MINNESOTA UNITED HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On whether Allianz Field is beginning to feel like a fortress …
“Yeah, it does. The crowd were magnificent again. They've been unbelievable since we've opened this place. The players have given them something. I always talk to the players before the game about, we need to keep the crowd, the supporters involved in the game. The way that we do that is by playing on the front foot, playing in their half, working the goalkeeper, getting the ball in the box, endeavor, running forward. And some of that was there tonight. When you're hanging on at 1-0, 1-0 is never enough. When you look back at the game and the chances that we've had, that should not have been the case. We've defended really well, in it as a group and there's one or two of the defenders who were outstanding. But in general, you can't leave teams hanging around and with the quality of chances that we've created this evening, the game should have been hung and dried.”
On whether there was a danger of a letdown after the Semifinal against Portland …
“We spoke about it before the game: generating our own atmosphere and playing on the front foot, playing in their half, start quickly. We were mindful of the fact that they had a big game on Saturday against San Jose, who make you work hard, then the travel. Eight of our players should have been fresh. As I just said to the players, I thought for some strange reason, we weren't as sharp as I would have liked considering that eight of the guys have had a little bit of time off.”
On whether the team feels any pressure from the playoff race …
“We can only do what we can do. Control the controllables? We can control our performance next Saturday against Orlando. Get three points there, 44, I think it'd look a bit more healthy. We've put ourselves in a good spot. I spoke to you guys a week ago, telling you how important these two games were. It's gonna be important for us, looking at the results tonight. Important for Orlando. We're at that stage of the season now. Whoever you play, there's something to play for. There's maybe a couple of teams that haven't [got anything to play for]. I look at our fixtures and everybody's playing for something, even LAFC. Are they in the playoffs? For sure. Do they want to get record points? Next week we go to Sporting. Huge for them, they need to keep it alive. We're getting no easy games between now and the end of the season, that's for sure. We've got to be prepared.”
On whether the game against Orlando will be personal for him …
“I think it's always personal when you play against your old club. Everybody knows my feelings about the club. I put six and a half years working every single day to make that club what it was. From nothing, arriving when people said, 'Football will never work in Orlando,' to having 62,000 there a few years later. I take a lot of pride and satisfaction in that. After that, this is my life now, here, trying to do exactly the same here. I think everybody who knows me in Orlando that I would like nothing more than to win this game at the weekend.”
On if there’s something between Colorado and Minnesota that leads to chippiness …
“We've had games where we've been hard done to in a few of the games. I thought they were very good tonight. I thought they kept going. They've had a couple of really good results and you can see that the confidence is coming back and a few of their influential players are playing well. I knew this game was gonna be tough for a lot of reasons, but not just Colorado. After the emotion of what we had here last time ... I said to the players, was I pleased with their performance? Not 100 percent, but I would have taken a scrappy 1-0 win before the game.”
On what exactly about the performance was less than pleasing …
“I think we were too comfortable playing in front of the opposition. The bottom line is, as I said to the players, what are we trying to do here? We're trying to score a goal. To score a goal you have to get up the pitch, you have to run towards the goal. It's not enough just to keep the ball in the mid-third. People have to run without the ball, people have to run forward. If we do that, we're pretty good. When we play in our own half, we're not as good.”
On how different the team is now that they’re expected to win games …
“The team is unrecognizable to what we were. We know that. That's gone. We can't control what it was. What we can control is what's coming up on Saturday. What we can control is the demands that we put on this group of players. As I've said before, I don't [have] fear [for] us in this stadium against anybody. But we'll have to play better than we did tonight to win on Saturday, I know that for sure.”
On Abu Danladi’s performance on the evening …
“He got in the right spots. When your confidence is a bit low, he's not as confident in himself and his body as he would like, but I tell you, the kid got in the right spot so if he continues to get in the right spots, eventually one will go for him and hopefully his confidence will come. Because we're going to need him between now and the end of the season for sure.”
MINNESOTA UNITED GOALKEEPER VITO MANNONE
On looking at the standings and how tight the Western Conference is …
“We know the West has been tight for a while now. Everybody is really pushing for the top spots and we are too. At the moment we are in a situation where we are in second place and we want to be up there. We have nine games to go and we need to keep going until the end. It’s massive to finish in the top four and have a [playoff] game at home. If you have a game at home, considering our form – we really want to have a game at home and push for the second stage of the playoffs.”
On what it’s like playing with Ike Opara …
“He’s great. He has been good for us. He had the moment where had a couple of injuries and we missed him but he came back strong. As I always have said the whole unit has been fantastic. Michael Boxall has been solid as a rock, Romain Metanire is now back with the team [and] Chase [Gasper] has been a revelation. He’s a young boy who is playing every game at a high standard. That’s what he needs to do. He needs to keep working. As I always say the shape is about eleven players. It’s not about four or five people at the back. It’s everybody. The midfield has been excellent and from the top we defend well. We shut people down and we’ve done an excellent job and we need to carry on.”
On Darwin Quintero not scoring the penalty and scoring after the miss …
“I’m glad, for a striker like him, it’s good to get a goal straight after the mistake. He’s been excellent from the spot so far and no keeper could stop him. I told him, if he tries a Panenka and to try and chip the keeper to do it down the middle because we tend to choose a side. It’s difficult as a keeper standing still in the middle. But it happens, two minutes later he scores a great goal and it’s great for him forget the miss straight away. I’m sure next time on a penalty he can deliver again.”
On defending with the lead in front of the home crowd …
“It’s great, I love to play in this stadium. Either side is fantastic. I feel like they [the crowd] are an extra man. It’s an extra man in front of goal that doesn’t want us to concede. It’s fantastic. They want that clean sheet and they shout as much when we score. That’s a brilliant connection that we have and we need to carry on like this. It’s been a key factor at home that they are with us all the way, from top to bottom.”
