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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 14, 2017

Jesse Marsch

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 1, Los Angeles Galaxy - 3

Q. The Red Bulls came out --
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I mean, listen, L.A. buries their first two chances. I guess one is a free kick that comes from the first chance.

But I -- you know, I have to take responsibility for this, because to have a team that's not ready to play from the start, and to play a first half like that where we show no life and no commitment and no belief, you know, I have to look carefully at what I'm doing.

And, you know, there's not enough guys that are playing up to their potential and their capabilities, and so again, that has to fall on my shoulders.

So I've got to figure out a way to get this group playing better; playing more to what I know it can; to making things clear for guys, and to challenging everyone to do more.

So, you know, it's the worst performance since I've been here at Red Bull at home, for sure. On that side of things, I'm very disappointed and I'm going to look directly at myself and figure out how this can get better.

Q. If I can quickly ask, I know you thought Tyler was supposed to be here. The Under 20s, did they call him early?
JESSE MARSCH: No, I mean, this was a discussion. The decision was made to let Tyler go.

Q. You gathered the team at midfield, you normally don't do that with your team --
JESSE MARSCH: You know, I challenged them. I challenged them to stick together and to be more like us. You know, at half time, I told them that I didn't recognize what that was. You know, I didn't recognize -- we didn't look like us. That's plain and simple.

Again, that falls on my shoulders because it's my job to prepare everyone and to make sure that whenever we play, win, lose or draw, that we are us. That falls on me, and I've got to figure out -- I've got to figure out selections. I've got to figure out who our guys we can count on, and I've got to challenge everyone to now have more self-belief and commitment and understand what it's going to take for us to be the team we want to be.

Q. Was that something you planned or --
JESSE MARSCH: No, that was to try and inject some life in us. I mean, listen, by no means was Alex like a problem in the first half. It was just trying to figure out a way of when we are down 2-0, how to put a couple more attacking pieces on it and get Mike going.

We made the decision before the game that Mike, his maximum was 45 minutes. I didn't think we were going to have to go to that, but we did. We have to find ways of getting Mike back to the player we know he can be. But that was not premeditated.

Q. I missed the opening of your press conference. So if you addressed this already, I apologize. What did you see and what didn't you see from this team?
JESSE MARSCH: Well, the main thing, listen this, game, the way we played in the first half had nothing to do with tactics. It had nothing to do with game plan. It had -- you know, listen, L.A. has a good start, but we have an absolutely dreadful start, and the confidence and life in our team was just sucked out of us.

And so instead of having a response like, no problem, down 2-0, we've got this, right; it's early; there's plenty to play for; we're at home, we're going to go after this bit by bit, play-by-play. You just saw shakiness and nervousness and fear.

So again, that falls on my shoulders and my leadership. I've got to find a way to make sure that this group understands exactly who we are and who we need to be at all times; at all times.

Q. If I can ask about Sean Davis, it seemed at times he looked a little lost. Was he able to recover from his earlier play?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I mean, Sean -- this isn't -- for me, it's not any one guy, right. I mean, you could go around and say, right who, put a little more into it, who didn't. But listen, we all have to share in this responsibility and most importantly, me. Most importantly, me, because I have to make sure that our team represents this organization and our fans with passion and fight and heart, every time we step on the field. And that was not what we were.

Q. You have Toronto in four or five days now. What do you have to do?
JESSE MARSCH: Best team in the league, clearly. On a great run. Finally they will get some rest. So they will come in here with a great team. They will be ready to push the game. They will be flying high. Huge challenge. Huge challenge. See what we're made of.

You know, you give the Galaxy credit because they had a shaky performance in the first half and they responded in that game and they come here and responded in a big way. So they learned a lot about themselves. Time for us to learn about ourselves. Time for us to learn what we're made of.

Q. The tentativeness, was that both sides of the ball or just one side --
JESSE MARSCH: All of the above. Every facet of the game was affected by the fact that we were afraid.

Q. You guys seem to rely a lot on your home record coming into this and that confidence. Going into your next game against Toronto, do you feel that this is becoming a must-win, just to get things back on track?
JESSE MARSCH: No. No. It's definitely not a must-win. I mean, we've already gathered enough points to, you know, feel like the season is all there for us. But what's the bigger challenge is, this isn't about points and standings right now. It's about identity. It's about making sure that the belief system of who we are, what we are, what we do, you know, that's -- that's where we're at right now.

That's what -- it doesn't make it a crisis, but it certainly has to be a massive, massive learning moment, massive. Massive slap in the face, massive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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