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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 22, 2017

Jesse Marsch

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 2, Columbus Crew SC - 0

Q. Second straight shutout, how comfortable are you feeling? You said you wanted to stick to the plan, but how much more confidence does this give you guys that you've been able to pull these two results off consecutively?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I mean, the group has stuck together, has fought hard, has continued to get better each game. Has continued to get better each day, and ultimately that's what this takes.

So it's not about one result or two results or five results or one year. It's about over time, having a process of understanding how to commit to getting better. And we have that here. It's not just one or two players; it's literally a whole group, and you can go down to the USL team, the commitment that we have as an organization to find ways to grow and get better.

Still early stage of the season, but eight games under our belt, I feel like now we're getting to the point where we're starting to see ourselves get better every day. And listen, this was always going to be a good game. It was always going to be a tough game. When we play Columbus, they stylistically challenge what we do. They are good at what they do. The challenge for us is to be really good at what we do.

When we did do -- when we were tactically sound and when we did press together, we were able to create many chances but when we were a little bit off, they started to put little plays together that would exploit our pressing.

So it makes it a day for running. It makes it a day for staying tuned in and alert. It makes it a day for competing and it makes it a day for finishing off plays.

Overall, high marks for a lot of guys on the field, and I feel like we took another big step forward today.

Q. This is Alex's second time he's scored in two straight. Has his positioning gotten better towards goal since you put him back to the starting 11?
JESSE MARSCH: I think, yes, the answer is yes. I think he put himself in a position to score that first goal. You know, a little unlucky not to reward himself with the second. When the ball get wide, always trying to find ways to get our attacking players to commit to running hard in the box. And then, you know, also delivery. So Kemar put a really good ball in there that challenged their back line.

But yeah, I think Alex, this will definitely help him with confidence around the goal and I think we'll continue to see the quality come. And you know, that's the other part is that he emptied his tank tonight. We had a lot of guys that really emptied their tank at the highest level, and we knew that's what it was going to take.

Q. The crew were in first place coming in. They play really well and keep the ball up but you were able to disrupt them and keep their midfield from doing much. Particularly Adams, who had a tough assignment. He seemed to deal we wane well, and when you saw Artur come out, he's been big for them. Did you get a sense that they might struggle without him there?
JESSE MARSCH: Well, the first part is that, yeah, we knew that a lot of the -- so what happens with them is they like to go to one side and then they like to come through the middle, and they need those three guys in the middle to start to space themselves and create passing lanes. And then they like to exploit the weak side, and they overload the weak side and then try to put balls back across and Ola Kamara running in the box. That's a very effective way to play for them, and they are very good at it.

And they -- if our press isn't good, then they can -- and on the weak side, they really can have space and they can have time to run, and that's what really challenges us.

So it requires our midfielders to now really be compressing the field and knowing where their important players are, and it requires our front three to be coming back into the game and help compress the field and it requires our four backs to make sure that they are ready to shift as quickly as possible so there are not big gaps in our back line for them to play through.

That's a lot to happen all at once on the fly while they are sprinting, while they are coming at you for 90 minutes. So it challenges everything.

But you know, I thought overall, even though they were able at times to possess the ball and go from one side to the other, we didn't give up huge chances, right. We did a pretty good job, a couple came on set pieces where maybe Kemar could have been at the far post but we did a pretty good job of limiting big chances from them.

And then yeah, Artur has been an important guy. But it's funny, you could say similar to us, and for them, too, they have a kind of system that they find the kind of players that they need, they put them into their system, they know what their roles are and they go and do their job.

So that's a credit to the system that Gregg better halter has built and the way their team plays and the confidence he has in his players. I still felt that Abu was going to be an important guy and we were going to have to still now manage him. And it turned out toward the end of the first half, Abu was really finding a lot of spots and causing trouble.

Q. Tyler as well --
JESSE MARSCH: The thing you see the most with Tyler is that he can just cover so much ground. He can run. You know, there were so many times where he all of a sudden was recovering to deal with a moment, or counterpressing to deal with a moment, or then now there was, you know, he would pick up a loose ball and there would be space to run and he would be able to run for 50 yards with the ball and relief pressure.

So all those little details wind up being really important. And yeah, listen, this is a high-level game to have to play in the middle and figure out what's going on and I think Tyler really held his own and won a lot of his battles, and another day where we see him continue to grow.

Q. Having Danny to kick the penalty kick, it was a way to reward his work and dedication?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, we also think -- it's no secret that we've had issues with penalties. And you know, there may be a time that we go back to Brad or Sacha, but we also, when we take penalties in training, Danny is one of our best takers. So we made the decision at the beginning of the year, or after the Champions League, to go with Danny.

And, yes, for me, it's also really important for him to get on the board because he's put a lot of work in, and I think this will give him confidence.

Q. After the second goal, it looked like the team played a lot more defensively focused and attacked more direct. Was that by design or due to Columbus sort of starting to --
JESSE MARSCH: A little of both. A little of both. I think we wanted to go for the third but do it in a way where we also were not exposing ourselves. Some of that was to come a little bit deeper. Some of it was fatigue, all right.

But I think overall, I felt like at the 52nd minute, like we might be in for a long half. And I was starting to think that at the 55th, maybe the 60th, that we were going to have to make a sub or maybe even make a tactical change.

All of a sudden at about the 57th minute, we started to gain a grasp on the game, so Columbus came out of the locker room and pushed hard to get the goal. When we weathered the storm, I felt like we grew into the half and then it seemed more likely like the third was coming; that it was going to be 2-1.

As a coach, sometimes you're trying to play a little bit of a balancing act to read what's happening during the game and decide: Do you want to take tactical changes to help defensively or do you want to make tactical changes to actually continue to go for the goals.

Overall I thought the guys hung in there, and it allowed us to make changes that I think helped us not get too defensive.

Q. For the third straight match since going to the 4-2-3-1, it seems like offensively the group is clicking. Is that about formation or confidence in and is there an update on Bradley Wright-Phillips, was that an injury, hamstring or tightening?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, so the 4-2-3-1, the main function of playing that way is it gets the best out of Brad and Sacha who are our two best players and two of the best players in the League. So we made the decision to make the switch.

You know, there's been some talk about like when we were 1-6 last year, we played with two strikers and all; we played with three strikers last year when we were 1-6 and we just couldn't get the thing going. This year we went with two, went through some struggles but I think we learned also some real valuable things and now when we go to three, it's a comfort zone specifically for those two guys, which I think is important to maximize their abilities.

And the follow-up was Bradley? Bradley is okay. Yeah, when I saw him stretch his hamstring, that worried me. So I made the decision to take him out and he said he's fine, but we felt like we had a grasp on the game and we really believe in Fredrik. So I think continuing to find ways to preserve him and Sacha are important.

Q. I was going to ask the 4-2-3-1, too. It just seems like the whole team has their MoJo back and the simple thing you could say is the system change but I think you answered it, because players are more comfortable?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, it's also being at home, right. I mean, okay, we had a good performance in Orlando. We didn't get the result. But again, you look around the league: The home teams are getting results, and that's just the way it goes in our league.

You know, but I feel like we understand, even, you know there, was even some moments in the game today where we used Sacha almost like a second forward. Tonight he played like a 9 1/2, so he would press sometimes up higher but come underneath with the game, and that's one of the nice things about creating familiarity with the two strikers is that we can kind of flux back and forth and still continue to keep our shape and understanding as to what the responsibilities are.

Q. And Gregg suggested that you were trying to pound the right side of their defense. Was that something you had in mind or did he -- just seemed that way to him.
JESSE MARSCH: We, I don't want to reveal too much, but we liked certain match-ups in the game, and so we decided to try to go after them. That's all you're getting.

Q. Obviously they came in and they were in first place with the win and now you are tied for first heading into tomorrow. How important was it to close the gap? I know it's early, still April, but how important is it, given the east is looking really tough with Atlanta, Chicago improving and looking like it's going to be a real dogfight. But the east --
JESSE MARSCH: The east is better this year.

Q. Right. How important is it to kind of keep that tightness?
JESSE MARSCH: I think it's still early for me. But I think, yeah, I mean, we feel like there's momentum, right. We feel like we're moving this thing forward. Points-wise, it's always nice to look at the table and see that you're, you know, in the front or near the front.

Yeah, if Columbus winds up winning tonight, then there's a very different feel within the team and then when you look at the table, there's a six-point difference, so all these six-pointers are valuable and important. We'll have another one next weekend. But truly, the progress.

At this point in the year, it's about making progress and growing so that you continue to understand what it's going to take within the year to be the team you want to become. That's where I look at, regardless of the result, and feel pretty good about the night.

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