SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On playing on after a rain delay:
I thought the attitude was excellent from the guys. They came out and you saw the desire to get the goal. We’re sitting in there, you don’t know whether it’s going to kick off again, guys are trying to relax, guys are trying to get some food in them. It’s a hot day to begin with. I’m proud of the focus they had in those last 14 minutes. I’m disappointed a little that we didn’t get the goal, but it was a good mentality, the mentality not to give up and keep going and try to win the game.
On if Columbus Crew SC created enough chances to win:
It was an odd game. They stayed very narrow in their defending and we just didn’t get it wide quick enough. We needed to get the ball wide quick, switch field, get the ball in the box and that’s where we scored our goal. I didn’t think that was effective enough. The first half in particular I thought was good, we were controlling the game. The second half we lacked that killer instinct I think, and let them back in the game, not only that, let them take the lead.
On Harrison Afful’s debut performance:
It’s tough for guys. We’re in full swing and he’s been off for a while and I think he hung in there. It’s not an easy job but he battled. Yeah, he made a couple of mistakes but he also had a lot of positive things. He showed some ability. Overall, I’m happy with him.
On Cedrick Mabwati coming off of the bench and scoring the equalizer:
It was big. We have been seeing glimpses of that in training these last couple weeks. We know that he’s pushing. He got the goal on a fantastic effort but more importantly, I think, when you look at that overtime stretch he was aggressive, going at guys. That’s the ability that he has. It was good to see that.
On Wil Trapp’s performance against Andrea Pirlo, Kwadwo Poku and the NYCFC midfield:
I’m not really going to single out performances. I think those guys are top quality players. If you look at [David] Villa with his movement, if you look at [Andrea] Pirlo with his passing, very difficult to read, very accurate in his passing, very difficult to take the ball from when he has it. That’s a high level player. [David] Villa with his movement, that’s high level. [Kwadwo] Poku with the way this kid’s playing, he’s one of the stronger guys in the League right now. I think we did okay dealing with it, I think it could’ve been better – getting in passing lanes, making it more difficult for [Kwadwo] Poku to pick the ball up in those channels.
On what can be taken from the result:
We’re not pleased. Give NYC a lot of credit, I think they played a good match and I think they’re a good team. Our aspirations, and I’ve said this before, are to win home games. So we’re disappointed.
On conceding the two goals:
Obviously, you’re not pleased to concede goals like that and I think there were a number of errors that led to their first goal in positioning and execution. I’m not pleased with that. I also know that [David] Villa was held to not so many chances. I think they did a good job on him. He’s tough, the guy’s won a World Cup, what are we talking about here, he’s a quality player. On that play he gives a great ball and [Kwadwo] Poku held it up well and runs. They made a good play, so give them credit, but obviously we’re not happy with it. The second goal, we go over this stuff. There’s a spot in the top of the box that we’re supposed to be defending and it was guys not expecting the worst. When you’re in that position you expect the worst to happen and that’s the ball falling right to that spot and we should’ve been in position.
On conceding goals on set pieces:
I would say we’re working on it. We’re not happy with A) that we’re not scoring enough on set pieces and B) that we’re conceding. If you’re not scoring, you definitely can’t concede and we’ve done that lately. It’s work, it’s attention to detail and it’s desire. You have to want to win that ball and have the heart and desire to clear the ball out of the air.
If anything specific is going to be worked on for Saturday’s match:
We can get better and we can improve. Like I said, I think that the execution was not there the second half and it should’ve been. We will keep working on that, I think the attitude in the squad is good and I think the guys keep working and they give me everything I want, so we will keep working.
On Kei Kamara’s goal:
That’s what I’m saying; we need to get the ball wide. We need to give him more service because he can have more goals and he can keep scoring. It has got to be a team effort to get the ball in wide positions and get the ball in the box because once it’s in the box, he does the rest. He is dangerous and he is having a phenomenal year. We are proud of what he’s been doing.
On what he learned about New York City that he did not see on film:
Well 10 days from now is going to be a different game, because the pitch is going to affect that game. What I felt, and I stand by this, we should have made them work harder. We should have been moving that ball and when we did, it was great but it should have been more often. It should have been side to side, much quicker and make them work. They are a good team if they can stay in their organization but if we could spread them out, they are going to have a difficult time. Looking at that team, it’s a good team, they have quality, and anytime you play quality you have to be careful.
MIDFIELDER ETHAN FINLAY
On his overall impressions of tonight’s match:
Yeah, I think we kind of let the foot off the gas pedal at one point in the game and they made us pay for it. It’s a tough game, credit to them. They took advantage of a couple of the turnovers that we had and made us pay for them tonight. But overall I think we’re happy with the performance, especially coming out in the last 15, 20 minutes right after the break. I thought we showed a little bit of heart and a little bit of resilience there. I think maybe a little bit of tiredness kind of got to us and we weren’t quite as clean as we should’ve been and weren’t able to get one on goal.
On the lack of a killer instinct for Columbus Crew SC:
I guess in a way, not saying I disagree, but I think it has to be all the time, the killer instinct, and I think that’s our problem at times, where we get too comfortable. We go up 1-0, and it’s happened too many times this year where we’ve been up in a game and all of the sudden you look on the scoreboard and you’re down 2-1 and you don’t even know how you’re there. So we have to be able to put teams away, especially at home. We got out of moving the ball side-to-side and whenever that happens to us our flow kind of gets thrown off.
On becoming more comfortable on the field:
We’ve got to realize there’s nine games left now and every point, every game matters. So that’s the mentality we have to have, and that should be on everyone’s mind. The table’s tight, you can lose two games and the next thing you know you’re chasing the playoff race, and you can win two games and you can be right up there on the Supporters’ Shield. So that’s the mentality we’ve been looking at it and I think we’re disappointed in maybe dropping some points here tonight, but we’re going to have a quick turn around and that’s the exciting part.
MIDFIELDER WIL TRAPP
On tonight’s match:
Obviously, we were hoping for more going up 1-0, playing well in the first half. We were all over them but we just let them back in the game. It was good to see us battle back and I think after the rain delay our mentality was excellent. Pushing to try and win the game but we need to have that the entire second half instead of just the last 15 minutes.
On how the team stays in the game after a rain delay:
We were fine, everyone was just kind of sitting here and keeping loose. We figured we were going to go back and play so everyone just thought that way. No one was thinking we weren’t going to go out and play. So just staying loose, stretching and just keeping our minds focused and organized about what we were going to do when we got back out there.
On if he felt Crew SC should have worked New York City FC harder:
Yes, if you look at the first half, they were struggling, they really were. Tracking us, just keeping their shape, they were all over the place. We were dominating and I think after we scored the goal, maybe we relaxed a little too much. Then into the second half it just wasn’t the right mentality overall. I think we still did some good stuff, but we can just have more of a killer mentality.
