NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 15, 2024

Sandro Schwarz

Press Conference

Red Bulls 0, Nashville 0

Q. Obviously it's a frustrating --

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I'm not frustrated.

Q. So to speak, then, about two players did seem to do really well in this game, Cam Harper and Dylan Nealis. How are your feelings with how they played in this game?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, I would say the whole team for me was a very good performance, especially after the last week, after this New England game. But today, the performance was for me very well, and especially also from those players on the right side. They created a lot of situations and transitions and a lot of good, deep runs from our strikers, and we had a lot of situations in the box. We created a lot of good moments.

I said this to the whole team: Sometimes you don't get the result which you deserve. So this was today the main point, which is not so good for us, the result, but how we play, how we defend as a team, how we create this situation was very good for me.

Q. So many shots, so many blocked, a few wide. What was the message to the players --

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I agree. What can I say now as a head coach? I know the numbers about the shots. I know the situations which we create, and it was the main part. I mentioned this in the press conference on Thursday.

So this was the main part for us to create our moments when we are on the red zone, on the outside behind the line, to create our moments in the box.

We had these situations, and now this is what we have to continue. I'm sure we have the quality, as well, to score. But I agree with all these numbers. It's a little bit more than I would say, frustrated.

Q. I thought Edelman had a great game. Seems like his passing range might have expanded a little bit. He's a great self-defensive asset but he's trying riskier passes. Is that a part of his development?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, this is an individual part of Edelman, and his mentality is great and his behavior on our defense is great as well. For him, it's a big step to make in his passing situations to play forward, if it's possible to play vertically. He made it today with Frankie and Amaya together. They made it very well, yeah.

Q. A couple of chances that Vanzeir had, seemed like he was trying to over simple fly or trying to make shots, or in some cases getting in his own way. Have you spoken with him during training, trying to ease things up? Looked like he really tried hard this evening, but couldn't get over the hump.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, we talked the whole week about our box positions, about our players in the box and around the box, and in this case, in the first half, especially, we created a lot of good moments after transition, in the first half more in transition moments and first half in building situations. Dylan joined a lot of good situations around the box.

It was a good shot in this moment, but before, the rule is, when the ball is on the end, then it's not a goal.

Q. What's the status of Forsberg? And although it was 0-0, you still kept the streak alive at home. One of your players had a fantastic performance, great defensive display from Noah Elie. What is your analysis there?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: With Emil, the situation is we have to check him the next two days, if it's possible, against Montréal or the next home game against Toronto next Saturday. So we will see. He had some problems after his national game with Sweden, and problems with his foot on the right side, I think.

And Noah, yeah, played very well after the national break, and it's also not so easy for him to come during the week and after a long flight but he played very well. The whole back four behavior with the ball position -- and Emil is an important player for us.

Q. Talking about the change between the first half and the second half, you guys had Nashville locked down and they had no shots against you, even into the second half, they were getting more possession in your end, and your defense held strong. Talk about what your back line did so well tonight that even though they had five shots, none of them were on target.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah it starts in our pressing to find the right moment. I said this on Thursday as well in the press conference. It starts with to find the right moment, to find our triggers for our pressing behavior, and then it's more easier, as well, for our back for four our center backs to step out.

I think this was very good from the whole team, this behavior, and then it's more easier for our center backs to step out when we find the right moment for our pressing. And our rest defense, very good organization, and especially in the second half when we have them more, our built-up situations, our ball position, and then it's important to organize our rest defense against our center backs.

And then Danny Edelman in front Surridge and Hany Mukhtar, and this was good communication and we need this when we want to play dominant. It's important to have a very good receipt defense, and in the finals, when we lose the ball and we want to play deep, and we need these deep runs, the counter pressing is very good. The only thing today was we didn't score with you that can happen in a game.

Q. Please talk about Ryan's performance in three matches. He's been pretty solid for you guys with Coronel, being away with Paraguay. And also, what does it mean to see your players after a loss having a bounce-back performance like they did tonight, like you said, they didn't get the result but it was a better performance.

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, it was a good performance for me, and yeah, we analyzed this last game directly on Sunday in our video session, and then we trained a lot off this situation with our deep runs and that was a very good performance, and I don't want to talk about the reaction because the game was last week. And now we had some new players in our starting lineup.

And Ryan, I said this to our goalkeeper coach directly in the locker room, for me, is a great personality, and he showed this personality, as well in the games, and great attitude. Very concentrated, focused on his job to coach the center backs in set pieces and Nashville is very -- they have a good set pieces moments in this season. But Ryan for me was top, top, and his personality, and he gives then also the confidence to our back four.

Q. A bit of unfortunate result with the tie but a lot of positives to take from this sort of result. Just wanted to ask you, on the attack, what more can you ask from your forwards to try to get on the score sheet more consistently, because we did see that a few goals got disallowed but they are still struggling a bit in front of the net to try to get those shots off. What are your words to them possibly?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: I'm not worried about that. The only way, and this is my experience, as well as a player, okay, I didn't score as a player in my career. But as a head coach, it's to create every time the next situation, to try the next moment, to try the next situation, to make the next deep run, to come in the box position. This is what we have to do.

And I'm sure, and I think in this season, we scored a lot of goals. And so now, today was 0-0. It's good that you then have -- if you don't score, then it's necessary that you didn't concede a goal today.

So now we have to create these moments on Wednesday, in Montréal on Saturday, and then I'm sure we are able to score.

Q. You thought you guys did a good job of limiting Nashville's opportunities. We know offensively you had so many chances but defensively, Nashville really didn't have many good looks. Can you just talk about that?

SANDRO SCHWARZ: Yeah, back four behavior was very well, and both center backs, they made a great job in our rest defense, especially what I mentioned our ball position organized very well. The pressing, this is the best part, as well, and especially important for our back four when we start our pressing in a good moment and to find the right moments with our strikers to close the center and with our ten position on the side to find the right moment, and this is more easier for our back four, and then they can very good step out.