What was said after Atlanta United’s 0-0 draw with Orlando in MLS action on Wednesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Interim Head Coach Stephen Glass

On tonight’s result being a good point earned and why he chose to make only two subs: “I think it is a good point. Obviously, a team that’s unbeaten in nine games coming to your place, they are a dangerous team. We are obviously trying to win every game. But there were situations tonight we had chances to score goals. They did as well. Brad (Guzan) was fantastic tonight. There weren’t too many where you are thinking they should have really scored. I think we were in control especially in the second half. Any of their opportunities came from breaks, I just felt like we were in control and the group that was on the pitch had the best chance of winning the game.”

On his lineup decision in midfield and what Orlando did to stop Atlanta’s counter attack: "I think Mo (Adams) has been good in training. When you have a squad like we do, sometimes you have to wait your turn. Mo has been patient, has been waiting and training hard. I’ve also said it publicly that I leaned on Eric (Remedi) quite heavily and I believe his performance level suffered based on how much I leaned on him. I think coming out of team hopefully serves him well and his performance will go back up to that we know it should be and what Eric wants it to be.

To your second part, they were organized. They obviously knew what our threat it and coped with it quite well. We didn’t maybe use it as well as we could have. We had some opportunities to exploit, but we didn’t. Again, when your in a game with that intensity against a top team, it’s not always easy to get the things you want to happen, happen. Credit to them and their defensive style tonight. I think it was a fair point overall for both teams."

On if the team is getting sharper: “Yeah definitely. I think it’s a focus thing. I think it’s four of five clean sheets since we’ve come on. The improvement in that side of things is good. We haven’t been shutout offensively too many times either. It’s just unfortunate tonight that we keep a clean sheet and get shutout on other end. I think the focus of the group has been fantastic. The determination not to lose games late, and not make silly mistakes early has improved. The whole spirit of the group gives us something to build on.”

On Brad Guzan’s performance tonight: “Yeah, I think if he’s not the best, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in this country. He got called upon a good number of times tonight. A lot of them, for a guy like Brad, fairly routine saves. I think one or two of them were special saves. When you have a big goalkeeper like that and he produces big moments, it’s great for him to get the credit he deserves. The only pity tonight is that no one put one in on the other end of the pitch and he could get a winning clean sheet. But he will be happy with his performance, happy with another clean sheet and as a group we are delighted to have him.”

On using the same starting XI as last match: “I think we were able to protect a number of players late on in the match vs. DC. It wasn’t a hugely intense game, so we felt like the group could manage to play against Wednesday night. I felt like it’s probably the first chance we’ve had at a level of consistency after a good performance as well. They earned it, and we believed it was a group that could get us a victory tonight against Orlando.”

On leaning on Adam Jahn in the striker role: “In terms of leaning on Adam, I think Adam is a guy that wants to be leaned on. I think he’s not had a run of games. His performance at Chicago was better than I gave him credit for on the night. If I think back, I probably should have left him on the pitch. I think he had some opportunities that he might have grown into it. I maybe could have done something different. The game against DC, I believe Adam was involved in three of the four goals, scoring one of course. His performance level has been really good. Tyler Wolff is pushing. Manuel Castro can play in that role, and hopefully Cubo Torres won’t be out for much longer as well. So, we’ve got a good squad that’s getting stronger. We are looking to keep building and the more competition we got the better.”

Atlanta United defender Anton Walkes

On his thoughts on the match: “We’re walking out of this game frustrated that we didn’t get three points. We’ve for sure come a long way since we’ve last played them so that’s the most important thing. For me and the defensive unit, we’re just happy that we got another shut out and something we can build on coming into this weekend.”

On the team’s sharpness and if it is starting to clean up errors in games: “If you look at the last two games, I think the errors have been eradicated and that’s why they haven’t scored any goals. It’s definitely been a main focus and all due credit to the team and the staff for making sure we can put these errors out of the way.”

On the backline’s confidence level getting clean sheets and staying focused when the attack isn’t scoring a lot of goals: “As a defensive unit we’re feeling fantastic. We’ve got two shutouts in a row and it’s been a while since that’s happened for us. It’s something to build on and we’re feeling confident. Regarding the chances, we had opportunities tonight but they just didn’t fall for us. I had a chance that I think I should have scored even though I’m not a forward but the chances drop all over the field and it’s up to us to take them and again, hopefully we can keep a shut out this weekend and when the chances drop we’ve got to take them.”

Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan

On the team not making as many mental mistakes as they had been a few weeks ago: "I think it’s a combination of understanding of what we’re trying to do – and listen, we’re trying to be a passing team, we want to be a team that keeps the ball, but at the same time, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We can’t have a mountain to climb five minutes into the game by gifting the opposition a goal. And we were doing that, obviously, in quite a few games. So when we’re able to give ourselves a fighting chance, we’re a good team. We can play. We can keep the ball. Especially over the last 2-3 games, we’ve talked about trying to play higher up the pitch to try to put teams on the back foot

If the team’s luck has turned in the last few weeks because of playing with more confidence: "First and foremost, you create your own luck. You can talk about balls hitting the post in the first half, the deflection in the second half, I look at it in a different way. I look at it that it’s a good block in the second half. We’re scrambling and we’re trying to put out a fire, and all of a sudden, I think it’s Miles gets enough of the ball to deflect it onto the crossbar. And then we’ve got bodies around to clear the second. You talk about creating your own luck and you need guys to put their bodies on the line and do everything you can. I choose to look at it that way.

In terms of it being a good point – we’re disappointed, we’re at home. We want to be the team that takes it to them. We’re not a team that is here to settle for points. In saying that, was it a fair result? It probably was a fair result. They had chances. We had chances. Their goalkeeper made 2-3 good saves as well. And that’s the game. They’ve got good players. They’re a good team. We know that but we’re a good team as well. It’s not like we sat there and defended the entire game. We had clear-cut chances as well to put it in the back of the net and ultimately get three points, but it wasn’t to be tonight. So, we’ll take the point and move to Saturday."

If the team can build on the mentality of throwing body on the line, particularly with so many attacking players missing: “Regardless of creative players with the team, or injured, or whatever – that’s got nothing to do with it, to be honest. We need to be a team that is aggressive and I think I’ve sat in this chair before and told you that the amount of times the ball is going to our center forward and he’s getting kicked, pushed, pulled, and thrown to the ground – we need to start being a little more physical. We need to start having a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and saying it’s not going to be an easy day at the office for any opposition, especially when they come into Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We need to start doing that for longer stretches of the game. I think when you see us do it, you see us win the ball back, keep the pressure on, continue to get chance after chance – or at least the ball in different areas. That’s important that we continue to do that. The goal is not to do it for 30 minutes or 45 minutes or 60 minutes, we need to try to do it for 90 minutes. I’m not saying that’s a high press for 90 minutes, because I know that’s not physically possible, but we need to understand when team’s get into dangerous areas, and they play a certain pass, and there’s a guy with his back to a certain player, that we’ve got someone closing him down. So these are things we need to do for longer stretches of the game.”

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Atlanta United coming games

Saturday vs. New York Red Bulls (4-6-2), 6 p.m., FSS

Oct. 14 at Miami (3-7-2), 8 p.m., FSSE

Oct. 18 at Toronto (6-2-4) in Hartford, Conn., 7:30 p.m., FSSE

Oct. 24 vs. D.C. United (2-5-5), 4 p.m., FSSE

Oct. 28 at Orlando (6-2-4), 7:30 p.m., FS1

Nov. 1 vs. Cincinnati (3-6-3), 7 p.m., FSSE

Nov. 8 at Columbus (8-1-3), 3:30 p.m., FSSE

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