Q: Overall thoughts as head coach?
F: First one with Utah and I’m very proud of the effort today. We showed good things. We created lots of chances but we couldn’t score and unfortunately we lost the game but overall a good night. We have to keep going. We have to keep our heads up because we have a difficult week coming soon so overall good night.
Q: What was the message to the team at halftime?
F: I was very hard on them because I think we can do better with them. We have a young team. We work hard every single day and you can see the progression from the beginning to right now, but if we can delay the little mistakes we are making, especially in the first half. They didn’t create many chances and we did create lots of chances but we couldn’t score but we let them score very easily and the cross arrived because we stepped one-on-one and this is what we didn’t want to do . We were late and it was a chain, late and late and late and late. They had the ball on the side, a good cross on the one player in the box and they scored. It’s a mistake, and then obviously the penalty, so I was very mad because of that. It was something that we could stop. So I was very hard on them and I said to them “this is another game that we are going to leave with regret” because we had a few games like that already and I said to them “not today, not today” so we fixed some details that we needed to improve for the second half and for me the message was more about getting them ready to compete and this is what we did in the second half. Many times when Angel City was in our half I asked my video analyst to check because there were not too many. When one received they had nowhere to put it and they couldn’t find the solution so unfortunately we lost but I’m very proud of them.
Q: The press was very effective but how do you balance that with speedy opponents?
F: This is what happened in the first half. If you let them have two or three halves, they are fast and they are good on the ball so my message was to be tight on them, and train us to be excellent because if we let them go they arrive one-v-one. They pushed the ball very fast and in the second half they couldn’t do that.
Q: Good things happen when Ally Sentnor is on the ball. Thoughts?
F: She’s a difference-maker so when she receives the ball something can happen and this is what we asked of her, is that when she has the ball make some plays especially in the final third. You are very crafty so go one-on-one, try something, and we tried to get more from her when she is coming inside and she shoots. We tried to get a little bit more, but she’s a key player in our forces.
Q: Did the goal give them confidence?
F: It was my message that if you score one goal, they are going to feel it, and they felt it right? And then we tried to create chances and I think that the goalkeeper kept them in the game today. I don’t like to say that, but the goalkeeper had a good game.
Q: Olivia Griffiths was responsible for both goals wouldn’t you agree?
F: I have nothing against her. She arrived, she found the spot, she’s doing more good things than bad things. Obviously, she’s young, that kind of mistake, we can delay them and with time and with experience she won’t do that kind of thing anymore, but I have nothing against her. She played a very good game. She made a few mistakes like all of the players. We all make mistakes, as a coach I make mistakes as well. Overall, I would say I’m very pleased with what she’s doing on the field so far.
Q: Don’t you think that the substitutions were made late in the game?
F: They’re not mistakes. I don’t agree with you because we created chances and we had the momentum so as a coach if you make a sub maybe you kept the momentum so this is something that we need to think about. We need to score but there is a slow momentum so if you have a player and you keep the momentum the time when the subs arrive and maybe the player that’s coming isn’t feeling it the same way as the player that’s coming onto the field so they can keep the momentum. So you have to be smart with the subs. We had the momentum and created the chances, we just didn’t score another goal. I was talking with my assistant coach and we knew that we needed to score. We had the momentum and we tallied the numbers for the players and it was a little bit too much. A player made lots of runs so we think because she made too many runs she won’t make the last run, the run that we need or when she arrives in front of the goal she will be exhausted and not the right body or not in the right positioning so we made the choice to put Cam, full of energy. She knows what she needs to do and we didn’t keep the momentum because at that time we had a break. When you do subs you have to think about the team how we are right now, the time of the game and momentum and I think we made a good choice on the subs. We didn’t score so you could say maybe not, but overall I don’t think so.
Amandine Henry & Dana Foederer
Q: Congratulations on your goal! Can you just take us through what the emotions were like after that goal?
DF: I was really really happy, but we’re still losing so I was like grab the ball and let’s go again. I didn’t think like ‘oh I scored’ I was more like we need to go we need to go.
Q: For both of you, you had the goal so maybe you can make a comeback. What do you feel like kept you short of making a full comeback?
DF: I think that in the first half we were not good enough and then they scored twice and I don’t think we deserved that. The second half we came back with so many chances so it is so annoying we didn’t win today and I think that we deserved it. Now, we keep on going. We build on the good things and next week we have to win.
AH: I have the same feelings, so we have to keep going. We are young, we have to learn from the first half and at the high level it is about the small details. If we want to win we have to score and have to earn a clean sheet. We keep growing and we learn.
Q: We talked to Coach Fred a little bit about halftime and his message to you guys at halftime. What was it like having a different coach tonight and what was his message to you at halftime?
DF: I didn’t feel any difference today because we did know what we needed to do today. We worked on it all week with Amy and with Fred as well. Everyone was on the same page about that today. At halftime everyone was just like come on, we are better than them and to just keep growing and learning. We just went back out with that mindset and that’s what we showed.
AH: We miss Amy for sure, but Fred and all the staff are on the same page. At halftime Fred told us to just keep going because I think that the first half was not good enough. He told us we have to press, we have to score and we tried but it wasn’t enough.
Q: Dana, how does it feel to score on your first game back from your injury?
DF: I was really excited for today, I was out of the game for 2 weeks and I was just so happy I could play today and then I scored so it was an amazing day for me today, but I am a person who always wants to win so it was sad for me that we didn’t win today but we kept on growing.
Q: Amandine, you mentioned a little earlier that there are a few small things you think the team could improve on, could you touch on what you see as a veteran that you guys need to work on?
AH: I think the next step is to score. When you lose it is harder to stay confident, but tonight I am proud of my team because when you watch the game we were better so sometimes football is cruel; we lost. We keep growing and we have to learn about what we missed.
Q: When you talk about scoring being the next thing for the team, what do you see that will get us in a better position for shots on goal? What do you think are the next steps for the little things?
AH: I think that we have to be more killer in the box, in our box as well as to be safe. It is just a few things, but those few things are the details needed to win.
DF: I totally agree with you, it is about the details now. We worked on a lot of things last week and we improved on that, but it is the small details. Where do you go in the box, who’s going to the 1st post, who’s going to the second post. I think that if you improve that we can score more for sure.
Q: Dana, congratulations on your first goal in the league! Pretty stunning strike, but I feel the set up might have been just as good with the cross by Ally Sentnor. It feels like really good things happen when she’s on the ball. Have you kind of figured out that when she’s going to goal, trying to start making runs into the box?
DF: Thank you. She’s a great player and I love to play with Ally and normally I am like ‘Ally has the ball she can score so I don’t have to make a run’ but today I was like let me make that run. Then she played me, and it was a great ball so I only had to touch it with the inside of my foot and it was a goal. But it was a great ball by Ally.
Q: Dana, congratulations on your goal. In the past I noticed you were a bit frustrated with how the team played, because you want to win obviously. Today that didn’t happen but how do you feel about your first goal and doing it after an injury?
DF: I want to say of course I am frustrated but not at my teammates. I am frustrated that we did not win because we deserved it. I am so proud of the team because of how we fought, how everyone was pushing and going for every ball. For myself, coming back from an injury and scoring a goal is obviously an amazing feeling.
Q: This is your 5th game in this league, how is your adaptation going?
DF: I think that this was my best game so far, so maybe the concussion was good for me, my head and my body. I feel like I am getting used to the league and to the speed and to the intensity and I really like it.
Q: Amandine, this was your first time playing against your former teammates and Angel City. How do you feel playing against them and your role in Utah?
AH: Playing against Angel City was not very good because they are my old teammates, but you know when you play against your old team you want to show that you are doing well and want to win. I think with Utah I feel very very good with my team and staff. And my role I feel like is to be a leader because of my experience so I try to be a leader on the field and also off the field even if my English is not very good but I try. I hope they can understand me. It is crazy though because even though we lost I really enjoyed playing with my team and I am proud of my team. I believe in my team and I do everything for this club.
