Columbus Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter
Q. Obviously not the finish you guys were looking for but for the group to be able to hang on and close this one out, what does that mean in general?
It was important. I think the beginning of the game, the first half of the game, we had to make some adjustments based on how they were playing a different system and I think we adjusted really well. We exploited the space in the empty middle and did a great job of keeping the ball and putting them on their heels.The second half, as they moved back to their traditional system, the focus was now on switching the field and I think we could have been a little more effective, you see the goals, both of them came on examples of when we could have switched field to break pressure off.
Q. You went with two strikers for maybe the first time you've had these guys here. What was it about that system?
So the idea was not to play in the middle of the field, if they are playing their normal 4-3-2-1. The middle, they are so strong, and we just wanted to keep the balls on the side of the field and we thought, if you don't need a person central you might as well play with two strikers and might as well put more pressure on their defense.As it turns out, think played their 3-3-3-1 system, which left the middle open and we had to make adjustments. So we pulled Harry inside, dropped Pedro inside and pushed our wing backs high to create space centrally.
Q. Obviously Patrick, only his second game with you guys. What do you feel like he gave you with his precision?
I thought he was strong, both physically, his movement was good and he held balls up. The character to fight through, not having played 90 minutes in a long time, you know, I thought he was excellent.
Q. The resulting goals haven't been there for you but even though the end wasn't what you wanted, is this something potentially you could build off, getting those three goals on the road?
Soccer is funny because we've created more chances than we did tonight and not score, and you're efficient, you score almost every chance you get and you end up winning the game. You know, overall, I think we've never been pressing the guys. Our attitude is, it will come, just keep working.
Q. To get Pedro's confidence up on set pieces, what can that do for this group in general down the stretch?
If they start giving the delivery we know they can, they are dangerous. Their set piece service has been excellent all year.
Q. The second half was obviously a little bit different. What did you -- how do you think you handled their changes?
So I think, you know, I'm disappointed to give up the goals. Disappointed in the way we gave up the goals. I think there was glimpse of the game plan being perfectly in place, and then there are other moments where we didn't execute and we got punished. You think of the first goal, the idea is to get it back to the throw and switch field. We didn't execute that properly. Overall, I think it's a lesson learned, but Red Bull played with an extreme intensity in the second half and it made it difficult. They are a good team and they are a good team at home, and that's going to happen in games. Me and Andrew talk about the ebb and flow of games all the time.
Q. Speaking of ebb and flow games, Zack makes a couple saves early, seems to shift the tone in the first half. How important was that to get you guys confidence?
I think he played a solid game, a really solid game and then had some good saves and able to steady the team. On set pieces I thought he was pretty good, so pleased with his performance tonight.
Q. What is Josh's status?
Going to see what it is, just some ankle pain.
Q. How about Federico, is this one where you could have gone to him if you needed to?
Well, we could have except for the fact we ran out of substitutes, so it made it challenging. If we would have had another sub, we could have used him. I think we had intentions of using him and then how the game unfolds, you have to make adjustments.
Q. You guys now have a bye week in this next week after a pretty compact stretch of games. How will you take this next week or so?
I think we're going to learn from this game. We're going to give the guys some days off and then we're going to come back and we're going to keep pushing.
Columbus Crew Goalkeeper Zach Steffen.
On What the Win Can Do For Confidence:
“I mean the win last weekend was a huge win for us in the last minute. It gave us a lot of confidence to have a good training week and push this week because we knew Red Bull was going to be tough. Red Bull is always tough, never easy. To get a win like that before a break it really gives us time to free our minds and get our legs back and then come back hungry again and confident.
On Finally Breaking Through on the Road:
“Oh yeah when that happened we were rolling. We just, it was nice to put the ball in the back of the net and let us breathe for a second. And get to the game plan and just keep working. Gave us confidence to keep going and get another one.”
On The Big Save on Aaron Long:
“Yeah I mean if that goes in the game could be completely different. It was a good moment for me and kept our team in the game so it was good.
On Countering the Red Bulls' Second-Half Momentum:
“Yeah I mean they brought in Kaku who’s really talented and Bradley [Wright-Phillips] who’s just a goal-scorer. So obviously we had to watch out for them. They pressed a little bit differently so we had to vary our build out. I think the guys did well with that and yeah.”
On Heading Into the All-Star Break:
“It will shift tomorrow. It will be fine. These guys get to go on a break and it’s an honor to be an all-star and to go down there and I’m really excited.
Columbus Crew Midfielder Wil Trapp.
On How a Road Win Boosts Confidence:
“It’s important to look at how we battled throughout the game. Up 3-0 I thought we played an excellent first half second half they made some changes, put some quality on the field. We just were slow on a couple of plays. To get the three points was paramount, that’s what we wanted to do. These three eastern conference games that we had (NYC away, Orlando home) to get six out of nine is big for us.
On Building Off a Win:
“Yeah I thought we did a very, very good job un the first half of exposing them and taking chances. The difference tonight was we opened them but were clinical for the most part in executing our chances. In some other games we don’t do that. It hangs on and hangs on and then one or two chances for them and the game could. It was good to get Patrick a goal, set piece goals are always important. A little deflating for the opponent to so it was good for us.
On Playing With the Two Strikers:
“Yeah yeah, credit to our coaches for adjusting and for our guys for stepping on the field and making adjustments throughout the game. I thought the first half was dealing with a different formation for them and when they made the change in the second half, we switched right back to how we prepared for the entire week. It’s good to be able to move things around on the field and still execute and still win.”
On Patrick Mullins:
“Yeah, yeah you see his goal scoring ability. Quality in high pressure moments was great. He’s good in the air, he’s strong, he looks to involve his teammates and those all things that will help us a lot.”
Columbus Crew Forward Patrick Mullins
Q. On tonight’s road victory…
“Couldn’t be prouder to be part of this group tonight. I’ll talk about us – we had a lot of challenges coming into tonight. Obviously, it’s a difficult place to play. This is a team that changed up how they looked, how they played from Wednesday against DC. They threw us a bit of a curveball and I thought everyone responded very well. I think, from the staff to the players, embracing a new way of which we were going about – with two fours tonight – and how that changed the way we played. I think the principles stayed the same and it’s something our team should be proud of: to have that flexibility and the team strength to make sure that, when we go to tough places like this, we can figure out a result and different ways to play. To still have that Crew stamp on things, which I think you saw tonight with some great goals and obviously some good heart at the end.”
Q. On the two-striker system and early confidence with Columbus…
“I don’t think it means anything going forward. I think it’s just a good performance tonight. I’ve been in this position before, being on a new team. I’ve really thrown myself into it. I think that’s important when you come to a new place is to assimilate to how things are done here. I do my best to do that, and I think they’ve welcomed me in warmly. So, I need to keep working, and that’ll determine how it goes going forward.”
Q. On his goal tonight…
“It’s a great team goal. From the build-up, to Harry being as versatile as he is, almost becoming a playmaker, and then the movement out to in. Pedro was doing it all night long, causing their back-line fits. He gave me and Gyasi a lot of room to run in behind, and that’s exactly what happened. I finished it off.”
Q. On scoring against the Red Bulls again…
“Every team I’ve been on hasn’t really liked Red Bulls too much. Columbus doesn’t have a rivalry with them per say, but it’s always battles against them. I’m very proud to come here and get a result, get a goal, and contribute to the team which is most important to me.”