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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 25, 2017

Jesse Marsch

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 1, New York City FC - 1

Q. Jesse, of all the chances that you had approximate before the penalty came, what were you thinking before it was put into the net?
JESSE MARSCH: I was thinking it's a funny game sometimes. Right? How many sports does a team dominate like that and then be down. But I wanted to make sure that our team was still aggressive and had confidence and went after the game. They did that. They were able to get themselves back in, and a draw feels like a big disappointment because of the way we played and the way we dominated most of the match.

So, yeah, we're going to continue to take this as a positive and know that we're a good team and we're moving in the right direction and not have a setback in any way.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk about the formation a little bit, particularly along the back line. Fidel and Connor both kind of played pseudo midfield roles. Does that kind of negate their counter attack or add weapons to the offense?
JESSE MARSCH: Well, it's, when we're pressing and defending, it's the nature that there's not a lot of space in the midfield. Then they laid off so much, right, that those two wound up being the free players a lot. Those two thought they had to make the game, they certainly had to initiate how we attack with the ball.

They came in and sat so deep, I don't know that I've ever seen them sit that deep ever. So, clearly they have a level of respect for us, and then they had a game plan. We could have negated their game plan by getting the first goal and obviously adding to it. But, you know, they were able to bottle us up in the post. Doing a lot of things to almost create goals, but it doesn't come and we had to chase the game a little bit.

But it was also a fun game. They're a smart team, they're well-coached, they're organized. Then from our end, we have to make some adjustments and changes, and they're making adjustments and changes. So it's a competitive game, but it's also a smart game, so it's a fun one for everyone to be a part of, and I hope that everyone appreciates the level of what was going on the field.

Q. Hopefully, I have my time line right, but there was a play on Bradley where it looks like he got shoved a little bit, and shortly there after you conceded?
JESSE MARSCH: Yes. You can repeat that time line, if you want.

Q. What was your vantage point on the play? What did you think of that? And secondly, did you think that you guys let down a little bit after not getting that call?
JESSE MARSCH: The second part, no, no. I think they just made a play. The first part, so what happens with VAR so Bradley clearly gets contact, so it's going to be a free header where he's going to basically have the majority of the goal to hit the ball into. And it's not going over his head. It's going directly to him where he can score. He gets bumped before he hits the ball, and it alters the shot, which is a foul. It's a foul. So it doesn't get called.

Then what you get with VAR is if it's not clear and obvious, so it's a little bit of a 'tweener, if it were called a penalty, I don't think it would have been reversed. But because it wasn't called a penalty, it's not reversed either. So, that's the part that's still the decision of the referee. And it should be.

I still do think it should be in the referee's hands. Right? But that call was not going to get reversed, I don't think shall either way depending on what the call was. Am I explaining myself clearly? People are shaking their heads.

Q. Jesse, shortly after that Bradley seems to catch a knee going down. I saw kind of your arms go up.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah.

Q. So you had two penalties that you thought you should have had, and you didn't get either one of them.
JESSE MARSCH: Yes.

Q. How much does that take out of you? How much are the team --
JESSE MARSCH: No, I think we stayed after the game. Look, so I didn't get -- if you're saying Alex got his knee clipped, it was hard for me to see on that one, but for me I had a much better angle on the Bradley one. But I don't feel like we really stayed after the game.

What you had in the late stages is two tired teams and a little bit more of an open game. Then the game was up there for either team to take. We tried finding ways to go after it without exposing yourselves. Yeah, but in the late stages it was a little tricky.

Q. Second part of my question is you said it was disappointing. How disappointing is it against these guys?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, there's a lot of guys that were really disappointed in the locker room. It's obvious why. It's a big rival, it's a game that we feel like we're the better team for major stretches and then we go capitalize and find a way to get the three points. So that part in an emotional way is very hard to swallow.

But in part of the job of now being a good team and being a good man danger is to try to find ways to now look at things clearly and map out exactly what happened, and despite the result, figure out what we're doing well and what we're not doing well.

On average tonight I thought a lot of guys played really well, we did a lot of things really well. We controlled the game the way we wanted to, but we just weren't able to capitalize on it.

Q. Obviously the rivalry continues to develop and mature.
JESSE MARSCH: I won't mention the (Indiscernible).

Q. Well, it hasn't happened yet, the playoff match-up.
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah.

Q. And you know how that adds to a rivalry. Do you think this rivalry at this point, not counting your chickens, but would you like to see them?
JESSE MARSCH: Well, I got questioned this week like we've played them so many times in the past two months. Whatever, it feels like two weeks. So does it dilute the intensity of the rivalry? I mean, the obvious answer is yes, it does.

It's still one that I think both teams take so much pride in. I think it's developed into one of the best, if not thee best rivalry in the league, right, for many reasons. But, you know you might be right.

Listen, we're fully aware that if we get to the playoffs and we see them, that that will be a heavy moment for both teams and one that both teams will be up to and an exciting proposition for both clubs and for the league. So we have some time before and some potential to get to that point, but I think everybody's aware of it.

Q. Talking about how he was able to take over the match at Yankee Stadium a couple weeks ago. Outside of the goal, did you feel Aaron Long had a better game against him this time around?
JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, Aaron was very good. Fidel was very good. Kemar didn't make it very hard. So I felt like that back three was quite good. Their aggressiveness, athleticism, their intelligence, I think, bodes well for the future of what we're doing here. So we've had to rotate a lot of guys on the back line. We're trying to find in some ways our first-choice lineup. In other ways we know we can count on a lot of different guys based on what we're going to see. We've challenged them all.

Listen, if you want to be a big time center back and we play against big-time strikers, you've got to find a way to take care of them. David Villa, Giovinco, these guys are not easy to take care of. What great players they are and we're lucky to have them in our league. But I think Aaron took a big step forward in his career tonight the way he played against Villa.

Q. Did you hire the guy in the whale suit yourself?
JESSE MARSCH: No, but I thought -- why was he wearing a whale suit?

Q. They moved the home game from Yankee Stadium to Connecticut, to Hartford?
JESSE MARSCH: Oh, thank you for that.

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