NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
“We’re just disappointed all around. There were very few things about tonight. I guess if you’re not on your game and you pick up points then you should be happy. But obviously we’re at home and we want three points. We don’t want one point. We had a couple of chances where we might have won the game, but in all honesty, we were disappointing tonight and we were pretty flat most of the time. We just never ever got rolling.”
“The bottom line is we didn’t pass the ball well so it wouldn’t have mattered who we played tonight. We didn’t pass the ball at all, all night, and when that happens, you’re going to struggle.”
“We just didn’t have any passing. Let’s be honest: very few times did we actually put three or four passes together and anytime we did, we actually nearly created things. But it was few and far between. Certainly wasn’t regular enough. We didn’t pass the ball well at all. And when you don’t, you’re going to struggle.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE MCCARTHY:
“I felt like we were just impatient, just trying to play that perfect ball when new should have just been playing separate passes. I think that’s what we do and that’s what we’re good at and we just didn’t do that today … I think had we done that we definitely would have been able to keep it and play a solid game.”
On his goal:
“I think it came from the right side and hopped up maybe to the top of the box. I just saw a little opening on the right side and just hit it and was hoping it would go in and got lucky.”
On the team’s play after the goal:
“I think we had stints where we were playing well and times we were just kind of giving the ball away just way too much. So (it was) disappointing.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER PAT PHELAN:
“I think we’re impatient and sometimes when we do get the ball on the ground we make the wrong decision a lot of the time, so (that’s) something to work on. We knew that it was going to be a problem and we just have to get better with it.”
“Even after they scored, I thought we had opportunities. And we just lacked a little life, just kind of too nice at times. We weren’t really pressing hard enough. There were opportunities there, we just didn’t take it.”
“We can’t hang our heads too long about this one. We have to take care of our bodies tomorrow and it’s out West on Monday.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ZACK SCHILAWSKI
“Disappointing is a good word. I think everyone in the locker room’s a little disappointed right now. (We were) hoping to get three points out of that one and unfortunately it just didn’t work out for us.”
“I thought we started well, (and) scored a nice goal. Their goal, their response was probably the big turning point in the game. I thought we were still getting chances, we were still pressing them a little bit and then they got kind of a weird goal. I thought that was one of the big turning points in the game. We never really responded the way we need to win.”
“We’re still chasing points so that makes [Wednesday’s] game even more important. It would be nice to have gotten three points in this game so we could go into it with a little bit more of a cushion. But now we’re going to have to keep fighting. We can’t dwell on it too long. (We’ve) got to get ready for Wednesday.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS HEAD COACH JOHN SPENCER
“I don’t think there was much in the game to be honest with you. I thought maybe the first 10-15 minutes, they were playing that three in the middle with Shalrie Joseph floating off the front a little bit. I think that once we adapted to that system, we committed to the game. Obviously, we gave a goal away, which as disappointing as it is at halftime, I thought in the second half we were very unlucky not to have got a second. With Kalif’s (Alhassan) free kick off the post and Matt Reis drops one under the cross bar, I think with a little bit of Lady Luck there, we could’ve gone away with the three points.”
“We could’ve just put our heads down, and died a little bit - third game in eight days. [We had] to dig in, come back and get something out of a good and very physical team. I watched them play against D.C. last week. They caused D.C. a lot of problems. [New England is] very powerful, very physical - a lot of pace in the flanks. I thought we matched them very well, to be honest with you.”
“(Backup goalkeepers) are paid to perform well. We don’t pay guys to play poorly. I keep saying this. Jake Gleeson pulls off an unbelievable save. He’ll probably get save of the week again, for that one that skinned the top corner in the first half from (Sainey) Nyassi - a wonderful save. And James (Marcelin) comes in, makes his MLS debut, and Kalif (Alhassan) comes in a makes his MLS debut, as well, and he was unlucky not to score off a free kick.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS GOALKEEPER JAKE GLEESON
“Coming in young, there’s probably a lot of pressure on me to perform as well as Adin (Brown) or Troy (Perkins), but I put a lot of pressure on myself. To come out and hold the goalkeeping standard up high and playing well, so I think most of the pressure actually comes from myself because I want to be as good as those guys at the moment, which is tough.”
“It’s hard if the crowd’s yelling, I’m not used to the noise level, but I’m getting better. Each game I go out and play, I’m learning more and more so. [Confidence is] something you definitely get with experience, with age and more playing time. Hopefully, I can just keep getting better week in and week out.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS MIDFIELDER JACK JEWSBURY
“Kenny (Cooper) did a great job the whole game holding it up. The ball came into him, he tried to play Jeremy (Hall) in, Jeremy got a touch. It kind of bounced off the defender. Jeremy laid a great ball back to me, and I just struck it left footed and found the corner of the net.”
“I think Tuesday was a good win for us, we got some confidence. We don’t really put too much into what other team’s think of us. We try to focus on ourselves and what we can do to make ourselves better. I think this week we progressed a lot, and it gives the guys a good feeling with the two week break before we have our home opener.”
“I feel very comfortable with the group of guys. As the captain, in the leadership role, my experience comes into play. [I want to] continue building this team. We’ve just got to continue to fight for one another, and improve upon the things that we haven’t done so well and continue to build the things that we have.”
