Columbus Crew SC Head Coach Caleb Porter
On tonight’s result
“Gave up a set piece goal.”
On the defensive woes thus far
“It seems like it’s more of those woes, the defensive woes. There were times today where we showed the mentality we needed to, you know being on the road in this type of environment you’re going to have to absorb at times and bend - like I said at half time, not break and we did that. There were a lot of moments where we were in good position and I thought the goal would come but we have to do better at getting shots off, we have to do better at getting crosses in you know and I just thought for all the good positions we were in, we didn’t get enough shots or create enough. For me it’s one of those days again where we fall a little bit short on defense, you know where we don’t score a goal and we give up a set piece goal and that been the difference for us, it’s the boxes.”
On next week’s game against Colorado
“It doesn’t matter where anyone is at the table in this league it’s always difficult to win on the road. We need to keep improving and we have four days to improve, we’ll look at the film like always we’ll analyze the game like always, we’ll get back to work and prepare for Colorado.”
On breaking out of losing streak
“Well we beat LA Galaxy two games ago… it’s easy to forget that result. Obviously again we were in position to get a result in the second half, you know a couple moments obviously people hit the post. Accam is a touch off from receiving the ball, the through ball and tapping it in. Again its just another game where it’s not enough. We’re going to look at it and find out why we’re not getting more chance and more shots and obviously we’ll look at the goal we gave up at the piece as well. We’ll look to correct those issues and we need the four days of training to get better.”
On David Accam’s first start
“Yeah he was lively, I thought on the day. You know he had a couple moments where he was in really good spots on several occasions, you see the stats, it seems like we had no chances yet I feel like we were in great spots and we just didn’t get shots off and didn’t create enough out of it so we’ll have to look at that and have to analyze it and get back to work and improve.”
On the mentality
“Yeah it’s a little bit of mentality; you know being more aggressive and being more decisive. We’ll look at the runs and look at the decisions…all those things. We’ll keep working with the group and improving the group because I know we’re capable of scoring the goals. I know these guys have quality to do it, same thing on the defensive side. It seems like with all the work we did today…I thought we deserved a draw I think we are as good on the attack as we have been but I thought we needed to create a little bit more.”
On offense tonight
“We gotta keep working, we gotta keep improving, and we gotta keep training. Obviously, David is a new player for us so we are integrating him. I think we are also trying to find our identity without our outside backs who are injured. We are obviously not playing our outside backs that we normally play with, with guys looking forward to joining the attack it’s something that’s played a part and also our goalkeeper Zack Steffen has been out the last two games. Our identity, in terms of our build up and the way we play out the back, I think we are looking to find our identity with Zack out.”
On mispasses and turnovers during tonight’s game
“I think it’s kind of funny stadium you know, wind swirling around everywhere and the grass is new you know. It wasn’t our typical passing game, a little bit more unforced errors but I think a big part of that is just us in the back half finding our identity without a couple key pieces in terms of how we play. We need to improve no doubt about it and we are willing to.”
Columbus Crew SC Goalkeeper Jon Kempin
On how his first start and the game as a whole was for him
“I mean we lost, so that’s never a good thing, but I thought that everyone gave everything that they had. We were right there with them for 75 minutes, and then we conceded, but it was there for the taking and I think that it was positive that we all stuck together, we finished the game, we worked hard, we gave everything we had.”
On what it was like playing in front of his family tonight
“It’s awesome that they drove up here. I think it was six, seven hours, something like that. I do have family in Minnesota, so Minnesota is a special place for me. We also have a family cabin here, so I always love coming to Minnesota. It was good to see them in the stands. I hadn’t seen them in a while, so it was nice that they were there and able to watch my game, because obviously I haven’t had too many. When I get a chance to play, it’s nice to have them there.”
On the goal that was conceded from his perspective
“It’s frustrating. Set pieces are frustrating goals to give up. We just gotta be mentally focused and tuned in to doing the little things. Sometimes if we make a small little mistake, they can punish you like they did there. It’s an unfortunate goal, because I thought that we were there with them the entire game, and like I said it could’ve gone either way, and at the end of the day I think we deserved to lose, but that’s soccer. It’d be nice to win that game 0-0 and get the shutout obviously after not playing awhile, but I thought all the guys gave everything they had, and the defense was phenomenal, it was just a tiny little lapse and they got a goal.”
On what defensive positives he can take away heading to Colorado
“I think there’s been positives in every game, especially defensively. I think we’ve all been defending as a unit, and like I said we have to continue to do the small things, those are the things that are going to get us the win or the tie. We gotta keep focusing on that in training and keep focus on that during the game. Small little mistakes in this league can punish you, so from everybody, myself included, we just gotta take those small mistakes away, continue to grind, and I think we’ll get a result."
Columbus Crew SC Midfielder David Accam
On what went wrong
“It was a tough game for us, for us it was not our day. Even though we worked really hard in the first half, we didn’t really turn up today. They deserved the win. They were playing at home, they put pressure on us. We should have played better but we didn’t. Unfortunately, we lost today.”
On his first start
“It wasn’t good enough. For my own quality, it wasn’t good enough today. I’ve got into good positions where I should’ve done better. I was always happy I got to start today and at least I showed a little bit of work but overall it wasn’t good.”
On what he needs to focus on in training personally
“Yeah, personally I just need to do a little more final product in today. I keep having issues so I just have to go back and keep working on my final product.”
On the key to finishing chances
”Yeah, I think that one thing I can take is we’re going to group positions but the final ball will not go through the posts. It’s all about confidence. We keep doing this in training and I know in games we produce and if one goal goes in than that’s everything we’ve got going well for us.”
