St. Louis 3, New England 1
Q. This is your first time in this room after a win; three points, how does it feel?
YOANN DAMET: Good. Good. Mostly I'm happy for the guys and for the staff. Those guys they show up every day. They put in the work. They believe. They are growing. They are improving. I am just happy for them. That's.
What I just told them in the locker room. It's about them. It's not about how I feel. It's about like them believing how good they can be and what they can do.
And again, like I don't want to minimize the results but it's just another game in our journey.
So like I think at the same time we have to stay level-headed. We've got to enjoy it. We worked really hard for it. But we don't get carried away.
Q. New English goes up first, make it 1-0, and they had to claw back into the game at that point. What do you say about the response from that point?
YOANN DAMET: That's what I've been saying since the beginning. This group has a strong mindset. They push really hard. You can see it every game, even when we are behind, there's that belief that we can with get back in the game, and there's that belief that we can get the results.
And tonight, that's what I saw. I saw a group of guys that even going 1-0 down, kept on pushing, kept on believing. We changed the game at the end of the first half, like that was going back into the locker room. And yeah, I think it says a lot about the mindset of the group. These guys, they have got special mindsets.
Q. What did you think of their performance --
YOANN DAMET: Today I'm going to be honest, it's probably our worst performance this season. If you look at the game, and then you could argue, like with the win, like where do we stand with the performance?
Two halves: I think in the first half, I thought we were a little bit disconnected. In terms of our structure. I felt like we gave too much space. We were a little bit late in terms of our shifting, in terms of our defending. And that's why I thought that we increased the amount of running our midfielder had to do. So you could tell that Chris and Danny, they worked really hard again tonight and they covered a lot of ground.
I thought the second half, we were a little bit more control of the space, a little bit more the way we looked in the past four games.
Again, credit to the guys. When you speak about mindset, work ethic, I think our midfield is that.
Q. Pompeu gets the start tonight. Can you talk a little bit about that decision and what you thought about his performance?
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, we were looking to isolate him like in a wide area. So we adjusted a little bit the plan with him. I think Conrad coming from behind and having him like a little bit more underneath the structure of the game changed like quite likely. We had like a first plan with more of a diamond in the middle, and that changed like back into a double pivot with two number 10. I thought he did well. I thought he brought some energy.
I would like to see him more connected to the game in terms of staying active and more involved like at times, but I thought he created what we wanted him to create tonight. You know, a little bit of chaos. A little bit of 1v1. The thing is to grow and believe in himself in creating his position.
But I thought it gave us a different look on that side, and I thought that sort of gave a different look to Conrad, coming from behind, and also being in support of Célio, which allows him to attack maybe a little bit more 1v1 because he knows he's got a defender in support that can make up in case he loses the ball.
No, very happy. Again, I think we are flexible. I think we have got a different plan, different ideas with different profile of players, and Célio gave us a different look tonight.
Q. Following this victory, do you feel the team is beginning to move past the challenging start against top opponents, and is now in a position to build positive momentum in the coming matches?
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, we're hoping. We're hoping to keep building. I think the team is improving, that's the most important thing.
I'm looking game after game, like in terms of performances, in terms of how the players are reacting and in terms of the flexibility we can have and the way we defend and the way we attack.
I would say we are definitely growing. I would love to build momentum on that win. The reality is, we are going to go in the next three games, play away, and now, I thought we had some decent performances, as well, playing away.
Can we take the same approach and be maybe like a little bit more pragmatic in some moments? I think what cost us in the first games is moments in the game. We had very good performances but those moments had an impact on the outcome.
So looking at the game tonight, if we can take a little bit of that, like those key moments and the way we manage them and take that with us in our next three away games, I think it's going to be good.
But every game is different. The scenario is different all the time. So it's more like our experiences in those first five games, what have we learned that we can use like in those upcoming games.
Q. How you are going to celebrate?
YOANN DAMET: How am I going to celebrate? I think I need to sleep a little bit, you know.
Q. Obviously every time you come out you're looking for three points but there is definitely a little more in the air than just soccer tonight. Obviously thousands of fans holding up signs, wearing gray in support of Edu and all that going on with just this trying time, and possibly even yourself wearing gray, I may have seen on the sideline. Can you talk about the emotions of a match like this that's so important for the standings but also for an emotional perspective with everything going on?
YOANN DAMET: Yeah, the feeling I've got in this group with those players with this staff within this organization is like the feeling of a big family.
We went through a tough time like those past two weeks, obviously, like there is someone that we hold in our heart that is going through an even tougher time and we've got to remind ourselves that. Like he's going through a tough time and we've got to show him the love, the support and the energy that he deserves.
So it's been emotional to say the least but at the same time, like I think the guys, like what I wanted them and what they wanted to do is to show like those values that we embody as a team, like for him.
So tonight, like I was aware of the initiative by the fans with the gray. I thought it was like just a little like reminder for all of us to remember her and give Edu our support and our love. Again, it's a tough time. It's not an easy time. But at the same time, we've got to do everything we can to show support and the love.
Like I said, the feeling is quite special. We're one big family and that everybody cares for one another, and yeah, we're just doing like everything we can to be there to support him.
Q. You talked the second half, you had more control and the game you wanted to play. Was that a message at halftime or did that fall into the natural rhythm in the second half?
YOANN DAMET: It's hard to say. I spoke in the first half with clarity about what we wanted to do but, I don't know, there was something off, in terms of like the timing, the distances. A little bit of the energy, as well, to be honest.
So we just tried to address that at halftime and explain that we need to function as a unit. You know, like I thought we functioned too much, like, individually in the first half, one guy pressing and then the other one, rather than as a group.
I think we grew into that first half. I think the two goals gave us confidence, as well. But the main message at halftime was, hey, let's get back to working together because that's what makes our strength.
I thought we were more compact, and I thought we were more the size -- even the moment we picked to press, I would say the same offensively, and then of course the game becomes a little bit strange. They want to score. They want to push.
Overall, the performance is, I would say, average. But at the same time, the mindset that we showed, the energy that we brought all the way to the end and the work that we put, I thought like at the end of the game, in those games, teams are pushing and they are trying to create opportunities. I don't think we conceded too much. That's credit to the guys for staying compact, for staying on task.
Also, we didn't make too many subs. I thought the guys were locked in. I thought the energy was good, and again, I think it's credit to them and they deserved the win tonight.
Q. What do you think the win tonight did for your fan base and your supporters?
YOANN DAMET: It's always great, of course. Like everybody in the stadium like wants that more than anybody, you know. And sometimes -- sometimes, I think there is that feeling that they care and that we are not affected by it, and I think at the end of the day we want to show them that we are having those performances for them, like we spoke about, like making that place a very difficult place to play at.
I thought our first two performances at home showed that. I thought we were good. We were on the front foot and we created opportunity. I thought we deserved like better results in those first two games at home but tonight, to get it over the line for them, I think is special. And I think it's just the reward of the work of the players and I think it's a great feeling for everyone going home tonight.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports