St. Louis FC 4, Sporting KC 1
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, we started this journey nearly two years ago. To get to this moment and I think there's been a lot of work behind the scenes, and to get a game with this opponent, with so much on the line, you flow what it means to the fans what it means to everybody here individually, personally, whatever their go-to is, whatever their motivations are to get it to this point.
Just extremely proud of the group and to call that spot our own. You know, we can't buy anything with it. We can't celebrate anything with it. There's no silverware with it but it's there, right.
And for that, I'm proud but that should just give us more motivation and the players are really upset. If you go in, there it's quiet because they know they don't want to concede late goals. They know everyone who comes in has great amounts of energy. We make game-changing substitutions and what have you. And we bring in a new set of energy, right. So unfortunately the boys are still a little bit disappointed with the end of the last minute there.
Again, incredibly proud of these guys, and I don't think we want to stop any time soon.
Q. Early in the week, you talk about games at this stage of the season being tight games and small margins. What was the message for the team at halftime?
BRADLEY CARNELL: The message was to be a little bit patient, right. Even in our press, we got a little stretched a few times and made a few tweaks and with the changes, we changed the system as well. I thought we had a lot more impact with the sort of fresh legs and the system changed.
But yeah, again, we had to manage the rhythm of the game. You could see there was getting an edginess to it with Sam's tackle, and then all of a sudden Anthony is on a yellow card.
So we just had to manage the game and get to that point. Obviously we see Roman comes up with two big saves. I think Melia had a great day between the goals as well.
And yes, these moments change games, and fortunately today we got the first one and we know when we get the first one it could be a flood in terms of CITY PARK atmosphere and what it does and what it does to the opponent.
So four goals in 12 minutes, I believe, was some finish, and like I said, you know, just a bit gutted about the final goal that we let in.
Q. The first three goals, thinking about that seven-minute span going from Sam's goal to Jared to Klauss's, and it just kept building and building. What did that feel like as it just kept coming?
BRADLEY CARNELL: You could see in transition we picked up certain spots, right, so Sporting KC were not able to go back around and reset their play.
So with the two strikers that we put out there, it helped us get more pressure on the ball and helped guys defend forwards and helped us connect to the back. There were just a lot of things there that I thought that the players did right. It's not easy to adapt systems in-game, and it's not easy to have that effect.
But yeah, we trust the process and I think the guys have had multiple reps. I think we have always been brave with our substitutions, and there's been some growing moments, too. So obviously our hop on the goal that we concede.
But we get it to a point where almost -- yeah, I'm so happy to be on the sidelines when it goes that way, because it almost falls into place exactly how you thought it could go and it did go.
And now credit to the players for being disciplined enough to get to those spots and making sure that they stick to their principles.
And again, transition is our first weapon. I thought we had way too much of the ball in the first half. So second half, we started running the line more, we started counter pressing more and started playing vertically in transition more, we started being brave and then good things happened, I believe, in our system and I think we displayed that.
Q. The crowd just keep going nutser and nutser.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, it's pretty incredible.
Q. Because you obviously have so many good options off the bench, it's probably not easy to choose someone specifically but what stood out about Stroud, and what made you think he was the moment to bring in at that time because he made such a big difference?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I just knew we needed to get -- you could see Ndenbe is a real quality going forwards, and he's a real sort of injection in their final third play. So that's always difficult to track and I just saw we were getting tired in the tens with AZ and Indy.
So strategically obviously Jared, where he normally plays down the left side, you know, we call those three guys in tens and we needed to get pressure on Ndenbe. And I thought with the change of system and the energy Jared brought -- and he was brave. He took a few risks in the pressing moments.
And if you read the timing of the pass right and if you read the connection and if you see the pressure from Sam and Klauss this then he can get on the jump, Gioacchini played a massive role in that, too. I always told the three strikers -- I had a meeting with them early in the week and I said: One of you are going to play, two of you are going to play, I'm not sure if all three of you are going to play but I'll do my best to try and get them on the field.
I think you can see, I'm trying to make everyone happy and I'm trying to give everyone minutes that I can, but to see a response like that is credibly humbling.
Q. Klauss been very open about his confidence level coming back from injury, scores two tonight. What did you think of his confidence and continuing off your strikers?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, strikers ooze when they are feeling -- when they are in the groove, they are difficult to stop.
But what you will notice about Klauss, he's the first one to get his head down and recover. He's the first one to help out in a defense. He's the first one to first point fingers at his friends and get them all together and get them re-energized. And he brings a lot of energy and he holds a lot of people accountable, right. Myself as well.
Everyone, we are all on our toes because Klauss is a winner by nature, you can just see, he breaths and his heart beats for points and goals. I even said to him, "Klauss, do you want to go for three or do you want to come off?"
He said, "No, Coach, it's okay, you can decide." We made a choice, and we kept the birthday boy, Sam, on the field and that's what it was, right. But he's a good teammate as well. So you know, yeah, gives the best hugs every morning in the breakfast room to everybody, so we love Klauss around here.
Q. What's it feel like, you're watching the game, you're thinking, okay, if I make these changes, this might happen, then you make those changes and I'm guessing that's what happened. What's that feel like?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I mean, again, just want to give guys opportunities. You want to feel the right moment, you have to feel what the games needs, and I think that's part of my learning process as well as a rookie coach, just leading myself down my individual development plan, you know, and when to do what and how to do it.
I feel pretty confident and I've always been brave to make changes and I've always held my head up to say if I got it right, or I got it wrong and sometimes I do both. You can get it right and you get it wrong, and I'm fine with that because we learn and we grow and we go next week again.
Totally fine with it, but yeah it's a great feeling when you know that you got a team to a certain point, and then you can feel a sense of energy and then the complexion of the game change, and then we score. It's a great feeling for sure.
Q. A lot of players are contributing. Anthony is a young player, has really been contributing and battling. What does that do for the rest of the club what young guy is sticking to the principles like he does?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Normally young guys, they are brave, right. The saying, once bitten, twice shy, Anthony has not been bitten yet. He's playing brave on the front foot, sticking to the principles because he's got a point to prove.
He came from a club where he wasn't playing, and now he's playing at the top team in the West and not just playing, contributing. We are guiding him along this. And we said at halftime: "Just watch, keep your nerve, suffer with a smile," I said to him. "So enjoy this game but keep your head on your shoulders."
And he's done a great job with that, too. He managed the game in the second half really well.
Q. You can't point to many spots in the season where you guys maybe had lulls but if there was a mini one it was maybe before the first time you guys played Sporting KC. What did the rivalry do for your team, what has it done for this season and has it been an important factor?
BRADLEY CARNELL: It's been something budding. I said it after the first game. Something needs to grow and you can't just create a rivalry all of a sudden, right. So there needs experiences. There needs results. There needs edgy moments, and I think each game has that critical moments or edgy moments to create tension, and that's what a rivalry is about.
Then if you see the way that our fans went to Sporting, wow that, was incredible, right. So dominating that stadium and then doing it again tonight. And again, just setting an I am appropriate, like Sam's tackle was a kind of catalyst for our second half performance, right, so just before the halve, he makes that tackle, we go in, everybody has got a different buzz, a different energy and that was great. That's what we needed.
We live and die by those principles of being aggressive but fair. I think that's what we were today but yeah, for sure, these moments help us. For sure there's something on the line.
We said to the players, whatever is your why, you know, whether it's the fans, whether it's individual, family and what-have-you, you know, just keep a moment for this what's going on around here, and this is something to behold, I think to cherish for a long time.
Q. Can that help in a playoff set to go have games that feel like this?
BRADLEY CARNELL: 100 percent. You felt now, we've played three times Sporting KC, it could have been that they could have been in a playoff spot tonight if we had lost that game, right, and then we could have had them six times potentially this season, and we didn't want that. We didn't want that because yeah, it's just sometimes it's not easy playing against the same team six times in a season, understandably so.
But again, credit to our boys for resetting and applying the principles and being aggressive from the go.
Q. You don't get here without preparation and without being in the moment. We've talked about making history throughout the season. Now that you've made history of this significance, potentially, becoming the first seed and then obviously with the win total, when you reflect on that as far as your career is concerned, where does that rank?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, listen, I think I've always been able to be pretty even-keeled, and one of the wisest words I heard when I came to this league, never get too high, never get to low because there's going to be bad moments, there's going to be great moments.
And as a coach whether at my University of Johannesburg, winning some mini silverware, I would say, nothing to write home about, but these are growing steps in a pathway, right, and I've never -- the coaching has never been about me. It's never been about what I want and what I want to achieve.
For sure I'm hungry and for sure I can swim in deep waters and adapt and evolve and get better and drive myself to high standards. But it's about the people around me. You know, if I can see people grow around me and if I see how the squad has developed and grown and everybody, whether their values and all these types of transfer values and what-have-you, if they get new contracts or if they get just one step better every day, that's gratification for me.
I'm really grateful for these moments to help kids and to help young men develop into young men, and better players and people around me.
So if I can make an impact like that, then that's all worth it for me.
Q. Any plans for Sunday night maybe with the team?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Not as yet. Not as yet. We'll just have to see. Obviously we don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. Yeah, you know, again, you can check these boxes now. You can check a few things off the list, but we want to keep on going now. We need a couple more points to make 58 points, I believe, to make it all of our own. Because 17, and not 58 points, is it the best expansion year? I'm not sure. But again we are just trying to get the next three points and Vancouver comes around pretty quickly.
Q. We have seen a difficult second half -- they could have scored but it ended up 0-0 at halftime. What did you tell the players at halftime for them to come completely looking like a different team and dominating thor tine game?
BRADLEY CARNELL: I think both teams had good chances in the first half. I think Anthony, across the face goal with Klauss, with the tap-in, that was a massive chance for us. I think both goalkeepers had a good game.
But again it was just to get a few details right. We had to have some look at film in the halftime. But again we changed the shape, we changed the structure. We get a little bit more aggressive in our press, a little bit more proactive in the forward defending moments.
But you know, it's the first time in the stadium year but you see when we score the first goal, it's hard to contain us here at home, right. We just had to remain disciplined. I just told the boys, be patient, it will come. Happy the patience paid off and happy we could take a stranglehold and tighten the screws when we did, and four goals in 12 minutes is excellent.
Q. Back in the LAFC game, you had the same four midfielders but you deployed them a little differently. What was the plan and thought process sign switching Löwen back in the middle and kicking AZ off to the far left?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, there was a short-term solution doing that. I just thought that we lost a bit of shape with Erik Thommy and Gutiérrez; our sixes were over-connecting, and then if they broke that, then they were free on the weak side. Erik Thommy is a good player, and he finds positive space. I thought we would get Edu in the ten when we went to the diamond and we had AZ just shooting out to the fullback in that deeper eight role.
That was the thinking behind it, to give Edu a little more freedom, because we know we have certain qualities on the ball.
And yeah I just thought maybe in the transition, AZ could get the ball a little deeper and then find he due. It was the catalyst and start to make those other changes that came on.
Q. Subs, you kind of then Edu gets back out on the left side --
BRADLEY CARNELL: Exactly --
Q. -- and Nico takes over at the ten. What do you think that going back to that diamond and Nico being at the ten, Edu being back outside, how do you think that changed --
BRADLEY CARNELL: It's a tough role to play, the eight and if you're all out pressing, it's long distances to go, long distances to recover. So we try to be strategic in how we deploy that press and when we deploy it.
Again, Edu, actually sometimes gets better as the game goes on and he starts covering more ground in the second half. So you know, we know he can cover tons of ground.
Yeah, and he's a weapon in our transitional game and final third possession progression, you know what I mean, getting into the final third, he's dangerous with us. So he has the ability to connect that next pass and usually in those eight pockets, you find a bit more time and space.
Q. 12 of your last 16 goals have been in the 70th minute or later. What does that say about this team and what does that say? How do you feel when you get to that stage of the game?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, listen, I mean, for sure, we play to win games, and before the last three away draws, you know, I think our record showed that with only two ties across 28 games or something.
So we played to win games, whether it's to score in the first minute but we always know it's a race to the first goal and that's how we play. So more often than not, you know, we have been on the goal-scoring side, and we've also conceded late as well.
These are always moments for us with a young team, with a first year team, first year coach, these are all growing moments for us and we'll analyze. Every week we have a look, why, how and then try and we develop like that and grow and see if it takes us next week. Yeah, if we can score one more than the opponent, it's three more points.
Q. Do you feel like you're wearing teams down?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, we have an intense style of play, and if we can maintain that intensity and not fall into the trap or get lured into the lull of being in a game where it's slow, you know, because then it's comfortable; then, yeah, I could still play and do that, right.
So we want to try and do something different. We want to proactively win the ball and be aggressive in our principles. We don't want our players to fall into that trap of complacency. That's why I don't have a voice usually after 90 minutes, and yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports