Pre-Game Press Conference CF Montreal vs. Charlotte FC October 4, 2024

Laurent Courtois

Q: Samuel Piette had an interesting comment after the win when asked what’s changed? What’s the difference between the team that was losing to New England and Cincinnati not so long ago, then the team that’s unstoppable right now. He said that, in his opinion, the guys have rediscovered the joy of playing together, of playing for each other. I was wondering if you agree with this statement. If so, how did you come to make that switch?

LC: It’s human, we all tend to think that when things go wrong, they go really wrong and when things go well, they go great. I’ll add a little extra nuance to that by saying that the guys have continued to work really well in training. In Cincinnati we suffered, but we showed great things even before in other games, but we didn’t know how to manage key moments. So yes, but it’s true that at the moment, things seem to be flowing more smoothly, that’s for sure.

Q: For several weeks now, you’ve been chasing a goal, that of getting back above the line that allows you to get into the playoffs, and then suddenly, you’re the team that’s being chased for its performance, you’re holding on to something that others will try to take away from you. Does it change your mentality? Or on the contrary, is it your job now to make sure that between both ears, the goal remains the same? Is the method of getting there the same?

LC: We know that if we want to perform well, there are certain things we have to do ourselves, and that requires us to be technically precise and tactically coordinated. I don’t know if the fact that we’re where we are changes anything, except perhaps the urgency to go out and force things. There’s less of that urgency, but if we don’t put in the basic ingredients, we’re going to be in trouble too, but yes and no, the same.

Q: We’ve been talking about your attack, and rightly so with Josef Martinez, which is going very well, but the defense is also going very well. Before the Atlanta goal, you were on a streak of about 280 minutes without conceding. What’s the watchword in this respect? Because that’s part of your success too at the moment. Tightness on defense.

LC: More concentration, more synchronization and a lot of solidarity. Everyone shows up for the box defending crisis collectively and the front three also do tactical and physical work that favors and helps the defense, so it’s a bit like a circle.

Q: From three games in eight nights, in three different stadiums, in three different cities, on different surfaces, have you finally found your starting eleven? What can we expect tomorrow? Are we going to stick with the same eleven, or are we going to rotate a lot?

LC: I don’t know.

Q: We talked about George Campbell and Jonathan Sirois, two pillars of the defense right now. Campbell is one who’s been doing very well over the last few games too. How have you seen him evolve this season? He’s certainly doing well at the moment, would you agree with that statement?

LC: Yes, but it’s a bit, and I’m not trying to be funny, but it’s all yes and no to your questions in the sense that he’s shown how he can be in trouble on very specific things and he’s showing how he has such an interesting profile, so generous and rare as an American centerback in a back three formation. Not only is his profile very interesting and he’s performing very well at the moment, but we also think that he still has areas of the game that he hasn’t yet developed, because I don’t think he’s spent much time being coached on these aspects, so I think he has a lot of potential. At the moment, things are going well and, what’s more, it was important for him to play in front of his family the other day.

Q: What are George Campbell’s main qualities, perhaps why you trust him game after game?

LC: His mobility and ability to project himself forward. He’s involved in passing, not all the time in assists like at New England with Nathan, but in pre-assists where we set up in phases of the game where his ability to go forward is very rich for us through running or dribbling.  His one-touch passes can also be very interesting, but there’s also a lot of sloppiness because that’s his naturally, that’s what he’s trying to do. He’s very attack-minded but he’s also making a huge effort defensively at the moment in areas where we’ve said he needs to raise his game. Whether it’s in terms of impact, aerial play or consistency, he’s still got a lot to improve, but he’s really a rare and interesting profile.

Q: A striker who scores always makes a difference in soccer. You haven’t changed much in training, as you’ve said, you’re back with the same principle with the players: continuity and consistency. Do you feel that Josef has changed anything? Does he have the same mentality as you? Is there anything that explains Josef Martinez’s resurrection?

LC: We all pull forward, it’s a case of pulling each other’s hands, and then it’s our colleagues’ turn to pull our hands. When we try to enlighten the guys on situations where we can find Josef a bit more or that by running or not necessarily passing, but just making runs or presences around him so that he allows himself to find himself in interesting situations. He’s very precise tactically and everyone helps each other out, so when the guys are in a good rhythm, he can appear at key moments like a great striker does.

Q: When you were asked about the rotation, could the fact that there’s a long break after the Charlotte game be a factor in you bringing back the same guys and then squeezing the lemon? Is that something you take into account or not?

LC: The turnaround is shorter now and there are players who are performing and who are well loaded with minutes, but there are players who are fresh too, and we’re always trying to see which is which. We’ll see how the guys react this morning and try to make the least risky adjustments possible.

Q: I wanted to ask you a question about Fernando Alvarez, I don’t remember exactly, it was after which game, but after a defeat, he was talking to us recently and he was completely wrecked. Against Atlanta on Wednesday, we saw him miss a few covers, particularly on the Atlanta goal, is he a young man who puts a lot on his shoulders? From what you can see in your interactions with him, is he a guy who puts a lot of pressure on himself?

LC: He’s a guy, he’s a young guy but he’s more mature than me. He’s 20 but he’s really someone special in his humility and approach to life or soccer. He’s devastated when things aren’t going well and he’s happy to contribute when things are going well. He’s really an extraordinary human being.

Q: Was everyone in Atlanta, and I mean Lassi Lappalainen, Victor Wanyama and Alessandro Biello?

LC: No, Victor’s not here. That’s it, everyone else is here.

Jonathan Sirois

Q: One of the factors in your good sequence is attack, but it’s also defense. Before the goal against Atlanta, you were on a streak of about 280 minutes without conceding a goal, so it’s pretty tight defensively, how do you explain that?

JS: I think it’s a whole thing. I think it’s a multitude of factors, one is mentality, two is consistency, and three is confidence. I think there are also little details that sometimes go unnoticed in matches, but sometimes the two or three steps of readjusting the central defender to cut off the angle of the center also gives me the indication of when to go out and when not to go out. We’ve been very clean in the last few games on little points like that. Above all, as I keep saying, I think we’ve been more pragmatic, sometimes a little less so in the last game, and I think that’s why sometimes we’ve found ourselves in trouble. We’re in a mindset now where, if we’ve got no choice, we’ll clear the ball, whether it’s for a corner or a throw-in. We don’t hesitate to do it, and I think it takes some of the pressure off the defense.

Q: I’m talking about communication gestures, that you can see as a goalkeeper, that can make decisions such as player positioning. George Campbell, what makes for good communication right now, and what’s improved in his game over the last few games?

JS: I think his individual marking is top-notch at the moment. I think that’s one of the big factors that makes him so excellent, whether it’s in the air or on the ground. We even saw him in the last game literally counter the shot with his whole body in the first half on a cross. I think he’s in a very good sequence and I think that simply by his individual marking, he takes a huge load off the team. I’m very happy that he’s performing well with us.

Q: It seems that the CF Montréal season has been in three stages: first, paradise, where everything was going well and we were winning on the road and everyone seemed really united; then, it was a bit more like hell, where it was difficult to get points both at home and on the road, and finally, it seems like we’re back in paradise again. How do you explain that?

JS: I think that’s going a bit to the extreme, saying paradise then hell, but I think it’s normal in a season to have ups and downs this season. This year was the first year with the new coach where we were learning a new system. I think at the beginning of the year, we were a little more conservative, just to start the year on the road and then try to pick up points, which worked really well. After that, it was just a matter of finding our X of everything over the course of the year, adapting to the system and the coach’s demands. Sometimes it varies, and then it’s also about finding a personal consistency for each player in our performances, and I think that’s been our hardest part this year. I think we’ve had too many inconsistencies individually, which meant that collectively, it was difficult to have a certain chemistry on the pitch, as we’re seeing at the moment. I think that’s exactly what’s happening at the moment, with each player doing what he’s got to do, and then performing very well individually, which means that collectively, we’re very strong together. We’ve seen it in the past, as you said at the start of the season, and then a few times during the season, when we perform very well collectively, we’re a very hard team to beat.

Q: You’re fighting for a playoff spot. You’ve got a playoff spot right now, unlike the last few weeks. Charlotte On the other hand, it’s not so much to avoid the wildcard match as the playoff match. What kind of game are you expecting tomorrow against Charlotte for Charlotte’s synthetic?

JS: I think, it’ll be a more aggressive match than what we’ve experienced at home. I think we were very much in control against them at home. I think that tomorrow they’re likely to have a bit more of the ball and maybe want to come on and attack us a bit more. I think that at the end of the day, they’re likely to have a bit more pressure on them, because they know that if we win, I think we’re two points behind them, so I think that adds a bit of pressure. We mustn’t go into this game thinking about what’s behind us and maybe pay attention to the ninth, 10ᵉ, 11ᵉ place. I think if we get into that mentality of, we want to go for seventh place and not be satisfied with eighth place, That’s going to give us all the best chances of winning the game and qualifying for the playoffs even before the last game of the final season.

Q: Are you really looking at the table and saying let’s keep that mentality that we’ve been having in and jump up to the seven now that you are holding on to a spot, it seems like everyone is breathing down your neck?

JS: I think that the most important thing is not to get complacent and comfortable where we are now. We know especially in this league how everything can change after one game. I’d like to go in into that game with the mentality that we are trying to go for the seventh place by winning in Charlotte and make it possible that we could get a seventh place on the last day. I think that’s the mentality we need to get because we’re all conscious that there’s other teams breathing down our necks and they’re right behind us and they’re waiting for us to slip. We can’t get comfortable and go into the game tomorrow thinking that we’re in eighth place and everything is under control because we know that everything can change after one game.

Q: I know it’s really out of your control, but the fact that there is an international break in the middle of this. Let’s say you do not win tomorrow and then you have to wait to play that most important game of the season. What are your thoughts on that?

JS: That’s always an option to keep in mind. I think it’s an extra motivation to clinch it tomorrow before that break. Then again, we know how beneficial that break could be too. You look at our form after that last break, it completely switched for the better so ultimately. Ultimately, it’s not a life-or-death situation, but obviously we would prefer to clinch that tomorrow and then not have to worry about that for the last game.

Q: Last night, they said you were going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the Atlanta Falcons, how did you find it?

JS: I really enjoyed my evening. I think most of the team did. It was good to get away from it all a bit. I think there are times when you just have to stay in the hotel all the time, especially on trips like this, and then at a time of the year like this, you start to think too much about soccer, so I think that in a little evening like yesterday, we were all able to relax a bit and have some fun, and then see the Mercedes-Benz Stadium from another point of view. I think it was just a lovely evening.

Q: Speaking of leaving yesterday, was this an official team activity or was it a player initiative by the captain? What was the nature of this activity?

JS: No, it wasn’t official. I think it was a collaboration between Samuel Piette and Daniel Pozzi. It was the management who came and approached us to find out if the team was interested, and then I think most of the team was obviously interested. With Wednesday’s win over Atlanta, it was a nice way to celebrate that, but also to take a breather after that game, and then today to be fresh to concentrate on Charlotte.

George Campbell

Q: We talked a lot about Josef coming back to Atlanta and scoring the two goals, but it was a big night for you too. What was it like to get that win on your former home soil? You’re well positioned to know how tough it is as well for an away team to win there; can you talk about the magnitude of that result?

GC: In terms of a team performance, it was really good. Obviously, we haven’t been great on the road this year, so honestly this was the most important away game so far, so it was really important to get a win. On a personal level, it was also a big game because I had a lot of friends and family there. Last year, I came off at halftime and it wasn’t a great performance overall from the team and myself. It felt a lot better to make that performance several times better this time.

Q: You guys have been chasing those final spots to get access to the playoffs and now you’re owning one of these and you have to protect your place. What does that change in the mentality? Jonathan was talking just now about the danger of complacency and thinking that now that you’re there, everything is going to be easier, how do you see you guys’ situation? What do you have to work on to make sure that now that you’re there you don’t lose that spot?

GC: I would agree with Joe that we can’t get complacent and overconfident or cocky, but we have to know that we’re also a good team and we can compete with anyone. We just have to come with the right mentality to games and not approach them any differently than we have had the past few games where we’ve talked about things as a team. We’ve gone through things tactically and we’ve kept that level of focus on the field. We have to take the same exact approach, and I think we’ll have a really good chance of making the playoffs and seeing what we can do there.

Q: Was your family rooting for you or for Atlanta?

GC: No, for me for sure.

Q: You’ve been doing good, what would you attribute to the good form that you’re in right now in the last couple of seasons? Is there something that Laurent Courtois or Laurent Ciman have said to you to get your game to another level?

GC: I think in terms of individual performances, it comes with the better team performances. I think our whole team has been much better. Every single person who’s played in the past few games has been much better than a few weeks before that. I think it just goes to show that at the end of the day, it’s a team sport and we’re all going to make each other look better. Like I said before, we’ve been talking about things through on the field more about tactics about how we’re going to press, how we’re going to defend in a block and how we are going to play. I think in general things are a little clearer and guys are surer of themselves and more confident and that just happens with the team.

Q: Jonathan just spoke about your position on the field and the communications that you have with him, is there something that happened in the last few weeks that made you feel like, okay, we need to communicate more and we need to speak more about what we do in the field?

GC: I don’t know if there’s an exact moment, but after losses, you need to start not accepting it. I think they got to a certain point after Cincinnati that we knew we needed to change something up.

Q: CF Montreal’s season has been made up of three parts: heaven to start, then hell, then heaven again, how can you explain this?

GC: Sometimes it’s just difficult to explain. Last year, the media had the same questions. At times, you don’t understand yourself, but I think we just kind of got sick of the losses in terms of that part. In terms of the start, I think it was a fresh MLS season and anything could happen. I’m not saying we didn’t deserve the wins and ties we got on the road, but anything can happen at the beginning of the season. I think just a bunch of teams didn’t know what to expect from us at the beginning, and that’s what helped us.

Q: What kind of match can we expect tomorrow against Charlotte in their synthetic pitch?

GC: Hopefully a similar one to Atlanta because we know it’s a big field turf. They’re strong at home but obviously we’ve been strong the past few games. We just need to know how we’re going to be organized and defend. When it’s time to hit them on the counter, we hit them on the counter and when we need to keep the ball, we have to keep the ball for a long time.

Q: Laurent Courtois really complimented on your qualities such as your front passes, how did he help you this year to evolve and get to where you are right now?

GC: He’s given me a ton of chances this year and I think with that comes confidence in certain areas of the game and certain areas of the field in my game. I think just giving me the confidence to freely play in more forward areas and gives me the confidence to look and find options going forward. I think he’s given me the trust and I think that’s the most important part, to free up my game and make me play more confidently.

Q: Sam was talking about how huge you’ve been lately on defending set pieces, how much pride do you take in that aspect of your game?

GC: It’s something that Laurent Ciman tries to emphasize which is to use my frame and my body. It’s something that the team needs, and I take a lot of pride in it. We don’t want to concede goals, and we know it’s the business end of the of the season, so it’s really important not to concede like that so I try to take as much pride as possible.