St. Louis 3, Charlotte 1
BRADLEY CARNELL: Good evening. I think today was always going to be -- the result would be secondary, right.
So we are fighting with the emotions of 70 years of history and bringing the MLS to St. Louis. We are honoring the life of Anton and paying respect to him at the same time and we knew coming up against a Charlotte team that was very gritty, very, very aggressive, very athletic, have some difference-makers on their team, we knew this was going to be a very, very difficult challenge.
And as the story so runs and unfolds, we go a goal down, we went right back in the game and we force a goal, and then we start getting a grip and I thought had we had a fantastic second half performance.
So very proud of the boys and just love to now be part of the celebrations in St. Louis.
Q. Seemed like the team did a good job of controlling its emotions on a game like this and coming out and playing the game.
BRADLEY CARNELL: I think understandably so; you could feel a couple of edgy touches, a couple of nervy moments early on which is totally understandable. It's totally normal. I mean, I knew what I was feeling, and the players have to go out and perform, right, like robots.
We knew it could be a chippy start, and it was. We get a handle of the game plan and then we go down and we have to deal with that and the emotions of that, right, playing at home, first time.
So there's a lot of emotions going on. But at the halftime, we managed to change a few things and I think second half was a fantastic performance.
Q. When you look at that performance -- the high press, is that the start you were looking for to keep your opponent --
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I thought the game pressing wasn't very on today. I thought the pressing was good but when we lost the ball, I thought our game press was not very competitive. Moments to fix there for sure. I would like a little bit more on the first turnover to be a little bit more aggressive against the ball.
But credit to the boys, their recovery runs and willingness to get in the game and get control and get the shape -- and then we pressed again and had many great moments.
I thought the pressing was fantastic, and I thought the game pressing, just okay.
Q. When you say pressing versus game pressing, it's pretty close --
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I think you can see that on full display tonight in certain moments. So It was just wave after wave after wave, relentless. I would like us to, you now, can we be a little bit more clinical and a little bit more penetrating in the final third. There's a lot of things to look at.
But first and foremost as I said in the opening statement, tonight was not about the result. Tonight was about the celebration and the city and what it means to the people to bring soccer to this town.
Q. It's a very attacking style, is this something you want to keep going?
BRADLEY CARNELL: We want to embrace the mindset of St. Louis. We want to embrace the culture of the community, right; and Lutz is here for a reason, and I think I'm here for a reason. And the players have bought into it. The players know exactly when we do do it, we can really compete on the day and when we don't, we could just be very ordinary on the day. We have to really stay true to who we are and what we believe in and what we stand for.
Q. Both the goals came as a result of exposing spaces between your defense and the goals from Charlotte came from Copetti, him finding a space between Parker and Nerwinski. Are you concerned the goals came in a similar way and how do you plan on fixing that?
BRADLEY CARNELL: I don't think they came in a similar way. I think -- the Copetti one was more central. We knew they got off 37 crosses last out in week one, which is the most in the MLS on the opening weekend. So we knew it was one of our to-do lists, block crosses and close down space.
Unfortunately, we don't get out to block the cross and Copetti, they have 3 DPs in their team, so Copetti, he's a really good player. He's a very feisty character, and he's very good in the air despite his size.
I mean, he makes himself felt in the challenges and you can see why they had him up front there. So he works hard and he can finish as well. So we just fell -- a little bit off the shoulder but we knew how dangerous was their crossing game.
Q. A couple of days ago in the previous conference you talked about your high standards. Are you worried at all -- so far this season?
BRADLEY CARNELL: The standards the boys set themselves, right. If we score more than the opponent and get three points on an emotional day like this, and to go down the way we did, and then to come back, I think that's secondary, right.
So I think we only gave away two shots on target if I'm not mistaken. For us we want to make sure that, yes, 100 percent, we want to defend from the front, which helps us defending at the back, right.
So is there starting to be gaps to appear, if there's moments of fatigue, we have to find new orientation and new pick up points and then we go from there. I just think that you can see the willingness of the group to work, the willingness of the group to commit to each other and we can see the outcome.
So right now, yes, we have over ten games, if we still don't have a clean sheet we'll look at it. But if we have 30 points on the board after ten games, we're not going to say anything either.
Q. I want to ask you about noise.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Incredible.
Q. Have you played in other games that you can compare that to?
BRADLEY CARNELL: I mean, I can't really reflect back into my career; that was too long ago. (Laughter).
But just think of the piercing sound, you know, against Leverkusen, it was very quiet on a cold chilly night in 20 degrees and you wonder how do we come out tonight. But last night the party started and the fans brought it today.
I said to the players and I said to the staff, this has been incredible. Big thank you to the fans. This was something that you can't compare to Europe, right. So yeah, I think we have set the bar really high. There's not too many stadiums with this atmosphere; I can tell you that now.
Q. The play of your goalie, your captain, St. Louis loves their captains. I'm wondering if you can reflect on how he performed tonight and what you saw from him in those moments, the wagging of the finger.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, listen, Roman plays with an edge. He's a proud character and he's a proud person. They challenged us early on in a couple of set pieces. You could see them dropping down in the small box and making life difficult for Roman.
But he's as calm as a cucumber, cool as a cucumber. He take everything in his stride and he has a really good anticipation of the next moment, right, and that's what stood him by in a very illustrious and successful career. Just the calmness and confidence he exudes help us, keeps Tim, helps Johnny, helps Jake, just gives us a sense of calm and a sense of poise, and when we need to to go quick, he'll do that, too.
So we have a very -- I think we are very fortunate to have Roman in our ranks and here in the City of St. Louis, we can all benefit from him and his standards every single day.
Q. How important was Njabulo in being able to execute?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I think Blom plays a lot with a lot on his shoulders, right. I think I need to tone down the expectations a little bit, right.
So if you've seen the type of press and the media hype from back home in South Africa, there's a lot lying on his shoulders, right.
Now just think about the guys we had many months ago integrating with the team, he's just arrives and he's playing catch up in terms of what we are trying to do, but he does a lot of things instinctively, and how we want to operate, right. So I think you saw that many, many moments in the second half.
I think throw Blom into the deep end at the age of just 23. He's a big asset to us, but we want to bring him on, bring him along in the right possible way, right, without the demands and expectations, and we have a lot of leeway for a lot of guys.
Yeah, so you know, I think there's other guys that are around him, if you think of Löwen, what a performance back-to-back games now, you can see the type of character that he; bit of a baller, definitely. You put him against the world and he'll get out there and come out swinging.
We have challenged him in many ways against the ball as well and he's responded every time on game day to those challenges. So yeah, I think credit to the whole team, though. They were magnificent.
Q. I want to ask you, first, wearing Anton Walkes' pin, can you talk about the strategy, your boys, your club?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, it impacted us pretty closely. We were meant to play Charlotte two or three days before Anton passed. The next morning, we got notified, and we were told, obviously, our scrimmage, understandably so, would be canceled, right.
So from the very beginning, we felt a part of this. I think the league has felt a part of it, and we are all in mourning. So we knew that obviously Charlotte playing in the way they do and the way they did, they carry that every single day with them. I said it in my opening statement, right. This game is much more than just a result; first and foremost this game was for Anton and the people of St. Louis. That we came out victors on the day, not expected, just in terms of the whole process. We are truly happy. We'll take the three points but there was many more messages than the result today.
Q. After the first two games, a lot has been said in Bundesliga; can you talk about whether that has contributed to the chemistry of the squad?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, listen, I think we have a very good blend of different characters in the team, different qualities, right and different age groups. Everyone brings something to the table, whether it's a little bit of experience, whether it's a little bit of quality or whether it's a little bit of knowing the league.
So you know, we don't say one is better than the other or one -- but I think it's a perfect mix of all these culmination of what we believe in, what we stand for, what the philosophy needs and what our principles require on the day to be successful.
After two games we have a good snapshot of where we want to go and where we want to be. I think we have a good blend of guys who are with MLS experience. This, for me, is first and paramount, MLS experience.
A lot of guys here in preseason from Europe were talking about just the travel and just the time zones, and you know, just thinking about the intensity levels we train at, some of the guys were wanting two sessions a day. But because how intense we trained, this became obviously apparent and aware to the guys that they didn't need two sessions.
If they commit to what they are doing and trust the process, then we can get everything sorted out with the way we are trying to prepare this group. We have seen many good things through the preseason and these first two games.
Q. How happy are you to get this finally done, an anticipated game, how happy are you that you finally got through?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I was happy last week to get that off our shoulders. Last week was very emotional. This week was almost a joy, a celebration, right.
So I think to go through the way we did, and it's funny how three days after a game where expectations were one way, and now expectations are totally opposite, right.
So I think that's the beauty of success, and we need to take that on our shoulders and embrace it, challenge ourselves to step up again because the road doesn't get easier from here.
We know next week Portland, right, a very, very tough opponent away from home. So we will reflect tonight, we'll have training tomorrow and we'll give the guys off on Monday and we'll go again.
Q. You said the word "expectations." I know for expansion, it's hard sometimes to judge what expectations are. Six points, six goals, two games, two wins. What are your thoughts on the expectations? Have they exceeded what you guys have thought about?
BRADLEY CARNELL: I told the group to stand as they sit and as they want to sit, they drive the standards themselves, right. So I might create and deliver a platform for them, but it's them to execute. So it's their journey and I'm always accompanying them on their journey.
And for me, I mean, I don't know where I read it or heard it, some people doubted us for 4 games over 34 victories. At least we're halfway there and we'll take it, and once we get to four we'll reassess.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Klauss. How important has he been?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Well, he's a very lovable guy, right. I think culturally, he embrace what is we're trying to do. I think tactically he understands how exactly how we can reward him, and I think the quality levels that he shows in the moment, I think is something that is very unique to this league, right. He has a knack of scoring goals wherever he's gone on his journeys, and we are just proud to give this place of St. Louis that he can call home.
And that was the only thing he ever longed for the day I met him. He said, "I want to call this my home. I'm tired of going on loan, Coach."
I said, "okay, we'll get you. This is your home."
So it's been a great story for him and it's up to us to continue to tirelessly work for him to reward him and get him the ball in certain spots because he knows how to score goals.
Q. Speaking of Klauss, on the own goal, between him and Löwen, involved in all sorts of things throughout the game.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I think playing the two strikers in the first half helped us tremendously, trying to put pressure on the back line.
So Gioacchini had a really good game in my opinion. Emptied the bank, worked hard for the group and committed to both side of the ball and worked tirelessly. Then we started making a few tactical switches. We know Löwen can play the ten; Löwen can play the six; he's suited to the eight. Where we have the ball, we know we can try to get him the ball, and he becomes the eight/ten now and get up the field. And then Blom, becomes a big moment for him because he gives the balance to Löwen.
So I think there's little pieces of this puzzle that we know and we are still far from finished and far from polished, but we can see with a couple of tweaks where this can start moving us to.
Q. Have you been working on the back-pass-from-the-opposing-team play?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I think, again, opponents like to reset the game to get their rotations organized and set, right. The minute you take that away, you take away their game plan and the game model.
So yeah, we just have a knack of standing in the right place.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports