New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
On New England’s 3-0 loss to Sporting KC…
We didn’t start well, didn’t finish well and we lost 3-0. It’s disappointing because they had three shots on goal in the game and scored on all three. That’s a tough stat to look at because we pride ourselves on closing people down and trying to defend.
On New England’s defensive performance…
Tonight I felt we defended okay at times, but when you give the ball away aimlessly against a team like (Sporting KC), you play into their hands.
On starting Kevin Alston at left back and pushing Chris Tierney into the midfield…
Our thought process was that we wanted to have a physical presence on (Kei) Kamara. You hope for a spark, but tonight we were flat all the way around. We didn’t take our chances and we didn’t defend that well.
New England Revolution midfielder Chris Tierney
On New England’s 3-0 loss to Sporting KC…
We weren’t great. I’m not sure there’s much more you can say about it. We didn’t start well and conceded a bad goal. We had a chance to tie before halftime and couldn’t score. I thought we were okay in the first half but the red card made it tough.
On New England’s offensive performance…
The key on the road is to defend and take your chances when you create them. We had some good chances in the first half but they didn’t go in for us. Their second goal and then the red cards killed us off.
On moving into the midfield after Kevin Alston started at left back…
It was just a tactical switch on the road. My job is to get wide, get balls into the box and put (the opponent) under pressure. I’m not sure I did that tonight, but credit to Kevin (Alston). It was good to see him back out there and he played hard. But this was a tough result for us.
On New England’s two-game losing streak and returning home for two matches…
We’ll look forward to a positve reaction at home. We’ve had two bad road results in a row. We’ve talked about it all year that we don’t want to go on losing streaks. So it’s time to draw the line in the sand, and we’ll come out next week fired up.
New England Revolution defender Andy Farrell
On New England’s 3-0 loss to Sporting KC…
Sometimes you can take something from a loss, but I don’t think we can take anything from this game. We didn’t start that well and gave up a goal in the first half. But even then we had a lot of chances and the game could have gone either way. Had we scored any of our chances, we would have been in it. But they’re a great team, and this was a great atmosphere. We knew we had to play well, and we just didn’t do that tonight.
On New England’s halftime adjustments when they were down 1-0…
We tried to push forward a little more to help Dimitry (Imbongo) up top. But when you get down 2-0 and pick up a red card, it gets really hard. At that point it kind of just broke down, so we tried to just not give up any more goals.
On Sporting KC’s strengths…
They’re a good possession team. We let them have a lot of the ball. Against a team like them, the difference between a win and a loss is taking your chances when you get them. We’ve just got to find a way to get those goals. Sometimes we play really good soccer, but we’ve just got to calm down and get results in these two upcoming home games.
Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the 3-0 victory over New England...
From the start of the game to the final whistle, we were very good tonight. We didn’t really give anything away. I thought we worked very hard in the middle of the park. Our midfield sort of drove the team. Tactically, we made some adjustments to deal with New England. They changed their formation to the same formation we play. In regards to that, we were very intelligent and pretty balanced. To get three goals, it’s good for us. Obviously, it catapults us back into first place, which is a good place to be.
On Kei’s injury he sustained late in the match…
I think he’s going to be okay. We’ll get an x-ray tomorrow and make sure everything’s okay, but I think it’s just a (left) ankle sprain.
On the quick turnaround from Wednesday’s win in Nicaragua...
We say our players need to be Sporting fit. It’s something we take a lot of pride in. The other piece of it is that we managed the trip very well. Thanks to the ownership, we had a private plane, which helped immensely on our travel. Getting the result boosted our confidence. The guys did well with the quick turnaround, that’s for sure.
On forward Soony Saad’s performance…
Soony has the ability to give a final pass. It’s not that he can just score. He’s starting to feel himself on the field and become more of a complete player for us.
On the teams’ aerial ability...
I think it is two things; it’s service and movement in the box. We get a lot of service in the box. When you get good runs, then all of a sudden, you start to get the real chances on goal. We have some pretty dangerous players like Kei, and when CJ’s out there, Collin when he can get in there and, finally, Ike, when he is in.
On finishing opponents...
One of the tie breakers is most goals scored and right now I think we’re tied in the eastern division, so it’s an important aspect as we move through the rest of the season. You don’t want to keep your opponents hanging around. I think we’re getting better at clinically finishing teams off at the end of the games.
Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber
Thoughts on the win...
We played the way we wanted to. We gave up that one chance, but other than that a pretty solid 90-minute performance. A shutout with three goals at home, that’s what we wanted to do for the fans, who deserve it. I think I heard it was 29 sellout crowds in a row, which is big time from our fans, so we wanted to give them a good result tonight. All and all, it was a perfect night.
If he enjoys playing against his former team…
A hundred percent. I think that’ll always be the case every single time, whether it’s now, or ten years from now. They’re guys that I’ve played with and they’re my buddies, so it’s good to beat and score on them, and obviously, it’s good for the team to get the three points.
On his free kick goal…
When you have a free kick on top of the box, unless you have a really good set piece, you’re going to take it. That was really the only thing I had on my mind. Once I saw the ball pass the wall, I knew it was in.
On if he saw Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal on Wednesday...
Yeah, it was almost as good as mine (laughs).
