NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 8, 2023

Gerhard Struber

Press Conference

New York 1, San Jose 1

GERHARD STRUBER: Yeah, hello, first of all, yeah, our expectation today was a win, and in the end, we have again a draw and make us not especially happy. I think we had some problems to realize, especially, against the center players, on the front, I would say topics to control the aggression from them. I think we struggled a little bit in the first half with some topics to find the balance.

I think the game was not so easy to create chances. I think we have a top chance, a header from Dante in the first 20 minutes, 15 minutes, I think it was a big one, or in the first ten minutes, and after that, I think it was not so easy to find the slots against them. They played with high aggression. You can see San Jose, they play a completely different form like in the last season.

It's a different team, and we can see how much power they have and was sometimes not easy to come in good moments in, pressing moments. But yeah, in the end, second half, I think it was one move back and the morale, the mental set up, never give up, this shows me that the boys have a big resilience at the moment to come back in games.

I think the draw in the end, I think with everything, we can live with that, and I think they don't deserve a win today but also we are not; San Jose was on a very good level, and make our life not easy.

Q. I have to ask you, the incident that was happening on the pitch that led to the referee going to VAR, do you know what you were told about that, and what was said during that little scuffle that happened?

GERHARD STRUBER: Yeah, I think right now is nothing 100 percent clear but we will cooperate with the league in all directions. We will help that we find in the end the hard facts on the table and we will support the league and report everything what we know. I think this is the right direction. This is the system in the space at the moment and we have to clear this up, but I think it's outstanding important that we find here very quick a clear answer what is going on, and we will do everything that we have here as soon as possible, a clear picture.

Q. How much stop time were you preparing for? Did your plans change with the 21 minutes, the amount of stopping time, when you saw it on the clock? Did anything change?

GERHARD STRUBER: Yeah, I think, of course, the situation was not easy. The boys find the right tension again, but yeah, I think the whole situation was a challenge in more directions. But I think in the end, we changed the shape in the end in the 4-2-2-2, and this bring us, also much pressure against them in the last line, and more and more Cameron Harper was again on a very, very good level and like a fullback position or wingback position he was so many times very dangerous and also Ndam has come on a very good level today.

Yeah, again, the resilience to bounce back in the game with the goal, also, with Tom Barlow in the end that he was ready shows us our strikers can score, and yeah, it's not easy at the moment, we realize that to create the wins what we want. It's a little tricky but in the end, we have to fight for these moments that we bounce back with wins for the fans that support us and also expect from us, especially when we play at home. We cannot be happy with our points at the moment and our results. I think we have to be clearer and find, yeah, in the end, better chances, also against a team like San Jose on this level.

Q. This was Dante's first start for the team. How do you rate his performance, and did you see that he was comfortable in the attack and do you see him in more starts going forward?

GERHARD STRUBER: I think this is sort of the topic, we pay a little bit the price at the moment with his fitness level, also that he's, of course, with his style of play, what he knows from the past, he needs a little bit of time. But we have to give him the rhythm and bring him in game time. I think the games gives him the biggest boost in the back to chap -- the football. I think today we see some good moments and we see how he can help us with his smooth and smart moves, how he can come in the box with good touches in the box. I think this gives us a little bit of a different feeling, a different weapon, and in this direction, I think I am happy. I cannot expect moments that he is on this level what we want, but I think in one, two months, from the fitness level, also, that he understands our pressing, more and more, it needs time. In this direction, we will give him the time with game time, and yeah, today he has one or another very good chance and I hope he can use this in the near future.

Q. Could you talk on the performance of Cory Burke today, a lot of times especially in the first half, balls were coming to him and he was getting doubled teamed in the box. Could you talk about how you thought he played?

GERHARD STRUBER: I would say a little bit wild. This was not always everything controlled. I think we especially in the first half, we have moments where we play very quick forward, and I can remember one pass from Cameron, Harper was on top of him and in these moments, he was not always clean enough and he was not always good orientated, and I think in this direction, yeah, he was not always so sharp what we wanted, yeah.

But he's a hard worker. He give us always intensity. He's a boy you have -- you know what you get, and he is very, very helpful to hold our intensity game on a good level. But of course, he should be a little bit cleaner in some moments, and also in combination moments ready, and I miss this a little bit today.