Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 0-3 Portland Timbers
Providence Park; Portland, Oregon
October 21, 2018
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
General thoughts on the match:
“First half was, to me, a continuation of the last time we played [Portland]. Second half we turned it on. Had some clear cut chances, didn’t convert them, and pushed players forward, made some tactical adjustments with less guys in the back and [Portland] got a third goal. Overall, second half I’m proud of the guys. Now it is what it is. There’s a one-in-a-million chance now that we get to the playoffs. That’s it.”
On the performance of Timbers’ goalkeeper Steve Clark in the second half:
“Of course. Had we not dropped one, two points at home this year when we did, even though we had a very good home record. We didn’t let one or two games slip away, this would have been a non-factor. Could have been, would have been, it’s not just about tonight. He had two great saves on those shots. Again, we didn’t find the back of the net.”
On areas that Portland found to exploit Real Salt Lake:
“Well in the first half, they were the ones again, like the first game, their urgency, stepping up, closing down, giving us no room to play. Our bit of lack of off-ball movement, which is what we really talked about and worked on. In the second half, obviously it was better. Where they found spaces, it’s not so much that they found space, it was our lack of clogging that space up and our lack of shifting together, whereas second half it was better.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
General thoughts on the match:
“We knew it was going to be highly contested. We just came out on the short end of the stick today.”
On what the Timbers were able to do to break down Real Salt Lake:
“Anytime you give a goal on a set-piece, that’s something we try to pride ourselves on, not giving away goals on set-pieces, so that unlocked the game a little bit, giving up a set-piece goal. But I thought come the second half, we had quite a few good chances to tie it up, which could have changed the game. Momentum could have got on our side and we weren’t able to finish. Steve Clark had unbelievable saves to really hold down that 1-0 lead and ultimately give them time to get that second [goal].”
On possible frustration to have to wait on a potential playoff spot:
“Yeah, it’s disappointing. We had a really good feeling this week, coming in. Good practice. We just weren’t able to get it done on the weekend. It’s not a good place to be. We’re going to be the biggest Houston Dynamo fans there’s ever been and we’ll be rooting them on and hopefully they can help us out.”
On an exchange of words with Timbers head coach Gio Savarese after the final whistle:
“It was just something. Some of their players didn’t have class, which you’d expect a team coached by him that their whole team would have class, but some of their guys didn’t show it tonight.”
