Note: Ed Farnsworth and Adam Cann worked together to make this transcript. Questions have been paraphrased.

Opening Statement

First, I just want to again take a second to thank the fans for all that they gave us on the field. It was really a great crowd, one of the best I can remember. Luckily, towards the end of the game we got to send them home happy, so that goes a long way. They drove us, pushed us on into the 90th-plus minute and stuck behind us when we haven’t had the best of starts. Full credit to them for coming out and supporting us.

I thought our guys had a really good opening 25 minutes to the game, pushed the tempo of things, picked off some balls, and were dangerous. I think we were not able to sustain the pressure that I would have liked to for 90 minutes, but, at the same time, still had some good moments. When you look back at the tape [NYCFC are] obviously a very talented team that if you give them time and space they can really pass the ball; and I think as we fatigued a little bit in the second half especially they were able to pin us deep. Guys like Mix, Grabavoy I thought had a very good day — David Villa, obviously, a world class player — they were a handful.

We limited the chances, but, at the same time, we’re kind of holding on there for a little while. Stuck with and we were able to push, and Vincent makes a great run in the box late in the game when he’s tired. But we talk about that all the time, being the better team in both boxes and I thought, on the day, we were.

So, good first three points but we have to build on it now and go to New York, which is going to be a tough place on a very small field. Started to prepare with their field size right now; I think it’s listed at 104 by 68 is what Peter Vermes counted, so that’s the dimensions we went off of. So we know it’ll be a tight game. Restarts will be critical, something we need to better on, obviously. There will be no margin for error with loose passes just because of the tightness of the field and how small it is.

On playing NYCFC twice in less than a week

It’s strange; it’s almost like a home and away like a playoff series. I referenced before our last game, I referenced Toronto last year how we were able to put together two good games against a good team. Similar first leg where we — Toronto it was 1-0 — but it was a tight back-and-forth game where we made a play at the end of the game and got the win, and then went on to go to Toronto and actually had one of our better performances. So, there’s a real familiarity. The film sessions are a little shorter the second time around because you do know them pretty well having just played them and reviewed for a week building up to them, so, yeah, it’s a little strange. You see a lot of the scheduling has been…it’s challenging to put together a schedule, obviously, for the league office. I just read an article, Chicago doesn’t play for 20 days. As we’re getting healthy, I’d like a little bit of a window, maybe not 20 days but a couple of days to get some guys legs back would be good. But, at the same time, this is the schedule that we have. It’s a unique one in that you play New York City back-to-back. Probably good to get them when Lampard’s not here in some ways, you could look at that as positive. There’s the call-up with Mix. I’m not sure exactly if he gets minutes in on Wednesday against Mexico, that could be a good advantage for us, as well. Both teams might be missing some guys but, at the same time, it’ll be a quick turnaround and a good test for us on the road. It’s always hard to get points on the road and that’s going to be our goal.

Are you expecting Mix Diskerud will be available given the national team call-up?

I’m hoping he’s not there, he’s a good player, he’s a really good player. I’ve seen him, obviously, play a lot but, up close, that was the first time, you know, field level that I saw him. I had a great respect for him already but to see him in tight spaces and, actually, his speed is something that I was not aware of, he’s a little bigger than you think. So, up close, he’s a very good player, a dangerous one, and a good player to have in the center of the field. And if he’s not there, and performing well with our national team hopefully, [he’s] obviously not likely to play Wednesday-Thursday, especially because they have a game on Sunday, just like us. So, you have to look ahead [and] if he gets minutes against Mexico he likely would not play against us.

Does the small field at Yankee Stadium help you in some ways?

Yeah, I would say so. All of Jason Kreis’ teams…he’s a great coach and he has teams that can all pass the ball, everybody’s comfortable on the ball in tight spots. Even though their on a small field they’ll still be able to play somethings that most teams wouldn’t, and they’ll try to. So, it’s going to be up to us — and we talked about it today — to cut off passing lanes; to not just be…to have your head on a swivel, looking around [because] second balls become huge when the field is tight. So, not only winning the first one, but the second ball that bounces around loose in the midfield because they have some guys that are pretty active in picking up second balls.

So again, Jason, he has a team that plays possession-style and maybe the field doesn’t suit them. But it’s probably a hand that they were dealt with Yankee Stadium and the tight configuration of that with outfield and the walls being where they are. I’m sure if they could make it bigger they would, but it’s the reality of the situation and we have to prepare for playing on a tight field. So that means long throw-ins become an issue, free kicks become an issue, not fouling around the box is very important — all mistakes get really magnified in a tight field.

On John McCarthy

I was really happy for him, you could tell the emotion in his postgame interview. I think his first line he started talking about the US national team, which I told him “Slow down there, a little bit, one game into it.” But, no, that was raw energy and it was real, you know? It was a kid who got a shot, [a kid] that I believed in, that stepped up and had a good game for us in a spot where we needed a win, we needed our first win. John did a great job; he’s a guy we have confidence in — not for one game but to get us results, and go on the road to New York and a tough spot and put back-to-back good performance together, and that’s the…With any young player, I always talk about anybody can put together a good 20 minutes in a training session. It’s important though to put consecutive days together, and then weeks, and then months, and he’s done that. He’s earned the chance to start and now I hope he runs with it and goes with it.

Being a Philly guy, I understand the pressure he probably felt with all of the friends and family that were there, the weight of the city, to want to impress them, and do well for them and win for them is a little greater. I saw the North Catholic flag he had on there — I’m a Catholic League guy too so there’s some similarities between us. And, again, he was very grateful and appreciative, and gave me a big hug afterwards, and said thanks for the opportunity. And I said, “OK, that’s one game, though, it’s a long grind.” Very happy for John and all that the did, and I think he has a bright future with the Philadelphia Union.

How is the goalkeeping situation being evaluated going forward?

Just like any other position it’s…Everyday in training we evaluate all of our players and the players that are performing best in training will be the ones that get selected. Andre was coming off of an injury; starting to look like himself again which is good — pushing John now with competition is a healthy thing. That’s what we want at every spot, we want guys that are always looking over their shoulder in a good way, knowing that there’s healthy competition to push them. And if they’re not performing, if they’re not up to the standard that we hold them to, there’s someone there that’s going to bump them out. That’s pro sports, that’s the reality of things. It’s good.

Injury status

I wouldn’t say we’re great health-wise — we’re getting better. The fitness element is the one that comes when you have some time off. I think Vincent and Sheanon had gutted through some of the late minutes in the game, they were both tired, whether it’s cramping or different things. That’s the last thing to come, is the fitness part. So, their bodies are starting to feel good but pushing and being able to play at a tempo in a game is always a different thing for 90 minutes. Those guys getting that 90 under their belt is good and you’d expect they’ll come back and they feel better in the next game.

Chaco I thought came on and did a really good job, as did Conor, as did CJ Sapong. That’s a good three guys to bring off your bench, so I get excited by the options that we have. Are any of them ready for 90 minutes right now? No. But it could be a possibility to start, and then give you as much as they can. We have some options. We’re going to have to use our depth over these next two games because we have the quick turnaround Thursday and then on Sunday, a good New England team coming in as well. So, we’ll take it one game at a time but we do have to rotate the squad in a way that makes sense to get results in both games.

How about Sebastien Le Toux and the cut he received, is he ready to go?

Yeah. I mean, maybe I’m mean saying this, but he got a cut, he’s got a cut on his arm. He’ll be fine, he’s able to play through it. It was a deep cut but it’s five stitches and.. his arm, you know? It’s a gash on there, but his legs are fine, and that’s his best asset.

And Fernando Aristegueita?

He had an injection a few days back. He responded well to that. He was out on the field today, was able to do a little running and some ball work, so it’s positive. But we’ll have to make an intelligent decision because you don’t want to rush a guy back and then have him be out for three weeks by aggravating it. So, something that we’ll monitor and hopefully can make the right decision that’s best for the team — not just for this 90 minutes, but also the future of things.

On Eric Ayuk

If you rewind back to preseason at YSC, he came in and his head was spinning, it was a lot for him: there’s a cultural change, there’s a structural change to the training sessions, and he couldn’t grasp going from point A to point B, and the rotation, and the simple passing exercise. He’s become a guy now that all the guys love in the locker room, so he’s won them over. He get’s treated like the little brother by everyone. Puts a smile on everybody’s face because he brings a smile to the field every day. Great energy; obviously carries on to the field with the way he plays too: he runs at guys, he’s pretty fearless — because he doesn’t know any better, you know? There’s not a team that’s going to have a scouting report right now, they have two games of data. But, no one was prepared for Ayuk at all, because they couldn’t be.

But, can’t say enough about how well the kid has come into a tough environment and not just accepted making the 18, he’s pushed to be a starter, and he’s earned the right to be a starter — I can’t take him off the field after his last two performances. Does he still have to hit a — because he plays so high speed and he closes the ball down at such a rate — does he maybe need to pace himself a little bit? I don’t want to take that away from him, but in order to sustain 90 minutes, he’s not quite able to do that — he’s young, he’s still building up his engine, so to speak, and his fitness level. But for an 18 year old kid to come into a professional team and play on the road in Kansas City and do what he did, and then come in front of 19,000 people here in a sell-out and then give a great performance again shows that he belongs. But, again, I’m happy for him because he’s a good person first, he’s a good kid and to see him…I’m upset they took the goal away from him. I think Zach even is too, Zach might not even want that one off his butt. But the celebration was — I’ve seen him do that on the field all the time. Off of a standstill, he can take a penalty kick and do a back-flip while striking the ball. So, it’s things that if I did I’d break my neck.

But, he’s a unique player and, again, I think the fearlessness is the thing that gives him his advantage, because he’s not scared.

How valuable is that to have a player who just wants the ball, who is so fearless?

It’s very valuable. I think in a lot of ways young American kids these days can be so structured from age 5 all the way through: “Billy, pass to Joey, and Joey pass to and do this and do that” — you lose a lot of the creativity. And when [Ayuk] gets on the field, I don’t know what he’s going to do, I don’t think he knows what he’s going to do. But then when he gets the ball he goes by guys. It happens in training, it’s happened in training a lot. The thing that gets lost is he’s actually really good in the possession part of the game: he makes good decisions on the ball. He’s not just a tricks guy where it’s 40 step-overs and he doesn’t go anywhere. When he goes at guys its one move and he has a change of pace to go by a guy. But what gets lost in it is how intelligent of a soccer brain that he has. You’ve seen a lot of guys come and go in the league that have a bunch tricks, but it doesn’t really add up to the end result. It was good to see in the game — rewind to the Kansas City game, he actually was so dangerous they subbed their left back at halftime because they were worried with him on a yellow card —  that Ayuk caused — he wasn’t going to be able to hold up for another half. And then in this game, he finds himself in the box and gets on the end of Seba’s good run and good cross, and it bounces off Zach and all the glory’s gone (laughs).

Last season Michael Lahoud went a long time between starts and minutes, because of injuries and a variety of reasons, what has it been like being able to have him in there every week, and what has he brought? 

Michael and I were teammates at Chivas USA, [that fact] kinda gets lost in the mix. He’s a guy that I’ve always rated. And I had a tough conversation with him at the end of this past year. I said, “You’re at the age now where it’s like, when is it going to be the time where you grab a hold of your starting spot and don’t let it go?”

Because if you look through the years, it goes: When I played with him, maybe 12-15 games. Then he had an injury and he had maybe a 25 game season. Then it’s a 4-games, then it’s a 3-games… You’re getting to that age where it becomes dangerous. Are you just a guy that’s here for a cup of coffee or do you want to have a career? And he’s grabbed a hold of it.

I’ve always rated him as a great defender. Convincing him to be a little more Michael Essien than a playmaker is, not a challenge, but is something that he’s now embraced. And the winning the ball and connecting his first pass. He’s been very good at that these past few games. No one covers more ground quickly than Michael. He’s as athletic as it gets in our league. And he’s put it all together now for a couple of games. And we hope that it continues.

Again, every time I talk with him, I just mention: Don’t let me take you off the field. And right now, he’s doing that. He’s playing at a very, very high level and doing a lot of the dirty running, breaking up a lot of plays in midfield. Again, a guy that I’m close with. We had a relationship as teammates. We had the tough conversation last year. He agreed. That the time is now. This is the age where you want to grab a hold of it and be a starter in the league as opposed to a guy who is a role player off the bench. And I think all signs are pointing towards him grasping it now and really running with it.

Just gotta keep him healthy. Because he’s so explosive and fast, he can have little injuries here and there. A player that I’m really high on and that’s playing as well as anyone for us right now.

After Lahoud’s miss against Sporting KC, is there anything you have to tell him to have him bounce back?

He knows. He apologized for missing it. There’s no sorry in soccer. I’m tired of guys who get a red card and they come apologize. There’s no sorries in soccer, the game moves on. And the good players can compartmentalize things and focus on the next game, because you’re only as good as your next play. And Michael does a good job of that.

He’s not a goalscorer, so any time he scores a goal that’s a bonus. Should he have scored that? Absolutely. And he knows that. He’s conveyed that message. Mentally he moved on, and responded well with a good performance again after that game.

On the field size issue, how do you prepare for that in training?

Today, for instance, we played attacking three small goals, defending three small goals with the width of 68 yards, which is the number that we’re getting, and we believe that the field is in New York. Just so that the guys can get used to the spaces. It’s different, it’s significantly different. People say, “Oh, six to ten yards, that doesn’t make much difference in the width.” It does. And you saw that today.

Guys have to be a little cleaner with their first touch. You have to know where you’re going a little quicker. You have to give a pass to a guy that sets him up to play the next one. We then evolved from that, we went into the exact dimensions of the field, which we have at 104 by 68, we trained on that size. You know, corner kicks and restarts become a big part of it. Throws ins are always in play and dangerous. It’s a little different with a small field. It’s something we’re serious about getting used to as quick as we can.

So you got a good result on your big pitch. Do you really have to watch film and prepare differently on their field?

You do. Because the game is different. It’d be like… our game is unique in that way. They don’t have a mandate for the exact size. They have minimum and maximums. If you could imagine… I don’t even want to use another sports analogy. I was going to say a 12 foot basketball net.

It’s a unique one. The spaces become so small with that many bodies. Our sport has ten field players and a goalkeeper and any yard that the field shrinks it becomes tighter. To be honest, New York was a better passing team on our field. They kept the ball a lot better than us. Their midfield was very dangerous. So in some ways it could be beneficial for us to have that space shrink and maybe have us counterattack a little better.

You have a long thrower and they don’t…

Yeah, and I know Jason [Kreis] hates the long throw too, so we’re going to have to use it. With Sheanon, we have it so we might as well use it. It is a weapon. People like it, people don’t like it. But it’s something that we have and we’re going to utilize just because it can be dangerous. And every throw in becomes like a corner kick, especially on a tight field like this one.

Is Jimmy McLaughlin close to breaking into the team?

Yeah, Jimmy has been very good in training. The past three weeks I’ve seen a big boost in his game out wide on the right. I think maybe there’s something to Ayuk’s success that’s pushing him harder in training. Had another good day today, was dangerous. Simplifying things with Jimmy because he’s a guy who has a lot of tricks and crossovers. Just getting him to beat the first guy and get a cross in is something that he’s worked on and has improved on, especially in recent weeks. Again, a guy that I coached in the academy a long time ago and that I’ve been around a while. He is getting better and he is a guy that will be available for selection in our next two games. Like you said, with the amount of minutes our guys are going to be logging, he’ll be a guy that we might lean on for selection in our games coming up.

How are you handling the upcoming games with the injuries?

Yeah, there’s a couple ways you could do it. You could play two entirely different groups. I don’t think anyone in MLS really has the depth to do that, to play two entirely different squads. So we’ll have to manage it in a smart way. With guys coming back, I do have some tough selections. Some guys are playing well that are pushing, and are tough to take off the field currently in our starting group. And then there are guys that we’re going to have to lean on just because of the amount of minutes that are creeping up on guys. Guys get sore, injuries start to happen and you have to manage it in a way that gives you the best chance to win both games.

But yeah, we are evaluating things. There will be… different players will play in these games as well. I’m not going to throw the same lineup out three games in a row. Especially with this many in a short time. Again, can’t really go into who I’m leaning toward playing, but there will be changes game to game.