Toronto FC 2, Philadelphia 1
Q. You said you wanted to test your team against a tough opposition. They certainly passed the test tonight. What did you think of the performance?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, I'm proud of the group. We talked about a couple of things. One, that you really need to compete as a team against Philadelphia. They are a team whose style is fight for loose balls, they run very hard, and I said we have to be up to all of those kind of battles, and I think we really raise the level in terms of just the way we went after the game, and then, too, I said we need more guys stepping up and really giving us more. I think that that was definitely the case tonight.
Q. How pleased were you with the back line?
BOB BRADLEY: Yes, I think that Chris and Shane both played very well. I think we did a good job winning some balls in front of them but I thought those two guys were very solid, dealt with different kind of duels and the runs that they try to make behind, and then late in the game when they were making subs, I think Lucas came in and changed the way we played and I thought that helped us nail things down.
Q. Just wondering if you had a chance to watch Felipe in the tackle?
BOB BRADLEY: I have not seen the replay.
Q. Jayden was substituted off at halftime. What was the reason behind that?
BOB BRADLEY: I think he gave us a strong 45 minutes. I also think, you know, I just spoke to him and I actually said that we were trying to figure out this week between Jayden and Deandre who was a better choice to start.
And so in a way, Jayden got the decision in his favor to start but then we still felt that Deandre could give us a strong 45 minutes. There was a little factor with the yellow card and just the kind of game it was and then the feeling that both of us have been doing a good job in training, I thought that Deandre could give us a slightly different dimension, they are different players. But I thought both guys did very well.
Q. Osorio had to come off and looked like he was favoring his leg. I know you don't have a definitive diagnosis at this point in time but do you have an indication as to what the injury might be will?
BOB BRADLEY: No. They are checking him out.
Q. You said after the NYC FC game there was more to come from Jiménez. With five goal contributions in his first seven games, how impressed have you been with him adapting to life in MLS so far?
BOB BRADLEY: Jesus is a very good player. He's smart. He's skillful. He's got a really good presence in the group. We keep saying is that that's more there, too. I think we can even push him physically and see even more power and more explosiveness to go with the football part.
But look, he's smart. He knows how to position himself in certain kinds of finishes. He knows exactly how he wants to beat the keeper. So you see all those things every day and it's going to continue to get better.
Q. Pozuelo took his goal really well today. I thought there were a couple of passes that were a little bit shorter; what did you see from him?
BOB BRADLEY: I think he put a lot into it. And so I think as a team we did a very good job of now playing -- in the moments where the game is on Philadelphia's terms, I think we did a very good job of dealing with 50/50 balls, getting to loose balls, winning -- winning those kind of battles. And then obviously when we had moments to start to play our football, we had this sequence that led to the first goal which was very good.
But I think on the night there were certain passes, the weight of the pass, some of the first touches; so some of those things still for me -- I believe in our football, and I was very happy with the way we pushed and competed. But I still think our football in moments was not as sharp as I expect.
So you know, Ale might have had a few of those passes that fit into that category. But I also want to give Ale credit for the effort he gave us and the commitment to the game and a really well-taken goal.
Q. This is the third time in the last four games your side has conceded first but managed to come away with a result. What does that say about your ability to find that resolve?
BOB BRADLEY: I think we are growing as a team. I think there's a belief in terms of the mix of our football tonight. I've said this several times, the challenge for the group was that in order to play teams like Philadelphia, you have to also understand that there's going to be balls where they play long, where they fight for headers, where there's battles for second balls, where they run hard to get numbers forward.
So we haven't given anything away in the moment when the football is sort of their style and then we have moments where we can put the ball in our terms.
So that to me is the important step tonight and you know, again, I think there's a belief that if we go on the field, push for 90 minutes, play the way that we can, that even if we gown a goal, it's not going to stop us from finding ways to still win.
Q. Your 200th MLS win, do you take a moment to reflect on your career?
BOB BRADLEY: Not at all, actually. People a long time ago could tell you when they tried to do some kind of ceremony after the 100th win, and I was totally like, no chance.
It's all about the team, and you've got to stay in the moment. You know, the thing that is so important is that you don't become a good team by accident. You become a good team just with consistent training, consistent work, every day, and then you can grow into becoming a good team.
So the most important thing tonight is that I saw some of those things going in a good direction.
Q. Following up on that, every game is a learning experience but for some of the younger players, was a game like tonight valuable? Is this the kind of game that will be valuable down the road?
BOB BRADLEY: Well, it's valuable because, again, and you have to battle for every play, and if a play doesn't go right, you have to just continue and go with the next play.
You know, the ability to do that and still find ways to play the football that we want, there's still a lot of room for improvement in terms of just the quality of the football sometimes. Our ability to be a little bit more fluid; our ability to make the right pass, the right decisions.
But playing in these kind of games tests you and so I think that every time, you know, we come through these games and we get a little better feel for what they are all about, that helps.
Q. I know they didn't feature tonight but the inclusions of Adam Pearlman and Themi Antonoglou into the match-day squad, can you speak on the decision to call them up?
BOB BRADLEY: Yes. You know, as we have gone through the season on different days, it's been important that we get some of the different guys from the second team into first team training. It's always been something that we wanted to do, and it's important especially when you have some players out that you have some numbers in training that make sense.
Hugo is in training fairly often. He was part of preseason. Franklin has been in first team training a lot but both Themi and Adam now have been involved more lately and just based upon where we were positionally tonight, we felt that those were the two guys that made sense just in the event of emergency.
Q. You've always talked about this being a work-in-progress. Given the last couple games as maybe a measuring stick, are you where you thought you would be at this point in the project or maybe ahead of schedule? Where do you think things sit right now?
BOB BRADLEY: There's still so much work. The idea of exactly what we're going to be -- when I say that, what I really mean is just how much can we be a team that controls games. How can we be a little bit better with the ball.
I still think that we have to find ways to create more chances. I think our ability to compete and -- and deal with different moments in the game is going in a good direction.
I think that there's more and more guys that are putting more into the game and understanding that when you have a full commitment from everybody, that raises your chances for good results, and then there's just football details that continue to be worked on all the time.
So I'm not sure, I still see a lot of things that need to get better but I'm also pleased with the response of so many guys.
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