Laurent Courtois
Q: With seven points out of nine, you’re ninth in the playoff picture as we speak. You talked about margin against Charlotte, and we talked about resilience against the New England Revolution. How would you describe your players’ shutout performance?
LC: It’s good, the guys confirmed something we haven’t been able to do this year: repeat from one game to the next. We knew that this trip between the two matches would be complicated to manage, but the lads coped well and were in control today, which is good.
Q: We’ve been feeling it for a few games now, it’s more and more cohesion on the pitch and you had the same starting eleven as last Saturday, are you starting to find perhaps a typical eleven for the future?
LC : Yes.
Q: I’d like to talk to you about your week, because in the last month, a five-zero loss and a four-one loss, we didn’t expect much from your team. What do you attribute the turnaround to? Did you have a triggering moment, because this isn’t the same team. Did you see the change in mentality or playing philosophy or anything in the team spirit?
LC: We haven’t changed anything, either in our posture, or in our words, or in our training sessions, or in the way we approach training. In fact, we’ve trained less with the Footgolf and go-karting. I’ve spoken to a lot of trainers who tell me that the margins are so fine. Maybe mentally, as soon as we’re a little worse off, things fall apart, but as soon as the guys are at their level and you’ve got everyone giving you a minimum of a six, and there aren’t two or three players giving us a two. If everyone stays at six with the codes, we think we’ve got together, we know it can be interesting. I think they all managed to perform at least based on their level, nobody below their level and we had success too, which is something that I don’t think we’ve had a lot of this year.
Q: You never want to be too high or too low in wins or losses, but do you feel that tonight your team played the best game of your era here in Montreal?
LC: No, I don’t know, soccer moves fast. The questions you asked me a few times last week aren’t the same. It’s not so low and today I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I didn’t find it extraordinary in the game. Just well controlled, apart from one or two times when we gave ourselves a fright for nothing, I’d say more in control and a little more certainty about what everyone, collectively and individually, is going to give. I didn’t necessarily think it was the most elaborate of performances, but it’s good, they performed well.
Q: I just want to follow up on some of the questions I asked you a few weeks ago. I asked you if you thought the five-zero defeat might have had an impact on your position. Today you’re playing what I consider your best game of the season? In the last few weeks, have you had the impression that things have been stable at the top? Or did you feel a certain pressure to get that result?
LC: No, but the paradox is that of course, whether it’s the people at the club or the fans, we’ve all been very frustrated. I mean, we wanted to perform better and to achieve better results. Paradoxically, internally, for several months now, we’ve been investing and clarifying processes so that the club is in a better place, whether at the end of the season or even very quickly, at least we hope. The results and performances of the moment are one that we hope to be able to repeat and try to do what we can and get as far as possible, but the reality is that, internally, we know that we’re preparing things for next year, so that we can get off to an even stronger start together.
Q: The team was very good today against Chicago’s last defensive line at timing runs on both long and short balls. Are the two goals you scored something you worked on in training? Was it something you and your staff had noticed about Fire’s play?
LC: In Chicago, yes, we thought they tended to be a little more direct on the diagonal or even vertical, but we didn’t work on it any further than that. We thought the guys were good at handling those situations, which we really lacked during the year, but we didn’t work on it any more than that. We just continued to work on it individually and as a group.
Q: The three up front with Caden Clarke, Bryce Duke, and Josef Martinez, how did you find the chemistry between them today? They’ve unlocked a lot of situations lately, what’s your impression of them?
LC: They’re interesting profiles because they’re capable of playing between the lines at a low level, combining, projecting themselves by running or dribbling. They’re also quite strong, even if sometimes we have to insist, but they’re also quite capable of going deep. We’d like them to be a little closer to Josef, because sometimes they’re a little too far apart, but they offer interesting alternatives thanks to their mobility.
Q: It seemed like Bryce Duke had hit a plateau earlier this season but partnering him with Caden seems to have reinvigorated his game especially going forward, what do you think of that?
LC: Caden has been surprising, not only by his quality, but his work rate and energy in the back press, his combativity, his aggressiveness on and off the ball is important and good for us to see that maybe helped Bryce to take the same train and have a little bit of more creativity in that sense. We know Bryce is still so young, we have young interesting pieces that can be interesting for the club now and in the midterm. Yes, sometimes we get frustrated with Bryce because he can do really good and then not confirm his performance the next game, but he’s still so young and we have to be patient because they need reps, time, and games.
Q: Before you left for New England, we saw images of you in conversation with Nathan Saliba and at another point we saw images of you in conversation with Victor Wanyama. Last game, Saliba scored a fantastic goal and tonight he did a fantastic pass, and why late game is still the score of fantastic the night. Do you think there is something in that conversation you had? Or the fact that it’s just the moment where he’s reached a new confidence level? Does it have something to do with Wanyama not playing giving him more confidence? Have you been able to put your finger on his fantastic play the past two games?
LC: The talk with Nathan was more about how to get Samuel Piette more in his game and the talk with Piette was how to get Nathan in his gam and you saw the left foot shot at New England that everybody ‘Oh wow!’ Nathan, on the flipside, we asked him to not force the shot and not to force the through ball. It was more for him to find those composure moment to manipulate the opposition and once you try that one shot or one pass and that’s going to be the difference maker instead of prioritizing shots and through balls that are forced and now it’s predictable and causes turnovers. We talked about the fact that he must try to flip it and manipulate more until it’s obvious and unpredictable for the opposition and right now he’s having a good time.
Q: Thanks for sharing the details of your conversation with Nathan. Can you do the same for your conversation with Victor and explain a little about his exclusion from the last two game sheets and whether he’s part of your plan for the future?
LC: At the moment, I don’t think I’m going to use Victor very much. I had options on the bench that allowed me to fill several positions at once, so we had a chat with Victor and it’s clear, but we talked about other things too.
Q: You’ve been saying for a few games now that no one was below a six, there are people who were ten and all that, I’m just curious to know what you, internally, put a grade on the players’ performances after a game?
LC: Of course we evaluate the players, but it’s this notion that clearly, there are moments or games in the year when you thought everything was fine and we were better prepared and then suddenly, there are one or two players who don’t give you the performance. It was this consistency that we lacked at key moments or at times, when we forgot to follow the ball from the back, even though it’s something that’s very important in the way we defend. As I said, it’s youth or inexperience, but we hope that these situations will occur as little as possible.
Caden Clark
Q: This club for a while now, has really struggled against low blocks and against teams that really just dug in, but it seems like you have brought maybe the spark that has allowed them to play through them a little bit easier, what do you think you bring to that? Have you had a conversation with the coaches or the forwards about how much better it is going against the low blocks?
CC: I think my personality as a player is that I like to get in behind and keep the center backs guessing of where I’m going to be. I think that it was a bit frustrating today in the first half where me and Bryce were kind of struggling to get the ball in the pocket and we realized that it was too crowded because they had three players around us. Then we had to sacrifice ourselves to give space to Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and give space to our sixes to kind of pin their sixes. It was a bit frustrating today, but like I said, getting in behind is one of my strengths and I think it worked well today.
Q: We talked a lot about the front three and the lack of energy against New England because we’re asking a lot from you guys. Tonight, how did you approach the game to be sure that the aggressivity and intensity were up to the standard of what Laurent is expecting?
CC: It was a three-game week, so obviously a little bit of heavy legs even if we rotated, I still felt it tonight, but it’s just about being smart. I think cutting off spaces that are dangerous and letting them play on the outside and then covering the inside as well. I think that’s kind of what we did tonight and not try to waste our legs off chances of pressing and hopefully we can pick them off and I think we were very smart in our defense today.
Q: When the player is all alone in front of the keeper and to try to chip the ball over them takes a lot of confidence and courage. The fact that you did it tonight, is your confidence right now the highest that it’s been all season long? Can you put into words what the trade to Montreal has done to revitalize your career again?
CC: I’ve asked myself the same question. Why do I feel so comfortable? Why do I feel like I can do certain things that I didn’t do before? It’s just who I am, really. Nothing’s changed. I’ve talked with my dad about it, and he asked me “what are you doing differently? This and that?” It’s nothing. It’s my mindset, really. It’s staying calm and just trusting in myself. In Minnesota it was tough for me because the coach was asking 10,000 different things for me at right back and that was my struggle. I think it’s always been me to be in these situations and just trusting myself and now we’re getting some momentum.
Q: What does Laurent ask you to do? And how does this coaching here help you to get this great start in Montreal?
CC: He just gives me freedom and trust. I think I’ve worked hard to earn that, but he’s given it back to me, and now it’s paying off for both of us. I think it’s just the trust and the freedom and not asking me to be in this spot at this time. He trusts me in my playing style to really manipulate players and to play my own game. So, I really appreciate that and hopefully it will keep working going forward.
Q: You said to trust yourself and Laurent, but also trusting your teammates, the chemistry with Bryce, Josef, and Jahkeele, can you talk to me about the chemistry between you guys on this team?
CC: I’ve never had more fun playing in a team, to be honest with you. It doesn’t feel like we’re playing a professional game. I look forward to games every time now and getting in the attacking third and making plays happen. I feel like I’m in a backyard playing soccer, so it’s a joy for me to be around these guys and hopefully this is a late season run that allows us to make the playoffs.
Q: What is the feeling like in the room right now and how confident are you that this can just keep going?
CC: I think the second you apply too much pressure to yourself; you ruined the game for yourself. Obviously, we know we need to win. Obviously, I know that personally I need to contribute to goals and assists, but if I get caught up in all that, it’s never going to happen. I think it’s taking the responsibility to play my game and do my job. It’s a game, which we call work, but we come here, kick a ball and get paid for it. We need to just go out there and enjoy it and the second we don’t enjoy it, that’s when it starts to get miserable. I think we’re bringing that joy and happiness back, and you’re seeing it on the pitch with the goals we’re scoring.
Josef Martinez
Q: It feels like, especially in the last couple of weeks you’ve been in a lot of good spots, and one thing or another, the goals elude you, or maybe you haven’t gotten as many goals as you feel you could have. Today, getting that one goal right away which ended up being the winning goal, how important is that to you and your confidence?
JM: Well, I’m a striker and every striker wants to score. That’s why we received the bills and that’s my job. I know for a striker it’s hard sometimes when we don’t score, so we have bad days. The most important right now is that we came back and have a chance and the three points. So, four more games left, and we have to be ready for the smallest chance that we have and do our job.
Q: This year you struggled for some time to make the team because of discipline issues, and we don’t know what happened, but sometimes you didn’t make a team and now you’re scoring goals today. What has changed in the last few weeks? Do you think there’s some events such as the team building stuff that helped the team make this run right now? What has changed with the team because it looks like they are having more fun right now?
JM: It’s been a long year, so there’s a lot of trainings and days together and sometimes it’s nice and sometimes not, it’s the life. It’s the team with which you sometimes win and sometimes lose, it’s a part of life. We must continue to do our best in training. It’s soccer and sometimes we try and deserve more to win but sometimes not. The most important is the win. The people came here to enjoy the team win and today we made it and hopefully the next game next home game we can do the same. Every game is hard like today’s game and today was special for me because we came back to score, but we need to continue this way.
Q: You played with a lot of your colleagues up front this season, but in the last couple of games, you’ve been playing with Bryce Duke and Caden Clark and you seem to really work together very well, what would you say makes you work well with them? What do you like about their game that really helps you to put yourself in good positions like tonight?
JM: I feel very old when I play with them. The good thing is that these guys run a lot, so even if I don’t like it sometimes, I’m happy for Caden because he’s came the last two home games and scored. These are young guys with a lot of quality just like Bryce. This is a team that sometimes can score and sometimes not, but we need to be there ready for the moment.
Q: Can you talk about the pass from Nathan and the run that you made to get there?
JM: Finally, I have a clear chance. Nathan is amazing, that guy has a lot of qualities, and we are very proud to have that kind of player. This is a team win and we have to enjoy the next two days off and we’ll see what happens the next game.
Q: It felt like especially in this run up before these three games, it felt like everyone was putting a lot of pressure on each other, and Caden just said it before that when you put pressure on yourself, it ruins the football. Do you think that a lot of these younger guys just really needed to focus on enjoying football? Do you think that maybe that helped pull the team out of what seemed to be a mental block, and some of the more experienced veterans enjoy football again?
JM: We have pressure every day, especially when we collapsed against New England and the loss against Cincinnati. Those are bad days for everyone here in the club, so we had to change a little bit because we want to make the playoffs. We had five games left and now four, so it’s a final for the team, the club, and the city. We have to do everything in training and even though it’s a war in the stadium, we have to continue with that mentality and try to enjoy a little bit when we can.
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