Head Coach Adrian Heath
On going to Kansas City on a short turnaround…
“We’ve got a few players who are carrying knocks and a few guys who’ve been injured, but hey, that’s par for the course in the game. At this stage in the season, most of the players are carrying a little bit of something. It would have been nice to have a few more days to prepare but that’s the way it is. We know it’s going to be difficult, always is there. Got great amount of respect for Peter [Vermes] and his staff and what they do. I don’t see it being any different than it normally is. We’re going to have to play well to take something from the game.”
On what he took from the game against the Sounders…
“Honestly, I was delighted with a lot of our play. The second half, I think we were better team. In most of the stats, we were ahead of – corners, shots, crosses in the box. Little disappointment would probably be there. I don’t think we worked the goalkeeper [Stefan Frei] enough for the amount of possession we had in their half of the field and that’s something that we’ve spoke about. We’ve gotta take more opportunities to put the ball in the box, get more people in the box and see if that can help us.”
On what he can take from the weekend match heading into Wednesday night…
“The one thing is, I’ve just mentioned it, we’ve got to work the penalty area a lot more for having the amount of possession that we had. Can we get, without forcing it and being on the road, can we get an extra man in the box? Can we put balls in the box? Can we put more crosses in? that’s when we’re at our best. Getting our fullbacks nice and high and wide and getting things in the box. That’s something that we’ve spoke about. The games, the last couple of years, have been really tight [against Kansas], going back to the Playoffs last year. It’s going to be tough but we’re going there and hopefully [Emanuel Reynoso] and Robin Lod are back in the mix and we’ll see where we are.”
On what he takes from the win over Kansas City in the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs…
“That was sort of a game in particular where we took our opportunities. I don’t know if people remember in the first minute, they had opportunities. Johnny Russel had one and [Michael Boxall] had it off the line. Oldest saying in football ‘goals change games,’ that could have changed the game. The last time we were there, in the Western Conference [Semifinal], it was a terrific performance from us and it’s probably going to need a similar type of performance for us to come away with anything tomorrow.”
On Kansas City’s solid season so far…
“It doesn’t change. They’ve spent years and years getting down the system that they play. They are very, very good at it. Got good players on the attacking positions. And as I say, we’ve gotta make sure that we start very quickly because that’s what they normally do. They come out really, really quick at home. We’ve got to be ready for them. If we are, we’ve proved that we can go there and win.”
Defender DJ Taylor
On what challenges Kansas City on a short turn around, on the road, present…
“Kansas City is very good, attacking wise. They have a lot of good attacking players, a lot of experienced players as well but we can still handle it. We’ve just got to prepare ourselves and some guys may have to step up, that usually aren’t playing all the time and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
On what the team can take from the Seattle match…
“It was a tough match. Obviously, it’s tough whenever you go and play in Seattle but from an overall standpoint, we didn’t do too bad or anything like that. We still had a couple chances where we could have scored for sure and as long we try to avoid mistakes, we’re fine.”
On getting players back from injury and helping out the depth of the roster…
“Once we get all our quality back, in trainings you feel it. The quality is better, everybody is buzzing to have everybody back and our comradery just keeps growing. It’s great to have them back and in the game, it pays off when we see their quality in the final third.”
On Kansas City’s solid season so far…
“You see that they’re obviously looking to go to the playoffs. Every team is close right now where we’re standing, especially in the fourth through sixth spot, for a home playoff and that’s what we’re trying to get. We just can’t take anything for granted. Every game matters so we have to make sure we play every game 90 minutes, it doesn’t matter.
On the importance of every point down the stretch of the season…
“It’s very important. Once you do all this travel, all this hard work, you want to reward from it. That’s what we’re looking to do and as a team, I think we can do. We can get three points this Wednesday and get three points against LA [Galaxy] on Saturday.”
