New England 0, Toronto FC 0
Q. Your team had some chances, including from the penalty spot that were stopped by a good save. Do you think your team deserved a bit better tonight?
BOB BRADLEY: I think the team is going in a good direction. It's never an easy game. I thought the mentality was good and I thought we raised our level in the second half. And that's important. You hope that when you do those things and you create some chances, especially a penalty, that, yeah, it can take three points. So we have to keep going on that ends. But there were positives.
Q. Is a first start in the League in four and a half months for Jahkeele, wanted to get your evaluation on his performance, especially as he played the entire game?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, it's been a challenge. We talked a few times about how when you come back after you're out so long, you don't start where you left off and the team isn't in the same spot as when you went out. He's gone step-by-step, and we felt lately that you could see more confidence and getting sharper and so I thought couldn't was quite good.
I really like the fact that as the game went on, I thought he got stronger. So that's an important thing to see; that he got through the first part some nerves, some touches, that kind of thing, kept going and was really pushing himself right to the end.
Q. What do you make of the defensive effort from the team tonight, and how important is it to establish that platform and keep the table set for the guys at the other end to make a difference?
BOB BRADLEY: Again, every time you guys ask this stuff I try to make sure from my standpoint, how it all goes together. It's not that the guys in the back just defend and they do their job the guys up front hopefully have a chance to score. A lot of defending has to start with your attacking and a lot of your attacking has to start with your defenders.
We just spoke about Jahkeele. I thought it was good to get Chris back on the field and that he and Lukas worked well together. New England's is a team that plays a lot of crosses, and so they handled the crosses well.
Mimmo continues to get fitter. He's smart. His positioning is very good. And so you know I think object that end, good game. I would also maybe mention that I think in some of these recent games, Lukas has been more and more confident, has done well. So those are positives that are important so we can be a stronger, more balanced team.
When Chris came off tonight, Doneil was solid and helped us finish the game out defensively.
Q. What did you think of Insigne's performance tonight, he had a lot of shots on goal.
BOB BRADLEY: I think he stayed in the game in a good way. He was disappointed afterwards with himself. You know, as the game went on, you get a little bit more used to some of the bounces. He had some moments early where he was just frustrated with touches and things like that but he stuck with it. He got some chances. He's always, in terms of finding space, sewing certain passes, being creative. I think he does a lot of good things.
It's just so important to keep reminding everyone; that for both Lorenzo and for Federico, this is still like preseason. I mean, there's been so few training sessions that we've even had regular full training sessions. The day before a game or a recovery day, those aren't real training sessions.
When guys arrive, and now the season is going, we've passed the midpoint, and these guys are trying to jump in, understand the league, get a feel for things, travel, different kind of surfaces, it's not easy.
You know, I really appreciate the way these guys go about it. I think they see what we are trying to do. And they feel good about it, and those are things that we want to build on.
Q. Bob, if I'm counting correctly, 11 games are remaining in the season, so the window is sort of slowly closing here. Do you have a sense that this was -- that the urgency -- sorry. Do you have a sense of that; that results, there's little room for error are going forward and that this was really, considering New England is one of the teams you have to leapfrog, this is a game that you had to really take more from?
BOB BRADLEY: Look, we've talked, I think it was before Charlotte, when we just said there's 13 games left, and we talked about how, you know, what could we take, could we take 30 points, could we take more. You know, not really knowing exactly what it takes.
This week, man, this week is not easy when you look at everything, just to keep everybody going. But we also want won a really good game at home. We felt really -- we were very positive about the football in the first half, the goals, the crowd, everything.
We traveled to Vancouver and in a tough situation, we have a 1-1, we lose in penalties, so that's all that matters on the night in a championship and now we come here to New England and turn it around again, and get a solid effort. So those are positive.
Would we prefer three points? Absolutely. Do I think we could have taken three points? Yes. But what I've seen in these three games still gives me a positive feeling about the direction that the group is going, and with the 11 games that you mentioned, yeah, how many points can we take.
You know, I said, could we take 30 when there were 13 games left. Can we take 30 out of the 11; we'll see. Every game, as you get near the game, every game is hard. There are no easy games, and obviously when you throw in travel and just different conditions, the challenge of this time of the year in MLS is great.
We have got some games coming up starting with Nashville where the weather is going to be hot and humid. You want to have moments where we can still step up and press more but finding a balance in all this.
There's a lot to work on but I still see that the group is going in a really positive way, resilient, strong and getting better.
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