Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 1-2 Montreal Impact
Stade Saputo; Montreal, Canada
May 29, 2019
Head Coach Mike Petke
On the match:
“We worked on something specific all week and the first goal comes from us not executing that when we executed the first 46 minutes and 50 seconds. It was a poor PK to give up in the second half. We fought back though, of course. When you’re down, you push it and teams always sit back. So we had a lot of the ball and looks at goal. We had an offside goal, a questionable PK with Damir, a good goal and at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. We weren’t aggressive enough to start the game in defense and attacking. We had too many people coming back to get the ball instead of keeping the balance and staying high and looking in behind. But again, we fought back into it. It just wasn’t enough today.”
On halftime adjustments:
“It’s not just on the front guys to run behind. They’ll run behind when the ball is being played. A lot of times we played negative balls tonight. A lot of times we weren’t as daring with the ball as we’ve been the last three games and I think that cost us. We could’ve played the ball forward. We could’ve played behind their defense. So it’s not just the guys up front, it’s the guys with the ball that are willing to play those balls behind.”
On the quick turnaround:
“Albert came off a bit injured. We’ll see what his status is. Obviously we had some tired guys from the Friday game putting in a shift tonight so we’ll have to really think closely about who’s on the field on Saturday and how we’re going to approach this game. It’ll be right back to work after this with the coaches and figure out how we’re going to approach the Red Bull game.”
On takeaways heading into the New York game:
“In transition in the first half we did have our opportunities and we had our key moments and that’s going to be huge in New York. They are a team that gets a lot of numbers around the ball to counter-press immediately and if we don’t find those avenues to play out of and bypass them, then it’s going to be a long day Saturday. We’ve already started talking to the team about the game on Saturday. It’s going to be a tough game, a tough place to go play in. A young and very energetic team in New York. The positives to take out this – we’ll have to look at the tape and we will pinpoint those but we’ve already started to plan for New York.”
Forward Sam Johnson
On changes in the second half:
“In the second half, we pressed up higher and higher by the goal and it was good.”
On things Montreal did to make things difficult:
“They are at home. We came on the road and we came to win. The first half they did a good job pressing and in the second half we were more aggressive.”
On the quick turnaround:
“Coming on the road is difficult for any team. We just need to have the energy to win.”
Defender Brooks Lennon
On an all-homegrown backline:
“We don’t look too much into that. We’ve all been playing together since preseason so we know each other.”
On the second half:
“I thought 100% we were going to get the equalizer and make it 2-2. There was one really good chance for Bofo had that free kick that just missed the post. We had an unfortunate offside call for a goal. We were definitely pushing for the second goal and I thought it was coming.”
On takeaways heading into New York:
“It’s going to be a really tough game. They’re a team that loves to pick up second balls. They’re around every situation with tons of guys. We need to rest and recover quick and be prepared for a strong team on Saturday. But there’s nothing this team can’t conquer. We have a great group of guys and I think we can pick up a result.”
