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COLUMBUS CREW FC MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 28, 2018

Gregg Berhalter

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 2, Columbus Crew FC - 3

Q. Obviously not the finish you guys were looking for but for the group to be able to hang on and close this one out, what does that mean in general?
GREGG BERHALTER: It was important. I think the beginning of the game, the first half of the game, we had to make some adjustments based on how they were playing a different system and I think we adjusted really well. We exploited the space in the empty middle and did a great job of keeping the ball and putting them on their heels.

The second half, as they moved back to their traditional system, the focus was now on switching the field and I think we could have been a little more effective, you see the goals, both of them came on examples of when we could have switched field to break pressure off.

Q. You went with two strikers for maybe the first time you've had these guys here. What was it about that system?
GREGG BERHALTER: So the idea was not to play in the middle of the field, if they are playing their normal 4-3-2-1. The middle, they are so strong, and we just wanted to keep the balls on the side of the field and we thought, if you don't need a person central you might as well play with two strikers and might as well put more pressure on their defense.

As it turns out, think played their 3-3-3-1 system, which left the middle open and we had to make adjustments. So we pulled Harry inside, dropped Pedro inside and pushed our wing backs high to create space centrally.

Q. Obviously Patrick, only his second game with you guys. What do you feel like he gave you with his precision?
GREGG BERHALTER: I thought he was strong, both physically, his movement was good and he held balls up. The character to fight through, not having played 90 minutes in a long time, you know, I thought he was excellent.

Q. The resulting goals haven't been there for you but even though the end wasn't what you wanted, is this something potentially you could build off, getting those three goals on the road?
GREGG BERHALTER: Soccer is funny because we've created more chances than we did tonight and not score, and you're efficient, you score almost every chance you get and you end up winning the game. You know, overall, I think we've never been pressing the guys. Our attitude is, it will come, just keep working.

Q. To get Pedro's confidence up on set pieces, what can that do for this group in general down the stretch?
GREGG BERHALTER: If they start giving the delivery we know they can, they are dangerous. Their set piece service has been excellent all year.

Q. The second half was obviously a little bit different. What did you -- how do you think you handled their changes?
GREGG BERHALTER: So I think, you know, I'm disappointed to give up the goals. Disappointed in the way we gave up the goals. I think there was glimpse of the game plan being perfectly in place, and then there are other moments where we didn't execute and we got punished. You think of the first goal, the idea is to get it back to the throw and switch field. We didn't execute that properly.

Overall, I think it's a lesson learned, but Red Bull played with an extreme intensity in the second half and it made it difficult. They are a good team and they are a good team at home, and that's going to happen in games. Me and Andrew talk about the ebb and flow of games all the time.

Q. Speaking of ebb and flow games, Zack makes a couple saves early, seems to shift the tone in the first half. How important was that to get you guys confidence?
GREGG BERHALTER: I think he played a solid game, a really solid game and then had some good saves and able to steady the team. On set pieces I thought he was pretty good, so pleased with his performance tonight.

Q. What is Josh's status?
GREGG BERHALTER: Going to see what it is, just some ankle pain.

Q. How about Federico, is this one where you could have gone to him if you needed to?
GREGG BERHALTER: Well, we could have except for the fact we ran out of substitutes, so it made it challenging. If we would have had another sub, we could have used him. I think we had intentions of using him and then how the game unfolds, you have to make adjustments.

Q. You guys now have a bye week in this next week after a pretty compact stretch of games. How will you take this next week or so?
GREGG BERHALTER: I think we're going to learn from this game. We're going to give the guys some days off and then we're going to come back and we're going to keep pushing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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