PHOENIX RISING FC 2-0 RIO GRANDE VALLEY FC
Head Coach Patrice Carteron
On his team’s effort:
“Very hard game for us today. In terms of intensity it was very poor during the game. You could feel it was the last game of the seven games in 21 days. I’m just happy about what we did: six games won and just one game lost away. But the attitude and spirit of the boys was fantastic. Very hard because we could feel the intensity for most of the players was not that good today. Some of them were getting tired after all those games and some of them were not really ready in terms of intensity. So I’m just happy about the result right now. It was important also for us, after the five goals conceded in two games I really wanted us defensively to have our spirit back. The back four was a little bit tense in the first half but much better in the second half. Josh (Cohen) was fantastic once again, so I’m just happy about this new game won.”
On how he balances rest and intensity ahead of playoffs:
“Honestly, right now everything will change because we have only one game before the playoffs. At first I want all of them to rest and think about everything but football for two or three days. They really deserve to rest and then starting from Wednesday we are going to start to prepare for this playoff game. I think the against Portland will be for me the way to prepare the team for the playoff. Starting from now I think everything will be different because I knew we had many games to play, every three days; I needed most of the players. But right now we must be ready and we are going to have a special preparation for the playoff game.”
On the play of Jason Johnson:
“Jason is a fantastic player. He has great potential. He needed to work, he needed to have maybe more confidence also. Step by step he is just becoming an amazing player. Every time he is on the field he is so powerful, he’s scoring goals and we are so happy to have him with us. That was nice tonight once again.”
On how he has fixed the team’s defensive struggles:
“As I said to the players, we must improve. What was the more important point for me, it was to progress defensively. What I am really happy about now for many weeks is that offensively we now also have very good potential. We feel that even when it’s not a good day like today, we have the feeling that any moment we can score and we have many players who can score. I’m happy about the way we are playing right now, about the potential of the team. That’s why for me the work now will be the preparation for the playoff game.”
On the battle for playing time in defense:
“Defensively I was not happy about our attitude in the last two games, five goals conceded. So I also needed to test before I decide what will be the defense for the playoff, I needed to test Gibbons once again, I needed to test Jordan (Stewart) and Peter (Ramage) together. It will help me have as much information as possible and to decide what is best for the next game.”
Goalkeeper Josh Cohen
His thoughts on the win:
"Yeah it was fantastic coming out, especially at home, being able to get a clean sheet, two fantastic goals, a wonderful night."
On how Head Coach Patrice Carteron has changed the culture at the club:
“Definitely I mean every coach has their different system so whenever you do get a new coach there is always that adjustment period and it’s on both sides. It’s us as players figuring out the coach and his desires, and then him trying to figure out us and how our styles fit together and so I think that we have finally figured it out as a unit and its looking good right now. We’re looking to keep it going.”
On the play of his defensive unit:
"It’s fantastic. Any time I can stay in a game not have to make a save and get a shut out that’s the best thing ever and all the credit goes to the ten guys in front of me. Everyone is working hard and were all working hard and on the same page we have fantastic results.”
On how the team is preparing for the postseason:
"I think the playoffs create an energy of themselves and a lot of it is not letting that affect your start too much. Having a good rhythm going in and don’t let it affect you too much and come out too energetic and stop playing in your system and then the other side of also being too antsy maybe playing too cautious. You just want to be consistent and be strong going in. I think we have the leadership experience on the team to deal with that really well.”
Midfielder Matt Watson
On the huge win:
"Definitely I think last game we came out a little bit slow and we didn’t want that mentality to creep in. We’ve been flying off recent and need that to keep that happening till playoffs and that’s very important so we’re taught we got to come out firing as if its a playoff game, and that’s exactly what we did and the result showed that."
On the coaching transition from Frank Yallop to Patrice Carteron:
"Yeah definitely I think every coach that comes in tries to bring their own flavor to it and obviously it took us a little while to adapt and there were some issues. with Patrice I think he’s there so we’re probably gonna go in. It was a bit unsettling but I think once we understood what he wanted from us it was very easy, and I think that’s one of his strengths is making it perfectly clear what he wants on the field. We had a couple new guys come in, there were a few adjustments, but you’re gonna have that, you just gotta keep on working even when its not working on the field and once we found a rhythm like we have now it seems to be working perfectly so you just keep listening to coach, believe in him and he’ll believe in you and that’s it."
On the healthy competition on the team:
"This is honestly one of my favorite teams in terms of personalities. I love everyone on the team and its a lot of fun and like you said its friendly competition. We get stuck into each other at practice but we’re all friends off the field and I think that’s important. There’s no cliques on the team which is very unusual I think. As I said, this is one of the best teams I’ve been on so its all love. I have a great relationship with all of them, probably the midfield little gang is like my favorite guys on the team, and whether I’m playing or I’m not playing I’m gonna support them no matter what."
On the intensity going into the playoffs:
"Just like I said, I think last game we did come out complacent because we knew we were in and so we just gotta realize we can’t have that mentality because in the playoffs it’s you lose you go home.So we treat this like a playoff game, we play all out, and if you get tired you got subs also. You gotta give it all and you can’t take your foot off the gas no matter what the game is because it becomes a habit and when its time for the playoffs if we’ve lost a couple games and the confidence is low you’re not gonna be able to just pick it back up."
PHOENIX RISING FC 2-0 RIO GRANDE VALLEY FC
Head Coach Patrice Carteron
On his team’s effort:
“Very hard game for us today. In terms of intensity it was very poor during the game. You could feel it was the last game of the seven games in 21 days. I’m just happy about what we did: six games won and just one game lost away. But the attitude and spirit of the boys was fantastic. Very hard because we could feel the intensity for most of the players was not that good today. Some of them were getting tired after all those games and some of them were not really ready in terms of intensity. So I’m just happy about the result right now. It was important also for us, after the five goals conceded in two games I really wanted us defensively to have our spirit back. The back four was a little bit tense in the first half but much better in the second half. Josh (Cohen) was fantastic once again, so I’m just happy about this new game won.”
On how he balances rest and intensity ahead of playoffs:
“Honestly, right now everything will change because we have only one game before the playoffs. At first I want all of them to rest and think about everything but football for two or three days. They really deserve to rest and then starting from Wednesday we are going to start to prepare for this playoff game. I think the against Portland will be for me the way to prepare the team for the playoff. Starting from now I think everything will be different because I knew we had many games to play, every three days; I needed most of the players. But right now we must be ready and we are going to have a special preparation for the playoff game.”
On the play of Jason Johnson:
“Jason is a fantastic player. He has great potential. He needed to work, he needed to have maybe more confidence also. Step by step he is just becoming an amazing player. Every time he is on the field he is so powerful, he’s scoring goals and we are so happy to have him with us. That was nice tonight once again.”
On how he has fixed the team’s defensive struggles:
“As I said to the players, we must improve. What was the more important point for me, it was to progress defensively. What I am really happy about now for many weeks is that offensively we now also have very good potential. We feel that even when it’s not a good day like today, we have the feeling that any moment we can score and we have many players who can score. I’m happy about the way we are playing right now, about the potential of the team. That’s why for me the work now will be the preparation for the playoff game.”
On the battle for playing time in defense:
“Defensively I was not happy about our attitude in the last two games, five goals conceded. So I also needed to test before I decide what will be the defense for the playoff, I needed to test Gibbons once again, I needed to test Jordan (Stewart) and Peter (Ramage) together. It will help me have as much information as possible and to decide what is best for the next game.”
Goalkeeper Josh Cohen
His thoughts on the win:
“Yeah it was fantastic coming out, especially at home, being able to get a clean sheet, two fantastic goals, a wonderful night.”
On how Head Coach Patrice Carteron has changed the culture at the club:
“Definitely I mean every coach has their different system so whenever you do get a new coach there is always that adjustment period and it’s on both sides. It’s us as players figuring out the coach and his desires, and then him trying to figure out us and how our styles fit together and so I think that we have finally figured it out as a unit and its looking good right now. We’re looking to keep it going.”
On the play of his defensive unit:
“It’s fantastic. Any time I can stay in a game not have to make a save and get a shut out that’s the best thing ever and all the credit goes to the ten guys in front of me. Everyone is working hard and were all working hard and on the same page we have fantastic results.”
On how the team is preparing for the postseason:
“I think the playoffs create an energy of themselves and a lot of it is not letting that affect your start too much. Having a good rhythm going in and don’t let it affect you too much and come out too energetic and stop playing in your system and then the other side of also being too antsy maybe playing too cautious. You just want to be consistent and be strong going in. I think we have the leadership experience on the team to deal with that really well.”
Midfielder Matt Watson
On the huge win:
“Definitely I think last game we came out a little bit slow and we didn’t want that mentality to creep in. We’ve been flying off recent and need that to keep that happening till playoffs and that’s very important so we’re taught we got to come out firing as if its a playoff game, and that’s exactly what we did and the result showed that.”
On the coaching transition from Frank Yallop to Patrice Carteron:
“Yeah definitely I think every coach that comes in tries to bring their own flavor to it and obviously it took us a little while to adapt and there were some issues. with Patrice I think he’s there so we’re probably gonna go in. It was a bit unsettling but I think once we understood what he wanted from us it was very easy, and I think that’s one of his strengths is making it perfectly clear what he wants on the field. We had a couple new guys come in, there were a few adjustments, but you’re gonna have that, you just gotta keep on working even when its not working on the field and once we found a rhythm like we have now it seems to be working perfectly so you just keep listening to coach, believe in him and he’ll believe in you and that’s it.”
On the healthy competition on the team:
“This is honestly one of my favorite teams in terms of personalities. I love everyone on the team and its a lot of fun and like you said its friendly competition. We get stuck into each other at practice but we’re all friends off the field and I think that’s important. There’s no cliques on the team which is very unusual I think. As I said, this is one of the best teams I’ve been on so its all love. I have a great relationship with all of them, probably the midfield little gang is like my favorite guys on the team, and whether I’m playing or I’m not playing I’m gonna support them no matter what.”
On the intensity going into the playoffs:
“Just like I said, I think last game we did come out complacent because we knew we were in and so we just gotta realize we can’t have that mentality because in the playoffs it’s you lose you go home.So we treat this like a playoff game, we play all out, and if you get tired you got subs also. You gotta give it all and you can’t take your foot off the gas no matter what the game is because it becomes a habit and when its time for the playoffs if we’ve lost a couple games and the confidence is low you’re not gonna be able to just pick it back up.”
