From RBNY
News and Notes
• The Red Bulls have posted a 16-10-4 mark against NYCFC in franchise history.
• New York Red Bulls forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has scored three goals in his last two MLS matches and has recorded a goal contribution in three-straight matches across all competitions.
• Choupo-Moting has now scored seven MLS goals this season, which ranks tied for first among MLS newcomers (Kevin Denkey, CIN).
• Midfielder Cameron Harper has recorded a goal contribution in back-to-back matches and has tallied two goal contributions in his career against NYCFC.
New York Red Bulls Head Coach Sandro Schwarz
On NYCFC…
It's a clear structure how they are playing with the back four in their defense behavior, then a lot of rotations when they build up with three players, sometimes left back coming inside to build up, sometimes the right back coming inside to build up. A lot of rotations, especially in their build up situations. (Alonso) Martinez very good deep runs between the center backs and the back of the center backs. In this case, we have to be ready. At the end we have to defend all together against NYCFC, and we also have to attack all together.
On quick turnaround for Derby Match…
The Nashville game is now over, and now it's the next opportunity, is the next challenge, and sometimes it's good that you are playing very quick. The next game for me is good to have now, the next situation, the next challenge for the game tomorrow. And so we spoke very quick after the game about Nashville. Yesterday was our travel day from Nashville home here to Jersey, and now is the main focus for the next game tomorrow against NYCFC, a big game, a big chance, also for us now to show the quality of our face, the intensity of our face, and this is what we want to see tomorrow.
On finding consistency…
We have to find the right balance, the right mix, also to create our atmosphere and the clear focus now for the next challenge and so it's nothing special now for tomorrow. What we want to do, nothing changes in our style of play to create our atmosphere. It's clear we have to find the right structure against the NYCFC and always starts with our intensity. If you play with three center backs, if you play with back four, two strikers, one striker doesn't matter.
New York Red Bulls Defender Sean Nealis
On mindset going into NYCFC match…
Everyone knows that this Derby matchup always is one of the biggest ones during the year, both for the players, and more importantly for the fans and for the club. We touched upon this after the Nashville game. We were pissed off and the mindset was, we got to take this pissed off mindset right into the next matchup, because we don't really have too much time to think about things. We got to go out and play, go out and fight. And that's our mindset going into Saturday.
On short week going into match…
When it's game day tomorrow, that energy will be there, that fight that competitive spirit from both teams and both fan bases will be there, and soon as we pull into the stadium, that energy will be there. I think everyone kind of enjoys playing all these games. That's why we play. We play to be playing in games, not practice. And I think unfortunately, we didn't get the result we wanted. We wanted a nine-point week, but we still have the opportunity to get a six-point week with win on Saturday.
On team mentality…
Myself and the rest of the team, we want to go out and fight. We want to give everything for 90+ minutes to get the result that we want. We want to celebrate with our fans afterwards. I think there's nothing better than, winning on the road and being in front of your fans, especially on a rival match. We want to make them happy and we want to bring back three points.