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NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 31, 2019

Chris Armas

Harrison, New Jersey

NY Red Bulls - 0, Colorado Rapids - 2

CHRIS ARMAS: We'll take a hard look at what I'm doing, to put out a team tonight that I thought we didn't have the urgency, the execution, the desire to win that game. It's on me. And yeah, I'm going to get it right, but there's five games left in the year. The most important ones are ahead. We'll find out who we are.

Q. After a good start to the match, they countered after you hit the post and it seemed like the side couldn't recover from that.
CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, look, the first half was one story. When we have the ball, more than we normally do, we knew we would, so it becomes a lot about how to manage that and create chances and slow down certain parts of the field. We did that. We create that chance. We create Tim Parker's header. There's a bunch of chances we create. We had 12 shots. They had one on target, and we knew that they were built for transition tonight.

So did we ever recover from it? There was other chances in the game, so it's always going to be dangerous when you're down a goal, pushing the game against a team built in transition. You have to put out those fires and we weren't able to do that.

Q. There's four head coaches in a decade, and never heard the chant, "fire the coach" and "coach out" like we heard today -- how do you take that as a coach and why do you think we got to this point -- never the seen fans turn on a coach like that.
CHRIS ARMAS: Listen, they are not happy. They shouldn't be. Who do they take it out on? They are not going to take it out on each other. They love the players. They blame the person in charge. It's fair. It's fair.

What would the play -- is that the best thing for the players and the coaches to hear? That doesn't help, right, but they are frustrated and that comes with it. You know, they support us. They come and they are entitled to be frustrated and voice that opinion.

Won't change the way we're working. But yeah, it's part of it.

Q. How did you take it?
CHRIS ARMAS: I didn't even hear it. I was told in the hallway walking through. My kids read stuff and they tell me different things along the way. I don't get caught up in what people think. I was starting for the U.S. National team and people were saying, why is Chris Armas starting for the U.S. national team. You can't let that affect you.

I think the big thing is that I understand it. It's part of it. Paid money to come see us play. I'd be pissed off, too, if I watched that performance tonight.

Q. During the week you said there's no such thing as a trap game, but the points at this time of year are so important, but you mentioned all these factors, the lack of urgency and things like that. When you're in the situation that you are in the standings and realizing there's only a few games left in the season, you mentioned you'll take a hard look, but I mean, is there a reason that that was the performance out there?
CHRIS ARMAS: Look, at this level, desire is a big piece of it. But it's not just urgency. You would like to see some things carried on with more urgency, but there's also execution, right.

And yeah, I'll look hard. I'll look hard at certain guys that we relied on and guys that we didn't call their number tonight and we have to figure it out quickly. There's enough chances out there tonight. There's enough chances for us to score, and then we've said it. Defensively we have to have more -- more guys that understand how to carry they're weight and put out fires.

But again, nothing surprised us tonight with the opponent. So when you know exactly what's coming and you didn't really deal with it or execute, it's 2-0 at home.

Q. Obviously Bradley has given so much to this club. You elected to keep him in for 90 minutes and it felt like he wasn't really able to offer that much, particularly towards the end of the game. I know his injury has been difficult to manage and something that's frustrating for him. What's realistic for Brad down the stretch and what's the dialogue been like recently and at this stage, can he be an impactful player and get back to what he was before?
CHRIS ARMAS: Listen, we don't know what's going to happen next week, how he's going to perform, does he score.

Brad's a leader of this team and he's been a goal scorer for this team for a long time. He can still score goals. We know that. We have to put him in some good spots. We have to be better with the ball in that part of the field. Make better decisions.

Brad's a winner, and he put a lot into it tonight. Yeah, we made a change late with Kemar carrying a yellow card and with 25 minutes or so to go, we didn't want to catch a read.

Q. Can you speak on Tim Howard, his last performance in his home state before he retires? Just from the opposite side of the field, how do you think he did and how good is he?
CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, look, I'm happy for Tim. A little homecoming for him. He gets to come back to this building and he gets rewarded for a good game and team in front of him played well. I'm happy for Tim Howard. I said it the other day. He's a real success story and a class act and a top player. He made three saves tonight. Not sure we tested him in any big ways. Certainly we could have really tested him if we were sharper. Happy for Tim.

Q. What did see in Josh Sims getting his first start?
CHRIS ARMAS: Yeah, we could see that he got himself in some good spots around the goal, and he's dynamic, and the more time that he's here, the more comfortable that he's going to get. We thought he was dangerous at times, and those moments where he can be in those parts of the field and be dynamic, I think we'll get a lot out of him. I think he'll make us different. Yeah, the final play was a bear tonight, but he's going to help us.

Q. Speaking of Howard, early in the game -- is that something in scouting? Seemed to have a groin injury later. His kicks were going more up and out than forward.
CHRIS ARMAS: Listen, we had a plan how to attack Colorado, not necessarily Tim Howard or anything with him specific. Again, we put ourselves in some good spots, especially in the first half; we didn't execute, and Tim Parker got a really good look on a header.

But not calling Tim Howard a weakness or injury.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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