Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution Post-Game Quote Sheet – Aug. 29, 2015

Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtin
Opening statement

A disappointing result, I thought the first half both teams played well and had chances. They had a little more on the ball but I still thought we had a couple opportunities on the goal. We didn’t capitalize, credit to them they made it difficult for us the whole night. I thought they were a little sharper and cleaner on the ball, just all the little things to get a win on the road. Second half I thought we were poor, there was just a big drop off. Jermaine was probably the best on the field, he had a good game, he kept finding space and was dangerous all night. Conversely it was not our best performances from our key guys. Difficult because everyone knows the result that went on tonight, we missed a big opportunity.

Can you explain what happened on the Maidana red card?

I’m not sure, it’s all in speculation now. I’ve heard different things so I haven’t seen the video yet but I’ve seen what’s been said and written so any time you get sent off it’s not good, it doesn’t help your team. I think it wasn’t particularly a good game for Chaco. They did a good job limiting his touches, were hard on him, he didn’t have an easy night and then kind of compounded by the red card at the end.

How do you present it to your players in terms of where they stand?

We have three games at home left and four on the road so that’s the way we have to approach it. We can’t get any momentum going, we had a very good professional performance in Montreal, a difficult place to go. We get a 1-0 win, come back home with a good opportunity with a very good New England team and they deserve the points tonight. I’m disappointed we can’t get over that hump of putting together back-to-back performances.

How frustrated were you to see your defense specifically seem disoriented, hooking the ball aimlessly out of the back and not even trying to maintain possession?

We worked hard to finally win it back and then as soon as we would win it back it was coming right back down our throat because we weren’t able to connect our first pass. We talked all week about trying to play into CJ’s feet at least giving him a chance to fight for a ball into Maidana’s feet to let us breathe a little bit but that didn’t happen. A lot of balls were just aimlessly hit out of bounds even on the goal. Not a night where we give them a million chances but the ones we do are critical and we get punched.

On Maidana’s red card, did you see more as a sense of frustration? Are you disappointed by when it happened?

At that stage yeah everybody is frustrated, things didn’t go the way we wanted. It was a late foul, but I’m not sure what he’d done we couldn’t really see it from where we were but he did something to get sent off.

What did you think of Andre Blake’s performance and did he solidify that starting job?

He was very good, saved what he was supposed to save, even on the goal it was a tricky one I have to look at it again. I’m not sure if it went through Richie’s legs or went back against him. It was a good play, a good shot. Not his fault on the goal he bailed us out on a couple where he made some very good saves, happy with his performance.

Philadelphia Union Goalkeeper Andre Blake
One of the key things was you didn’t give up any rebounds. Was that something you really work on?

I’ve been practicing a lot, putting in a lot of work, doing all the stuff that I need to and it’s carrying on into games.

How about on that goal it looked like you were stunned that he shot that. Did you expect him to shoot it at that point or did you think he was still going to try to break down a defender?

I was playing for both, I was playing for another touch, I was also playing for a shot. It’s a pretty tough one it was at the top of the 18, my defender was close I kind of lost sight of the ball for a second. I feel like and a lot of guys feel like I could’ve saved it. The past is the past.

You get some momentum and now you’re going to leave, how tough was that?

Once I leave, I’ll get to be in Jamaica and that would be awesome.  But that’s not for me to worry about because I can’t control that whether I play or not. I make sure to stay mentally ready and so when I get back if my number is called I will be ready to go.

Do you feel much better about things leaving for Jamaica this time?

I’ve gotten a couple games in, feels great so now the decision is up to the coach.

Union Defender Richie Marquez
Thoughts on the goal

Too much space, shot went by me through me, whatever you wanna call it. It was unfortunate but it happened.

Did it go through your legs?

I think it just went right past my head. He shot it across I don’t even know if he meant to do that. But it’s a good shot.

Was the space given to him because of the way he can break down defenders?

Yeah once he’s coming at you like that the best thing do is trap him. Try for one of your center defensemen to come back but there was just too much space. It’s just a tough one, a tough goal to take.

How frustrating was this game? What are they doing to you guys to break you down so much?

I don’t know I mean this late in the season it’s just grinding a lot of wins out and obviously some players are going to excel and some are going to struggle a little bit, whether you want to call it fatigue or just end of season. It’s just grinding it out and hard work because that game was back and forth and it’s just a matter of who’s going to want it a little bit more and they came away with it.

New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
Jay big 3 points on the road. Thoughts?

Yeah we were really happy with the way we went about the game. I thought early it went really well and then the game got into a little bit of second balls but I thought the second half we were really good at limiting chances. I think we could’ve been a little sharper and had a little more of a game but Philly’s a very good team and they’re playing well at home and they weren’t able to break on us and that was key to our game plan.

Charlie does a lot for you but tonight he did a lot of hold-up play. Was that part of the game plan?

It’s always part of the game plan. With the way he was holding up, the players got confident. On the goal, Diego knew that he was holding up really well and the two of them linked up really well.

What has turned it around this season?

It’s a combination of continuing to fight through it. You hit ups, you hit downs. I think we’ve got a good perspective. I think tactically we’ve taken a hard line on our shape. I think we’re known for our fluid attack but sometimes we can get stretched. Defensively, I think our shape has been really good these past few weeks.

You won both games here this year. Does that surprise you?

Yeah they’re a really tough team and both games were really different at different times. No one likes coming to Philly late in the year because now they’ve got open cup and all these things and we’re hoping they get that because they’re a tough team. Tonight we did a good job limiting what they’ve been good at lately and that’s credit to our guys. At any moment it felt like they could get one.

Revolution forward Charlie Davies
There was a lot of hold-up work for you tonight.  It seemed more than usual.

In that center striker position you have to offer a lot to the team and any given night the team needs you to do something different. Tonight it was holding up the ball and the team has given me great balls so that made my job pretty easy. I just had to hold it up and keep the ball moving for our teammates.

How much of an eye do you keep on results or is it still too early to watch playoff races?

I think we reflect on last year. What made us so good last year is that we just worry about ourselves. As long as we play our game, we know that we can achieve our destiny. From here on out if we continue to win games we know that we’ll be in the playoffs. All we can hope for is that we go out and get the highest seed possible and I think if we play like we have I think we will.

Is it dangerous to count on what happened last year?

Not at all. It’s just something that we can reflect on. Knowing that you’re never as low as you seem. We lost eight games in a row last year so we look back at that knowing that things haven’t gone as well as we would have liked but things were a lot worse last year and look how far we made it. That’s just something we can always reflect on. We know we’re a different team and it’s a different season but that’s always something we can look back on. Look what we dug ourselves out of. So after a rough patch this summer, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for us.

Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez
On the goal

I just remember that they were trying to attack and we were putting on good pressure, which led to a throw in. Chris played it through to Charlie and Charlie just had to do his job and lay it off for me. I just went for a hole in one and I just took a shot and saw the ball going in.

Were you surprised with the space?

I was surprised with how much space they were giving me and I just kept coming and coming and the space kept opening. I had to make sure I didn’t do a bad touch or anything, just make sure I had a good shot.

25 goals at 20 years old, making you the youngest to do it. Thoughts?

It’s something great and it’s something you can add to the career but there’s still a lot more learning and I just have to keep playing the way I’ve been playing and hopefully more things come my way.