Toronto FC 2, Atlanta United 1
Q. One more win in the books, tell me, are you telling anything to the boys? The game was very special.
BOB BRADLEY: It's not about telling them. It's just about the work being repeated over and over. You can see there's a growing level of confidence. I thought we had stretches in the first half where the ball moved quicker from one play to the next. We found some success when Jesús is coming off their defenders, Ale being inside, so between Michael and Oso and Jesus and Ale, we had ability to connect passes quickly in there, and I thought that part was quite good.
And then I like the fact that in the second half when we just needed to find a way to come back after giving up the goal and then get a goal, it was a smart play. We weren't having success on corners going direct so Ale's decision was a smart one and Ralph scores a great goal, really happy for him. And in the end, it's just defending. Yeah, good one.
Q. Can you talk about the decision, taking Osorio out? What were you looking for?
BOB BRADLEY: Oso can only play a certain number of minutes. Coming back from injury and we had an idea that he was -- spoke to him at halftime. He was already tired. He felt he could give us ten or 15 more, so purely on that basis, Ralph knew going into the game he was going to be called on and when Oso needed to come out, he would come in.
Q. It's been a little bit of a tough stretch for him this season, especially coming up with short notice last game, and this game scoring the big goal. What do performances like this do for his confidence?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, it's important for confidence but I think what's also important are some details of staying tuned into the game, how he moves better to stay connected in the game and sees things faster, those things I believe -- we see improvement, and that's his ability to continue to grow as a prayer. Those are the little details in the midfield.
When he's around the play, yeah, he gets in hard. Comes away with goals. Sometimes the game moves and Ralph doesn't move and stay connected with the game and we work through that.
When he has a little bit of time on the ball, he's a good passer but when things are a little tighter, trying to make sure that's improving. But his attitude about seeing these things and working hard there and now you see that if now he gets set up a certain way on his left foot, the strike for the goal is really good.
Q. I hear telling Michael the boys in the warmup, "Guys, we have to keep the momentum going," and I was able to see the players listening to him. Do you remind him to concentrate and play consistent in the first half?
BOB BRADLEY: We remind the team. I think Michael has always been somebody who understands some of the things that are needed and is trying to find the right way with his teammates every day.
Q. Even we see the difference, I see Saucedo telling the guys, guys, don't go so far and Westberg telling the guys, please pay attention. Do you think with Westberg being on the net, the team changed?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, look, I think they are different kind of goalkeepers. I think that Q's experience, his way of reading situations is good. I also think the team is improving; so have to be fair to Alex in that regard and also recognize that now certain things are getting better.
And again, it's not just telling guys not to go, right. It's easy to defend by telling every time to come back and stay tight but it's also the balance, you have to step up.
One of the things I liked about the first half is that I thought we were smart in picking moments to press; that we didn't extend ourselves crazy but when we saw chance, we collectively went after them in a smart way. There were times, again, where in order to do that, Kosi has got to release and move up and Carlos has to slide over, and you know, do you different things in those moments.
So I think that the understanding of how to pick spots to press and in other moments if it doesn't work, how to reorganize, those are some of the things that seem to improve.
Q. That's two straight results -- you've challenged the guys to have win after win, what does it do for the side having two back-to-back good games?
BOB BRADLEY: I think they feel good about improvement. I think we saw it in training. We were disappointed with the result against Red Bull but I think there was a feeling that we started poorly but we had stretches of playing good football that day, didn't take advantages of chances. We were able to carry that into the cup match against Montréal, created a bunch of chances.
So I think some of details, the understanding, the ability to connect faster. If everybody is spread out all over the field, then sometimes the ball moves but it moves too slow. So finding the right ways to get people closer and then still extend the field, have deep runs, those are things that -- I think those are ideas a good attacking team with implement. We've tried all year. I can go back through a bunch of games and show you -- did really well. I remember the home game against NYC FC, the goal we scored, the first goal, was really well put together, the way the ball moved up the field. I think it went, again, through the midfield.
I love to see the when the midfield connects. And again sometimes I talk about a midfield three but the way we played in the first half, there's actually four guys in there a lot. Ayo is not coming off that much, but you've got Michael, gentlemen suss coming underneath, you have Ale coming inside, and now when you have ability to play faster through there, that makes it hard on other team and of course that also opens up opportunities to get people on the move wide, and then when you go from inside, outside, when they move, you can comeback inside.
So those are attacking ideas thing are getting betterment I see guys getting sharp.
Q. It's been a long road back for Chris. What did you think?
BOB BRADLEY: Played well. He had a very good attitude about his rehab. I thought when he came on against Montréal, his concentration, his understanding of the situation was very good, and he was excited to start tonight. So Chris playing at a high level with a really good mentality could be really important -- could be really important for us.
Q. Seems like your team is rounding into form at a really good time. Would you agree?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, I mean, look, I still see other things that need a lot of work. So I think we're improving. I've said that throughout the press conference tonight, but still see so many little things that I want to see improved. The pluses are great. The players know that. They feel good about that. That's the confidence that I think shows on the field and then there's all these different levels. We are not Barcelona yet, that's for sure.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports