Laurent Courtois
LC: I’ve often found that this year we’re the ones who hurt ourselves, not necessarily for the home game and not necessarily the opponent. For this one, I thought we had some interesting things going for us, but at times we lacked a little intensity in the front three, with and without the ball. We knew that despite everything, there were shifts and situations that we could create and why not capitalize on that too? In the second half, the lads came out a little more ambitious and connected, and we even think we could have pulled off the perfect coup, it would have been great, but let’s not exaggerate. It was already a great half of resilience and fighting spirit.
Q: You took a bit of a chance by making five changes from last Saturday’s win. Isn’t it a bit risky to make so many changes to a starting line-up at this point in the season, with such crucial games?
LC: There’s an element where I’m forced to assess our guys’ ability to string together a lot of effort in such a short space of time, and that’s been a bit of a problem this season. No, I don’t regret anything, on the contrary, we assessed with the staff that it was not only the right opportunity to give opportunities to people who want to show things, who say and want to show things, and secondly, guys who have given a lot lately. In this case, for a match on the turf, we think that despite everything, it was the right strategy.
Q: In the second half, obviously, you had that sense of urgency with a lot more emotion and a lot more intensity. Are there certain players in the first half that you would have liked to see a little more of that urgency, a little more of that emotion? I have the impression that you lost a lot of physical battles too, are there any players you’d like to eliminate from the equation after this performance?
LC: Whether it’s qualitative or in terms of intensity or both, there are players who are a little less ready than others, so we’ll take that into account. We’re going to try to play a mid-week game in the current circumstances. We thought it was the best solution, but it’s clear that we’re not all at the same level of intensity or quality. When it’s both, it’s a problem.
Q: I wanted to talk to you about the midfielders and just how important they have been, both Samuel Piette and Nathan Saliba in the middle of the park and you don’t have Mathieu Choiniere anymore and Victor Wanyama doesn’t seem to really be in the picture. These two seem to be carrying a lot of weight when it comes to that role, are they your two midfielders for the rest of this season? And what do you think again about their performance tonight?
LC: I thought they were impressive. Is it perfect? No, but they were impressive in the sense of covering the gap and compensating for their teammates and the tracking and their individual defending was impressive and a couple of good quality actions too. It is true that there is a lot of weight on their shoulders. We also know that Bryce Duke can help in that position and Caden Clark with a different level, but yeah, it’s a lot but that’s their job.
Q: Looking back on the first half, did it feel like there were one too many changes from the team against Charlotte and when you did put on the three substitutes two thirds the way through the match, what changed for you in your opinion?
LC: No, I didn’t think that at all. I’m comfortable with the choices that we will decide on but then it’s just a matter of whatever happens will happen. We were totally comfortable with our choices that were based on the load, risks and the player that says that they deserve playing time and wants to show us, etc. We thought that that was the right timing to give a couple of guys a little bit of rest to hopefully be fresher for Saturday. This has been a classic of us few times already this season where we have the same exact word. We must show the same clip that says “remember what we talked about before the game? It’s exactly what’s happening, are we doing this?” Suddenly in the second half we applied it. So, we haven’t changed or modified anything that we talked about, we just say: “see the picture? It’s right there, can we execute?” A little bit better in the second half, a lot better. It’s a good point to have won, we could have could have even stolen something at the end, but good point, good resilience, and good character. I’m happy with the guys.
Q: I’d like to talk about the two goals from outside the penalty area, but above all the risk-taking. A desire to let loose a bit more, perhaps in the final third. Is that something you’d like to see a little more from your guys in general? Or do we sometimes get the impression that we’re calculating a little too much in the zones of the goal?
LC: Yes, sometimes we force the shots, when they’re not really set up the way we’d like them to be. So, it’s a bit of both, it’s how we collectively manage to recognize when it’s a situation to serve or when it’s a situation to get into the assists zones more, or when it’s more to trigger a long-range shot? It’s all about recognizing that it’s all the time the three options that must be constantly playing in your head and being ready for all three all the time. Today they took some good shots from distance, they were on target, and that’s not bad when you score two goals. We often tell them to at least try to force the keeper to make a save, so we can follow the rebound. Well, today, they chose to hit the net. Good for them, good for us.
Tom Pearce
TP: Well, to be fair, obviously I had a couple in the first half, which I crossed because they were crossing positions and then this one was a bit more central. Obviously, I saw the keeper on the far side, so I thought, “I’ll have a go at it” and luckily it went in.
Q: In your opinion, it wasn’t the prettiest game for you guys, but at this point of the season do results matter more than the actual performance especially considering where you guys are in the table?
TP: Yeah. I mean, obviously making the playoffs this year is the goal. So as long as we’re picking up points, even if it wasn’t the best performance, we got a point in the end. We picked up three on Saturday and another point today, so that’s four out of six so far and then hopefully Saturday with the home game it’s another three points. Seven points out of 9 in 1 week would be a good return.
Q: Last game against the Revolution was a tough game for everybody and especially for you. What was the mindset going into this game and how did you approach the fact that you guys were losing two to nothing at the half?
TP: To be fair, we didn’t think about the last game because that was 4 or 5 games ago and that’s gone now, and we’ve moved on from that. Just coming into this game, being confident, playing our own game and yes, we went down two nil, but it wasn’t a bad performance. It was just that we got caught out on the counter a little bit, but we stuck with it, and we got two goals back.
Q: There’s been a lot of changes in this game from last game, you are the beneficiary of that today, but how do you feel on the pitch when there’s so many changes from game to game? Is it tough to have reflexes and the kind of consistency with your teammates on the pitch when there’s so many changes game to game?
TP: No, I wouldn’t say so because we train hard through the week and every session everyone tries their best. Whenever the players are called on, whether that’s me or someone else, we’ll always be ready and we’ll always give it our best. So, no, I think whoever is playing is fit and ready to go.
Q: Laurent said that nothing much has changed tactically in the in the last few weeks. You and Raheem Edwards are different profiles on left back, do the instructions for the left back change or do you both do the same thing? And if so, is there anything in those tactics that you feel that you need to improve to kind of better represent and where is your head at in terms of still growing into that?
TP: No, I mean, whether it’s me or Raheem who plays there, we’ve got the same job because we’re both playing at left wing back. I haven’t been here as long as Raheem, so it’s the other players getting used to the way I play and me getting used to the way the other players play, so no, everyone’s got the same instructions. When I play, I’ll do my best and when Raheem plays, he’ll do his best. Listen, we’re both competing but we’re also rooting for each other because I want him to do well, and he wants me to do well. I think we’ve got that that good connection where whoever comes in, whether that’s my position, whether that’s someone else’s position, everyone’s always rooting for each other.
Q: I asked a similar question to Laurent, but just for yourself on the pitch what changed when the substitutions came on for you guys for the final 25, 30 minutes of the match?
TP: I don’t think a lot had changed. I think that as the game goes on, people get tired so just bringing in their fresh legs, the lads who came on changed the game because they brought, like I just said, fresh legs and extra energy to the team and the new lads who are coming in always helps as well.
Nathan Saliba
NS: It’s an incredible feeling because it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been waiting two years for this goal, so I’m extremely happy to have been able to score and to have been able to help the team take this important point on the road.
Q: In the second half, there was a bit of a sense of urgency, a bit more intensity. Is a performance like that in the second half something you can also bring to Montreal, along with the win you had on Saturday, to try and have a continuation, a bit of all that there?
NS: Yes, of course. I think right now we’re on a very good momentum and maybe we started the game a bit slow, but I think in the second half we felt we had something to go for. Pearson’s first goal helped us a lot, it gave us very good momentum in the game to go on putting the pressure on and get that second goal. We could have scored the third, but these things happen. I think we’ve got very good momentum and we know we’ve got to keep building on it and not let it fall.
Q: There’s been plenty of time this year where you guys are going to three-nil or two-nil down and it’s gotten out of hand where all of a sudden, it’s four or five, what was different tonight from a mentality perspective for you guys that you didn’t surrender that the third goal and you were able to fight back tonight?
NS: I think like you said we’ve had the most difficult experiences in the past. I think tonight we knew that after their two goals we couldn’t get scored on anymore and we had to answer back, and we had to stop conceding goals. I think we got more solid defensively and talked about some things at halftime, and we came back ready to go and do as much as we could. That first goal helped us a lot and we got the momentum, like I said earlier. I think from there you can’t back up and you must keep going and keep pushing for the three points in this away game where you can feel you still have hope, so I think that was there was a big thing and then the second helped us a lot.
Q: Your partnership with Sam is still relatively new and you had your injury in the middle of season and needed some time to get back up to the fighting weight, but now that you guys really are the two in the midfield with Mathieu gone and Victor not as involved, how has that relationship grown? Two guys from Quebec and now both in the national team, how was that relationship and have you learned stuff from him and how is that translated to on the field?
NS: I had a very good relationship with Sam ever since I signed with the club and it’s not that new on the field because I’ve been playing a lot last year but just a different position, but I was still playing with him a lot as a number six and me as an eight. I think our relationship in the field isn’t that new, we have our chemistry together. It’s not something that we lost, and I think we played together well, and we are honoring our roles.
Q: There were a lot of changes between today’s game and last Saturday’s win. In fact, there were five changes in the starting line-up from Saturday to today. Do you think that might have had an impact on the start of the game, which was more complicated, and the changes that were made after that in the game and in the second half, when we saw that there was more intensity and success on your side, do you think that had an impact? Any changes that could perhaps have an impact on your reflexes on the pitch with the teammates who are out there?
NS: Yeah, it’s never easy not to play a game and then start the next one. Of course, it takes time for them to get used to and readjust to the changes we’ve made, because we made some changes for last Saturday. After that, it’s clear that it’s going to take us a bit of time too to adapt to them and find those little clicks together. I think that in the second half, we were more on the same page, but after that, with the fresh legs that came in, it helped us a lot. I think it’s a normal thing, but it’s not something that dragged us down as much as it might seem.
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