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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 16, 2019

Chris Armas

Harrison, New Jersey

New York Red Bulls - 4, San Jose Earthquakes - 1

COACH CHRIS ARMAS: When we lose our aggressiveness, we're a Shell of ourselves. So we only let San Jose, a bunch of spots in the first half, so we talked about being aggressive, but yeah, as a whole, we were not happy with that part of things.

So we adjusted a little bit how we press, we did it a little bit differently because they were exposing us on the flank, so we flattened out a little bit with Alex and Danny, which kept our full backs home and started running our ten out to press a little more. We thought that helped a little bit and I think that was only a part of it.

I think that the energy and the -- yeah, there's a standard of working and it wasn't quite what we needed it to be in the first half.

So San Jose a came with a good, good push early and capitalized, and yeah, it wasn't too much to be said at half time.

Q. You did have Kaku in the 11, or the 18 -- what was behind that decision?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, look, I'm going to make one comment and I'll probably go back to this in a simple way every time. I'm not going to speak about that more than what I'll say right now, which we had a minor internal issue, and we dealt with that, like, quickly. It's nothing to talk about or discuss here. Yeah, that was it, and I'll say that we're -- nothing changes our feeling with -- other than that, with that. I don't want to talk about that much more. There might be some more questions. I'm just not going to address it. It's a minor incident, we're done with it and moving on with Kaku 100 percent.

Q. Talk about Alex, as he came into it the game for floor January, he really turned it on in the second half and got you the first two goals to get back into the game and into the lead. How important has Alex been to you for the start of the season?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Well, I'll say one thing about Alex. He doesn't get enough credit and enough appreciation on the outside.

On the inside, we know what he brings, and we have the pleasure of working with a guy like him who gives so much to the team every day, understands how we play.

So I was thrilled that he could come in and influence the game the way he did. He understands the way we play. We call him a philosophy players. He works, he runs, he's intelligent at what he does.

And the other part, he doesn't get enough credit for his quality, on the outside sometimes. On the inside, again, we get the pleasure all the time to work with him, so what a game changer he was for us.

Q. Could you give us an update on Florian?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, we don't know yet other than he's getting some medical attention just to get an image and take a closer look. Of course it's a sensitive subject for him coming off the ACL.

So yeah, it looked like a little bit of a reckless challenge. I didn't get to see it again, but I hope that flows okay. An important part for us.

Q. Sometimes a player like Sean Davis doesn't really get the attention he deserves. On a day like today, he got cornered more frequently than we see usually, and also, can you comment on Marc's game today, he was very happy defensively?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Well, I'll start with Mark. You know, I thought we saw the best version of Marc Rzatkowski today. The message to him was to play free because when he does, he instinctively -- his qualities are aggressive against the ball and has a certain -- he has quality when he has the ball. He's a great player. So you can see how aggressive he is stepping to plays and he was a big, big piece today, and then part of that with Sean Davis, I think we could all be excited about that partnership, and then Cristian is right there with them.

But Sean Davis was the man of preseason for us. His leadership, his quality, his understanding of how we play, what you see out of him these days more is getting more out of his teammates around him. So yeah, you saw complete performances from both those guys. Big pieces today.

Q. You had mentioned before, Alex, his resilience and his strength. Can you talk about, he didn't feature Tuesday on the starting roster and then today, what did you see from him in training this week and how did he hang in there this week to be able to set himself up for a day like this?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, look, Alex is a guy that we really on and we count on him every day. He sets a standard of what a pro should look like. So yeah, I think we all knew that going into Santos, we were down two-nothing, against any other score line, he could be starting that game. But you've almost got to think, all right, you need a goal in the last ten minutes, can he get it? Probably, right, but thinking about how Santos potentially -- like one ended, bunker in the end, thinking Andy -- a breakdown individually, it was important, as they did in leg one.

It was a decision that made sense for the game that day. To finish that part where you said, how does he mentally get ready for today, look, he's a pro. He trains well. He has a lot of courage, Alex, so you can see tonight how important he is.

Q. I know you guys turned it around in the second half but you during the first half, we saw some moments with Luis and Sean -- what was going on there that wasn't working out for you on that wing and what is the latest on Kemar and his health?
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Kemar, he's playing -- he's all in on training. He's playing. He's getting the fitness going. What we do here for the Red Bulls, we look out for the people. We look out for the players and we look out for the person. We're trying to bring him along the right way and not put him in harm's way. We're trying to bring him along the right way, so we've taken calculated steps to get him ready, not just ready for the 45 minutes or 60 minutes so he can step in and run with it. He's back to his old self, putting fear in everyone in training. But yeah, he's ready.

As far as Luis and Sean, yeah, we need more of that stuff around here where guys get fired up when things weren't going well. We don't talk about pointing fingers and all that, but yeah, Kyle Duncan was tasked with a big challenge there, their best attacker, Espinoza is on the right, he's spacing, he looked to get behind. Those guys are saying, yeah, not get beat behind -- but you saw at half time, the guys giving some support, and showing belief in Kyle and I think that was clear in the second half. It was knocked down on left-handed side on him.

On the day, you think of it as a whole, Kyle was excellent.

Q. Was that why he didn't dress --
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: I didn't see any Tweet today.

Q. Earlier in the week he put out a Tweet --
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, listen, you'd have to ask Kaku about that. Kaku is passionate. We're all passionate. That's his best quality, passion. No one wants to win more than him. I don't think you can find play makers around the world that put as much in as he does, with and without the ball.

So listen, I mean, we have to be mindful of how we educate our players and what they put out there. But sometimes in the spur of the moment, you put out things that maybe, you know, you could do it again or not.

Listen, those things are always short-lived, and we see a committed player from him through and through. But again, we don't want him to lose the fire and the passion. We've just got to be mindful of how we do some of those things.

Q. Speaking of play makers, you brought Jorgensen out after Bradley Wright-Phillips --
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: When will we see him start, I don't know what he will start. We look at every game and size up match-ups. We will try to bring Mathias along the right way. The right way means the next start or minutes or more minutes.

We love what we're seeing out of him. I think even a few moments today, his willingness to work against the ball, his willingness to run behind the defense. He almost scored. It's right there for him. Might have been a penalty, not sure, but it looked close. But he's going to take some pressure off of us because he can hold the ball, he can run behind, he can partner with Brad. He can give some minutes for Brad. There's many ways to use him.

But if you got to know him a little bit the way we do, what a humble, hard-working team guy, and he fought hard, even in a few minutes. He really gave myself a lot to the team. So we're very pleased with Mathias.

Q. How great was that point --
COACH CHRIS ARMAS: It was good for the team and it was good for Alex. I'm the coach; I want to win. That's my job. So it ends up being good for all of us. But really, mostly for Alex. He putts so much in every day. What you guys see in moments -- you get a treat on game day. We get to see it every day, how much he gives to the team.

And then to see himself, right, I don't know, like you see goalkeepers celebrate goals when a team scores. So imagine without scoring, what that means for him. And I think he needed that. I think he needed -- sometimes that's the one way to quantify all the work for him. He's an attacker, he's trying to make plays, and today, again, he puts himself in good spots and they were emphatic, emphatic both times.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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