NEW YORK RED BULLS MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 8, 2023

Troy Lesesne

Press Conference

New York Red Bulls 2, New England 1

Q. Obviously a wild ending to this one. What do you say to the players after a match finishes that way?

TROY LESESNE: What I told them was, three points, a big three points tonight, No. 1. Don't let anything that I'm about to say take that away from it. But it wasn't a complete performance tonight, and that's what we were asking for in the pre match. And I think a lot of game, we have to say was very good from us.

But when we go up a man, I think we could have gotten the second goal, No. 1. And then No. 2, we let them back in the game with silly fouls and set pieces.

So that's the most transparent view I can give you. But again, it does not take away anything from three points against this side that's been in tremendous form and is at the top of the table.

Q. Congratulations on the win but obviously you were frustrated at multiple points in this game. You obviously didn't call a complete game. Talk with your emotions when you saw Farrell get that second goal but also when it was overturned?

TROY LESESNE: I was really disappointed we put ourselves in that position at that stage of the game, similar to the first goal. Then I felt like we were lucky to have a VAR call go our way. Sometimes you need that throughout the course of the year. I think we can look at many times throughout the course of the year it's gone the other way for us.

So we're fortunate. What I said to the New England staff, Bruce Arena in particular, was sorry it went that way because that's not a way to -- that you want to win a game necessarily. But again, we have to -- we also have to say we did a lot in the game to earn three points.

Q. When you put Carmona into the match, and how surprised were you he got that shot off his feet to Bajraktarevic?

TROY LESESNE: What he gave us in the match was exactly what I was hoping for. He's someone that's so, so good on the ball. We obviously were a man up at that point, and so I knew he would find the ball in good situations, and the way that he strikes the ball is not surprising to me. We see it every day in training, and it's one of his greatest weapons.

So he had one right before there that he just didn't make really good contact with, and so for the next one, I'm really happy he hit it with the way that he's capable. And I'm so proud of him for not appearing in the last two games and being frustrated by that but sticking to the plan.

Q. Congrats on the win. Two things that stood out to me: Set pieces. One, they got New England into the game, and one wasn't a VAR call. You talked about sustaining focus in critical moments like that. Did you discuss that with the team at all? And Vanzeir, are how would you describe his performance?

TROY LESESNE: Set pieces is such a major phase of the game, and I would say against Columbus it's come from a couple restarts, now New England, it's come from a couple different moments that are set piece moments. First way that you defend set piece s is that you don't give them up. So you don't have silly fouls. You don't put yourself in bad situations and I think that's probably the biggest step before the organization of it.

I think we defended a lot of them very well tonight, actually. And on the flipside, I think we created a lot as well but we have to be focused in these moments even more right now to minimize the opponent's chances.

Dante tonight, I was really happy to have him back in the mix and be able to start. I thought his performance was solid. He's the type of guy that is going to be critical of his performance because didn't hit the back of the net but he provides the assist on the first goal to Frankie.

Yeah, I think he just needs consistent games now. He has to stay healthy and stay in form and he'll producing very good performances for us. I'm proud of him.

Q. I thought the midfield played outstanding tonight, especially in the first half. Frankie, besides the goal and Amir. I thought you created a lot through the midfield and I thought the midfield was influential throughout the entire game?

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, completely agree. I think Frankie and Daniel Edelman completely controlled the game on both sides. They put in so much work defensively because we obviously step up high off the field and press. So they were always in great positions to win first and second balls.

And then with the ball, I thought that they were excellent on the night, and it's nice to see, again, Frankie be rewarded with such a big moment with another goal for him.

Q. Building up the first goals; what did you like about the first goal?

TROY LESESNE: I like that you're noticing that and that's something that we're trying to improve on. So I appreciate you pointing that out. It's something that we want to improve with the ball, as we've spoken about, really, since I took over. Sometimes whenever you try to improve with the ball, it becomes a little bit stale sometimes and you move the ball left and right but with no real intent.

We did a little bit of that in the first half, so I challenged them at halftime to be more incisive with some of their passing and some of their runs. We saw more of that even before the goal. So I'm happy and we're making progress again in another match with two goals. So we're moving in the right direction.

Q. Could you talk more about what happens after your team went up a man? It felt like that almost gave New England a second wind. They had more space to move. What did you see from the sideline?

TROY LESESNE: This is where I think that the focus for the complete 90 minutes has to be -- I have to challenge the group on that. We go up a man the very next play. They are able to play right down the center of the field, and that's just a lack of focus. That doesn't have anything to do with anything I think New England did.

Although, I thought it was very clever of them to bring that many players on at one time. It's a smart move to just freshen up the group of players on the field. But that's where we have to come back whenever we review the game together and say, look at what you're doing when it's 11v11. We don't change anything. We don't allow them to come back in the game so easily and have space, particularly when we are up a man.

Q. Once again, Dante comes off in the 73rd minute. Is that just looking forward to Wednesday's game to keep him fresh?

TROY LESESNE: Absolutely.

Q. And Elias wasn't dressed for the game. Was there any injury late in the week?

TROY LESESNE: Yeah, that's exactly what the thought process was for Dante. Wednesday is coming, and he's just coming off an injury.

Then Elias, I think Elias will be available for Wednesday. It's not a major thing but enough to keep him out of the roster tonight. So we are hopeful for Wednesday because he's been in great form himself, and yeah, hopefully we'll find out a little bit more tomorrow and Monday.