Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On Olave’s play and return to Rio Tinto Stadium
“I think he was solid. He was aggressive. I think our shape in the back at times wasn’t particularly good as we were going forward. Some weird choices by everyone on the whole field, but it was great to have him back, and I thought he did a good job.”
On if the bye week will help him address the “weird choices”
“Obviously [the bye will help], but I think a good video session will help a lot too. When you can really show, for myself as well, but for the players, when you just talk about “why did you make this choice?” “what were you thinking in this play?”. Usually, when you open up the lines of communication and talk and look at things, things get resolved.”
On if the penalty kick was deserved
“Luke just showed me a big mark on his shin. Without a doubt [it was a PK]; he told me it was.”
On if he was relieved to get a draw out of such an odd game as this
“I wouldn’t say relieved. At the end of the day, the score was probably the right score. We did enough to win. Obviously, when you score 3 goals at home you typically are going to walk away with a victory. But we did enough to lose the game as well. I thought our team showed a lot of resiliency in fighting back and sticking together and staying aggressive, but there’re things we need to work on. I just told the guys after the game that if we thought this was the finished product, we’re fooling ourselves. We are going to continually get better; we’re going to learn how to be aggressive and defensive at the same. You’ve seen two different games from us and that’s pretty much the sign of a team that’s doing new things, right? The more that we get better, on both sides of the ball, and even better with our passing as well – I thought it was just a little bit off tonight at times – we’re going to be a very, very good team heading down the stretch, that’s for sure.”
On if tonight was an example of how the team can get a bit stretched defensively in the new formation
“Yeah. We definitely got caught. I’d say their goals – the first one Demar [Phillips] kind of takes a tough negatively, gets it stolen, which is really odd. Then it’s a quick throw-in, then it’s a deflection. So there’re three really odd goals that I would think aren’t going to happen too often, but we need to sure that up. Even our choices sometimes passing in the midfield, if you miss the ball – if you miss the pass by a little bit, it can lead them off into a counter. On another night, I think we make those passes and then we’re still getting at them, but we have to be really mindful of if we lose the ball, what shape we are in.”
On if he thought the team was dangerous on set pieces
“I thought we were really dangerous on set plays all tonight. Their goalkeeper came for a few balls, did really well. Javier’s [Morales] service was fantastic, and I felt like the runs that we made in the box were good. It’s the beginning of the year – we need to get better in every area. It’s definitely an area where we want to get better and better, but we scored on a free kick today, dangerous on others, so I’m pleased with our set plays.”
On what Luke Mulholland brought into the game
“I thought Javier [Morales] and Luis [Gil] did a lot of good things. I just wanted to bring fresh legs. I mentioned to Luke, before he went on, that those midfield runs in behind are almost unstoppable if the timing is right. He made a great run, I can’t remember who played him the ball, fantastic run and when you’re putting pressure on team in their 18-yard box, you either follow him, or you let him go.”
On how this formation utilizes Morales’ strengths
“He can kind of drift around and find the game, and you still have somebody else in that area defensively to help out as well. He’s able to get on the ball more. That’s why we tried to change formation – to suit some people’s strengths. I felt like you saw Olmes [Garcia] tonight, you saw [Alvaro] Sabo[rio] in that target forward and Olmes making great runs and Sebastian [Jamie] making great runs and our outside backs getting forward. There were flashes of what we’re capable of, now it’s doing it for longer stretches and making sure we are just a little bit better with the ball.”
On Demar Phillips’ debut
“He’s coming off of a hamstring injury. I thought he got forward at the right times and did a lot of good things. I thought it probably wasn’t his best night on the ball, but typically he’s very good the ball and makes great decisions. I thought it was overall a good night, not a great night, but positive.”
MF Luke Mulholland
Thoughts on the penalty kick…
“Was it a penalty? In my book, no. Tony slipped me in, and I took a touch inside of the box; chopped it inside. Defender caught me with his stray leg on my shin and knocked me off balance. Then I just tried to regain the ball again. Then I thought we won a corner, but then the referee gave us a penalty, so I’ll take that. Philadelphia is going to feel it hard, I hope they know that I didn’t take a dive. I got the bruise on my shin to show it, but sometimes luck goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. I definitely think it was fortunate to get the penalty. The referee has got a hard decision to make there, because the defender has knocked me off balance, but stopping a goal scoring opportunity I don’t think so. ”
Thoughts on the game overall…
“Feeling was a wacky weird game. Home openers aren’t meant to go that way. They’re meant to be an easy 3-0 win, so it’s a shame we didn’t get that for the fans to start the year off with a bang, but another way to look at it is we’re still undefeated, and with the formation we’re only going to get better. We got players in this squad. In good time, we’ll get good.”
Thoughts on coming off the bench after starting several games last year…
“I think the new formation is coming along. Obviously it puts me back to square one in regards to last season trying to get on the field, but I knew that coming here a year ago that it wasnt going to be easy for a starting spot on this team. It’s fine with me. I’m ok with it… It’s going to be a long season and I’m going to get plenty of chances, same with the rest of the guys on the squad. I can’t get upset about that. Long season, new formation, a lot of quality on the team and I’m pretty sure that eventually the wins will start coming, so not pressing any alarm buttons just yet.”
MF Javier Morales
Thoughts on the game and the defensive approach…
“This game was different. I think we played good. We made a couple mistakes and they scored 3 goals. I think we have to be more focused on the game, with on the details. Sometimes make the difference, especially in those kind of games where you attack all the time, so you have to be ready to defend those second balls. Especially throw ins and deflecting. It’s pretty tough, but in a good way.”
Thoughts on Javi’s free kick goal…
“It was too close to go over the wall, and I have great confidence to shoot it to through the goal keeper, so it was pretty good.”
Thoughts on adjusting to the new formation…
“If you see the game against Portland, then you say that we played pretty good defensively. We focused maybe a little bit more on defensively, and today everyone wants to attack, but we can play like that. We have to be smart and try to go both ways. Attack and defend. And when we get that balance, I think we will be a good team, but right now we have to keep working.”
Thoughts on yelling at guys to defend…
“I remember that play, because everyone was looking forward and l’m looking behind me and nobody was there, so we have a lot of people to go forward, but we need people to defend, and in that situation, I was yelling. I don’t remember to who, but somebody to get there.”
Thoughts on the bye-week…
“We have time, especially now we had two games and now we have two week until next game, so it’s going to be good for us to keep working and get everyone onto the same page and I’m looking forward.”
Philadelphia Union
Head Coach Jim Curtin
On how his team handled today’s match:
“Yeah I thought that my team played excellent. We scored three goals on the road. Unfortunately there were some decisions made that didn’t go our way. I don’t think that we get a lot of respect. Last week I got a call from Peter Walton at pro and they told me that they missed a penalty kick and the referee wound up being suspended. I think it might be a similar situation again. It’s difficult but at the same time I have a bunch of men on my team that fought hard and deserved three points tonight and they got let down at the end of the game.”
On the penalty kick given:
“On the free kick we were trying to sub in Conor Casey and they wouldn’t acknowledge that. They take the free kick and it gets whipped into the box. Mulholland dribbles, there are four of our guys around and no one touches him, he goes down, the ref gives a pk. That’s what happened.”
On Fernando Aristeguieta’s game tonight:
“Yeah he was excellent. He’s a guy who takes his chances well, as you saw. He worked his butt off for the team; scored two goals tonight which we’re very happy with. Again our guys deserved three points tonight.”
FW Fernando Aristeguieta:
On scoring his first MLS goals:
“It feels great. It takes a little bit of the pressure off you scoring the first goals. It was difficult but the best thing that we need right now are good games. We came here for three points and we almost got it.”
On finding his goal scoring form again:
“Of course it’s important for me to get confidence again. I passed a difficult year in 2014 and I’m just trying to get confidence and be happy again playing football. This is a first good step. Since I arrived here my teammates have done a good job with me. For my adaptation here they’ve treated me very good. Today just made me feel happy since I started scoring; it was a good time.”
FW Zach Pfeffer
On getting some playing time with the Union:
“It’s a great feeling. I’m very happy with being this involved early on in the year. These last few seasons I haven’t really broken into the team until around halfway through. So it’s nice to receive the confidence and trust from the coaching staff.”
On being shifted off to the left instead of playing centrally:
“You know any place that I can play is fine with me. If it’s out wide, in the middle it’s really not important to me. Where I can help the coach sees fit that’s where I’ll play. I feel comfortable outside as well as inside.”
