What was said following Atlanta United's 3-1 loss to NYCFC on Sunday:
ATLANTA UNITED MANAGER GERARDO MARTINO
On the team looking out of synch in most of the past two games
“I just want to talk about today’s game. Today, there were no positives we can rescue from the game. We faced a superior team today.”
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On if the narrow field affected anything
“No. We played a bad game and our opponent played better than we did.”
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“It wasn’t just a problem in the second half. We were the inferior team the whole game. Even when we scored it was a half-volley from outside the box. Even in that moment we didn’t really deserve the goal. The other team was just superior tonight.”
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On the factors why NYCFC was superior
“They had more intensity at the time of winning the ball back. Second, when they had the ball they controlled it better than we did.”
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“Every game is an independent analysis. It’s different to draw on the road at Seattle or in Toronto with losing 3-1 at home. We have to take every game individually. It’s also true that during this stretch we haven’t been able to count on a full roster. We’ve had Josef out. Kenwyne (Jones) has stepped in. Jacob Peterson has been out. (Andrew) Carleton is playing with the national team.”
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On if he would consider lineup changes
“We will evaluate everything this week. We have to see who is recovering and what players will be available. I also think that we played a very good first 6-7 games. Just because we’ve played two poor game it doesn’t mean we have to modify everything.”
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MIGUEL ALMIRON
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game and that the opponent has some really talented players. I think up until it was tied, we were going OK, we were still in the game. But after the second goal they took control of the game.”
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“We came out in the second half with intensity, but the opponent was able to create a chance on goal before we did.”
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“We will work hard this week to try and get a result next week.”
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“We aren’t going to make excuses that we are a new team and are still getting to know each other. We’ve played some good team and are going to keep working harder than we have been to keep working forward.”
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“Josef is a great player. We hope he is recovering well and able to get back as soon as possible. At the same time we have players who are capable of stepping in.”
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MICHAEL PARKHURST
“New York City is a very good team, we knew that coming in. We just weren’t good enough today in all facets. To get the goal to come back to 1-1, to go into halftime 1-1 was good for us. Straight from the get-go in the second half, we just didn’t bring it. Against a good team you get punished. We were lucky we didn’t get punished in the first 30 seconds of the second half.”
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On coming out flat in the second half for the second consecutive game
“This is a challenge for us. This is the first time this team is facing some adversity where it’s two games in a row that not only do we lose but we don’t play well. This is a testing time for us on how we can regroup, how we can come out in our next game and pull things together and have a better performance.”
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On if it feels like an expansion team for the first time
“Every team in MLS I’ve been on goes through these periods. Every team. Look at the results in MLS this weekend. Teams go through it. We’ve gone through it now twice in a row here. This is a testing time for us. An expansion team maybe is slower to come out of it. But we don’t see ourselves as an expansion team so we will come out of this quickly.”
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“We have to come together. When you lose you tend to get to yourself and focus on yourself and your own stuff. We need to make sure we stick together as a team and go back to what was making us sucessful at the beginning of the year. That was working hard and working for each other and putting teams on the back foot right from the beginning of the game. Hopefully, we can do that.”
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On the issues on offense
“I can’t pinpoint exactly, but it’s not just on the offense. It’s a whole team performance. It goes hand in hand. We aren’t making plays defensively. We aren’t building out of the back the way we want to. All that leads to a better cohesiveness up top. We all need to improve top to bottom.”
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JEFF LARENTOWICZ
“I can’t comment on the last game because I didn’t play. Tonight it just seemed that New York was the better team. They came out and scored two quick goals in the second half and yeah, we got beaten today.”
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“It was a tight field, when you make turnovers they know how to play on the field. When the ball turns over they get forward quickly. One pass can open you up. It’s a one vs. one for a cross or a goal. The second goal was a quick run-of play. We didn’t switch on, they were sharp. They beat us.”
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On the past six games
“How many games of the last six have been on the road? Five out of six on the road. You play any sport in any league, I don’t care what it is you go on the road it’s going to be tough. The margins in MLS are really small. I think we’ve held our best in the league. Today we gotten beaten by the better team. I’m not going to say it’s an over-arching theme for us, but today we got beaten.”
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