see exactly who we were and where we were at and the playoffs were that. And we fell short and even though - I said three and one - I don't think we played as confident and energetic, maybe, down the stretch as we did maybe during the season, but it's also the games are different. It's almost like an entirely different season and a different league once the playoffs come. And it was important for us all to go through that. And to be honest, me as a coach - I'd never coached a playoff game before, so it was good for me to be a part of it, and I think that we've all grown from it and learned from it. And there's a lot of little details that we're trying to include to make sure that the next time that we're confronted with big challenges like that that we'll be up for it, but more than anything for me this is part of our process, is learning and growing and adjusting to the past, and learning about ourselves and how we're going to move forward. So I expect to see a team that's a lot more seasoned and understands so much more clearly exactly who we are, what we're about, and how to put it in place on game day and certainly in the biggest games.
Marsch on what Toronto FC brings this weekend and free agency:
Toronto's done a really good job with their roster this offseason. I think, probably more than anyone else, they made the decision that they wanted to build from within the league and I think they went out and made some key acquisitions and we expect them to present a big challenge on Sunday. For us, Ali talked about continuity and I think almost going into this we considered Gonzalo [Veron] and Shaun Wright[-Phillips] almost like new additions this year even though they're not because now they have some time under their belt and the acclimation process means that they're more prepared and they understand more clearly what we are and what this league is. So the unfortunate part with Shaun is that it took a little bit longer to get him going, but certainly with Gonzalo there's heavy anticipation around our team for that year that he can have and the impact that he's going to have on our team and I think that it's going to be exciting for our fans to see what he brings. And then, along with continuity becomes a clear understanding of who we are, what we are and how to commit to it so from a soccer perspective, I always envisioned year two as the year that everything came together. Now because we had such good men and good players on this team, that process was accelerated and the success we had in year one was, in some ways, unexpected. But, I think now that we've benefited from many of the trials that we went through last year and we're more prepared than ever to push and grow and be bigger so I don't want to be too optimistic, we have to remain very humble, but we like our group.
Curtis on what has to change for MLS teams to be successful in CONCACAF Champions League:
I don't know the right answer in terms of what the format needs to be in order for MLS clubs to be at their peak in the toughest times. Actually, I was on the phone with a GM earlier this morning and I asked him, 'hey, you've been in the league for nine or 10 years, you've been in this competition for a number of years, what do you think is the right format? Does the group stage need to start in the February - March period, does it need to run parallel to MLS so that every team is starting out kind of in that early stage and you're playing in the quarterfinals and the finals in September and October so it mirrors the MLS season?' I think, that probably gives MLS teams the best opportunity to succeed in that competition because you get better in every phase of the season whether it's the start, the middle and hopefully you're peaking at the end, so I believe that is probably the right format. It's not easy because you've got balance - you know we're not the only club in town so to speak - so my sense is there needs to be some type of change. I know the league has their pulse on that as well in terms of looking at different formats that might work out, but if there some slight change where a format could mirror the MLS season. My sense is that's probably most beneficial.
Marsch on how to balance playing time amongst the squad:
It's been a clear talking point within our team. I know the players believe that this is a necessary process for us to have success this year in all three competitions. We don't want to be, come October, feel like guys' legs are heavy and it's been a long season and we want them to be fresh and ready to go and sharp and healthy at the most important time of the year. In order to do that, I think now the understanding that rotation is necessary, it'll be important and competition within the roster is always a good thing, but in the end, it's going to require me to handle it the right way and I've challenged them that even when we have tough moments, we can't be a group that says, 'well why didn't we rotate these guys or why did we play this formation?' I've said to them we should feel strongly that every game that we play we should win and we have to have that mentality and that approach and it doesn't matter who's on the field, it doesn't matter what formation we have, it doesn't matter if we're a man up or man down, doesn't matter. Our approach is that every game we're going into we feel strongly that we have the kind of team that can win.
Marsch on starting the season at home for the first time since 2011:
They told me that since 2011, the team's always been on the road. I think being at home and being in front of our home fans to start the season will help us gain momentum. Playing a team like Toronto we know will give us a really good game so it won't be easy, but to be back - I'll even say it - coming back from Orlando, our fields are better here, the weather's been great the last two days, the stadium's awesome, the training facility's awesome. Our new goalkeeper coach said to the team today, 'you guys have no idea how lucky you are to have the facilities and be a part of this organization.' So when you come back home, we walked back onto the field today and everybody from the front office gave us a standing ovation and a big cheer. I told them I felt like I was in the Oscars, so in all ways I think we're really excited to be back home and start the season and start the season the right way.
Curtis on how they discovered Gideon Baah and Gonzalo Veron:
With a guy like Gideon Baah, he comes to our attention because [of] a guy like Lloyd Sam. We have our pulse on a number of different positions in terms of - we have different targets that we look at around the world and in different areas. In some areas there's more areas of focus than others. Central defender was an area that we felt we might have to go on the international market and get a player and had a couple different options, but Lloyd Sam, he played with the national team last year in October and he came back and said, 'hey guys, there's one or two players that I really think are talented players and that they're good guys and they would fit our system,' and we said O.K. and Lloyd, we think he has a good eye and we started to look at video and we became more intrigued with Gideon every time one of us watched some video on him. So that's how he came on our radar and so we just continued to watch more video and more video and then the transfer with Matt [Miazga] went through and so we took a decision and we went out and we signed him. With Veron, we focus on Central and South America. Argentina is a market that a lot of MLS clubs frequent - San Lorenzo is a fantastic team that's on everyone's radar within the soccer community and CONCACAF especially so that's a market that you want to be in. You want to have your pulse on - there's a lot of talent in Argentina and we'll look for more talent there moving forward.
