NEW RED BULLS COACH JESSE MARSCH
On the change in play for New York City FC today…
“They were the better team today. They wanted it more and they showed that on the field. I think that they changed certain things about how they defended to make it hard for us. We weren’t sharp enough today and some of our advantages when we pressed and won balls didn’t go our way. You go to last game where in set pieces we managed to get an edge, today we didn’t. They got their first goal on a set piece that we knew was coming but we didn’t do well enough. Credit to New York City [FC]. They wanted it bad and with the way that this series has gone they weren’t happy and knew that it would require a big competitive effort. They poured their hearts out on the field and in the end they earned it more than us and deserved it more than us.”
On how the team was physically after their mid-week match…
“It wasn’t easy, but that’s an excuse. We made a couple changes to try and get fresh legs on the pitch. Overall, in the first half we started to gain some momentum as the half went on but we got beat on a goal in the second half that is similar to when we aren’t connected and when we don’t deal with certain situations well. Certainly not going to use heavy legs as an excuse for today’s result.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER FELIPE
Biggest change between last game and today’s game…
“We had to be rested, to be hard to play against, the will to win, and a lot of times I think we didn’t see this today. We are in this together. We have to sit together, talk, and fix those things because the season is going to keep happening.”
On trouble on the road…
“I think we have to stick to the game plan and have a good performance in the toughest moments. We need everybody to stick together and play well.”
On the hurt of the loss…
“I think it’s another loss. Of course a loss always hurts but you have to give credit to New York City they were better than us today and we got to be honest with ourselves and look at what we have to clean up and change this because the season is still long, it’s still there but we need to get our effort back, we need to get our will back.”
On Jack Harrison…
“He’s a good player. He was faster than us. He was quicker than us. They had a good game.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER MIKE GRELLA
On the difference compared to the last derby match…
“It’s a tough schedule. This is like the fourth away game in a row, it’s been difficult. But no excuses. They started well on a set piece that we knew what they were going to do, so disappointed for us because it was a preventable goal. Once they go ahead they’re a very good team so it was hard from there. It was a lot different from the 7-0 game but we knew it would be hard here.”
On New York City coming out with a different level of play…
“Absolutely, I saw it that way. They played the game with a lot more aggression and a lot more desire than they did the first time around, than the first four occasions. Credit to them, they got the result that they were looking for. It’s been a long way for us and obviously our away format hasn’t been good, so we need to recollect ourselves and take a look at all these results and a lot of video and make sure we correct what’s wrong. This is a really solid group, hopefully we can believe in each other. It’s just another game we can learn from.”
On Jack Harrison’s impact on the match…
“Obviously he creates the first goal. He’s a good player. He created the first goal and that put us in a difficult situation there away from home in a tough place to play in a big derby match. We go down 1-0 pretty quickly because he has a good little bit of skill. He changed the game that way for sure.”
