Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On changing formations…
With a bunch of the guys that are out, it was just the best way to use the team. I think the unfortunate thing is you don't get the result. But, all in all, we played very well in the formation. We created a lot of chances. I thought we were very dangerous. I thought it was difficult for them for most of the game, but sometimes that's the game. That's the way it goes.
On using multiple formations in the future…
Obviously we're capable. We're capable. We have the players to be able to do it. And today was, I thought for the majority of the game, it was very good. The guys played it well with our possession and our build out. Everything went well. We created a lot of chances tonight. There's no doubt. So from that perspective, very good. The difficult thing to swallow is that we actually played very well tonight. And like I said, we created a lot of chances to not finish off the game. We probably should have been up 3-0 if you get one of the counters in the first half, because we had a few. I'll give them credit on a couple of them. They did a good job of delaying the situation. Even the one when Tim (Leibold) went on the break, he had (Erik) Thommy to his right, but it was tough because they did a good job. It's just a shame that he couldn't get off a clean enough shot. I think he made the right choice at the end. We just had a couple chances there that just didn't fall. I'll say it again, I thought we were good. Unfortunately, that 10-minute span just crushed us.
On his message to the team…
The whole idea is to win. You have got to manage situations. You can't just chalk it up to just 10 minutes. You have to realize also that in those 10 minutes, you also could have done something different. Even after the second goal, you could have done something. You lock something down. Our sport is a little different. It's not like I call a time out to regroup everybody and take the steam out. The game is going. What's interesting is that, normally speaking in a situation like this if normally we're in our 4-3-3 and we're playing with a holding midfielder, I'd probably move to two late in the game just to kind of clog the middle. And we were already in that, so there really wasn't much of a change there. You have got to give credit to them as well. They played some good stuff. The sky is not falling, but we gave away a really big opportunity today.
On containing Puig and Paintsil…
I think, for the most part, the team played very well. I think it was that 10-minute span that I think (Riqui) Puig really got free, if you will. I said, even talking last week that he's one guy that you're trying to deny the ball from. He pushes their offense, he pushes them. He's a very positive, aggressive player. He's going to take chances and you have to be aware and alert to that. I think, for the most part, we really were. We just fell asleep on a couple of situations. I'm not going to say it was fatigue because I think you also look at the weather. The weather is the weather. We had a lot of the ball. We had a lot of chances. So we're putting them under pressure for most of the game. They're in the same world we are. I thought Tim (Leibold) did a good job against Joseph Paintsil. I really did. I think he's a handful. And for the most part, again, we did a good job. It’s just that 10 minutes.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia
Thoughts on the match…
We just got picked apart a little bit. I don't even know if we really lost our shape in the middle. I just went back and looked at the goals. We're just kind of getting caught following one guy. Another set piece goal, I’m not happy about that. It sucks because we did so many things well in that game. We dictated a lot of the way that we wanted to play and we took a lot of their strengths away for very long stretches of the game. Ultimately, you can't blow a 2-0 lead at home. Even if we have got to sit in our own 18 and block shots, do whatever, that's just got to be kind of the example. When we're up at home, we have got to win at home.
On conceding from a set piece…
I don't know. We have got to go back and look at it. I think we faced a lot of corner kicks today. I don't even know how many we faced, but it felt like we had at least 10 or 11 of them. When you have guys that have quality to serve the ball in, they're going to get something off of it. So I don't want to take away that we blocked however many of them and we were organized and took care of them defensively. But as a goalkeeper, you never want to let up set piece goals because it's a structured play where everyone kind of has a role, including myself. It's just one I want to take a look at, see what happened, see what we can do better and make sure it's not happening again.
On the message to the team…
It’s still early in the season. I think we played a little bit of a different formation today. I thought that was really successful. I thought Willy (Agada) had a really good game. I thought Alan (Pulido) dropping underneath and almost acting as a false nine or 10. (Erik) Thommy out on the wing and Daniel (Salloi) on the wing. I thought Remi (Walter) and (Nemanja Radoja) were covering a ton of space. I think, for a lot of the game, we were pretty organized defensively. That’s something we've been this year. So there are a lot of positives to take away from this. I think that we just have to focus on the fact that it's so early in the season. We're up 2-0. You can't lose at home going up 2-0, but we also were up 2-0 and we had to have quality to get to up 2-0, so we need to focus on that.
Sporting Kansas City defender Jake Davis
Thoughts on the match…
Obviously, we were dominating the game. First half, we won. They scored three goals in 15 minutes or very close to that. Just lapses in the game I guess that, in the end, punished us. We can't let that happen at the end of the day. Three lapses, three goals. It's not what we want. There's a lot to take from this game.
On the takeaways…
There's a lot of positives from the game. Obviously it’s a bad result, but good things happened in the game and things that we need to take a look at in the film and make sure that we're making sure we don't let happen again. I mean, I can put my hand up for my part to play in all the goals, but I think everyone obviously is very open to recognizing what went wrong and making sure we don't let that happen again.
On the change in formation…
Erik (Thommy) and Johnny (Russell) are different players. Erik worked his nuts off like Johnny and both are great players. I enjoyed playing with both of them at the end of the day. Obviously it was a different formation but, for the most part, I try to stay positive. I thought him and I did well together. That wasn't the issue. It was more defensive lapses.
