MLS: New York red Bulls 0-2 Sporting Kansas
Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On Melia’s performance in Saturday’s game…
It was huge. You know, he made quite a few game-saving stops outside the penalty kick. He was fantastic. There was a ball during the second half that they played across the box in the air, and for him to be able to hold that while they were coming in on him was fantastic. he was great. There’s no doubt that he was man of the match.
On the team’s two road wins this year…
I think in the first half we had too many holes defensively. We allowed them to play through a little too much, but I think in the second half we were a little more like ourselves, and we made them play sort of into our strength, especially when Ike went on. I think with him and Nuno [Coelho] back there for the headers in the box, I think it made it really difficult for them to get on the end of stuff. I think the bottom line is we had good concentration on the road, and we’re paying attention to the game plan we’re putting in each game, and we’re executing pretty well. To be fair, there’s a little luck in there as well, but at the end of the day, I thought we did a good job.
On Coelho and Ellis settling into a groove playing together…
Well, last week’s match against Salt Lake was Kevin’s first of the season, and sometimes it’s hard to come on and right away have a major impact. He was doing fine. I’m really happy for Ike because his introduction into the game actually winded up being at a great moment. They started really batting a lot of balls into the box and that was an important aspect for us to have somebody in there that was able to counter that. So I’m happy for him. I’ve told him in a week or so that he’s going to get an introduction back into the game, and when he does, I want him to be confident because he’s done a lot of hard work to get back.
On Coelho’s performance and adapting to playing with three center backs in the past three weeks…
In training, we spend a lot of time training everybody the same way, so everybody knows their role and responsibilities when they step onto the field. The thing is, each person is a bit different. Kevin is a little more low center of gravity and a quick guy. And then Ike comes on and he’s great in the air. I’m just said we didn’t get enough set pieces in their box, because I think he would have been very dangerous. But Nuno gets it. He’s played a long time and he gets the routine. It’s pretty simple. We’re training to get everything ready for all those guys so when it does happen, they’re prepared.
On how he feels about the first goal…
I thought the fact that we found Dom and Dom held the ball up well and played a good ball through was great. I thought we had great movement at that point going forward. It ended up being something we do in training a lot. It was good commitment by the group. Everybody, timing wise, was right with each other.
