COLUMBUS CREW SC SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On if there is a disappointment towards how they handled Montreal’s offensive transition
Yes. There are no excuses tonight. I’ll take full responsibility for the performance. I think we lacked organization, we lacked ideas, we lacked the ability to move the ball quickly and that’s on me. I’ll take full responsibility for that.
On if any of that was fatigue (follow up question)
Again, I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. We should be better than that. There’s no way I’m going to say fatigue or anything because what it is, to me, is a lack of organization and lack of execution.
On what he wishes he would had done differently
We got scored on off of our own set piece at the top of the box. I think that says enough. The organization needs to be there. You can’t expect against a counter-attacking team to play like that and win the game. You can’t expect it.
On if teams are figuring out how to break the Crew SC’s defense
I’m not sure. What I would say is if we move the ball quickly we’re very hard to play against. When we don’t, and when everyone on the field wants to make the final pass, it becomes very obvious. The defense doesn’t have to move enough, it doesn’t have to open up enough and then it’s easy to play against. But when we are doing it well, we are still very difficult to play against.
On if his players improved individually
Part of that was okay. There is no disrespect at all to Montreal, but we should win this game and I’ll take responsibility for that. We should have a team on the field that’s able to win this game tonight.
On the difference between the first half and the second half
That’s a good question. The idea was to continue on the way we were playing, the idea was to continue to move the ball quickly, and we had just the opposite of that. It was three touches on the ball, four touches on the ball, trying to make a long pass. Even when we played two-touch it took way too long. This team, Montreal, they’ve done a good job staying compact and counter-attacking. We all saw the Champions League run that they had and to combat that you need to play much quicker. You need to be much better organized. We weren’t tonight and that’s on me.
On the play of Ethan Finlay
I’m not going to single guys out. That’s not my style. Overall it was a poor team performance.
On if there was a change in mindset or approach to the game after Montreal’s first goal
No, I didn’t necessarily see that, but the whole second half was not us. It was not how we play the game. It was a lack of respect for our game. Like I said, guys maybe thought that they were taking it into their own hands, but our game is a team game. It’s about the collective; it’s not about individuals and if guys start playing like individuals we’re not going to win too many games.
On if it was good to see the Crew SC keep fighting and get a late goal
It’s not good to go two down at home. It’s as simple as that. The last fight, it was nice, but the way that we went 2-0 down is irresponsible.
On the challenge or the message sent to his guys for this upcoming week
It wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t good enough and it needs to get better.
On if there is any personnel that may not be meshing as well as he had thought
We’re obviously going to analyze the game and take a look at it. The first half was, in my mind, acceptable. It had the lines that we wanted. The ball movement was good; we were putting a lot of pressure on Montreal. We knew they were still going to counter and they did. I felt that we dealt with the counter pretty well but the second half wasn’t there at all and it needs to improve.
COLUMBUS CREW SC CAPTAIN AND DEFENDER MICHAEL PARKHURST
On the match
[We’re just] disappointed. [We’re] not happy, obviously. None of us are. We weren’t good enough tonight and it’s disappointing coming off of some results where we should have done better playing in front of our home crowd against a team that also played three games in seven days, it’s really disappointing.
On addressing tonight’s loss as team captain
I don’t know yet. We went through a tough patch last year where we didn’t win for many games in a row and we want to get out of this before it escalates. There’s a lot of season left and we need to stay positive and get back to working hard. We all need to step our games up, collectively and individually. The effort has to be better, the tactics, the technical aspect – everything has to be better from all of us.
On if Montreal’s tactics surprised Columbus Crew SC
No, we know that they’re a good counterattacking team. We saw it in the Champions League, we’ve seen it in MLS, so we expected that. But we weren’t good enough on the ball. We gave them some good opportunities to counter, and they countered off a set piece, of course. So we talked about it and it’s on us.
COLUMBUS CREW SC GOALKEEPER STEVE CLARK
On the match
I would say we were all starting with ourselves, first and foremost. It’s a very disappointing loss for the team in front of our home fans.
On his feelings of the second half performance
I just feel like it’s one game at a time. I feel like it’s going to be a real character test of our group. We are going to start with ourselves and we know that we’re capable; we just have to get back to work.
On the lack of building a better performance after the Orlando City SC match
When you talk about the process of the journey right now, we are at a low point with the team. We’re going to come back. That doesn’t mean it can’t turn. I still believe that we’re closer together now then we were before that Orlando [City SC] game.
On what needs to happen this week
Just like I said, start with ourselves and we’re going to get back to work.
