NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 24, 2023

Troy Lesesne

Press Conference

New York Red Bull 4, Atlanta United 0

Q. Congrats on the win. In the run of play, there were a lot of missed first touches, really horrific first touches, however two of the three goals were scored on first touches. How does that sort of work out?

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, I'd like to leave works like horrific out of this press conference when we win 4-0 today. I think we have to give the boys a lot of credit. Maybe there were some missed touches here and there but I use a lot of strong words whenever we don't perform well, and I'd like to use the same positive strong words whenever we do perform well on the night.

So I'm very, very happy with how we were able to convert these goals tonight and really how we played over the 90 minutes. I appreciate the question, but I want to make sure we give our guys just do.

Q. Talk about how nice it is going into the halftime break leading at home, and also talk about Câsseres and Andrés.

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, it was a great feeling and I told the boys at halftime to feel good about. It feel good about this first half performance. Feel good about being 2-0 up but don't be satisfied. Don't get comfortable. We were in the same position the other night on the flips ide, right, and the game can turn very quickly.

With Cristian, he took a knock in the first half. We saw that, and so we have to just monitor it and see where it is, and he wasn't able to go. I think if Cristian is not able to go, that's a really strong -- that's a strong statement because he can play through so much. I was happy to see him get a goal tonight for all his efforts.

And Andrés was planned. Just coming back, he was away going through the green card process, so we just had to manage him in the right way.

Q. I just wanted to ask, at some point during the game, did it feel like at one point it was going to happen, guys got a lot of breakaway opportunities, and it wasn't falling, and then after Edelman and a lot of the goals started going in, did it just feel like a matter of time for you?

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, I think the feeling of halftime being 2-0 up was again a positive feeling and then it almost felt like we were on the border of getting the third goal. Once we were able to do that, I think there was a sense of satisfaction with where we were at that point. Meaning, we haven't done that in a long time.

I think the last time that we scored four goals was versus Colorado when we lost 5-4. To score four goals and win, maybe the last time that was the case was versus D.C. United in May of last year. Really, really satisfying feeling.

Q. Daniel Edelman, what can you say about his performance tonight?

TROY LESESNE: He's the one that came in the other night and really proved a point. He had something to prove the other night when he came in and made a big impact. It was easy for me to reward that and give him the start tonight. He earned that.

Daniel is someone that when he's focused and he's really, in his way, he adds a different dimension to the team. His work is similar to what I described with Cam where the other night I said Cam's work doesn't always get valued the way it should. But whenever, you know, he scores a goal, maybe he's highlighted a little bit more, and I'd say the same thing about Daniel.

It's great to see an academy product come through like that because I can tell you, the next generation of academy products that are coming through, I want to give a shout-out to our U-15s winning the championship today versus Montréal and Simon Nee, and how he's led that academy group is really impressive.

And this is a very talented group coming through that I'm excited, maybe the next Daniel Edelman is in that group.

Q. Jamaica is about to kick off, Cory Burke is with them, Dante Vanzeir kept out of the squad today but you get four goals from central midfield. Talk about what that was like for you guys today.

TROY LESESNE: For Cory and J-Mon, I said, "Look, you guys, good luck today for both of you. And J-Mon, don't kick Cory. And Cory, don't kick J-Mon, please." I wish those guys the best because I think that's going to be a great match-up. I think J-Mon is starting as I understand it, and Cory is going to come on.

Yeah, I think with Cory and Dante being out of the mix and for us to generate four goals is, again, another positive. Elias and Tom did a ton of work up top and really set the tone for us, and again, you'd like their work to be rewarded with a goal but their work was rewarded with four goals for the team. So a lot of credit to the entire group tonight.

Q. You mentioned it's the first time in a while the team has scored four goals in a single game. What do you think really clicked tonight? Did anything change in training or what do you think happened?

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, I think for all four goals, they come in a in really different ways. They don't come -- I think the goal with Cristian comes in a way that's familiar to Red Bull. We press, we win the ball up the field and he goes and he scored. Daniel's is off a throw-in. Frankie, you know, he gets two goals against a run of play and credit to all these guys for capitalizing on their opportunity.

But I would say, you know, maybe we were able to capitalize and be opportunistic on chances that aren't necessarily always how you score goals and how we typically score goals.

But you have matches like that and it's great to finally feel that way and feel like any time you went forward, you had a chance to score.

Q. Talk about Ronald Donkor, brought in the 69th minute. What have you seen in his performances in Red Bull 2 this year they have been really impressive. Talk about how he's been able to make that jump to the first team ask get an assist on the third goal.

TROY LESESNE: Ronny, since he's got here, he's been really impressive. I think he played versus Philadelphia, in almost his first week in town, and I think that was a good debut for him.

But then the work that he's put in Red Bull 2 and really understanding positioning what we're asking for and what our style of play; he's put in a ton of work and Ibra has put in a ton of work individually coaching him as well. He's consistently scored for them and he's earned this opportunity to come back into the team, and I think he was very, very positive on the day and really gave us a different dynamic.

So I'm looking forward to seeing more of that from him.