CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 19, 2020

Raphael Wicky

Press Conference

Orlando City 4, Chicago 1

Q. After a game like that, it's hard to even know where to start. Just I guess your overall thoughts on what happened today.

RAPHAEL WICKY: Look, it reflects a little bit the whole season. We are playing well and creating a lot of big, big chances. We are giving up too many, too easy goals again, but it reflects a little bit the whole season.

Right now, for whatever reason, those little things go against us. Yeah, they don't fall to our side, the game before, we missed a lot of chances and then they shoot -- touches a player's leg, goes in front, he scores. All of these little things right now are not going to our way. Sometimes in life, it happens. I don't know why. I don't have the answer for that.

I still am pleased with a lot of things I see. Creating so many chances, scoring goals. I say the same as what I always do. We have to keep working but we have to become better in those ends otherwise we will talk all year about that and at the end of the day, we will be there with empty hands.

It's nice to play good. It's nice to create, but we've got to be better on both ends ever the field.

Q. Just want to ask about the first half penalty kick, two parts. Do you have a designated penalty kick taker and what can you say about what was definitely a disagreement between Robert and Alvaro on the play?

RAPHAEL WICKY: Yeah, I told the team in the halftime it's my fault. Take it on me. I didn't assign a penalty, a player who takes a penalty. But then what happened after cannot happen. It's unacceptable. If a player says "I'm going to take it," then the other player has to say, "Okay, yeah, I support you." And that didn't happen on the field. They were arguing and that's not -- that's not the team we want to be.

So yeah, that's all I can say to that. I take it on mine that I didn't assign a player. I assigned in the halftime, the next penalty is Robert, and yeah, things happen. It will never happen again.

Q. I know you've said before in these press conferences, you've mentioned things don't go your way and how you factor don't factor in luck too much, but after a night like tonight, when you walked in the locker room after the game, what's your first message to the players, knowing how they must be feeling when it seems like things continue to not break your guys way, game after game?

RAPHAEL WICKY: My hat's off. My first message to the player, hat's off. Look, a player -- I was a player. A player feels when you play really bad and you have no chance and you lose 4-1, or the player also feels when you actually -- when you are actually playing well over a certain amount of games and things -- the ideas are there.

So the players feel that. But I usually don't talk. It's my way of doing it. I usually don't talk directly after the game because I really don't want to talk on emotions. I shake hands and say hat's off and that's what I did today, as well, because that's the only way. I think in these moments, it's difficult for everyone, for anyone to find the right words. That's the reason why I don't really talk, and the only way is moving forward and hats off and keep working hard and getting better, getting better.