Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 1-3 Portland Timbers
Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Interim Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni
On how Portland controlled the match:
“I think we made some adjustments defensively. I think if you lose the ball in bad spots, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. They've been ruthless in front of goal, especially on counters. I think we knew what we were up against. I think in different moments we weren't giving up another corner kick goal to the shortest guy on the field. That’s obviously not in the plans. I think we controlled the game. I don't think that they controlled the game. I think they controlled an important moment or two when they scored, but other than that, I thought we dictated the flow, dictated the game. We just didn't make enough plays in important areas on the field. But overall there are these moments where we start off great and then we get behind it a little bit and chase the game.”
On fixing the problems from the last few matches:
“I'd like to give you a magic solution. I think there are decisions that are made on the field. I think we just have to be more aware of where we are in the field and in the decisions that we're making. I think It might have been the third goal we had ample time and space to play. We take a few extra touches and then we pin ourselves and then they break again. There's no magic fix. It's about understanding where you are on the field and the players that are around you to make the best decision. I thought 95% of the time we did a really good job of that and in that 5% we saw some dangerous chances and a couple of goals.”
On the competitive spirit of the group:
“I thought it was great. I think the guys competed well. I think anytime you're behind the marker coming into the half, it's difficult. When you're behind by three, it makes it that much more daunting of a task to overcome. But again, I think when you come into halftime, I said to the guys let’s win the second half. Just take it one goal at a time, but make sure we're not reckless. I think as a group, we did a much better job than we did against San Jose making sure we had good shape behind the ball and good numbers. I think the second half was good. We created some opportunities with balls off the bar. The balls that were bouncing to them didn't bounce to us in front of goal. I think more importantly, we just have to do a better job of making sure we're not giving the ball away in bad spots. More importantly, finding a way to get on the right side of the marker so that we can be a little bit more controlled in our movements. The most important thing is looking at Kansas City and getting the three points. We have everything to play for. It's important the guys recover and have the right mindset. We need to put this one behind us and really attack it the right way.”
Midfielder Albert Rusnak
On the struggles in the 1st half:
“The first goal was off a set piece, there was a free first and second header. The second goal was unlucky. Aaron [Herrera] tried to defend the right way, but there were a few guys behind him and if he didn't touch that ball they would’ve tapped it in. The third goal was just like against San Jose, there was a turnover and then a counter attack. It’s all the stuff that we talked about leading up to this game. It’s frustrating. I feel like a broken record talking about the same struggles over and over again. I don’t know what else to say honestly. We have one more game left. We missed two huge opportunities at home to clinch a spot in the playoffs and now we are going to have to do it in the hardest way possible against a very good Kansas City team on the road. It’s not going to be easy, but if there’s a one percent chance for us to make it we have to believe and take advantage of that chance on Sunday. As far as today I have nothing else to say you guys can probably see where the goals came from just as good as anyone else.”
On if there’s any momentum going into Kansas City:
“Right now we have no momentum, we've lost back to back games at home. I don’t know if we’ve lost two in a row at home this year. I could be wrong, but what I’m trying to say is that we’ve been so good at home this year. Not many teams have come here and scored three or four goals against us. We are all surprised by what we’ve done in our last few games. We had momentum going into the last game against San Jose after winning on the road against Dallas and that momentum didn’t help us. I don’t think momentum is what is on our mind right now as players. Sunday is going to be a game that starts at zeros and lasts 90 minutes just like any other game. We have won tough games on the road before. The toughest thing for us now is to forget about the last two games at home. We have to go into Sunday’s game without any second thoughts and focus on Kansas City.“
On what changes need to be made against Kansas City:
“We are trying to play attacking football and we are still turning the ball over easily, which has led to counter attacks and goals. If we want to play this style of football with three in the back then us players in the attacking half need to take care of the ball. We have to know when we turn the ball over we don’t have very many guys in the back. I thought we kept the ball in the opposition's half very well today, but the sloppy little giveaways are costing us goals right now. It’s not even that they lead to chances, they have led directly to goals for the other team. Also, we created chances today and we didn’t capitalize on them. We were in the final third, but we need to improve on our final passes or crosses. Going on the road we may not have the ball as much we have had in these last two games. It might be similar to Dallas where we will have to be under and be compact. It’s going to take the whole team to get the result we want in Kansas City. It’s going to take all eleven guys to get us into the playoffs.”
