- Match: Atlanta United vs Portland Timbers
- Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
- Date: June 24th, 2018
- Final Score: ATL 1-1 POR (Recap | Highlights)
Atlanta United head coach Gerardo Martino
On whether he thinks opportunities will start turning into goals in the future:
“Yeah as I said before, and as we say as coaches, the most important thing is to create chances and at some point you’re going to convert. It’s true that in some cases I think we’re a little rushed at the time to finish the play. These games we’ve created a lot of chances but it seems like weird things are happening on some of the plays. Difficult situations to explain. Josef's (Martinez) last chance tonight is difficult to explain. You can miss shots or have a goalkeeper make a great save, but usually these other thing don’t happen. But I’m satisfied with how we played, aside from the chances we created because it was difficult to play against a closed team like that who can play fast counter attacks.”
On Darlington Nagbe's injury:
"It seems like it's a muscle injury. I don't want to give out the wrong information on something I’m not informed on. It's a muscle, close to his abductor, but I don't know if it's his abductor."
On Portland and their tactics:
"It’s similar to what Montreal did, although I don't remember if Montreal started with a back five. Tonight, Portland played a back five with three holding midfielders (Diego) Valeri as their first outlet when they recovered the ball, and only (Samuel) Armenteros up top. It’s difficult. You have to have a lot of patience. You have to circulate the ball well from side to side. Try to make the defenders turn their backs and not always be facing forward. I think the difference was that in the first half we attacked on the same side without circulating the ball, and in the second half we had more patience to move the ball around, but they have capable players and had some counter attacks as well.”
On the effect of Josef (Martinez)’s mask on his vision:
“I haven’t talked to him, but I have a feeling that the answer is yes, that it bothered him in some way. Because two of the clear chances that he had were headers. So it could be that the mask is uncomfortable to play so it’s possible it could have affected his vision.”
On if he feels Atlanta created chaos in the final third and if Portland defended it well:
“I think in the second half it was difficult on Portland but in the first half, yes. I think that in the first half our attacks were much slower and without circulating the ball. In the second half, with the circulation and the continuous attacks, and the insertion of Tito and getting more players into the box, the second half were the better moments. In the first half we also had control, but the major attacking moments and risks we created came in the second half when we modified that, we moved the ball from side to side, and when we did, there were already people in the box.”
On Julian Gressel and Kevin Kratz playing alongside Jeff (Larentowicz):
“Yes. We have two alternatives. One would be for Kevin to come in directly for (Darlington) Nagbe. The other would be for Julian to switch over like he did tonight to Nagbe’s position with Tito on the right wing.”
Atlanta United midfielder Julian Gressel
On being in stretch of games where ‘the team creates a lot of chances but can’t put them in the net’:
“Yeah. You are right. I mean if you look at today, we deserve more goals than the one we socred. Sometimes, teams go through those kinds-of stretches, but it’s a good thing that we create chances. One day, they’ll go back in.”
On leading the MLS in goals scored and how they can draw confidence from this fact:
“Like I said, it’s a problem if we don’t create chances, and we create chances – a ton of chances, to be honest. It’s just a matter of the final pass – the final concentration – in the box where sometimes we lack a bit of that and that’s why they don’t end up being goals. It’s just a thing that we’re going to have to focus on and really be clinical again.”
On where Josef Martinez’s mask went:
“I didn’t even notice it, to be honest, until he got subbed out.”
On what they did differently in the second half to shut down their counter attack:
“We tried to always have three guys in the back. I think it was (Michael Parkhurst), Leandro (González Pirez) and Jeff (Larentowicz) that were mostly responsible for just kind-of breaking up the counter and being accountable of their guys up top when we attacked – kind-of defending while we were attacking. I think we did a better job with that in the second half.”
On how Atlanta is being coached to defend teams that rely on countering and bunkering:
“Exactly like we did it in the second half. I think we have to have a balance. Like I said, when they two forwards up top, you always have to have three guys in the back. One guy can be in front of them, but he always has to be like at-least knowing of what’s going on behind him so that when a counter happens or we turn the ball over that they go the other way. In the final third when the team has a lot of numbers in the box and kind-of defends with everybody, it’s tough. We have enough creativity and enough players that can unlock a defensive like that like we did a bunch of times. It comes down to our creativity. We do some movement stuff here and there (and) some overlapping things and all that comes into play. At the end of the day, it’s final third creativity to create those chances and then be clinical.”
On if he felt like this was a match that ‘slipped away’ today:
“Yeah. When you create, that many chances, I think, yeah, especially at home, we’ve talked about it. We’ve got to get back to being that team at home that nobody wants to come here and play. A few teams come here and they take away points and you never want that especially when you’re on the top of the table. Then, at the end of the day, they had some really good chances on the counter so you’ve got to kind-of balance it a bit and see alright, maybe it wasn’t as clear as it seemed. Obviously, you want to win the games at home and we couldn’t do that today.”
Atlanta United defender Michael Parkhurst
On whether he felt the game slipped away:
“Yeah. I don’t even know how to answer that. We talked about it because on the one hand we were unfortunate because we had a few good goal scoring opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. But at the same time, we gave up a couple chances where we were lucky that they didn’t finish. The could-have gone either way, but anytime that we don't take three points at home, it’s a bad feeling for us.”
On the team’s recent inability to score goals:
“A little bit. It's not so much concerning as it is frustrating. It’s probably the better word. You know obviously it’s good that we’re creating these chances. We expect to create a lot of chances at home, but we need to do a little bit better in front of the net. We also need to do better defensively. We expect to get shutouts than what were getting right now, particularly at home. So we’ve got to clean up some things on both sides of the ball.”
On how Atlanta United is coached to defend and attack against teams that sit back and wait to counter attack:
“We’re trying to create some overloads on the wings – go back and forth, side to side when we get an advantage, take two-versus-ones when you can, get the ball in the box, get runners in the box. I thought we did that a little bit better in the second half. We had some dangerous crosses. We had some chances, but we need to be a little bit crisper, a little bit faster in order to break down teams like that.”
On whether Hector “Tito” Villalba helped open things up for the rest of the team:
“It helped. Julian (Gressel) whipped in some great balls over there as well before Tito (Villalba) came in, but his pace makes other teams very wary. You have to be concerned about it because he loves to get in behind, and he has the pace to do it every time. I thought he was unlucky not to have a goal or assist tonight.”
On getting extra rest instead of playing in the US Open Cup:
“You take the good with the bad. Obviously, we would’ve liked to have won that game to continue on and try to win a trophy. The focus is solely on the league right now, and that gives us an opportunity to assess this game. (We) Look forward to the next one and to prepare for Orlando because we need to start getting some wins at home. Orlando is a team that’s struggling right now, so we’d like to take advantage of that on Saturday.”
On his role of pushing passes forward to the attacker, in particular Josef Martinez:
“If we’re relying on me to set the offensive tone then we’re in trouble. It just presented it today. It presented itself when I took the ball from (Diego) Valeri and things just opened up, but, oh man, I’d like to have that pass back because it was there, and I just over hit it, but no. I leave those creative things to the better players.”
On Julian Gressel’s improvement from his first MLS goal against Portland to now:
“His game has been really good this year. He’s an extremely important player for us right now. Offensively, he was one of our best players again today. When he’s on the wing he delivers a fantastic ball into the box. Whether he’s whipping it in behind or cutting the ball back, he really creates some dangerous opportunities for us. He’s got a good soccer brain, and that makes him versatile enough to play on the wing or come inside. He sees things well offensively, and he delivers a great ball, so I was happy he scored that goal. Unfortunately, we only play Portland once this year.”
On Darlington Nagbe’s importance to the team and how a prolonged injury would affect the team:
“He’s been very important for us this season. He does a lot of things that probably go unnoticed especially with some of the bigger names on the team getting the headlines. He doesn’t have a ton of stats, but he does a lot of work with Jeff (Larentowicz) in the middle. He’s just such a good two way player, really connects the team defensively to offensively. Possession-wise, he’s so important for us because he doesn’t lose the ball. He’s just so clean in and out of pressure. He just makes our life a lot easier in the back. He’s a guy that you can depend on when we have to sit back a little bit and defend harder. Especially if the front guys have gone into attack, and they’re missing defensively then he’s really stepped up his game in that aspect – as far as being dependable defensively and understanding that role. It would be a big loss, but hopefully he can bounce back quickly.”
Atlanta United defender Leandro González Pirez
On how the game was a ‘crazy one’ with many missed chances on both sides:
"Yeah, as you said, it was a crazy game. Where we have like 80 percent of the possession of the ball. We were looking to attack all game, looking to win the game. The ball didn’t want to go in. They had three or four counter attacks where they almost were able to win a game that in the end it’s hard to believe we didn’t win.”
On how the team deals with Josef Martinez when he seems to be frustrated with himself:
"We know he has a special personality so during the game we leave him alone about missing chances, other than a quick shout of support. He’s professional enough to get back in to the game and look for another chance. He’s scored however many goals he's scored in the league and unfortunately tonight it wasn’t his time to convert and he missed some, but he’s been doing well all season and we have to support him.”
On what adjustments the team made at halftime to deal with Portland's counter-attack:
"He told us that we wanted to attack with seven players, so myself, Parky and Jeff were going to be the three players who stay back to mark their forward and also Valeri and Blanco because they weren't tracking back that much so it was just going to be us three marking those three and the rest of the guys could go up and attack."
On if he is concerned that the goals are not coming at home like they did last season:
"I don't think you can go crazy about it. The important thing is we are creating the chances but unfortunately they’re not going in like last year. Today is a game where we could have won 4-1 or 5-1, 5-2, maybe. It seems like every game we're getting a lot of chances every game, clear chances. Tonight, the ball hits the post a couple of times, the goalkeeper makes a few really good saves. Also, maybe last season, we were very effective especially at home so that's something that's difficult to repeat."
On what the team misses when Darlington Nagbe is not on the pitch:
"Yeah, he's a player who when he's on the field he gives us possession, control of the ball. He's the link for our team so he's able to link the back line with the attacking midfielders and the forwards, but I think today, Tito (Hector Villalba) came in and did a really good job as a substitute and then Julian (Gressel) went inside and did well in Nagbe's position so, hopefully, he's okay and we're not without him for too long."
Atlanta United defender Mikey Ambrose
On being one chance away:
“Yeah. I thought we had a good game today. We had a lot of chances, but they’re a good team, and they had a few chances too, so it was disappointing that we came out with one point, but I’m glad we came out with a point when they had a few chances at the end.”
On missing opportunities to score:
“We have amazing players up top and they are going to create a lot of chances in a lot of games and score a lot of goals. Sometimes, they just don’t go in.”
On if he prefers not having an extra match because of the US Open Cup:
“We would have loved to win that game and go to the next round, but we’ve had a lot of games recently. We can definitely use the rest, but that’s just an excuse. We are ready to play every game. We need to take this and to get results.”
On Atlanta’s halftime adjustments:
“I don’t think anything changed. I think we asked Jeff (Larentowicz) to sit back a little more and us on the outside to go forward a little more. That’s the only thing that really changed, they did well countering so that might have pushed us back a little bit but nothing changed too drastically at halftime.”
On Darlington Nagbe leaving the game:
“He brings all kinds of creativity on the midfield and connects everything. He’s a wonderful player. So we lost a little bit of that, but we also gained a little bit with Kevin (Kratz) coming in there. He brings a little bit of a different look in there. I thought he played well and he does well to connect everything. We lose a little bit, but we gain a little bit but either way, they’re both good players.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS
Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
On the game plan entering the match:
“We know this is a tough place to be able to get results. Atlanta is a very good team. We had to make sure that we were compact, that we didn’t give them too much space and that they were not able to break us in the lines. I thought for the majority of the game we did a very good job of doing that. We handled the crosses really well, the movements behind the spaces, and then when we had the ball we created chances. We had very clear and open chances, as much as they did. I thought that the tie was a fair result.”
On if Portland prepared differently than any other match:
“No, we knew what to expect. We knew how they were how they were going to play. We knew what changes they were going to make. We pretty much knew everything coming here of what we were going to face. The thing is that they [Atlanta] are very good at what they do and we need to be at our top level to be able to compete and I thought that we did that today.”
On goalkeeper Jeff Attinella making nine saves:
“Nine saves for our goalkeeper, and I think about five chances for us going forward, as well. So, I think that is why the tie was a fair result.”
On Sebastian Blanco’s performance:
“Fantastic today. He gave us a lot defensively in that role, and then when we broke through he found a lot of space to go forward. Then, unfortunately, he had a little tightness in his quad and it limited him a little bit, but he was very dangerous going forward. He created the first chance in the game hitting the cross bar. So, fantastic game for Blanco.”
On gameplanning for Darlington Nagbe:
“You cannot plan on Nagbe only. You have to plan about the whole team. Atlanta is a very good team. They don’t have Nagbe only. It’s (Miguel) Almiron, it’s (Josef) Martinez, it’s a lot of guys that you have to be careful. Nagbe is not the only one that they have being a good player.”
On if getting a result in Atlanta sends a message to the rest of the league:
“I think that the most important thing is that people know that we are a team that is difficult to defeat. That is very important for us. And then, we just have to continue to build, continue to grow, continue to be better. But I think overall, everybody that plays against us knows that it is not going to be an easy game.”
Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala
On getting a point in Atlanta:
“We are very happy. We knew it was going to be a very difficult game for us and we were prepared for that. We have been working to play this game for seven days, and we are very glad that everything that we were working on went the way that we wanted.”
On his goal:
“The goal is a funny situation because I think we had the first free kick where I was free, and I judged that they (Atlanta) were defending way too high, in my opinion. So, I just told myself that I was about to stop my run for a little bit behind of the defense so I could have more speed to attack the ball. That is what just happened, I was free on the rebound.”
On playing against Darlington Nagbe:
“Yeah. It was funny. Even if I just had been playing for six months, from June to November but we were very close. He was one of the guys who helped me to get settled into the team, so it is very funny to see him and I hope I’m going to see him after the game.”
On if getting a result in Atlanta sends a message to the rest of the league:
“Yes, I think so because everybody knows how good this team is, especially at home. I think it is a good message that we sent today to the other teams in the Western [Conference].”
On where he sees Portland’s nine-match unbeaten going
“I see this going undefeated until the end of the season. No, I’m just kidding. I don’t know. We play every game one-by-one, of course. We hope that it is going to last very long. So, the next game is in Seattle. I think it is going to be a very good game for us to play because it is a derby. The fans are waiting for this one and we hope that this undefeated streak will not end next week.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeperJeff Attinella
On coming into Atlanta and earning a point:
“Yeah. I think at halftime we wanted all three. Then, based on the time that they scored, it was still pretty early in the second half when they scored, the fact that we were able to hold on and keep them at one was good. They are a very dangerous attacking style team. I think we are satisfied with a point. If you asked me before the game, I would have said yes. At halftime, I probably would have said no, but then 60 minutes in I would have said yes to the point again. So, we will take it and for us it’s a good result.”
On recording nine saves today:
“I just tried to track the ball. There were a lot of numbers in the box, they were throwing guys forward, we were sitting in and defending in the box. So, I really focused on tracking the ball and not letting screens or deflections get to me.”
On if it was strange seeing Darlington Nagbe on the other side:
“No, unfortunately he had to come off so we hope he is ok and healthy. We hope the best for him, it was sad that he couldn’t finish the game. He is a great guy, great player. That happens a lot in this league, but like I said we are sorry he got injured and hope he is alright.“
On if coming to Atlanta and getting a point sent a message to rest of league:
“Yeah, I think we have been doing it for a while now. We’ve been getting good results against some really good teams in this league. This is just another one. You can add it to the list. It’s still early in the season though, and we have to look forward to the next match.”
On the crowd noise affecting communication defensively:
“In the second half, I didn’t even try to talk. I just tried to point, tried my best to get people’s attention, but I realized nobody could hear me and I was losing my voice out there. I just did the best thing I could do to keep us organized on corners and set pieces. I mean, you can’t hear anything on the field. It is what it is.”
On stoppage time and the pressure Atlanta put on the defense:
“They were throwing numbers forward no doubt. We had a couple times where we might of caught them the other way, but they kept pushing numbers forward. We did a good job, like we did the whole half really, defending and sitting in our block really well. Towards the end there, they played in a through ball and I felt I read it really well and was able to get to it. Credit to our defense, they did a great job of bunkering in and holding on for the point.”
On the nine-game unbeaten streak and where it may go:
“Hopefully, it goes to the next one. It’s all about the next game for us. The good thing about this group is that with every result that we get, we are doing a good job of putting that one behind us. We don’t really look at what kind of run we are on, we are just focusing on the next game and next opponent. That’s what we are planning on doing this week.”
