- Match: Atlanta United vs New England Revolution
- Location: Gillette Stadium - Foxboro, Massachusetts
- Date: September 27, 2017
- Final Score: ATL 0-0 NER (Recap | Highlights)
Gerardo 'Tata' Martino - Atlanta United head coach
On if this was a good point, all things considered:
“It was a good point. I think we didn’t play the same way that we usually play, but we tried to save some legs a little bit tonight and play a more direct style. I think in the second half, we could’ve lost the game, but in the first half, we did have some chances.”
On how differently New England plays at home than they do on the road:
“They’re a team who’s very dangerous, especially from the midfield and moving forward. I think we did a good job of neutralizing them for most of the game, but in the second half, maybe the last 10 minutes or so, we suffered a little bit defensively, but we did our best to hold on.”
On if there’s any update on Greg Garza’s injury:
“No. We’ll evaluate him with the team doctors when we get back to Atlanta.”
On if it’s still possible to catch NYCFC with just a point from this game:
“We’ll have to see how that game ends. I think they’re tied right now, but if we win the game on Tuesday, then I think we’ll be even with them with a game in hand.”
On if the team was playing more directly because of fatigue:
“Yeah. We did it in part because of that. We didn’t have our wingers play as wide as they usually do and we didn’t press as high as we usually do, but I think we had a few clear chances in the first half. And if we make one of those, maybe the game is different. But I felt that maybe we could’ve pressed and played the way we want for a half, but in the second half we would’ve felt it.”
On switching to the 4-4-2 after Greg Garza left the game and if it was similar to the last game:
“Yeah, exactly. The last 15 minutes of the last game when Greg [Garza] came in was the same system: 4-4-2.”
Brad Guzan - Atlanta United goalkeeper
On earning a point on the road tonight:
"At this point in the season, every point is vital in terms of where we finish. We knew it was going to be hard game coming in and it surely didn't disappoint. It was hard from the first to the last minute."
On if Atlanta's busy schedule took away some of the team's energy:
"It's difficult mentally and obviously, physically. The mental side of things you can gear yourself up for. Physically, at some point here, your body is going to hit a little bit of a wall. I think we saw that today with some tired legs. It's to be expected, so fair play to the guys in front of me, because it's not easy. When your name and number is called, you step on the field, you have to do your job, and the guys, they did it fantastic today in terms of closing it down, sliding all over the place, making blocks, getting fouls, you name it. I think we probably defended for close to 90 minutes in that game, so to come away with a clean sheet is a bonus."
On managing the game:
"Listen, it was a hard game, plain and simple. We knew it was going to be a hard game and it was from start to finish. They've got good players and when you come on the road in this league, the games are never easy and to do what we did for as long as we did, we will definitely take the point and we move on to Tuesday."
On if he punched the ball that hit the crossbar toward the end of the game:
"I definitely got it, because I was panicking as I jumped, because I realized it was going over my head. I was able to get a little touch on it and put it on to the top of the bar. It didn't go into the back of the net and that's all that matters."
Jeff Larentowicz - Atlanta United midfielder
On the difficulty of the game and playing against New England at home:
"It was difficult. I mean, this is a difficult place to come if you're fresh. They're a very good team in this building. The legs were a bit heavy. I think that they had a point to prove, but at the same time, we held on and had a shutout. It was good."
On improving the team's position in the Eastern Conference playoff picture:
"I think every point matters at this stage. We play again on Tuesday. It's another chance to jump. We'll be back at home and hopefully we can get three points there."
On how New England plays at home:
"I think most teams, when they are at home want to press, want to get on top of the game. I think that they had pretty good spells of possession as well, pinning us back, and a lot of movement from their attacking players. They're a talented team. I think we did a good job to hold on and keep it at zero."
Tom Soehn - New England Revolution Interim Head Coach
On the overall thoughts of tonight’s performance:
“I think the effort that we put forth, we spent time game planning and the guys executed really well. We put them under a lot of pressure, won a lot of balls in their half. The disappointing this is, on any given day, you’d take that result because of the work you put into it, but at this time of year, we can’t afford that result. So, on that side, everybody leaves disappointed.”
On the amount of chances for both sides throughout the match:
“Well, I thought we gave them some chances in the first half and exchanged chances. I don’t think we gave them that much second half. Second half, I thought we had the better looks. Credit to them. They’re a good team. They made some plays at the wire that they laid themselves out and that was the difference in us not getting a result. So, I credit our guys, but I also credit them. They’re a good team.”
On whether or not there was consideration for a third substitution:
“Obviously, we went very attacking minded, so I kept a couple of defenders right by me in case we did get the goal and then we’d go back to four in the back. We were going to do everything we could to win the game, so we took a defender out and put the extra attacker in.”
On the performance of Brad Knighton tonight:
“I’ll go even further and say our backs were dedicated to defending tonight. We didn’t give them a ton of looks and when Brad (Knighton) had to do his job, he did his job. I thought he had a really good presence about his feet, as well, spraying the ball. But you could see everybody was locked in. Again, I credit our guys. They left everything out there. That’s all you can ask as a coach.”
On how much the previous game against Atlanta United FC affected tonight’s match:
“Look, we all know what happened in that game and unfortunately, we couldn’t change it. It was a little boost for the guys to know that we weren’t seeing the game wrong. What happened wasn’t right, but that moves on quick and you move on to the next challenge. Like I said, we did a lot of game planning for this one and I thought our guys executed the game plan really well tonight.”
On what led to the decision to start Brad Knighton tonight:
"In a three-game week, you try to keep everybody part of it. It wasn’t the only change we made. We made other changes throughout the week. There’s a lot of guys working hard for us and they all deserve a little time.”
Antonio Delamea - New England Revolution Defender
On his thoughts on the game:
“I think we did our best out there. Every player that stepped on the field gave the game everything, but today this unfortunately wasn’t enough and we are all very disappointed right now, because I think we are now probably out of the playoffs for sure. But as long as we are in [contention], we will fight to the end. We need to be fair, we wanted three points today, but it’s like this – sometimes you score, sometimes not. Today, it just didn't work for us.”
On opening it up in the back and the late push:
“We knew today, for us, the only thing was three points that count and we tried to go up back in the last 15 minutes, but at the moment it was only me in the back line. We tried everything today, but they were defending very good. We had some chances, but it’s like this – at the end of the day we need to be fair and they had some chances, too, and I think a draw is fair result. For me personally, it’s more like we should be learning something for next season. We should start to build for next season, especially on the road. Our road mentality is very, very bad and this is something we have to improve for next year if we want to reach the playoffs.”
On Brad Knighton’s performance:
“He was awesome. I think one of the best performances by [one of] our goalkeepers this year. It’s very important to have a good goalkeeper at the back, but Cody [Cooper] is also good, I don't want to say anything against him, but Brad [Knighton] is very comfortable in the back. He gave us an extra confidence by talking, by calm passing and everything, so I was very impressed with him.”
On if there was an emphasis on getting a shutout tonight:
“We were all fired up. We knew what happened there in Atlanta, this wasn’t football, this was something else. I was surprised that nobody wrote anything about this game, because I think what the referee did there was unacceptable, but still, this was just something that fired us up and we tried to pay [it] back tonight. Unfortunately, like I said, they are a good team, they defended very good, and a draw is a fair result.”
Lee Nguyen - New England Revolution Midfielder
On tonight’s game:
“I thought our game plan was perfect. We went out there, we had – the better part of the first half, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. Same thing with the second half. We created a lot of good chances towards the end there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any to fall in."
On if the game played out the way he wanted, other than finding a goal:
“Yeah, we had good possession for the majority of the game. We really held the front three, they didn’t really have much going forward besides maybe the one that [Josef] Martinez had in the first half on the counter, maybe one or two in the second half. Other than that, I liked our chances the entire game. We felt comfortable, just couldn’t find that final [ball].”
On what Atlanta did to frustrate the Revs:
“They’re solid, made it tough to try to penetrate through the middle, but like I said, we had chances and we just couldn’t find it. Juan [Agudelo] had a couple there from Teal [Bunbury] getting behind and then I think Kei [Kamara] had one. I think that free kick at the end right there, we could have had it in, and there was one that hit the crossbar, so it wasn’t like we didn’t have chances. It just didn’t fall in for us tonight."
On how much it hurts not being able to get all three points tonight:
“This one hurts and then obviously, the last one, too [against Orlando City SC] could have put us in a good spot. Unfortunate that we were hard done by that call. Can’t take it back, but that’s two games right there that could have put us in a good position, so now we’re hoping to see the results fall our way. But like I said, not getting three here makes our chances a little bit slimmer. We’ll see after tonight if there’s still a chance.”
Brad Knighton - New England Revolution Goalkeeper
On his thoughts on tonight's match:
“It’s tough. It’s bittersweet. We were very good defensively tonight and it’s been a long week for us, especially bouncing off of Wednesday night. It was a great performance, I felt like, from the guys and we just couldn’t break through on the offensive end. Obviously, I haven’t seen the results, but we’ve got to win these next two games and hopefully the chips fall in line for us. For us, it’s something to build on, but we’ve got to continue to move forward and bust another win on New York City in a couple of weeks."
On taking satisfaction from tonight's result after the teams' last meeting:
“It's obviously easier when you keep 11 guys on the field. Things have gone against us recently, but we’ve stuck together as a group and that’s a huge thing for us moving forward. As long as we stick together and move forward, we’ll continue to stay as a group and push these next two games and see what happens.”
On matching up with Atlanta United's attacking group:
“They’re a great counter-attacking team. They’ve been at home for six games in a row, so obviously the stats are a bit skewed for them. On the road, they sit in and try to pick you on the counter, so we had to be mindful of that tonight and pick our chances to go forward and being good at doing it. There was a couple times where I felt like they catch you spread out and one-two combinations and they’re through on goal. Overall, we did a great job defensively as a unit and as a team. That’s something to build on. Normally, when we’re very good defensively, it springs into good attacks for us and we create chances like that and it’s just unfortunate it took the last 10 minutes to kind of keep our foot down. We had chances there at the end, it just didn’t go in for us tonight."
On knowing the game would open up at the end of the second half:
“Yeah, of course. As the second half pushed on, we made a tactical change and went three at the back. We knew we were going to have to go for it these last 15 or 20 minutes. I thought we responded really well and we created a handful of chances there are the end. It just wasn’t our night offensively."
