Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On the Red Bulls tactics…
It shouldn't have been difficult if the game was managed properly. It just wasn't. It obviously then has an effect on the game, because what happens is you get free fouls. An example, if I pass the ball away and then you come in and kick me afterwards, it's usually a yellow card. But that happened five times down our left side in the first 30 minutes, easily five times and not one guy got a yellow card. So my point is that every one of those is a freebie for that guy, because if he does get a yellow card then he's got to play the game completely differently. Unfortunately, that never happened in the game. It happened only very late, which the guy he gave the yellow card actually should have gotten a second yellow card for, again, kicking the ball away. This is where it always frustrates me and in one sense it also makes me laugh because the way the game is it's really simple. If there's a foul, it's a foul. You call it. It is what it is. It doesn't matter what score of the game is. It doesn't matter what the magnitude of the game is. It doesn't matter what minute it is. It doesn't matter. You call it. And when you do, you keep consistency in the game. Look, they won. They scored. We didn't. We had a lot of chances at the end. So congrats to them from that perspective. But the perspective for a fan to watch that game, I’ll tell you right now, I wouldn't want to watch that kind of game. That's a mockery what took place on the field. Just the antics, I don't believe in it. I have no respect for it. I think those things have to be different in our league. And I think that the people who are supposed to manage that is the team in the middle. It’s not the team you're playing against, it’s the team in the middle.
On the team’s missed chances…
We had great chances tonight. We were very busy from the opening whistle, but we just couldn't hit the back of the net. We're off. The reason? I don't know. But we had great chances in the game, more than enough to get three points for sure.
On if there were any silver linings in the match…
We lost. I don't look at it as a silver lining. We lost. We didn't take our chances. We gave up a set piece goal.
On the play of Cam Duke…
He's progressing, for sure. He's progressed immensely since the start of this season. But he still has a lot to work on. An example, the ball gets played to him in the second half to the back stick. He's wide open. He receives the ball and then he slips. You can't slip there. As simple as can be, you can't slip. But he's progressing. He's getting better with his turns and attacking the defense. He's getting better with those types of things. His decision making still has to get better on the field, but he's growing for sure. He's evolving.
On the play of Kayden Pierre…
He's playing very well. For his age, he's playing very, very well. He really has something. He's still got a lot of work to do, but he is really doing a good job. In the last couple of games that he has played, other than one game, he has played very well, very consistent. And I told him after one of the games, I said the standard that he hit that day was what he had to keep up going forward. And he's doing that. He's making big strides. He's got a good future in front of him.
On the sense of frustration from Johnny Russell…
He's a competitor. He competes like you wouldn't believe. I think he's also frustrated because he had some good chances in the game too and he didn't stick them away. That's his nature for sure.
Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell…
Thoughts on the match…
Just completely frustrating, obviously. I've got to take at least one of my chances. The first one, it was stuck under my body a little bit. The second one, I just tried to go back across goal. And then the third, the defender gets back well. I knew the other guy was there, but I had no idea that the other guy was coming behind me and I just took a little bit too long trying to compose myself. That's on me. I need to take one of those chances. But at the same point, we limit them all game and then it's the same old thing where we allow runners to get off us at the back post. We've conceded way too many goals like that as a team. That's something that is so frustrating because we've been working on it so much and we've been doing it so well in training. But it doesn't mean anything if we don't do it in a game. Overall, it’s frustrating. I feel that's three points dropped because I feel like we completely dominated the game.
On the frustration from New York’s tactics…
It only adds to the frustration when it's not dealt with properly, which I don't feel it was today. I think you only have to look at the first tackle of the game on Felipe (Hernandez) on the far touchline. It doesn't matter how early it is in the game. It is a yellow card. And then we have to sit through the meetings every year and they're like, oh, we're going to clamp down on people kicking the ball away. I think they've done it like four times tonight without getting a yellow. Obviously that doesn't help that when you're already frustrated. We created chances but didn't take them. I had a couple. Daniel (Salloi) had a couple. We normally put those away. We expect to put those away. So it's just a frustrating night. And then you get caught with one clipped ball at the back post and everything you've worked so hard for just goes away. Another wasted night, another wasted game and another three points gone.
On his communication with the referee…
You try and ask them, but I don't know if they feel like they don't have to give you an explanation or they just don't want to. Honestly, I don't know. And it's not just tonight and it's not just us. It's every team. I think that's been a lot of frustration this year. They didn’t lose us the game. We didn’t defend the set piece properly, so I'm not going to use that as an excuse. But as you say, it just adds a little bit more frustration to what was already a frustrating night.
