Houston Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle
You guys went behind the 8 ball so early, what does that do for the team?
We had to come over here, and Philadelphia Union had a good side. They had a very good attacking core. We wanted to hold them from having a good start, which they got … In the second half we came out and had great first 15 minutes. We were outstanding, and we gave up the ball. If we want to win, you know we have to finish those chances.
You had chances, you had them last week, and yet two straight shutouts. Is it just a matter of finishing?
Yeah for sure, I mean we have got goal scorers who can score goals for the team. When we have players missing in the back and conceding soft goals, then we have to take chances, and if we are behind then of course we have to take those chances … The second goal gives a chance to sit back and have a cushion. But even at 1-0 we certainly looked set to back to get back in the game. We can't play whole 90-95 minutes if we are only playing in 15 minute periods. This is an elite-level.
What was different in the second half for the team?
I think what we did better in the second half was that we passed the ball better. We had two or three half chances, albeit Union had some good chances, and Deric made some good saves. But when we stepped up to the level that we are capable of then we showed that we can play and we challenged to score goals. We certainly stepped up, the intensity was better, we passed and moved the ball better, and we looked a good side. But we can’t just do it for 15 minutes, it’s got to be for longer periods.
Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric
How does it feel when you guys go down so early?
It wasn’t a good start. It’s difficult to get back control of the game. We fought hard, we had a good first 15 minutes in the second half, and that’s when I thought we played some really good soccer. Giving up two soft goals and not playing your best for 75 minutes of the game.
Two shutouts in a row now. What do you guys need to do differently to generate goals?
The strikers, they know how to score out there, and they’ll figure it out. I know the goals are going to start coming, the chances are there. I think we just need to be a little bit more critical. They got chances coming and I got faith, we’ll get a goal.
The defenders were getting caught on the counters, anything you do differently?
I think just giving the ball away cheaply really opens us up for the counterattack, because we are down 2-0 and we pushing for an equalizing goal to get back in the match. And when you give the ball away that easily, you’re susceptible to a counterattack. So just take care of the ball.
Houston Dynamo forward Will Bruin
Second straight game, you guys had no goals but several chances, what do you do differently?
Finish.
Is it as simple as that? Are you getting in to positions you want to?
Yeah, we are getting chances we want; I think we need to be more patient in the final third. We can't force it down on one side and just try to make something happen. If it doesn’t work on possession, we get countered on. I think we've got to be more patient in the final third. Finish the chances we do get to kind of change the way things are going.
You guys went down early, how does that affect play?
Yeah it sucks whenever you concede two minutes in the game. That’s the way it was, we talked about being ready, being ready, we talked it blue in our face. If you don’t show it in action, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a real gut punch when you get scored on two minutes in. But I think we are better than what we showed. We had our chances, we could have changed the game around, but we didn’t finish it.
You had 15 good minutes in the second half, what do you do to play like that throughout?
Start off like that, I don’t understand why we can't start the game like that. I don’t know why we have to wait until we are down one-nil and realize '[expletive], we have to keep the ball and play.' It’s frustrating obviously because results are happening. We have got five games left, and at this rate it’s going to be offseason for us.