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NEW YORK CITY FC MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 5, 2018

Patrick Vieira

Harrison, New Jersey

NY Red Bulls - 4, NYC FC - 0

Q. It seemed like the Red Bulls came with an intensity, a desire, to play that maybe your team didn't match. Did you see that.
PATRICK VIEIRA: Yeah, I think -- and this is the reason why I'm quite frustrated. I'm really frustrated about the competitiveness, about the desire we had on the field. You know, I'm prepared to accept that we can lose games, but the way we lost today with the lack of conviction, the lack of competitiveness is something that I can't accept.

Q. What is it about Bradley Wright-Phillips, that was his 11th goal all-time.
PATRICK VIEIRA: That doesn't surprise me. He's a really good player and he's doing really well in this league but overall I think it's not just about him.

. It's about the Red Bulls, the way that they played. That's something that's difficult for me to accept as a coach is the other teams want it more than us, and I think that's something at this level, you can't accept.

Q. You touched on the lack of competitiveness from your guys. Why is that? That your team came out so flat, four minutes in, giving up two goals?
PATRICK VIEIRA: This is something I will have to reflect on. When you play the DLB (ph) you know that you will have to compete. We know the way that they are playing, and it will be important for myself, but overall for the players, as well, to reflect on that because if we want to bounce back; if we want to keep doing well in this league, evident to change you the attitude because the attitude wasn't good tonight.

Q. When you look at the substitutions you made, to start the second half, what was the reason for those?
PATRICK VIEIRA: If I had the chance to change all the ten players on the field, I will going to do it at half time. I wasn't really happy with every single player on the field, so I just made these changes and try to change the tactical side of the game and went three at the back. But it didn't work.

Q. Did you tell anything to the team at halftime? Did they respond at all, and what did you say to the team minutes ago after the game, if you did talk to them?
PATRICK VIEIRA: I think at the half time, we tried to give them a little bit more problem and create overload in the midfield. We went to our midfield four, against their midfield, three. But the game, they allowed us to keep the ball and move it around. We didn't create much.

When you concede two goals after five minutes, it's really difficult.

Q. This team has veteran leaders at all three levels of the field. With no competitiveness, was the failure leadership from the players on there?
PATRICK VIEIRA: I don't want to put fingers on one player or two players or just the leadership of the team. I think it's the team overall. That's what I said early on: If I could change the ten players on the field, I was doing it because I was unhappy with the way of all of them, the way they performed. But I think we have to reflect on our performance because at that level, it is unacceptable to go on the field and the opposite team wanted it more than us.

Q. You knew that they attacked in the midfield but they also had a young group in the midfield and everyone was waiting to see how those young guys would do in this game. What did you think of Kaku and Adams? Seemed like they squeezed the life out of you guys.
PATRICK VIEIRA: Yeah, I said during the week that was the best Red Bulls team since I'm here. They have young and talented players, so when you have talent, you're a good player, and I think they showed it today.

But when you look at the midfield three and you look at our midfield three, I think we are as good as they are. If you are asking me, I will swap one of the players for their players, and the answer is no.

But today, we didn't turn up, and for me, this is the frustration.

Q. What did you think of Kaku, their new introduction, their play maker? What did you think of what he did today? And did you have any thoughts about maybe changing the way you guys played this game?
PATRICK VIEIRA: No, I think we knew before the game that he's a really good player. I think it take a little bit of time for him to adjust to the League but the talent is there.

You know, every teams that we are going to play, there is a special player on the team, and we are not going to change our tactics or our philosophy regarding who are we going to play.

I'm just really frustrated about us not showing our real face in the big occasion like that.

Q. Off-mic.
PATRICK VIEIRA: I don't want to talk about a single player. I think it was tough for David. He didn't have the support that he normally had. We didn't play as well as we could from the back. I think it was more a collective nightmare than just an individual.

Q. The second half, could you be more direct? The defense on the midfield, a lot of space behind and you guys still moved?
PATRICK VIEIRA: Yeah, I think it was really difficult for us to penetrate centrally, when they was pressing us quite well, and I think today we played as well with a lack of personality, and we for sure can play better than what we did today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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