Postgame (Preseason Match #1): Head Coach Caleb Porter

Revolution Head Coach Caleb Porter

On the team’s progress over the first 10 days of preseason:

Porter: “I think the progress has been good overall. Like you said, we’re nine, 10 days in. We’re not trying to peak two weeks in, right? We have a lot to learn, a lot to work on. We worked attack then defending this week, and then we played a little bit of an intrasquad one week, and then now we played Red Bull today. We played two different groups 45 minutes and I thought honestly, Red Bull executed better than we did today. They’re a very good team defensively. It’s easier to destroy than to create. We’re a team that wants to create, and I thought they destroyed us pretty good at times in the buildup and were able to play their game, you know, which is press-counter. There were a lot of little things that we needed to do better, so the great thing is, it allows us to look at the film, it allows us to go back to work. It allows us to get back to the build out and work on some of those details where we can be a bit better, and that’s why we scheduled that game. So, the good news is we got 22 guys 45 minutes. We came through injury free. We do have a couple guys nicked up that didn’t play today, but we’ll get them back in the next couple days, and I think we’ll go again and work on the things that we need to work on. It’s about growing. It’s not about results. We’re playing two groups 45 [minutes]. It’s about growing every single game that we play, and eventually, yes, the result does matter as we get closer to the end of preseason where we’re playing guys major minutes and physically, we’re in a better spot.”

On implementing a new game model and style of play during preseason:

Porter: “For me, it’s always like you get one light bulb on, the other one goes off. Then you get the other one on, the other one goes off. So, eventually, we want to get both light bulbs on, and I think today, because we worked more on defending, I thought our attack was where we struggled. So, we need to get back to that, work on those details, continue to work on controlling games a bit better, creating chances, not getting turned over, you know, with a team that’s trying to press us. Finding solutions. How do we create the advantage? How do we rotate? How do we find ways to not play into their hands? And I think there was some really good stuff today, you know? But we gave up a penalty and we gave up a couple transitions, so those are moments that we have to do better in.”

On building off this match as preseason continues:

Porter: “There’s no failure, it’s just feedback. So, for me, the feedback we got today was really important. We needed that feedback. We needed to struggle a little bit. We needed to find some mistakes to then now go back, show the film, look at it, work on it, and we’ll be better for it. There are not many teams that play the way Red Bull play, that press the way they press, and when you look at how we wanted to play out today and their press, again, I thought they executed better than we did today, so we’re better for playing this game. We’re better.”

On the focus for the week ahead as the team gets back into preseason training:

Porter: “Now we’ll look at the film, we’ll focus on what we need to improve on. We’ve been kind of focusing mostly on our two-week tactical periodization – defending, attacking, putting it together – and then now we’re going to focus on the areas where there are holes, you know? Where we think we need to improve. So, clearly, we’ll focus on the playing out piece a little bit more, because in the past they’ve been a team at times, I think, that relied on going direct, sometimes too direct, as a solution. I think you saw today that when they tried to play through the pressure, there were times we struggled at it. So, that’s going to be an evolution a little bit. That’s going to take some time.”

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