Head Coach Adrian Heath
On regrouping for Sunday…
“Well, we have to get through regeneration and the thought process started right after Vancouver. We got back a bit late yesterday and it’s all about preparing as well as we can. I said a few weeks ago I thought it would come down to the last game and nothing that happened on Wednesday has changed that. We know we have a huge game coming up on Sunday and we’ve got to take something from it.”
On reflections from Wednesday’s loss…
“Disappointed with the result first off. I thought we controlled most of the game, Robin [Lod] had a really good chance by his standards, but I don’t think we worked the final third enough considering the amount of play that we had. I think we were ahead in every stat apart from the important one which was a goal. We spoke about the goal, you can’t get beat by a 75-yard ball straight down the middle and as I said goals change games. We didn’t start the second half particularly well, but we worked our way into it. Adrien [Hunou] had the good chance off the post and then we go and concede straight after. I don’t think we did enough in terms of what we can do. As I said to the players after the game against LAFC, I would’ve been incredibly proud of the players even if we had lost the game, because of the way we went about the game. I don’t think we went about the game [against Vancouver] in the same manner. Big game on the weekend, and a big game means big players, so we need to step up.”
On the noon start…
“Well it is the next game mentality. I think I speak for the players when I say you don’t particularly enjoy them because you don’t get into the day before, you’re having your pre-match at 8 o’clock in the morning, and you know it’s a bit early for pasta at that time, but it is what it is, it’s the same for the opposition, we knew it was going to be this, so we have to be prepared.”
On Sporting KC’s attack…
“I read Bruce Arena’s piece this morning, and it said that any team that wants to do well, whether it be the Supporter’s Shield or the playoffs, you need your big players to come up and play well in big moments. That’s what Johnny [Russell] has done at the moment, what is it, twelve [goals] in eleven games. And [Daniel] Salloi has had a great start to the season, maybe not as sharp as he was in the beginning of the year, but obviously they have had to step up because [Alan] Pulido has been injured for large parts of the year. Speaks volumes. Everybody knows my admiration for Peter [Vermes] I think he has done an incredible job there. I really like him and his staff and we know its going to be tough but we have proved that we are more than a match for them at home, big game lot at stake and we know its going to be a challenge, but we are up for it.”
Midfielder Wil Trapp
On moving on from a tough loss…
“It starts with, to be honest a first half in which I think we all felt good about, other than maybe the last minute and a half. Adrian [Heath] says it, we say it, but goals change games. Unfortunately it’s a play we don’t get right and they go into the half starting to build a little bit more in their confidence in the game and we just looked a little disjointed, and that comes from the way we were trying to chase the game and being a little bit more proactive and how minute-by-minute and moment-by-moment we can kind of chip away at things instead of throwing it all against the wall.”
On being on the front foot to approach the second half…
“I think so, of course you get the blow right before halftime. You think about Adrien’s [Hunou] chance, it’s those moments, the dichotomy of we nearly score and then a minute later we are giving up another goal. It’s disappointing in the sense of how big that game was and the magnitude of it. For us, it’s understanding that it doesn’t get easier the next match against and even better team in Sporting KC.”
On Sporting KC from the attack…
“The LA Galaxy game really sums them up in terms of they are great at isolating their wingers and creating danger from guys like Johnny [Russell] or Daniel Salloi, or Khiry Shelton is a danger as well. The back half of their team is very organized in how they want to break opponents down and how they get those guys in those moments and once that happens they can be very effective. So for us it’s a situation where it’s a must win, truly. We say that but this is actually a game where it’s a must win in front of our fans. Understanding that they are in good form and we need to be very stout defensively, but when we have our opportunities we need to score.”
Defender Michael Boxall
On turning it around for Sunday…
“Obviously a frustrating one in Canada, it does make things a little more difficult, but that doesn’t change what we were coming into this weekend’s game to do - which was our last regular season game at home this season and that’s to pick up three points in front of our home fans.”
On how you reflect on the game from Wednesday…
“It was a long travel day [Thursday] so you have a lot of time to think about that ninety minutes, so it’s frustrating, that for the most part we do all the right things, and then for me personally you switch off for half a second and that kind of defines whether you have a good game or not. And on the other side of things, we still need to be a bit better in the final third. To have as much possession as and good possession as we had in that game and not create more until the 90th minute is frustrating. We’ve still got everything in our hands and everything in our own destiny and we can control that by winning on Sunday.”
On Sporting KC and their approach…
“They’ve got a good squad. They’ve got big players who show up in those big moments, obviously Johnny Russell has been doing it for years and he’s shown what he can do; he’s always a threat for them. All over the park they are a fairly well-oiled machine who know their identity and they stick to that no matter what. That makes them as good as they have been, so it lets us know what we have to break that down, it’s just execution.”
On added pressure playing at home with so much on the line…
“It doesn’t really make a difference for me, whether its gameday one with thirty-three games to go or it’s the season on the line you go in with the same intentions and that’s to pick up three points especially at home and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
