QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 1-3 ATLANTA UNITED FC
RIO TINTO STADIUM; APRIL 22, 2016
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
On Atlanta’s pressure:
“Well let’s just take the first two goals, bad giveaway first of all. The second was perhaps forcing it to the back when we shouldn’t have so all credit to Atlanta but we gave those goals. Which is frustrating but at the end of the day I want these guys to push to play. I want these guys to not just reside to kicking the ball long aimlessly, which at times we did but the only way you are going to improve is by keep pushing the play, keep pushing the play, and keep trying to do something. But the off ball movement wasn’t good tonight and that could have also been put with the first two goals that we got scored on, that could have been a reason.”
On Plata’s injury coming into the game:
“I mean physically, medically I will have to talk to the trainers to see where he is at, and see how he came through. I saw some that I liked and saw something that he looked a little tired at times. But his attitude was good and at the end he was one of the guys that was really pushing on. I think it was important for him to get a full 90 minutes tonight. I will just leave it at that, it was important for him to get 90 minutes.”
On Rimando’s hamstring injury:
“If he was carrying or not coming in I wasn’t aware of it. That is the answer, I get a report every couple of days medically and Nick has not been on there. So I think that happened during the game.”
Overall assessment after the formation change:
“Well listen, in this league it has been 19 years I have been involved in this league and the same holds true, especially when you are home. If you are down in the second half usually the other team, whether they are tired or they are trying to hold on, drop back a little bit and you have a bit of the play. So it is hard for me to if I thought that they played well in the second half. I thought we had a lot of the ball; we were pushing the play, pushing the play. The altitude could have gotten to Atlanta. You know they were winning, and we are a counter-attacking team. So give my guys the credit for fighting, Kyle Beckerman was out there trying to motivate these guys and he was barking and biting out there. But at the end of the day guys I said it to you, whoever has been here the last two games, you know everyone said oh you won the first game, oh you won two in a row, after not winning since whenever, or how every long it has been. I told you guys it doesn’t matter if we won or lost, it’s a building process. This does nothing to put a kink in what we are trying to do. It is the same as if we won 3-1 tonight. It doesn’t change anything with how we are preceding going forward. You know at the end of the day it’s a good learning curve for us and we are going into a very tough game next week versus Kansas City.”
What are the positive takeaways from this game:
“You are asking a good questions because I am a very emotional person so for you to ask me I’m sure there is a hundred positives. I saw some good things in trying to build that out of the press, how about that. Saw some good things here are there and those two things.”
On the outside backs coming forward to get the goal:
“Well, like I said it’s tough for me to figure that out. And it is one thing that I said at the end, for the first 45 minutes we were reluctant to play forward. Our off-ball movement was really not there. Our ability to make a play individually, being a little creative, being a little daring was not there at all. And then all of a sudden someone like Demar dribbles around 4 or 5 guys from our defensive half and it’s like well ok where was that. That is my little 2 cents on that having said that yes I mean second half, whether they sat back a little bit, we had momentum. We made some things happen and perhaps you can add another 1 or 2 goals but they also could have as well.”
Updates on Rimando and Wingert’s Injury:
“I don’t have an update on Nick and Chris yet, it’s too soon after. And my plan is to continue with my fourth week of training and what we have planned for that and obviously taking a look at Kansas City, which we have been and trying to figure out what we need to do to be successful.”
Midfielder Luke Mulholland
On Atlanta’s pressure:
“They’re a good team definitely I will give them that. They like to play the ball on the floor so I can appreciate the style they play. The two goals they actually scored we had the ball and don’t clear our lines properly. As soon as you’re down 2-0 in the 46th minute you’ve got a huge uphill battle to face and so we dug our own grave tonight.”
On clearing their lines:
“It’s the luck of the draw. Just unfortunate but at times it’s just recognizing that we are under pressure and the risk vs. reward isn’t worth it. We just have to send it long sometimes, and sometimes it’s not pretty but it’s effective.”
On Atlanta’s speed:
“We obviously watched a lot of them playing out of the back and I think as you saw the way we set up we wanted to invite them to play that initial pass and then see if we could win the ball with some high pressure. Like I said they’re a good team and they have the confidence to play those ball’s over the first layer of players and clip it into the outside wide-backs. A well drilled team and they got the better of us at times. But I didn’t think they outplayed us completely, obviously I’ll watch the game tomorrow and see how it feels because it always feels different when you’re out there running and everything feels like 90 miles per hour. I think it goes back to the goals we do give up and they created some other chances that we’ve saved or got fortunate, but the goals we did give are on us and we’ve got to accept that and learn from it and see if we can fix those problems and improve for the next game.”
Midfielder Albert Rusnak
On their pressure:
“It happened again. It happened in Colorado as well. We started the game sloppy not wanting the ball at 50% almost. You can’t afford to do that especially against a team like Atlanta. They’re a good team especially at the counter attack. They put good players. So when you’re 2-0 down and at the start of the second half you try to get back into the game. And then a couple of injuries and the whole game stops at least 10 minutes each time. And then after that they kept wasting time. That’s probably when you’re winning. We have to work it out for the next game to start the game like we finished.”
On playing long balls:
“I don’t see that as an option because we don’t have players up front who are going to fight. We have players who are good with the ball. And most of the defenders from the other teams are much bigger than our guys up front. Maybe sometimes a long ball every now and then is an option. But we have to work and play from the back. We did it against Vancouver in such a difficult conditions so we have to figure out a way of how to do it in normal conditions. Is not like we cannot do it. But it seems like we have to get comfortable to start playing.”
Forward Yura Movsisyan
On the loss:
“It just wasn’t sharp. As simple as that, when you’re not sharp against a real good team you pay for it. When you give them goals, it’s difficult to come back from. We tend to get a comeback, almost had it and then gave away another one.”
On getting the sharpness back:
“It’s just about keeping at it, continue working hard on trainings and figuring out, understanding Mike better what he actually wants and actually getting more repetitions, so I think it just needs time to get used to the new coach. I don’t think having a new coach has anything to do with giving away 3 goals, so that’s us and that’s our own fault to gift them 3 goals.”
On the frustrations of home losses:
“It’s terrible, because this is a place that not many people can come and play. This is a city that not many people want to be in and playing in and it just sucks when you lose at it. It hurts even more.”
On the subs:
“You want to be aggressive. You’ve got to try, you’ve got to try, you’ve got to go for it. What’s the point in playing it safe when you’re losing? What’s the point in bringing in another defender when you’re losing, so I think it was the right choice. It was just, like I said, it’s tough when you’re giving away 3 goals to come back from it.”
Atlanta United FC
Head Coach Tata Martino (Through a translator)
On the result:
“The key tonight was we capitalized on our opportunities, we pressured them to make two mistakes, the second one came on a counter attack, but otherwise it was a very even game. We had to pressure them at the top because they have some guys in the midfield, and moving forward that are very fast, and good with the ball, so we need to neutralize right from the start.
On Brandon Vazquez’s play:
“Brandon (Vazquez) works hard, he works hard in practice, he always gives a good effort, he always wants to improve. We had an opportunity to bring him on his first road trip and put him on the bench, and him being the third forward on our team he had a chance to play tonight, and he converted his chance.”
On Salt Lake City:
“It's a beautiful city, the people have been friendly, and they have a good team as well, so a salute to all the people of salt lake. Aside from the points and the standings, we've had a good start.”
On the play in the second half:
“We entered the second half playing well because we weren't really happy with how we played in the first half, my message to the team was to be aggressive, and we wanted to come out aggressive right away. In the last two games, we've kind of let points slip away from us. But tonight I thought we played well. With the substitutions Real Salt Lake made, their coach put in some attacking players at the end, but we were able to overcome it.”
Forward Brandon Vazquez
On playing in MLS for the first time:
“It was an incredible feeling, making my debut in the MLS, it was such an amazing experience, and it's something I'll never forget.”
On his goal:
“I was confident that we were going to pull through with the game, I had confidence in the team. I knew that we were going to do it, I was very confident. Miguel (Almiron) played a ball through to Julian (Gressel), Julian was running on to the ball, he tripped, and the defender stopped, so I kept running. And I took a touch past the goalkeeper, and that was it. ”
On the next MLS game:
“I'm looking to make more goals, to have more wins with the team.”
On when he found out he was in the 18:
“Right after warm up, after the warmup, I found out I'd be in the 18, and I was really excited."
