Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the victory against Houston Dynamo…
“Yeah, you know, it’s not as… I don’t think we were as free flowing and as pleasing on the eye as we have been of late but you know, at this stage in the season, three points is all that matters. I’ll settle for that between now and the end of the season. Three points is huge at the weekend and it puts us in a really good spot. Big week coming up with [Real] Salt Lake Wednesday, and then [FC] Dallas coming to town at the weekend. Pivotal. Pivotal moment in the season I think.”
On the most pleasing aspect of the win against Houston…
“The fact that they kept going. They kept trying to win the game. When you’re not playing particularly as well as we have been. I was really pleased with it. The sort of effort to actually go and try and get the win rather than just go ‘It’s one of them days where we’ll take a point and move on.’ The fact that they were still continually driving towards the end was really pleasing.”
On the run of form that helped the team attain the most points in the MLS…
“Well, our forward players are playing particularly well at this moment in time. Fraga’s [Franco Fragapane] is playing as well as any stage in the season. Rey’s [Emanuel Reynoso] got 10 goals in 13, 14 games. Luis [Amarilla] is now playing his best football and looks really confident. And I think Bongi [Bongohukle Hlongwane] has been exceptional for us. Your front-four actually make a difference because the back-four can keep you in games but you have to score goals to win matches. They’ve been particularly good the last, as you say, since June 29. It’s a good run.”
On the challenges faced against Real Salt Lake this Wednesday…
“Well, it’s never easy there. The altitude and I think something like 95 degrees, they’re expecting the weather, on the day of the game. It’s going to be tough the fact that the stage we’re at, Salt Lake are right next to us in the league. We have Dallas coming up. It’s going to be a tough ask of the guys. But we’ll change one or two things around and hopefully freshen it up a little bit and hope the guys will come in and give me a sort of headache for the selection on Saturday.”
On the approach to Wednesday given the circumstances on the road…
“As I say, it’s never easy there but whatever team that we put out, I think we’re going to be more than capable of getting a result and that’s what we have to go there believing. The guys who will come in have got something to play for. I keep saying to the group: it’s a squad game and everybody is going to be needed between now and the end of the season, and hopefully, the playoffs. Hey, everybody is next-man up. Step up.”
On the surprise in the standing of Real Salt Lake, despite missing players…
“Yeah it is but that’s a testament to their group. They look as though they’ve got a really unified group and you see the reaction when they get goals late on like they did at the weekend. Pablo [Mastroeni] gets his teams well wound up and it’s going to be a tough game for sure.”
On this moment being the most important part of the season…
“I think between now and the end of the season, every game is huge. I’ve tried to be clever and work out everybody’s fixtures out and it’s virtually impossible to decide. Everybody’s playing each other and everybody’s got to go away to difficult places. We’ve got [FC] Dallas at home. We’ve got LA [LAFC] to come here. Hey, it’s going to go til the very end of the season and every game is crucial in this stage.”
Defender Brent Kallman
On the importance of the win versus Houston Dynamo at the weekend…
“Yeah, it was really important. I think it was good for us also to find a way to win when we didn’t have a good performance. There was a lot of different things you could point at. The first one being bad giveaways. Really careless turnovers. Having to defend a lot of counters. And then just not really having a good rhythm in the final third but just finding a way. That’ll bode well for us down the stretch because you’re not always going to have a great performance. We always talk about things you can control like your effort, intensity, how much you give but that doesn’t mean the quality will always be there. If we can find ways, even if we’re having an off night, to keep the game close and stay in it, that’s going to be huge.”
On always being willing to step in and his mentality in the moment…
“Yeah we talk about next-man up. Obviously, it’s bad. It’s not a good thing. Everybody is wishing [Bakaye Dibassy] the best in his recovery and everything like that. But, you know, that’s what I train for and what try to stay ready for. Try to train at a high intensity so you can rely on that and you can fall back on that when you get in a game. I didn’t feel great. I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t feel great but I’m hoping I get some more games in a row and I’m confident that my form will get better and my fitness will get better as I go on.”
On the upcoming match against Real Salt Lake…
“Obviously, they’re very good. When you’re playing against a team coached by Pablo [Mastroeni], they’re never going to quit. They’re always going to fight. They’re gonna make us earn everything that comes to us. We’ve got to be a lot more disciplined. We’re just going to have to be smart about it. It’s a tough environment always when you’re playing at altitude and then you add in the heat. It’s going to have to be everybody on the same page and everybody doing their jobs. It might be another gritty one.”
On the chemistry between himself and Michael Boxall…
“We already have it. I was speaking more towards the team shape in general. Sometimes, at home, we have the energy of the crowd so everybody wants to go chase, go chase the game and press and stuff like that. In a situation like this, it might be better if we just keep a better shape. We let them come to us a little bit and then we look to hit them on the break as opposed to trying to dictate. I was speaking towards, more towards, the entire team, starting at the front, all the way to us guys at the back.”
On the team, specifically front-four, and how they are able to get goals…
“We just look way more dangerous. There was a period earlier in the season where we weren’t generating many chances it seemed like and now, everytime we string together seven, eight passes, and we start breaking lines, it looks like we’re going to score. I think there’s a big belief in the guys right now that when we start getting towards the other team’s box, we’re going to get something there.”
