COLUMBUS CREW SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On overall performance:
I thought it was a decent effort. The guys did well. Obviously, heads were down in the locker room after the game because we couldn’t close it out. We couldn’t get the three points. But there were a lot of positives. This is a team, New York, that was coming off a big win and it’s a good team. It’s a team that could strike at any time and I think we did a good job today.
On Jairo Arrieta’s performance:
He was very active and he showed why he was in the starting lineup for certain.
On whether or not the Crew should’ve won the game:
It’s what they expect of themselves. They were disappointed that we didn’t win the game, and I like that. I like the fact that they were disappointed. It shows that we have high expectations for themselves.
On performance at home:
It was a fun game. I think that’s exactly what we want to play and you don’t always get that, but there are times where the movement was great, passing between the lines and air opened up. It was an attractive game. I thought it was pretty good for the spectator.
On team’s pace in the beginning of the match compared to Toronto FC match :
It was a different type of start. Today I think we looked a little nervous. We looked a little apprehensive. Against Toronto, I think it was just a slow start in general, but today it was strange. The first 15 minutes were odd, but then we got into gear and we started really moving the ball around and it looked pretty good.
On Steve Clark’s performance:
Steve’s been fantastic. He’s been good all year and everything about his distribution, coming up with saves when he needs to; all of that was very good.
On Arrieta taking the penalty kick instead of Federico Higuain:
They decided [who would take it] between themselves. Jairo wanted to get off the mark, he was anxious to score, and it was good that he took it and made it.
On finishing crosses in the box:
At the end of the day, that’s the hardest part: scoring goals. They had the same problems that we had and it’s not easy. I think we can be a little bit more aggressive taking chances, looking to shoot when we have shooting positions, and increase the aggressiveness around the goal. But it’s not an easy thing. I think everyone looks to the fact that we score one goal and talks about that, but it’s still not easy to get that final product. I thought there were some good moves. I thought there were nice combinations and we’re going to keep working. We’re going to keep working and fine tune this, and we’ll get there.
On Oduro’s performance as a substitute and Arrieta getting the start:
I thought he did fine. I think we’re trying to get him into full rhythm. And Jairo, in this case over the past couple of weeks, has looked pretty sharp in training and it was something where we felt he deserved to start. But I think Dom – we want to give him the rhythm, we want him to make an impact, where it’s coming in as a sub or starting the game. We believe he can have a bigger impact with this group.
On Meram’s performance in the starter role:
Justin did well. He has that ability to turn and take players on, be aggressive, and I like that a lot. He got a little bit fatigued towards the end of his time on the field, but I think it was a solid performance by him.
On getting a win in the upcoming matches:
We want to just keep developing our play. We want to win the games, of course. We have expectations of ourselves to win the game, but we want to develop our style and keep working on that. We’re going to go on the road and give teams tough games. We’re going to try to control the games and be aggressive, and that’s what we do. We’re going to keep trying.
On making adjustments based on opponents’ game plans:
The first thing is: Do you think that worked today? Do you think we weren’t able to move the ball around? I think if we can execute, we’ve got guys that are willing to take chances and willing to play in tight spaces. So, I think we’re going to continue doing that. I tell the guys be brave, want the ball, ask for the ball, get it in tight spots and the guys are doing that. I’m happy with it.
On New York’s offense and the Crew’s defensive response:
It was our build-up play in the first 15 minutes. We couldn’t get it going and they have a lot of individual quality. If you look at their attacking group, it’s a very, very strong group for this League. As we lost the ball in our half, they took advantage of that and they had good movement off the ball, tried to create some chances and they did. What I’m pleased with is we didn’t waiver. We didn’t say, ‘OK, we’re going to kick every ball along.’ We wanted to keep playing, we did and we eventually got into a rhythm. When you look at that first half, it says a lot about a group to just keep pushing, keep playing, and we’ll eventually got the goal.
COLUMBUS CREW FORWARD JAIRO ARRIETA
On the penalty kick:
First of all, I just want to thank God for the goal. It was a great goal; I would also like to thank Pipa (Higuain) for allowing me to take it. He is the reason I took it.
On the chances he had tonight:
It was very important for me to play well today. I was in the starting 11 I wanted to be there I wanted to make chances. The chances I did have were stopped by the goalie he played great. The chances I had I tried to equalize, and then get the second goal, but I couldn’t because the goalie played great.
On if he’s getting more in the rhythm as the season progresses:
I have got to be confident going into the starting 11. It’s very important to play well around my teammates as well. With my confidence going in trying to score some goals and make things happen. Everybody is going in and playing well.
COLUMBUS CREW GOALKEEPER STEVE CLARK
On the feeling in the locker room after the game:
We were disappointed; we wanted to get three points. I think that’s our aim every game. It doesn’t matter who we are playing against, I felt like we let one go. They were a little tired at the end. We have to finish our chances and we have to get a zero. I’ll keep working on that and we will get better.
On the Phillips’ goal:
It was a half chance. It was a cheap goal, a deflection and off the post. Those happen from time to time but I thought we defended well enough to get a zero, but we didn’t get it. We will keep working. I felt good and we will just continue on.
On the upcoming road trip:
We play well on the road, so I don’t really care where we are playing. We will need these points come October. A point at home is not the best but, we haven’t been beaten in a while.
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH MIKE PETKE
On the quick turnaround of Wednesday to Saturday:
I was pleased in many aspects of our performance tonight. After the first seven minutes we should have be up 2-0. After the two breakaways I figured if we continued to put pressure on and that keep the work rate up, we would be able to find the little pockets to get the ball and we would be okay. Then, we make a mental mistake with the penalty kick but we fought back hard to get the tying goal and this was a very good point for us.
On Crew’s game plan:
We’ve watched them a lot and I’m not saying we’ve mastered how they play but we felt we could clog the middle up and make them go outside it would be a lot of work for us to go side-to-side but that’s what they want. They want to stretch you out, they want to get Higuain through the gaps in the middle and we did our best to not allow that today.
On Bradley Wright-Phillips’ goal:
He did well, I’m glad he got another goal. All the guys did well, I think we had a large chunk of possession tonight, which I’m pleased with. Our possession game is growing as well. It was a good point.
On the goalkeepers:
Luis [Robles] has helped us out a lot this year and I’m very impressed with Clark over there. Mainly his distribution as a goalkeeper is phenomenal and that gets you an extra attacker on the field. They got a good pick with him.
On scoring chances:
When the way we came out and actually played the first half I was confident that there was going to be more chances. The chances we had early on should have been put away but I knew there would be chances. I think we earned it, we deserved the point.
On Tim Cahill:
He’s doing good, it wasn’t a game to put Tim on. We’ll give him one more week but he was here and ready to go. Hopefully next week he’ll be ready.
NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER LUIS ROBLES
On saves on Higuain and Francis:
He (Francis) had a pretty good angle and I don’t know I just reacted. Higuain’s was nasty and I knew as soon as he lined up for it I had to expect that knuckler because last season he had a few knuckle like that. At the end of the day it was just enough to keep us in the game.
On Higuain not taking the penalty kick:
We were joking before the game and I pleaded with him not to score a PK on me. So maybe he was a little merciful and he let Arrieta take it. Gosh, I felt like a got a good read and even when it hit the cross bar I felt like it went out.
On the team mentality:
That was the whole idea when we came into the locker room, is not to put our head down and we had some chances and Steve Clark made some big saves. But we also knew that if we continued to play our game we are going to get more chances.
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILLIPS
On team performance:
I thought we started right. We got used to their system, their shape. Yeah we had a few chances and I think we had more chances in the game so I was happy first half and second half we scored a goal so it’s all good.
On his goal:
When Lloyd’s on the ball he likes to have an end product. I gambled on it really, I don’t know if he miss hit it or if it ended up falling to me I tried to get a good touch on it and get a strike on goal because I think I let two in the first half go away so I just wanted to get a shot on target.
On the team’s resilience:
It shows a lot of character from the boys. I think that’s what happens when you win games you start thinking every game you should win and I think that’s what we showed by coming back.
