Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 1-6 Portland Timbers
Providence Park; Portland, Oregon
Saturday, August 25, 2021
Interim Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni
On the result:
“This last week of travel, the emotional impact that it had, you saw some tired legs out there for sure. A lot of times it looks like lack of effort and tiredness, but we didn’t do a very good job of winning first balls that were crossed in and we did a very poor job of winning second balls and we did very poorly in transition defense. We didn’t stop the play enough, we ran alongside guys and let them play out. Again, it was a team that we talked a lot about their counting-attacking, to sit deep and make it difficult. They want you to put balls in the box and if the shape behind the ball is not good, you are going to run the risk of what happened tonight. I think what we did really well in the last few games kind of let us down, that edge that we had, the repress that we had. We were winning second balls and maintaining a good structure. You go down 4-1 and at that point it's human nature to want to keep going and in our want to do that, we give up two more. The good news is that it’s three points. Whether you lose at the death or at home, it’s going to be disheartening. The most important thing is what is the response going to be like on Wednesday at home? That’s the most critical thing. The mentality has got to be there, the football has got to be there, the soul has got to be there, it’s all got to be there to win games in this league. Especially at this time of the season.”
On keeping the same formation moving forward:
“We have had a great level of comfort with that set up. I thought bringing Noah in would bring in some good attacking play on that left side, but it didn’t manifest in the way that I thought it would. I thought our transition to defend on that side was poor as well. It feels like in that 3-5-2, we have good central numbers and with two forwards it allows us to repress a little bit better. I’d like to say it's that, but when you can't win first or second balls and you can’t defend in transition, It’s going to be hard to win games. It’s something that we’ll look at tonight and tomorrow and see what the best way forward is with the players that we have available.”
On his message to the group after the match:
“My message was that you do a lot of good things in the last week and people start talking a little bit, you get a little bit high on your hog and you kind of put down your guard a little bit. I think what we did well was that we kept sharpening our tools, we kept sharpening our lines. Sometimes it’s human tendency to relax a little bit and think that you are going to come in here and get three points because of the way that you’ve been playing. The game is unforgivable in that way, it asks you to show up everyday and be the best version of yourself. So, my message was that this game is worth three points. The next game at home is the most important game of the season for this group. We’ve got to make sure that we get over this quickly and digest it, but more importantly look forward and think about this moment and how we can improve ourselves as a whole moving forward to Wednesday.”
Defender Justen Glad
On what went wrong:
“A lot of things went wrong. Every transition they had they were dangerous and we didn’t have a response for it. They took their opportunities and finished them well. We were all over the place, it wasn’t good enough.”
On defending Portland’s counter-attacks:
“It was tough. Obviously they capitalized on a lot of transitions. I think that comes down to shape behind the ball, not being in the proper shape. Then on the mental side of the game, knowing when to foul, knowing when to end a play early. The ball seemed to just squeak out of every tackle right to them and they would go and get a goal. It was tough.”
On the formation:
“I have really enjoyed it. Obviously it is fun whenever you can get in on the attack. Especially when I have Aaron [Herrera] to my right, who is a good attacker and defender. He gives me confidence to play on the ball and I know that if I screw up he can recover for me. I have Holt to the left of me who is the same, he also has my back so it has definitely been a lot of fun trying to create. Hopefully one of these days I hop onto the assist sheet.”
Midfielder Albert Rusnák
On the result:
“We started sloppily like last time, we gave up two goals from nothing. It’s not going to be perfect every time, you are not always going to win from behind. We can’t afford to go behind almost every other game and be chasing games. In San Jose it went our way and we were able to come back, but today it didn’t work. We got hit on the counter-attack many times.”
On not being able to prevent the counter-attack:
“Once you go two goals down and then you get one back, in our minds we wanted to at least tie the game and get a point, so we’re not thinking about defending at 2-1 down. Then unfortunately today every counter attack that they had ended up with a goal. We have a couple of days to go over the film and learn from our mistakes and then we’ve got to move on because another game is coming soon.”
On how the team needs to respond against LA Galaxy:
“We need three points.”
