Atlanta 4, Toronto FC 2
Q. Disappointing evening, set pieces cost your team, what do you think of the performance and the set piece defending?
BOB BRADLEY: I thought the first half we just didn't find ways to close down and get around the ball. We were on the defensive. We got through -- you know, makes the save on the penalty, the penalty comes after the bad turnover. At halftime we had an idea how we can rearrange things tactically and before we see how that can help us, Mark gives a bad ball away into a corner.
When we talk about the set pieces tonight, yeah, the first one, you know, Purata has been I think their No. 1 threat and now he slips a little behind us. You know, I'm not sure if Cudo (ph) is great on that one.
The next one is the flick that gets to the back post. Jack losses control at the back post and loses control on the ball that comes back. Against, Purata is coming in. We have got three guys that are still in position to deal with the next ball that comes back. We do a poor job.
The last one, Shane got picked a little bit, and again, the flick, and in this case how Doneil was just track -- three goals by the guy that we had not really talked about as being their main threat. That's really disappointing. There have been some times in second phases of set pieces and whatnot that we haven't done great this year.
But most games when we know who is their main threat our ideas on how we can deal with that have been okay. So really, three balls in the second half that come that way.
Then the other goal, it's a bad decision by Fede on the ball from Doneil to try to dummy it and then it turns over quickly and Maurez (ph) is off and Michael tracks back hard, Doneil slips, Shane isn't able to step up and beats us with a good shot.
I thought we created some moments in the second half, and you know, every time we get back into it, we hurt ourselves with a giveaway that leads to a corner that we don't defend. Disappointing in all those ways.
Q. You fight back twice in the second half after going down, so I mean, is that maybe something at least you can sort of hang your head on or does that not matter just based on the result?
BOB BRADLEY: A little of both. Yes, when we went behind, we pushed back both at 1-0 and at 2-1 to push back into the game but that also makes it even more disappointing in a moment where you can't then take advantage of that momentum and push the game and take the lead, and then quickly with a mistake and a set piece get behind again.
Q. Can you walk us through what you hoped to see from that halftime change? I thought it was a marked difference between the two halves tonight.
BOB BRADLEY: That I thought that we weren't doing a good enough job in the way they wanted to build in the first half with the way their center backs spread out, and Sosa, finding ways to get at their center backs. We hoped that our wide attackers could be a little narrower and that Ayo could help us underneath a little bit with Sosa, and that would still leave a midfield three to be fluid in the way that they dealt with thing. But I didn't think we found good enough ways in the first half.
We did occasionally have moments where we stepped up and got close enough to the ball and turned them over. There was one right away in the game. But with some of those advantages, our touches and ideas weren't good.
When we changed at halftime, we turned our midfield into more of a diamond or 4-3-1-2 with Fede underneath and Ayo and Jesús. It also makes the job a little bit more difficult just straight up for their center backs which we thought we could take advantage of. That's something to do with both goals. I thought then the midfield three was able to find better solutions sliding out left and right with Mark and Jayden.
Q. Your assessment on Mark Anthony's first full 90 since he returned from injury?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, Mark is not sharp at the moment and probably 90 was a big stretch tonight.
But with some of the things that took place, Mimmo needed to come off, his hamstring tightened up the first half. We had some other guys struggling a little bit, feeling a little bit under weather. It was not always the plan that Mark would play 90. It's a credit to him that on night where others went off, he hangs to the end.
And yeah, not as sharp because he's been out for a long time and little by little we need to get him pushed along again to be at his best.
But really, give him credit for -- on a night where it's not his best one, still pushing through and trying to keep us going.
Q. You made the change in goal and Quentin faced a lot of shots, saved the penalty. What did you think of his performance and did you get what you wanted in goal?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, he made some great saves. I don't think he did great on the first corner, the goal on the first corner. But you've got to give credit for the saves that he made in important moments. So on that end, he came through in a good way on a bunch of plays.
Q. I was just wondering, it looked like Mimmo took a really nasty knock there at the end of the first half. I assume that's why he came out. Is there any sort of update on his condition?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, that I have to check on more but also in the first half he was feeling his hamstring was tight; so a combination of the two. The knock I don't have a read on it at the moment.
Q. Ayo is a guy we've talked about needed to show you more over this course of the season. What did you see from him tonight and what did you make of the goal?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, I thought in the first half, Ayo was not able to find good enough ways to move and find the right spaces. But the second half he worked very hard. Happy to see him get a goal. There's still a lot of work to do to sharpen him up and get his ideas both in terms of movement with the ball, in terms of some of his defending ideas, when to step up; how sometimes you close a center back down but do it in a way they can't play directly to the six on the other team. There's just little things that we've got to keep working through with him. But I thought the second half, it was very good to see how much he put into it in the second half and to get a goal.
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