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ORLANDO CITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 28, 2018

James O'Connor

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 1, Orlando City - 0

Q. How do you go about the process?
JAMES O'CONNOR: I think we'll certainly go through everything. I think there will be some reflection from the coaching staff and ourselves, obviously with certain players, we'll go through it. We've got a clear plan of what is to happen. As I said this, week, we'll speak and go from there.

Q. You said earlier this week you're ready to put the season behind you. Are you pleased the season is over and you can forward to 2019?
JAMES O'CONNOR: I am to be honest with you. I think when you look at it, I think today, credit to Red Bull. Want to congratulate them for doing what they have done but from our standpoint -- we caused them some problems going into the second half and then we hoped we can carry it on and unfortunately gave away a soft goal. That was a great chance, one-off.

We battled away the second half, but I think for the division that we have, and what's going to culminate, the invitation of change, and I think that's something we're certainly ready for.

Q. How confident are you you can turn this around for next season?
JAMES O'CONNOR: We'll find out. We have a really clear idea of how we want to play and a very clear type of the type of character we want and we have a very clear idea of the mentality that's needed.

So I think for me, we need to sit down and speak to players individually and we need to go through a lot, but no, I'm confident that we're going to be able to get what we want for sure.

Q. How soon will we see roster changes happening, seeing who stays and who goes?
JAMES O'CONNOR: There's different time lines I think as regards contract options and variations. The club will make a statement as regards players who are staying and who are leaving and obviously as we start implementing change, that will start to come through. I think for us, there's a process, the MLS guidelines that we're all aware of and we'll follow and we'll stick to that protocol.

Q. Speaking of tonight's match in the second half, it looked like the Red Bulls finally were able to get on the front foot. What happened that the team started to wilt a little bit?
JAMES O'CONNOR: I think you score a goal, gives you a shot in the arm. Gives you some energy. I think even then they started to counterattack a little bit. They had a couple of half-chances. I think the big point for us in the second half was that the goal, it is a goal and that makes it nervous for them. I think again, in a situation like that, one goal down, if we can score a goal to make it 1-1, especially with the pressure that they are under, it can change the game.

That's the problem with the mentality, as well. When we miss those opportunities, we need to be strong enough to keep coming back and keep trying to create some chances and try to take them.

Q. You touched on you have to assess players' seasons. What would you say about Yoshi's season this year, obviously left for the World Cup but what do you think of his overall performance?
JAMES O'CONNOR: From our standpoint that was before the World Cup and since, we've been impressed. You can see he has good quality. Not just Yoshi, but we have other players that are good.

I think now is not a time to be speaking about individuals. Again, we'll sit down, go through, finish off this game and we'll sit down this week and we'll speak to players and assess everything and go from there.

Q. Grinwis had a penalty, saved a penalty and seemed like Sacha was pointing at the direction he was going to take it. When can you say about that type of teamwork?
JAMES O'CONNOR: Yeah, I think it's important -- for us, again, it was great to see Adam take it and I'm pleased that Sacha is trying to share and give some experience and help. I think from that standpoint, yeah, we can be pleased with that. But I think overall for where we want to get to, we have some work to do.

Q. Looking down this roster, you frequently mentioned messenger talent. Looking down the roster, do you think there are more players that don't lack the mentality than ones that do?
JAMES O'CONNOR: You'll find out.

Q. SanÃ©, he kind of had to get out of the lineup. What was the exact --
JAMES O'CONNOR: Yeah, he trained yesterday. He was fine yesterday. But he came in, had some kind of pain in his knee and wasn't able to play. For us it was a surprise. Obviously we had to make a change, and we were fortunate that had not actually gone and used up a sub. We were fortunate that we were able to change before the game actually started.

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