QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 0-1 HOUSTON DYNAMO
RIO TINTO STADIUM; SEPTEMBER 17, 2016
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On Houston’s goal:
"When you are receiving the ball in those areas of the field you have to anticipate that you will get pressured. I have all the trust in John (Stertzer), he can handle the situation and we got away with it the first time and then we did the same mistake two seconds later and paid for it. Now that, it's tough it's tough, but I don't mind that ball being played in there because I trust our players can handle it. You just have to know that’s going to happen and I think it was a mental error and maybe the second one doesn't go in there, but then again I feel confident in our players to handle those situations so it's a tough one, a tough one."
On being down early:
"Well I think Houston made it difficult you know they have eleven players behind the ball, you know we were playing a lot of stuff underneath them, poor turnovers, we just didn't have any real quality about the game. I think we dominated in possession, shots and had really good chances, but the quality wasn't there. You need someone to step up in that game, you can't have anyone be average someone needs to step up and take that game by the scruff and make a play. We had a few opportunities and we didn't do it, but really disappointed with our performance at home. We really didn't give our fans that came out tonight anything to cheer about. It was slow, Houston slowed it down, what was a very good plan for them, but we have to figure out how to beat teams like that at home, especially going into the playoffs and we’ve still got to get there, so really just disappointed."
On the playoffs:
"Definitely missed opportunity. Definitely missed opportunity. Even against LA another missed opportunity. We have had several missed opportunities at home. Good performances, but tonight wasn't a good performance it was just odd and I think that teams really kind of start to slow the tempo down, it just kills our rhythm, and we couldn't get into rhythm, it was a choppy game, and a good game plan by Houston. Wade and his team did a good job, but we have to do better, we have to move the ball quicker, sharpness in the final third, you know it's another night where I think they shot twice at our goal, at the end of the day that's almost unheard of, teams only shooting twice on you and you walk away losing and we managed to find a way."
On the first home of the season:
"I believe in our players every single one of them, you just got to keep continually putting them in positions to come through, Portland didn't create a lot of chances, tonight we created half chances really, probably at the end of the day, but we need to create more, and to do that you need quality passing, not poor turnovers and flicks that we started to resort to for some odd reason. That’s not us and every single player and myself included need to look at the mirror and say not what someone else could do better, but what can you do better and then collectively we will get better that way, it just was an off night, a gross game."
Defender Tony Beltran
On the loss:
“Yeah it’s a disappointment. Obviously anytime we drop points at home and under the circumstances this close to playoffs, it’s very, very disappointing. We will have to learn from it and move on.”
On the night being a slower than usual:
“It was a strange night and I think we were off our rhythm just a little bit, but that’s no excuse. We’re professional, especially at home we have to find a way. “
On missing out on 3 points as the Playoffs near:
“Circumstances don’t help at all. Obviously watching the games today, Portland gets a result, Seattle gets a result, so you know, that red line is not that far away. That adds to the disappointment tonight.”
On what he can tell the team as a leader to motivate:
“I think there’s several things. I think everybody needs to grasp the severity of the situation here. We have the opportunity in front of us, the opportunity that we worked all year for, and that is to be in the post season. We all know how it felt last year to miss out. It felts like a wasted opportunity and waste of a year. Maybe is we’re a little tired and feeling off of our rhythm, it’s no excuse. We have to find the energy, we have to fight, because we only get one shot at this.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On the recent losses:
“Try and get some more concentration, more focus, but for the most part I thought it was there, but we got to make up for mistakes and score goals at home and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
On what Houston was able to do take RSL out of their rhythm:
“Yeah seems like when teams get some joy here that’s usually what happens. It just seems the team can slow it down and they get a throw in, they walk to it, a free kick and it seems us to take a little bit to get into our rhythm, so we’ll work on it and see if we can learn from that and just speed it up, speed everything up and I think that it will ultimately help in the long run.”
On what is missing after being scoreless the last couple of games:
“Just our sharpness. We just got to get sharper in front of goal and be a little more patient. I think when that happens sometimes you try and force some things and if you’re forcing things, then ultimately makes it a little bit easier for their defense, then you can get caught out numbered, so we’ll work on it. We got to work on it a lot this week and see if we can get sharper and be a little more patient and get some goals next week and we’ll be right back on track.”
On motivating the team for the playoffs as a captain:
“We all knew how important this game was, so we let one slip for sure, but that’s professional sports. You’re going to have your ups, your downs. Everything doesn’t always go as planned. Tonight our plan was to come out and win and have a really good game and that just didn’t happen today. We just got to get back to work this week and see if we can make it better next week.”
Midfielder Jordan Allen
On RSL defensive breakdown:
“Well, we gave away the first goal, and when you do that the home team is going to sit in. they were really disciplined in keeping their two blocks of 4 with 1 guy in between them. They just made it difficult to break out after scoring the first goal and you find yourself chasing the game it’s going to be difficult.”
On always being able to come back in games:
“We are confident, we get down a goal but we are not going to put our heads down. But we just can’t do it this often because sooner or later we won’t be able to come back from it. Going into the playoffs and playoff games, it’s going to be pretty rough being in the hole like that and even harder to come out of it.”
On the missed opportunity the games felt like:
“It’s a huge missed opportunity, all of these home games going in and coming to the playoffs is where we really want to pick up points and cement our spot. We want to gain momentum going to the playoffs is huge thing. So it’s definitely a huge missed opportunity but tomorrow we will do better. We have to keep in mind this is our first loss at home so kind of a whirlwind that happened tonight.”
On slow starts for RSL:
“I don’t know if there is anything you can really do drill wise. I guess it’s just a focus and mentality thing. We have a lot of experienced young guys so it is just something we have to focus on moving forward, because it is going to be huge going into the playoffs.”
On lack of offense for RSL:
“You know even earlier in the year, when we had the stretch of not scoring I still felt like we were fluid in the attack. We were getting chances. It was just about putting them away and just having that mentality that when we get a chance we are going to finish it.”
Houston Dynamo
Interim Head Coach Wade Barrett
On coming to play at Salt Lake:
“This is a difficult place to come play, so they are a good team, they have a lot of attacking threats. We knew we needed to be disciplined and organized, that was one of the main things I talked about during the week. And something we needed to approve on a little bit from our last performance on the road. We were a little disorganized. We didn’t communicate as well as we should have, so that was something we talked about during the week. It wasn’t a perfect first half, we were a little bit out of sorts at times, but still did a pretty good job trying to limit their attacking threats. Movsisyan moves really well, he run the channel really well for a big guy. Plata causes a lot of problems when he has the ball with time and space. Then Burrito gets in difficult positions and he is really good with the ball. And he can do something on his own. So it’s hard to control those guys but I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part. We have to go against the round of play so there is no denying how that happened but that is how the game goes sometimes. And I thought our team showed all the things in the second half. We showed discipline, organization. Salt Lake did a good job they threw a couple different looks at us in the second half so there had to be some adjustments that were made. And you always know at the end of the game there are going to throw a bunch of numbers forward. So it was difficult, but that is what life on the road is like. It’s difficult to close out a result against a good team in their house. So it was a tall task force and it worked out tonight.”
About handing RSL their first loss at home:
“I want to win every single game we play. So we talked to our group we had two good performances on the road, two good results on the road. And the last two road games we have won. One away at San Jose, and we got a draw last week at Kansas City. This is a tough place to come play; you know they are a good team. They obviously are good at home so we knew it would take a lot. But we don’t have that many wins on the road this year. And we had good form in the last couple of games, so I hope my guys takes a lot of confidence from it.”
Thought on Alex scoring streak and winning on the road:
“Alex has been good. The one thing I can say about Alex is that he works hard every single day in training. He doesn’t just bring it in the games, you see the energy he puts out in the games and the amount of ground he covers. We ask the guys to put in a lot of defensive work and he is still getting up there to create chances, so he has done a great job. Like I said being a good professional every day and then over the last few weeks it everybody, it not just the players. Everyone on staff is working hard every single day to try and get the most out of the group. I relied a lot on the other coaches; Paul Cafer has been my assistant coach threw this whole transition period. Those guys have just helped prepare the team for every one of these road games. And I feel like that we have had a plan for every game we have come into and I think that has been important, and we have worked hard to try and put the plan into place. It hasn’t been perfect, but we continue to try and have a plan when we come into the game and to try and execute that plan.”
Thoughts on defensive performance:
“They threw a few different looks at us in the second half, when burrito came inside with Yura, Plata still causes problems and Garcia is a handful on his own. Like I said it took some adjustments from our guys to recognize what was happening and then try and move guys around to the right spots. For the most part they did a great job, and every once in a while we just have to make a plan and it comes down to last stitch defending. Clearing the ball out of danger or out of the box. Getting a last stitch effort tackle. You have to do those things to get a win on the road.”
Defender DaMarcus Beasley
On winning at Rio Tinto for the first time:
“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly. It definitely wasn’t our best performance, home or away. But the most important thing is the three points. They are points that we need so it is refreshing to see all of the boys’ fight. We’re in last place so it is refreshing to see everyone fight and not give them too much. Joe [Willis] didn’t have that much to do.”
On the same back four playing together:
“Competition is what being a professional is all about. You don’t have a great game one-week you might be out. It was great he kept the same back four, it bodes well for the team that he has confidence in us and we’re going to get it right. I think today with them throwing everything forward we had a lot of clearances. For me I thought Jalil [Anibaba] and Raul [Rodriguez] were the stars. That is just my opinion. They dealt with everything today. Crosses, balls through the middle because they like to combine with Plata and Burrito. So I think those two did very well. They stopped them from combining through the middle”
On the goal:
“I think we encourage that. Especially when we have our formation the way we do, we don’t change much. But at the same time we like that our midfielders are going to press. I think they weren’t ready for it and we pressed, got the ball in a good spot and Alex [Lima] was there to put it away. He’s been playing very well offensively and has given us a boost scoring goals and getting assists. Alex put it away again and I’m glad he got his goal and we were able to hold on.”
On getting road results:
“Belief. I think as soon as he [Barrett] took over that’s the first thing we worked on is our defensive shape. We worked on it a lot. How we move, how me try to limit their chances, their attacking players whoever that may be. That is what we’ve tried to do and that’s what’s been instilled in us and it’s showing. We try and be resilient on defense but all the time we had the freedom to go forward. But with the attacking players we have we should have more goals, but we don’t. But like I said sometimes you’ve got to win ugly and we did that on the road. That’s how road games are they aren’t going to be pretty. We didn’t move the ball well but that’s not what it’s about. The whole thing is about three points and moving onto next week, wherever we play and we go from there.”
Defender Sheanon Williams
On winning at Rio Tinto for the first time:
“It is a big win for us. They’re a good team we knew that going in. We knew they hadn’t lost at home so we came in trying to be confident. Knowing we got two points out of our last two road games and try to continue that into this game. I thought we did a good job at staying compact and making the game ugly and three points is three points.”
On the back four’s playing together again:
“After the three goals last week we were disappointed but we tried to rectify that today and I think we did a good job getting a shutout. It is important for the coaching staff to have confidence in us. To give us a few games under our belt and give us some continuity and I thought we did a lot better job this week than we did last week.”
On getting road results:
“We’re just trying to make us feel confident away from home. Letting ourselves know that what we do at home we can do on the road. Wade [Barrett] has done a good job of preparing us for the games, making sure we’re compact and know what to do going into the games and having a good game plan ahead of time.”
Thoughts on Alex:
“I think it has gone kind of under the radar. He’s done a fabulous job. He breaks up a lot of plays and of course when you can get your midfielders scoring goals it is really important for us. It helps out on our front line and our whole team. He’s done a great job at finishing opportunities and that is really important for us.”
On making the game ugly on purpose:
“Making the game ugly wasn’t intentional, it just kind of happened. We really couldn’t connect a pass so I think we did a poor job of that. We can definitely look at that and improve on it. Once that happened, when it’s not your day it’s not your day. At that point we were already up a goal and we just wanted to close the doors and not give anything up. We’ve given up a lot of late goals in the past and we wanted to make sure to shut the door behind us and get out of here with three points.”
