Seattle 1, St. Louis 0
Q. You had the ball a lot and got into dangerous positions but looks like the offense is still missing some component.
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, I think again we played the game we played. A lot on the ball, proactive, trying to create opportunities, I will agree. I think we created a lot of danger that we didn't convert enough into clear opportunities.
So that's my way to look back at the game. But again, looking at the performance, quite happy with where we're at tonight, so that's a little bit of a mixed feeling between the performance of the group, and of course the result that two different things at the moment.
So we controlled the performance, which I'm proud of, again, like the guys worked truly hard. They pushed. I think there is moments that we need to be more decisive. That's the goal. That's also potentially the danger we created and the opportunities we didn't create from that danger.
But there is, again, a lot of positive, which is difficult to say when you don't -- when you don't see the result.
Q. And then the one mistake you make, punished severely, was Conrad not decisive enough?
YOANN DAMET: Again, it happens. It's a game of mistakes. The blame is not on Conrad. I look more at moments. From that moment, we get punished, there is probably some other moments in the game where we don't get punished.
So right now, we need to turn those things into like positive for us; so can we learn from those mistakes and make maybe a different decision in the future.
Right now, again, we are speaking about building, and with building comes different experiences from those games and those moments. I'm hoping we can learn from it and keep moving in a direction that we're moving into.
Q. Do you like how Córdova looked for his first time out?
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, I felt, again, like getting into areas, like it's very difficult to assess Sergio on the time he played because we played against like a very low block. The defense was quite compact. Probably not much space. A lot of ball like in the air but like what he had to do, I felt like he did well.
So, like, he's going to give something different for us, and I'm happy we're able to get him some minutes tonight.
Q. Good evening. Teuchert had a great first half. I'm assuming the substitution was due to his minute count, and what were you looking for with Sergio Córdova going as the replacement for Teuchert?
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, I'm really pleased with Cedi tonight. Again, that was the idea in bringing him in, like to start the game. Give us some quality on the ball. Give us like a different profile, as well, between the lines.
So I felt like he had great performance. Felt he gave us like a different look, as well, in terms of like how we wanted to build up.
Bringing in Sergio, I thought was going to give us like a little bit more weight like on the back line. I thought like in the second half, quite quickly, they dropped because of that early goal in the second half.
So we didn't need like an extra man to come like deeper in, so we couldn't like Chris, Danny and Célio. So having a second forward was going to give us like a little bit more weight, I thought, in the final third.
Q. What needs to happen in some of those transition moments seems like there's opportunities to hit maybe some long balls to the weak side runner that maybe didn't materialize or that wasn't being looked for. What would you like to see from the transition to be a little bit more dangerous in those decisive moments?
YOANN DAMET: Again, we spoke about the balance last week a little bit, finding those moments where we need to use the ball to create those chances. I thought tonight, like we had like a decent balance. We didn't like the ball back as often as we did in the past two games. I thought the transition moments were less of use. That's also the reason why I thought we didn't go for it that often.
Again, it's part of the progress we need to make in recognizing the right moments to really attack and to benefit from those transitions, and the right moments to maybe keep the ball and be a little bit more patient. So right now the group is in that process of figuring it out.
And yeah, again, I need to rewatch, like did we have more moments where we should have attacked quicker? My feeling from the sideline is the guys had an understanding of, like, let's get control, let's pin them back and let's try to create.
And in the second half, I thought like every time we win the ball back it was more with our center back, and it wasn't clear. There wasn't any clear like transition moments where the back line is stretched because like everybody because behind the ball.
So I think, again, it's something we need to look at but that didn't strike me as being a problem tonight.
Q. And then Ben comes on, plays that wingback for the final couple minutes. Were you hoping to have a more direct threat with him out wide?
YOANN DAMET: We were looking to have like two inverted players. That's why we pushed Rafa on the right side, like again, they did a good job defending deep. I wanted to have guys that could play inverted and cross more in swinging.
Also having his profile like in 1v1, I felt like he could potentially benefit in isolated moments where he could go in 1v1.
Again, it didn't materialize tonight but that was a little bit the idea for the last part of the game, yeah.
Q. Going back to Cedi, when you see guys give a hundred percent, when you look at player valuations, how much of that is like in-game performance versus training, like who gets to start and who gets minutes?
YOANN DAMET: I would say it's both. We see the guys every day, they make the most out of the opportunities to may like Cedi I thought came on really well the first two games. I also felt we needed something different, like a little bit more control, like playing home. We know that Cedi right now is limited as he's coming back but at the same time, he gave us a lot like on the ball and also off the ball with his understanding of the game.
So I would say it's hard to put it into like numbers, like how we assess players, but we spend a lot more time in training than in the game. So, like, obviously like we also need to assess some of those guys that don't get many minutes like in the game and give them like a fair chance based on how they perform in training.
So for Cedi, I would say we relied on what he showed us in the first two games and I was quite pleased tonight with what he gave us and what he brought to the team.
Q. The team finished with 61 percent possession tonight. At what point did you feel the team was creating general danger versus just moving the ball around in the second half?
YOANN DAMET: I don't know if it there is a real turning point between possessing and really turning it into danger. I think it came and went, you know.
Like there were those moments where possession materialized with some moments where we are able to unbalance and get in the box or get across, but again, is it the right time? Do we have number? Are we considering just to cross the ball or do we really have an intent of like finding someone? This is more the reflection I want to have with the staff and the players, of course, in terms of like how can we be more efficient.
At the end of the day when you play those games against a low block in the second half, it's very difficult. They have got good center backs. They are quite good in the air, as well. So how can we benefit from those, like, little moments where we have chances.
We had good chances in the second half, you know, where maybe we get a shot, maybe we could get an end ball, maybe you can get something like inside the box, you know, and you don't. So is there something we can do a better job at? I'm sure we can. We can find some of those things like in our reflection piece.
But right now, like looking back at the games tonight, I thought like we went on the front foot for the full second half trying to find those opening to get those chances.
Q. You only made three subs in the game. Fitness-wise, there's no need for anybody else?
YOANN DAMET: I thought guys that were in the game were, like, providing what we wanted to. I also was quite mindful of like the balance of the game. Like in those games where you consider the first goal like quite early in the second half, there is like two ways to look at it.
Like it's either like you make early changes and you hope for the best that you don't concede the second, or you see how the game develops and you see if you're still creating danger. I thought we were dangerous without making like too many early subs. And -- and I thought, like, at the end of the game, like bringing those guys in, like gave us maybe a different look in terms of the profile.
So it's always interesting, and if you look at the bench, like are we bringing in, like, center backs or more midfielder? I thought like what we needed was maybe more like crossing, more presence inside the box.
We had some discussion about like at some point like do we put a midfielder to bring in an extra attacking player, but I thought same thing.
I thought Chris and Danny were good in projecting themselves inside the box and creating danger. So those are all the reflection and the thought process we're going through like on the bench, and I thought tonight, like we needed those three guys to come in and I didn't believe like more would have helped or created a different picture.
Again, like that's going to be part of the reflection like looking back but yeah.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports