	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 29, 2016

Jesse Marsch

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 4, FC Dallas - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Over the course of the season, it's been tough to start. You get the clean sheet, score four goals. Can't be much better. Do you guys feel like you're back?
COACH MARSCH: Obviously a very good performance against a really good team. I thought that they executed the game plan and stuck to the way we wanted to play and controlled the tempo for the entirety of the match, for 90 minutes.

Really good to see some young guys getting on the field at the end, and guys who I think have a bright future in this club. That was great.

In the tough moments, we tried to continue to reinforce all the things about confidence, belief, who we are, what we're about, that in tough moments you get stronger. I feel like we're in a good place right now.

Now, that doesn't mean anything because next week we've got to throw it all out there again and prove ourselves again. If we get too ahead of ourselves, all of a sudden you start to slip.

Right now I think the level of concentration and commitment and the mentality right now is at a really good place. We've got to just keep pushing here as we go forward.

Q. You talked about in that losing streak, you couldn't put it together. Tonight did you feel positive that finally everything came together for you guys?
COACH MARSCH: Yeah. Even that being said, I thought we could have and should have gotten the lead earlier, right, then could have kind of pushed at that point.

But like I said last time we all sat here, I believe in things that are real. When I look at this team, I know it's real. Yeah, we haven't gotten breaks, we gave away too many goals, there were moments where we were rattled a little bit in the beginning parts of the season.

But, again, I think we used that to strengthen us. If we were worried about, after coming out of the Supporters' Shield, about being complacent, that's gone. Now it's hunger to try to prove ourselves. Everybody thinks that we're no good. I think that's created the chip on the shoulder.

In the end, we've got to use that tough start as motivation always to make us better and help drive us to where we want to go.

Q. FC Dallas is obviously a great team. Came out flat the first half, not much energy. Did you have the sense that you could just jump on them given how much energy you showed in the first half?
COACH MARSCH: It's a dangerous team. I knew we were controlling things, but I also knew that three passes, one play away from evening the game up. We said we wanted to keep the shutout, but we felt like getting the second goal was going to be really important.

What a great second goal, right? It came from doing a lot of the things that we try to do: playing forward, pressing, going after the ball, being alert.

Overall I thought the way we, again, put our stamp on the game, played the way we wanted to play, put pressure on them, that was a very good night for us.

Q. I have to ask you about the set piece. How do you come up with a play like that?
COACH MARSCH: Everything we try to do here is a representation of all of us. We as a staff like to do some special plays on occasion. But then it's up to the players on the field, Sacha, to sort of quarterback what we're going to do. The thing that's great to see is they love the special plays, too.

The play that comes to Sal, Sal could decide to shoot it, because he was in a good spot, instead of pass it. But they stick to the plan of what the set piece is, then they try to execute it.

They don't all come off. But when they do, they look pretty fantastic.

The execution on that one was really good.

Q. Last week when you go to 3-1, gave up a goal, a nervous ending to the game. Tonight was it important to keep a clean sheet at the end as it was to get the final goal?
COACH MARSCH: Everyone on the field knew that was the emphasis. We wanted to now not allow a goal. There were some moments late in the game where they come and almost put up a play. A bunch of guys diving around, flying around the box, sprinting back to try to recover, to do everything they could to not give up goals.

That's what we've said. We've said, Listen, sometimes it's tactical and sometimes it's making a play. But oftentimes it's just how bad do you not want to give up a goal. Are you willing to throw your body in harm's way? Are you willing to make a tackle? Are you going to sprint 80 yards to try to prevent someone from getting an open shot?

So we saw that tonight. That's something that we needed to see and it was really good.

Q. Go into the decision to put Duvall in, especially in his not-so-natural position?
COACH MARSCH: We knew they didn't have a lot of size, but we knew they had crafty, quick guys. We thought that even though it's not Chris' natural spot, we used him there, looked at him in training, obviously against Kansas City. I think Chris has gotten better at playing that spot. We felt that the matchups were good.

So it turned out to be the case. I thought in the end it was going to come down to how well Chris was going to play.

What I said to him before the game is, We need a guy to go in there that has belief, that's a competitor, that wants to win his battles, that wants to do whatever it takes to win the game. For me, that's Chris Duvall to a T.

Thought he had a really good game and was a difference-maker for us tonight.

Q. Getting Justin his first start, your thoughts on what you saw from him tonight?
COACH MARSCH: Yeah, his best play is the desperate play he makes in the box to get a toe on the ball to make sure they don't get a goal.

We like Justin. We think he's gifted with the ball, he's a great passer, he serves a great ball in the box. He's athletically fairly gifted. Just trying to get him to up the speed in terms of the intensity in the defensive end, the ability to cover ground, the ability to win battles.

But I think he has a bright future.

Q. Wanted to get your thoughts on the trade from earlier today, why you thought it was important to acquire a player like that?
COACH MARSCH: Well, we felt like we needed one more piece back there to I think solidify our defense. Obviously we've given up a lot of goals. That hasn't been good. We've been looking around at different opportunities to add a piece. We were thinking at the beginning of the year that maybe we'd wait until the summer window or see how we got through this.

But we thought now that given everything, it was time to make a move. And to be able to get access to a player like Aurelien Collin, I think we're very lucky. I think he's going to fit the way we play really well. He's a true competitor. In Kansas City they play a version of what we do. So I think he knows what this is about. He's incredible in the air, on set pieces. He's a smart player. I think he's going to fit into this whole thing pretty seamlessly.

When I spoke to him, he just talked about how excited he was for this opportunity, and that he loves the way we play, that he can't wait to get here.

Q. That celebration after the second goal really showed a sense of relief from your squad. How do you maintain this momentum going forward?
COACH MARSCH: I've seen the confidence growing for the past few weeks, right? I've seen that this group, even though we've been through some tough times, that they've gotten more and more confident and they've understood more and more what this was really going to take, right?

Life is funny. The game is funny. All these different things. How to be a good team. There's no manual, right? I mean, there's all kinds of leadership books and all kinds of tactical analyses and everything else.

In the end, it's about how hard guys want to commit to being real, playing for each other, caring for each other. Sometimes it takes really, really hard moments to fully understand how much it means to you.

I think this group is now in a place where they understand it. They get it. They can't wait to, again, show it when the lights come on.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297