Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
In the first half, they scored two and then we get back in it with the penalty. I also thought that maybe we were going to get one more right before the half at the very end. And then we go up the man and they bunkered in pretty well. We just didn't find enough. At this point as a team, we just didn't find enough. And it didn't help us having to make the changes that we had to. We're taking guys out because of yellow cards. I didn't want to put them under, but I thought there was a good rhythm within the group but we couldn't take the risk.
On the goals conceded…
The set piece, we actually spent time on that. They scored a goal this past week in the same way -- the same area, the same situation. The only difference is a guy flicked it on. This one bounced around. That one's a little more difficult. The other one, we have two guys collide. We have to be in a little bit better position than the others. We got split in the midfield too easily, especially when their guy had a chance to turn. But it still puts us down. We're catching up. We had momentum. We got back in there. We just couldn't get the second one.
If the schedule congestion had an impact…
I don't know if I would say that. It's never easy breaking down a team that is in a low block. It just never is. When we had to make our changes, I think we lost a little bit of rhythm of the group. I wouldn't say that we didn't have another gear. I just think that it was hard to break them down and we're just early on in the season. It’s a little difficult.
On the play of Shapi Suleymanov, Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia…
It's a good build as we keep going because they really haven't been with us. It's another good step for them. We would like to have gotten more out of the game tonight.
Sporting Kansas City forward Dejan Joveljic
Thoughts on the match…
Always when we play at home, I think that the objective is to take three points. Unfortunately, today we didn't make it because we conceded two fast goals like from nowhere. It was hard to come back from 2-0 even though I think that we could. That’s it. It's hard. The first two games, we could (have won) and we lost. So hopefully we are going to take the points as soon as possible.
On the difficulty of breaking down the defense…
For me, it looked like that it would (have been) better if they stayed with 11 players. Somehow they closed the space and we didn't know what to do: either to cross or to play in behind. They just did a good job.
On if the team is still getting chemistry together…
Of course. We all are. Let's say that the team is new and we need to make the connections. It will take some time, but I think that we should take that as soon as possible. Nobody wants to wait that long. We need to start taking the points as soon as possible. It needs time, but it has to be fast.
On his connection with Manu Garcia and Erik Thommy…
Every day it's better and better. We need to produce more and to create more chances and to put the balls behind it.
If fatigue was a factor in the result…
No. I'm not going to say that we were tired or something like that. We should take three points and that's like minimum, even though maybe (we could have gotten) one point at least. But let's go next game. (There are) 32 more games. So it's going to be a long, long, long race.
On scoring the penalty…
I'm happy. Hopefully we are going to have more this season and we are going to score a lot of goals from penalties. That's it. I'm happy.
On the response after going down 2-0…
Everything is new. The project is new. New chemistry, new players. We have a lot of young players; like four or five players are under 25 in this team. So that's very nice. It needs time. I don't know when, but hopefully soon.
