New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
On the result:
“Well I thought we prepared really well this week. We were under the impression both teams were missing a player that was key, but I felt that they had a couple of good players, so we weren’t exactly sure what they were going to do in terms of the personnel, but we felt that if we could get them pinned we could really make it hard for them to get out and I thought that’s what we did really well. We put them under pressure, every time the ball turned over we tried to win the ball back immediately to keep them under as much pressure as we could.”
On Lee Nguyen’s performance:
“Well I think Lee (Nguyen) was moving well. He had a guy on him the first thirty, forty minutes he had a guy everywhere he went and so I thought he moved well and didn’t get frustrated because that’s what’s going to happen in games like this, they’re going to follow him. I think we’re a good enough team, or balanced enough team where he doesn’t have to score the goal and now if he gets a little bit of space the runners can run off of him, and that’s what happened tonight with three assists.”
On Lee Nguyen’s progression throughout the season:
“I’ll tell you right now, I can come in here and tell you I’ve seen games where Lee (Nguyen) had zero assists, zero goals and was better than he was tonight. Tonight I thought he was really good obviously, he got three assists and I don’t want to knock that all, but I really can’t look at stats when I look at film just like you don’t look at record when you look at how impactful or who you’re playing against. You can’t look at a team, where they stand in the standings, you have to look at the film and break the team down. So the same way I look at Lee (Nguyen) I don’t look at it as goals and assists, I look at the impact he’s having in the game and today obviously it came down to the assists and he was able to break it open, but I thought all the guys were really good tonight, Diego (Fagundez), I thought Daigo (Kobayashi) had an excellent game, Scottie (Caldwell) was vicious in the middle there, he was laying his muscle around, but he was strong tonight. I thought those guys were really good tonight.”
On the absence of Jermaine Jones:
“He’s the guy that when you go into a fight you want leading the charge and so you know it was tough, but I look at Jermaine (Jones) and I’m happy that he’s back in with the country and I thought last night it showed. He’s at his best when he’s playing for club and country, I said that early and I really mean it, so I thought it was good for him to get this game and then have another chance against Brazil because I think when Jermaine (Jones) is at his best and the U.S. is at its best with Jermaine (Jones) in there and we’re at our best when we have him, but in the mind set between the two, when he goes away he comes back even sharper and that’s what I’m excited about is seeing him when he returns.”
On Chris Tierney’s offensive presence tonight:
“I think we talk about Chris (Tierney) and what he can do and the ball over the top there was perfect, that first goal, because we knew we were almost hoping he would get a little bit of space and would be able to hit that ball because we hadn’t been able to test their back line because they were dropping so quickly and sitting so deep, our speed couldn’t get behind them. So that was really the first time we were able to get over the top and Chris (Tierney) usually if you’re hitting that ball three or four times you can hit on the third or fourth, he hit it on the first time and it was perfect and you knew the minute it came off his foot it was going to put their back line under pressure and that’s what it did.”
On Diego Fagundez’s hustle leading up to his goal:
“That’s Diego kind of to a T. That stuff going forward he’s always going to do, we’ve asked him to sacrifice the work defensively or sacrifice himself to work defensively and he’s done that and I think you see that his touch count goes up, his overall understanding of being able to make that break because he’s defending so hard to be able to get there and I think he’s realizing when he puts the work in his overall game improves and just like it was the other night, he only lasted sixty minutes the other night because he literally worked himself into the ground at Philadelphia and he was exhausted after that game. Tonight he goes 90 like it’s nothing and he worked just as hard and so I love that from Diego and that he’s bought in all the way and you can see the difference from last year to this year, the growth from last year to this year and that’s what you like with a kid that twenty years old, that he can adapt his game and get even better.”
On the variation of play and movement off the ball tonight:
“I thought our interchange was good and one of the things we talked about all week was speed of play, playing with urgency, but with patience as well, not to give it away just to give it away, not to get, if we passed it fifty, sixty times whatever the number was, not to get oh god we haven’t given the ball away we haven’t given it back, let’s just keep it until things open up and things started to open up once we got that ball moving, but it was an idea all week to make sure we played quickly, one or two touch, to make sure we moved it from one side to the other and eventually we were going to able to break them down.”
On using Steve Neumann as the last substitute:
“Yeah so Steve has been excellent in training and someone that we have a lot of faith in. I think the last time we saw him was against Chicago, he came into that game and helped us close out a 2-2 draw on the road and so his training is, if you look at player every week we basically after every training session we, we don’t do a rating, but we talk about how they train and Steve Neumann is always at the top of our list and how he trains and what he’s done. So tonight was a reward for him and I was excited that he was able to create that play and I think he’s a player that we really like going forward as a player that is going to be integral for this club.”
New England Revolution midfielder Lee Nguyen
On the game and if it felt good to be on the field:
“Yeah. You know, it was a good game. I think overall we played well offensively, defensively we were pressing, creating turnovers. And offensively we were able to string some possessions together and were able to open them up and we were able to finish as well.”
On how he was able to record three assists in the game:
“It was just great movement off the ball from the guys, as well. I was fortunate to have options and that’s what you want when you have the ball, you want to have a couple options and hopefully you pick the right one.”
On the importance of getting a goal before halftime:
“It was good because we had a couple chances before that and we were putting the pressure on them and we just wanted to try to go into halftime with the lead and continue that pressure in the second half.”
On if he’s been trying to raise his game:
“Yeah. I think I’ve been feeling good and getting my fitness levels up as well, (it) helps. I’m seeing the game as well.”
On having more assists than last year and if he’s changed his game:
“No, it’s always the same, it’s just now it’s on the other side. The guys are finishing and that always helps and at the same time, it relieves pressure off of everyone when you’re scoring goals. Right now, we have numerous guys helping out so it’s not just, you can’t just hone in on one guy. Diego (Fagundez) scored, Juan (Agudelo) scored and Chris (Tierney) scored, that’s three guys and then a couple guys the past couple games as well.”
On if he feels that other teams are targeting him:
“Yeah. It’s been like that more so this year. I think he’s (Heaps) been telling me just keep moving, finding the pockets and the guys around me will find me the ball. It’s just moving the ball quicker and knowing that it’s not the first pass, it’s the second pass, getting it off the second guy and it’s worked well today.”
New England Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez
On whether this was a fun game to play in:
“I think, especially playing at home, it’s always fun. But of course when we’re scoring goals and we’re playing well, I think that’s what everyone wants to see. You saw all the smiles after the goals and how happy everyone was for each other. But the work that we’re all putting together, I think that’s what’s making everyone happy.”
On the team’s goals:
“I think we’re all clicking, and that’s what we want to see. The way we’re moving the ball, one, two-touch – but the way we’re clicking is what we want to see. We want to see one-twos and moving off the ball, and I think everyone in the team has been doing that, and of course when we’re getting in the attack, and we’re playing well that’s how we can score goals.”
On if his goal had been worked on in training:
“It’s one of those plays that I think it happens in the game. It’s the hold-up that Charlie (Davies) does, and the ball that Lee (Nguyen) does, that’s what created my goal. If it wasn’t for them then the play wouldn’t have happened.”
On getting a result without Jermaine Jones:
“It’s awesome. We know that we have a strong team, not just the starting 11 and not just the 18, everyone as a group in the locker room. But you know if someone’s missing, someone’s going to step up and do their job, and that’s what you want to see.”
On his goal:
“I was just trying to get in the mix. I knew I had a chance, a one-on-one, saw the player coming right next to me and I just knew I had to beat him. Once I took that touch, the goalie opened up and I tried to slot it in.”
On hitting the crossbar with an overhead kick:
“I was excited at first when I did that. I tried to look for it to see if it was in the net, but it wasn’t. But of course there’s other chances that you’re going to get, and once you get another chance you have to finish it.”
On Lee Nguyen’s creativity and what he brings to the offense:
“Lee is just an awesome player. He’s an awesome player. You know every time you get him the ball he’s going to get it back to you. He’s a playmaker and that’s what we want to see in this team. When he’s on the attack it’s kind of hard to dictate what he’s going to do, but you just have to play it off him, and if he gives you the ball, then you know you have a good chance.”
On if he needs to be prepared for anything when Nguyen is on the ball:
“Yeah all the time. Not just him, but every player you need to be ready for anything. It might be a back-heel, it might be anything. I think that’s what we work on in training and I think we all know each other so when someone has the ball you know what they’re going to do.”
Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath
On the result:
“I thought the shape was ok and we didn’t obviously have much of a threat because we wanted to stay in the game as long as we did. They gave a really poor goal up the first goal, it’s a good goal from their point of view but when you look at where our back 4 ended up by the time the ball goes in the back of the net it wasn’t very good from our point of view. But I have to take my hat off to them, they are what we want to be in the future. I thought they were better than us in every department. You’ve got a full strength team, there’s Jermaine Jones to come back to this group so they are what we hope to be in the next 2 or 3 years it’s just the case of this moment in time I just think they’re better than us and if we have opened it up earlier I think we would have left them with a lot more opportunities.”
On this being illustrated by bringing Bunbury an Agudelo off the bench:
“This is 3 years in the making this group and that’s the nature of this league. We have to wait for the next one to obviously tweak the roster and hopefully start to build a bigger and stronger squad because obviously at this moment in time when we’ve got injuries and we got people away with international call ups it affects the product on the field and I can’t fault the players I thought they worked really really hard tonight we just got beat by a better team this evening.”
On the final score and number of goals given up:
“We made poor decisions we could have put the ball in the box from a wide area and then we put it in the middle so it’s a straight ball into the box and as soon as it went in I said we’re going to get done on the break here and that’s what happens. But it’s a learning process for some of them and we’ve got to get better. I don’t like the fact that every time we come away me and you are having this conversation but at this moment in time that’s how it is.”
On Corey (Ashe’s) hamstring:
“We’re not quite sure, he’s got a problem with his knee I think so we’ll have to wait and see. It may be another injury it doesn’t look good at the moment so we’ll have to wait and see hopefully we’ll keep our fingers crossed it won’t be too bad.”
On Ribeiro and Rochez giving the team a lift:
“I thought Bryan gave us a lift when he came on and maybe that’s something we have to look forward to next week because I thought he gave us a little bit of a spark when he came on and got hold of it and put 2 or 3 really good runs on, had a couple of efforts at goal so that might be one bright spot to the evening.”
Orlando City SC goalkeeper Tally Hall
On whether the team dynamic was affected by not having Kaka, Cyle Larin and Darwin Ceren playing tonight:
“I think we’re a good enough team when we’re missing players that we can go places and play better soccer than we did tonight. It was a difficult night. New England passed the ball really well. I thought they pressured the ball really well. I know it was difficult – they didn’t give us a lot of opportunities to get a rhythm. It was a difficult night to overcome but you look at the guys on the field and a lot of them are experienced players, either in the league or in big games, and so it’s a night that I think we all look at ourselves and think that we could have done a little bit more.”
On if the result impacts Orlando’s push for a playoff berth:
“Again, I think New England played a good game. I mean, goals are coming from – I don’t think we did a good job of preventing their counter-attack but I think if you look at their goals when they got an opportunity, they were what we’ve seen from the Revs for the last couple of years. I mean, very tricky and sharp with the ball. Overall, it’s not the result we want but we knew we would have opportunities at home and we still have a fighting chance. So that’s what we do. We’re going to continue to fight. It’s another opportunity missed but we got to look forward and continue fighting.”
Orlando City SC defender Aurelien Collin
On the game:
“I think the Revolution were better than us tonight. We had good periods where we had good lines, but as soon as we were losing, a couple of the players were going to the wrong place. They were taking advantage – they were dangerous offensively. Tonight we were not too dangerous at all offensively – we did not have any opportunities. That was a hard night for us.”
On the difficulty of taking positives from a defeat:
“It’s hard you know. Sometimes in life things are easy and sometimes things are hard, I always say that. The way we reacted today, again we lost 3-0, that’s a lot of goals against us. We have to keep looking at the things that we did wrong. Working harder and going to the next game. It’s still possible for the playoffs, of course with a night like tonight, it’s complicated, but we have to wake up tomorrow, it’s a new day and make sure the next game, we win it.”
