Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
I think that we just weren't dangerous enough in the game. They did a good job of sitting deep, parking the bus and then trying to counter from there. What, at times, we did very well was we actually did move the ball, but we kept getting impatient and then the impatience also created hesitancy on our part. When you should play the ball, you wait a second, it's a second too late. Now when the next guy gets the ball, it's not a good ball. He's now under pressure, which he wouldn't have been if you given it a second earlier. Those little details didn't give us the opportunities in and around the box to better looks. Now we had some really good opportunities on the left side where we got in deep into their box and towards the goal line, and we were inside there. I wasn't out there, so it's hard from where we sit, but it seemed to me there were quite a few opportunities where we could have found us, but they were there to clear the ball or we just played it to them. I just don't know which one. I’ll have to see it later. We could have been much better in that final third. If you're already up 1-0 and you're winning, it's a little different mindset the way you play. If you get the goal, then all of a sudden the game changes and now they have a different mentality. Credit to them, they fought for the game.
On the team’s play down the left flank…
The interchanging of and turning and playing little combination play was good. When you're doing that, that part is very good. But we have got to find somebody and we have got to stick the ball into the back of the net. That's what we didn't have today.
On if he was disappointed…
Am I disappointed (in how we played)? No. I don't think that we were bad. I just don't think that we were clicking offensively. Am I disappointed (in the result)? Sure, I'm disappointed. I want to get three points. We just couldn't get a goal. That's what I'm disappointed in.
On the insertion of Robert Voloder…
When he came on, he was actually very confident which he should be. There's no reason not to be. He came in and played and didn't miss a beat, so that was very good.
On the use of substitutions with a quick turnaround to Tuesday’s match…
I made the changes I made because we needed something different. That's why I made the changes I made. I made quite a few changes.
On the confidence of John Pulskamp…
John has always been confident. I think what he has is he's getting more and more of a routine playing in games, more and more MLS games which he wasn't doing before. He's always been a very confident person, and he should be because he works very hard all the time. He's prepared himself to be ready to do this. For me, he's always been very, very confident.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper John PulskampÂ
Thoughts on the match…
It's good to get a point on the road, especially when you get a clean sheet as well. I’m proud of that and the guys should be. They get that red card in the first half and it changes the game. We had the majority of the ball. We kept the ball very well and, for the most part, we were really good on the ball. A couple of times, especially in the second half, we maybe could have been a little cleaner and I think we could have had a little bit more urgency to go forward and to be cleaner on the ball going forward. So that's one area I think we could have been a bit better.
On Houston’s ability to counter…
I think we were kind of expecting that to a degree. Anytime a team goes down a man early in the game in the first half, we kind of knew they were going to sit back and they were going to fight for the clean sheet themselves and then try to either play balls over the top or just try to get forward really, really quickly with one or two guys. So we were expecting it and it makes it difficult when a team's only focus is to not concede and is to sit back and just protect their 18 (yard box), it's hard sometimes to beat them.
On his confidence after another clean sheet…
The more games you get under your belt, the better. I wouldn’t say confidence has ever been an issue from the debut early last season until now. I've always felt good out there. I've always felt very comfortable. But, of course, experience is massive in the sport and especially this position. The more games I get under my belt, the better off I'm going to be.
