St. Louis 0, Atlanta
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, good evening, everybody. First I'd like to congratulate Jayden Reid on his first MLS start as well as his first assist in MLS as well as Michael Wentzel; he's appeared for us in the Champion Cup but the MLS debut is a big thing for him. And Roman saves his first penalty. He's getting closer. We are getting closer.
Goals are not with us as of late. We keep on pushing and keep on keeping, the spirit is high and we are moving on. I thought the support was awesome tonight, and just acknowledgment of the fans after the game when we did the round, very supportive and very embrasive of what we are trying to do here. So I appreciate them for that.
And then yeah, it's been a tough couple of weeks. So you know, get the batteries recharged now and we look forward to our Vancouver trip.
Q. Indiana did not start Wednesday. Is the reaction you expected out of him? He was a monster.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, Indy, not through performance-wise or just trying to manage the loads in each individual game and just trying to push guys in different ways. So it's not performance-related. It's just personnel-related, tactical relations, and trying to get him a breather here and there.
He puts in tons of work in training and on game days. Again, it brought the desired effect.
Q. Were you happy with the offense tonight? You created some chances.
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I thought we created a lot of moments through the lines. I thought we could have been cleaner in transition a little bit, some wayward passes, can we connect in the final third; can we connect on the weak side; can we play vertical in the red zones. I thought we missed a couple of crucial moments, but having said that we had a ton of looks and some really nice moments.
I thought Edu Löwen was excellent tonight and his willingness to defend in the 94th, 95th minute, a sprint at full pace to do what's best for the team, and that shows what kind of teammate he is. I saw many positives tonight, and we'll take these away for sure.
Q. Stats show that Bürki saved over two goals above expected. Can you speak on how he's been performing lately?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Really good. He's on a good pathway. He knows what happened last week, or this past Wednesday, and he was the first guy out on the training field on Thursday morning.
You know, he's professional enough to put those away in the trash can, but he's honestly enough to know and lift his hat where it's needed and take steps forward as a leader. And today he was back to his usual self and very crucial at critical moments.
Could we have put the game to bed away earlier? I think yes. We hit the crossbar. We have a couple moments. We have some penalty calls. There's a few things that we are really pushing in the final third. Nökkvi has is a breakaway. Edu slips in through in a 1v1 and Brad comes out and makes a save. We had enough positive looks and that's what I want to see from my group: The willingness to get behind; the willingness to create; and willingness to move the line at back-to-back and keep it compact and connected.
I saw a lot of good things I saw good team spirit before the game. Even at halftime, there was good, constructive moments. So I saw a very energized, gelled group together fighting for each other, and this is a very important sign for me.
And then Roman is the guy at the back on the last line makes big saves for us to give us hope going forwards.
Q. Reid gets called up and immediately takes the start. How far in advance did you decide he was going to be in the lineup today? How did you think he did?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, we've had big weeks with a lot of our players. We have been short on defenders. We have Joakim. We have Josh pushing minutes and getting overloads. We have Kyle Hiebert absent and Akil Watts pushing minutes. We see a lot of intensity in our games and we see a lot of moments where guys to roll back defenders. Just look at Totland; he ran out of gas today as well. You know, we knew this on Thursday morning; that this would be a potential to put him in. We made all the necessary arrangements. We know we cannot call him up twice. We know he has some MLS experience as well. We know he plays on our principles. We know he's going a great job at City II.
So for us, it was a no brainer.
Q. Was it as simple seeing a City II performance and knowing he would step in and do that similar role?
BRADLEY CARNELL: We train very similarly. We play in the same intensity. He comes from a background that stylistically suits his game. He's the quickest player in the club hands down.
Yeah, he has moments to iron out if there's anything to iron out on the back line, it's totally normal and natural to be getting cramps in the 95th, 98th minute or whatever it was, totally normal, totally natural. But that he went and lasted so long didn't surprise me, and yeah, we are on the right track with Jay.
Q. The season five months old, or young, depends how you want to view it, but how do you assess the first five months and how the team can break from tieing games and now winning games?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Sure, yeah, it's a step, right. It's a step and it's building blocks. And while we are trying to create more in the final third, and I think we have progressed in the final third a lot, you know, for sure, when you tie games, it means you're in the games. It means you can win the games.
Today we were leading and unfortunately it doesn't go our way. We get a strange PK call, and we have to accept that. We can't control any outcome of the referees or any circumstances. We just have to accept and move on and have the mentality if we concede one, we score two.
And today, I saw a group that was hungry and showed desire to score the second, and we kept things safe and sound in many moments as needed despite two new guys in our back line from City II.
So we look at growth in small fractions and I saw incremental growth, especially on the back line with two new guys who are new to our group.
Yeah, it's a process. It's a journey. Not as desired for sure as the first 18, 19 games, but again, we know we have a bridge to gap here until July 18th, and then we can receive Jake; Reich (ph). We can get Cedric Teuchert in the building as well. He arrives pretty soon in a couple days, actually. So he can be connected with us in training, and that will give us just the edge and the energy we need and give a bit of freshness around here.
Q. Following up on Jayden, how impressive was it and was there a thought process when he picked up a yellow to sub in, and how impressive to finish up his first MLS start on a yellow?
BRADLEY CARNELL: I don't look too much in that. These guys have good experiences and they know what's needed. Jake, I never want to compare -- I was a quick player on the back line. So if you do get yourself in a pickle, you have the pace to at least get back without having to make the crazy fouls, right, to move your feet quickly, and stay on your feet.
Brooks Lennon is a really good overlapping wingback, and he's one of the best, if not the best, crosser in the League. Jay had his hands full, and I thought he dealt with it really, really well.
So credit to him, City II staff, himself in developing the right way and being open-minded enough to grow within our City II program, and now the platform is open for competition. I have just spoken to all the defenders. Competition is a good thing. Keeps us all hungry and keeps the desire there.
We cannot rest on what we've done a few weeks ago, and making sure that we keep guys really edgy and wanting to perform the best that they can in training.
Q. Earlier you talked about being happy with the amount you were pushing the back line offensively. Seemed to slow down around the 60-minute mark. What were they doing to slow down and take away those runs on the back line?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, they started flowing things on to Silva in the half-space, so with our orientation, always very connected, yeah, our sixes were overconnected at times. I just asked to Durkin to open up the shoulder a little bit just to see because Michael Wentzel likes to step in, but sometimes you have to shift and get across on the back line. And then they work the ball across one more time and then find Silva. I think one play, he turns, Michael arrives late, and all of the sudden it's a pass, pass weak side; and Roman comes up big for us.
Those are things from the second half that we had to mitigate as the game went on.
Q. Touching on that formation shift, Caden Glover comes in for his longest appearance, especially here at CITY PARK, has not made an appearance in the first team. How do you feel he did in those moments? You were chasing the lead at that point.
BRADLEY CARNELL: For us not to chase the lead and get out of shape. For us the discipline in our organizational structure against the ball is very key. We knew we had to make changes and push Edu in the 10. We bought in fresh legs with Blom. I thought Caden kept it to one side and he did exactly as we asked him to do. He had a couple of nifty touches and could have scored on a set piece where he just volleys it over the bar.
He got really close a few times, and it looked like he enjoyed himself. He's smiling after the game.
So these are big moments for us as a club and these are big moments as part of a program, even when it's not going our way, to make sure we believe in our process, and this is very important.
Yeah, we love having these guys around us and yeah to see them embracing the challenge and taking on can creating competition with our group, it's good.
Q. Seemed like this was easily the most comfortable that Nökkvi has looked since he arrived last year. Have you seen an improvement in his game and where did it come from?
BRADLEY CARNELL: There's two things to it. One thing is training time and one thing is game time.
Yeah, we need to keep on pushing Nökkvi in the right way in terms of training in the right way, which he did, right. And then getting to moments as he does do with the 1v1 opportunity because in training, he's really good at finishing those in. Training, it's really clinical.
We keep on trying to push the need well that, and then now, it's game time under stress, and you can see him growing after every game.
So you know, the more minutes, and you kind of -- yeah, when it's not going quite your way and you give him five minutes and we expect a miracle. And yeah, sometimes I have to look at myself and see how much game time I'm giving Nökkvi because throwing him in five minutes here, five minutes there, is not doing him any favors because we need to push him in training and then give him game time.
We always sort of suggest guys maybe keep sharp at City II, right, so we can't force any players to do these things, and yeah, sometimes it just takes longer in terms of the development process within our game model, within our philosophy. We'll keep on pushing Nökkvi along but if he uses opportunities wisely, and he did so today; he pushed himself to his max, and he had a couple of good looks which is very good for us. It's a good starting point.
Q. I thought one of the best players especially early on was Hosei settling that ball off the rebound and getting the pass in to Klauss. Seems like his calmness and decision-making is a crucial part that's been added to the team. Is there a way to get him more involved and more touches throughout the game?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, so it was deliberate to get him between those two lines, between their defensive three and their two sixes.
I think we got a couple of looks at exactly what we needed. But don't forget, he's a not a ten. So he's a six. But we've seen great things. We played him as a ten in the preseason against LAFC. We pushed the needle now in the last couple of games and we've seen great things because he has that calmness to connect.
We continue to encourage him and we continue to work with him individually. We continue to show him video. We continue to push the needle there because we see a lot of opportunities and we see a lot of talent, especially under pressure, under stress, he has that calmness about him. He shields the ball really well and he has the eye on the weak side to find Klauss.
Yeah, I mean, as far as projected, I think he's doing excellently.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports