D.C. United 3, Toronto FC 2
Q. A disappointing ending to a game in which your team seemed to have made a comeback. What were your thoughts on the evening and secondarily, I know it's early, but is there any word on Insigne?
BOB BRADLEY: I don't have word on Lorenzo. Felt something in the lower leg. Couldn't continue. So that's all I know at the moment.
Yeah, disappointing. Positive response in the second half. Pushed the game in a good way. Took the lead in the 83rd minute, and I thought between 83 and 90 we weren't managing things very well. A play down our right side, we didn't handle well, and then that led to that little sequence to cross to Benteke, who just backed up and got a way from our defenders.
You know, at 2-2, we had one role good chance and then they had a chance. You know, the play at the end, we do a good job of actually playing out as they step up, and Raoul tries to slip a ball down the line to Ayo, and then it comes up a bit short. We just didn't do well enough in the transition and the ball got cut across. There's a lot to take but there are certainly positives in the way we went about things, and we'll try to build on it.
Q. Wanted to get your evaluation of Ayo's performance coming in as he did for Lorenzo, which couldn't have been easy for him.
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, it's not easy to come in in that situation. He made some good runs. Got himself in some good positions. His first touch at times let him down a little bit when he had advantages. But he also caused some trouble, and put himself in position to make some more good plays.
Q. The first half and the second half looked very different. First half you guys looked a little bit have you lived unusual through the middle and second half things looked a lot more controlled. How do you account for that disparity?
BOB BRADLEY: In the first half, we didn't do a good enough job of second balls. They played long. Obviously Benteke is a big target. Balls that came loose in the middle of the field at time we didn't do well enough with, so there were some moments in transition. It didn't amount to much, to be honest with you. Even the goal was a shot from distance, and we, toward the end of the half, started to become more dangerous, and then I thought we were able to continue that in the second half.
Q. When you're up a goal like that when you have the lead, what's the key to closing out games? Is it tactically? Is it mentally? What does it take to hold that lead and get those three points?
BOB BRADLEY: Yeah, it's all those things. It's being good with the ball and smart with the ball. Like I said, for six or seven minutes, I thought we still managed to keep the ball when they went long, we were handling those situations quite well and then yeah, the play down the right side, they got away from Richie a little bit.
Richie's touch wasn't great. Obviously that's something Richie is so good at, handling a long ball with a guy coming on him. When that happens, it's just can we deal with the rest of the situation, and we had -- when you -- when you look at the ball that got played across, we had good numbers in the box. It wasn't a situation where we got caught in transition that had no numbers. And the ball got clipped. And as I said earlier, what Benteke did, seemed to back up, and obviously he gets -- he's great at getting off the ground. And so from that position, our defenders didn't do a good enough job of staying tight, so we didn't make some key plays and that's what cost us.
Q. You may have just alluded to my question, giving up three goals, never fun but your thoughts on your new center back tandem and the performance from Matt and Sigurd tonight?
BOB BRADLEY: I think you see signs of really good things when you look at the game as a whole. What's most frustrating is to give up three goals on a night where it's not like we are giving up too much in the way of big chances.
But in key moments down the stretch, we weren't quite able to make a play. I know Sigurd well. He'll look hard at the play that led to 2-2 and he got caught a little bit flat against a striker like is that correct you can't do that.
So there are little things that of course in the whole team when you give up three goals, we're not satisfied with. But I thought overall defensively there were a lot of positives and if we can continue to grow in those ways and not give away too many chances and control games, then I'd like to believe that that will also make a big difference in the overall defensive record by the end of the year.
Q. Do you think fitness played a part in the way that game played out? Wondering why there was only two subs made tonight.
BOB BRADLEY: There are some guys that were tired at the end. So at the beginning of the year, yes, fitness is a factor. I thought that the group had come from behind, had taken the lead and they were managing game very well, on the verge of finishing the game or maybe even getting a third goal. So in that moment we made the decision to leave those guys on the field.
Q. A lot of new faces out there for you today. I don't want you to go through everybody, per se, but I thought Raoul really stood out as a guy who stepped on the field and looked good from the start. What did you make of him this evening?
BOB BRADLEY: I would agree. I think Raoul has adjusted very quickly to the way we want to play, to the League, his your understanding of the game. He's a very smart player. All those things I think are already there. Hopefully that's a good sign and we can keep building on that.
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