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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 27, 2017

Jesse Marsch

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 2, New England - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Best game from Kemar in a while? And offensively was that the most ideas you've put forth in a while?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I think that's our best game. And if you go through Kemar, I think Kemar has been if not our best player then one of our best players this year.

He started out slow, had a couple personal things he had to fight through with his family. But, my gosh, he's playing the best he's ever played. It's just a series of consecutive games that he takes care of things defensively first, then finds a way to be dangerous in the attack and make some plays. It's great to see.

We've all here had such a high belief in Kemar and his personality and his talent, his way of committing to all this. I'm really proud of him. I'm really happy for him. Hopefully we won't miss him too much this summer with Jamaica.

Q. Despite the good performance, you got off to another bad start. Something that's been a little bit of a problem for you guys this year. What's happening that's taking a little bit of time to find the game?
JESSE MARSCH: You know, sometimes it just works out that way. Actually, we didn't have a bad start, but then one play gets away from us.

But I'll say this. It's exactly what we needed. It's exactly what we needed. We needed to be challenged. We needed to go through a little moment of doubting ourselves and feeling like, Here we go again, then to dig deep and know we're the better team, know that we have true belief in ourselves, truly go after the game.

We did that at such a high level that I think we grew a lot tonight. Like, even just a normal 2-1 win would not have meant as much as the way that game played out.

Now, we have to stop making mistakes that hurt us too much. We consider penalties set pieces. So it's another set piece goal that we've given up. We're not happy with that.

But I made a statement to Damien, for sure, that we're all with him, and he's got to find a way to fight his way through this because he's an important guy around here and we need him. He can't go into a hole and he can't feel sorry for himself.

Q. Was this one of the best team performances we've seen this year? I think maybe back to the D.C. game a few weeks ago. Looking at the balance, the possession, the opportunities. Outside of Damien's foul in the box, defensively pretty tight.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I think I heard somebody saying, I think it was Gordon, that that felt like us.

Q. Is that an exact quote?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, put that down from Gordon (smiling).

No, but, listen, I've said sometimes at training, I've said in general that I felt our team now coming together and turning the corner a little bit. The confidence and belief within the group is starting to grow. We're all starting to understand that this is who we know we are.

So it's funny, I mean, I've been lucky enough to be here for two and a half seasons. I've been lucky enough to get to know all these players. It's been a pleasure to coach them. I know them well enough now that I know what I'm feeling, I know what I'm looking at, and I know when things are coming together.

Right now I'm very positive with where we're at. We're looking forward in a big way, but we're still keeping the foot on the pedal and going all the way every day.

Q. Can you talk about the play of Felipe today. He seemed to make a difference in all three zones of the pitch.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, the thing you have to understand about Felipe is he gets a bad rap for being this instigator. But he pours his heart into this at the highest level with every ounce of being that he has.

Sometimes it means that maybe he crosses the line or makes a mistake. But, truly, he does it in an honest way to try to do everything he can to help his team. He cares so much about his teammates, he cares so much about this team, he always empties his tank to the highest level.

I mean, I relate with that. I relate with crossing the line sometimes. I relate with not always being a perfect player. I relate with wanting it more than anything that I can put my finger on to say that's that.

That's the way that I like Felipe. That's the way I appreciate everything that he does.

Q. How is Aaron Long? Do you have an update? He came out injured.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, he just cramped up a little bit. I think he's fine. Again, Aaron has put so much into this year, I thought it was another great game for him until he came out.

Q. Luis, another great second half. After giving up the penalty, nothing happened to him probably the majority of the first half. Do you get worried he doesn't get that much action when you're just attacking and attacking the other side?
JESSE MARSCH: I mean, Luis' ability to keep a high level of concentration and focus. I mean, he's engaged in the game to make sure tactically he's connected with the back line. I think he's always on top of his defenders in front of him to stay alert.

He's a unique individual. He's locked in at all moments. It's important. It's an important quality he has. It feeds to our whole team. It's nice. I don't even know what the number is at any more. He's just so solid and consistent and reliable. I mean, those are the best qualities you can say about a goalkeeper.

Q. Speaking to the offensive prowess tonight, do you think a big part of why they looked so good was maybe finding Sacha in more dangerous positions quicker?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I like that word 'prowess'. You guys going to start throwing around big words. I'll try to keep up (smiling).

Yeah, it was tight a little bit in the beginning, so Sacha had some moments and advantages he couldn't quite capitalize on. As the game went on, he stayed after it.

I think you saw tonight, not only were the four guys sharp, right, because they were good at creating some attacking options. I thought it was the most dangerous we've been all year. Then the way they counter-pressed, went after it when they lost it, never shut down, stayed after the game. It meant we were able to control most of the momentum and most of the game.

That's going to be really key, not just for them to be sharp but locked in tactically as to what we want to do.

Q. Talk about Sean Davis' contribution and attitude coming off the bench.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, Sean, it's not been easy for him. Let's all be straight. He had a lot of pressure on him. We made the decision to make a switch and go with Tyler. The whole time I was trying to keep him motivated and engaged in the right ways.

He was really in training putting a lot into it every day to show when he got his next opportunity that he was going to take it and not look back. In that sense, he's started to look more and more like the player that we know he is.

I think the upside for Sean is so big. It's just about continuing to support him and let him know how much we believe in him.

Really happy to see him play so well tonight. He was a big factor in taking care of the middle of the field. Helped set up some really good attacking plays. Yeah, great for Sean.

Q. (No microphone.)
JESSE MARSCH: No, totally. Predates me, right? Was it the Conference Finals that a lot of these guys remember. There's been a lot of chippy, dirty games. We had an incident in pre-season when Alex Muyl broke his face that we were really displeased with.

I mean, that's what makes rivalries, I guess, is a common hatred but respect. I've said this before, but being part of this club, it's like you feel every time you turn the corner, there's another rivalry, right? There's definitely one with New England. It's hard to for us to win here, it's hard for them to win here.

Next weekend we go to Montreal. We're pissed they took us out of the playoffs last year and ruined our dreams. There's something about the rivalry we have with them.

The East is good this year. You can't slip up because you lose ground. I don't know, man, makes it hard, but makes it fun. We'll be ready to go next weekend.

Q. (Question regarding Bradley Wright-Phillips.)
JESSE MARSCH: What a goal. I mean, Brad is incredible, man. He can score goals in so many different ways. Obviously a big mistake on their end. But the fact that Brad was there to capitalize on it, how clever and quick he was to make that kind of play.

Brad's a unique, man. He's awesome. Then Danny Royer, I talked a little bit on TV after, but Danny's fit in here so well. He loves being here. He fits in with our mentality. He commits to it all the way. I think he's only going to get better, too.

I think we have a lot of guys that now you can start to see guys are getting sharper, their season is starting to come together a little bit more. We've got to keep the foot on the pedal, but have big confidence in where we're going right now.

Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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