New York Red Bulls Head Coach Gerhard Struber
On the backline after the loss of Aaron Long…
Hello together, it is good to see you back and yeah, of course, we have a little bit of a situation in the backline. Yeah, and we know which player we lose with Aaron Long. I think he was in the last season or the whole time when he was here with the New York Red Bulls able to play as a big player and has extremely successful with the club and we will miss him, 100%, but on the same time, we have very interesting group of young talented players in the center back position. Also, in the position of wingback or when we would play in a fullback area, some players they I think realized in the last two years many games on the MLS level. I think right now it is the time they take more and more responsibility in that direction, and I think yeah, they have to learn, but I can see, especially, in the last week and also today in the training, a high motivated group of players and also, the group in the backline show me a very good attitude with players like Sean Nealis, Andes Reyes, and John Tolkin. We have players in our backline, they have a lot of games and they have also the right ability to grow, and I have a big trust with players on this level. Also, do not forget Kyle Duncan, he has a lot of MLS games and with Dylan Nealis, I think we have a lot of interesting players and some young guys. They have to grow, but I think they are very learnable and coachable in this direction, and I have at the moment a good feeling.
On the central midfield core…
I love that I have enough players. I can remember the seasons before we have always a little bit different situation. Right now, we have here in the position six and the position eight, I think a high competition and also with Peter Stroud, the player he has very good abilities. He has good skills in our world of football, he can play in a high intensity, I think his mindset is very vertical thinking and I am very excited to see him in the training and also, maybe he is one of the players in this season, he can create game time, but the competition is high in this area. Yeah, but I think this makes everyone in the end better especially for the team, it is a big boost when we have a high competition.
On who could be captain this upcoming season…
Yeah, obviously in this direction, Aaron [Long] was a very helpful captain in this direction with his leadership, power, but I think also on the same time we have interesting young players, they can take the responsibility. I think we have a handful players they can take this role, but I will use the next few weeks to decide. I think, of course, Sean [Nealis] is an interesting player for this role. He showed me this in the last two years that he takes responsibility. Also, Lewis Morgan is an experienced player with a top season behind him an also Carlos Coronel or Cristian Casseres, Jr. I have more players, they are ready to take responsibility and push the whole group in a successful direction, but in the end, I think I have no stress and also, I think we do not need to make a decision now. But, what we need everyday is responsibility and the duty to do everything in the training and in this direction, I can feel a big group of players they are ready for more.
On international duties for players…
Yes of course, we know that we have some interesting players, they are growing, and they are also interesting for their countries to play in the national team. Yeah, I think with John Tolkin, of course, he is a player for the next step and also a player he has the ability to play in the national team would be not a surprise for me. The same is with Cristian Casseres, Jr. and the same is with Andres Reyes. They are players they can make the next step also in the national team and this is also I think a very good situation for me and my coaching team. I think we develop players, also in this direction to be a national player and yeah, I think we are not surprised that something will come. But, we always can handle that. I think this is not in the end a surprise that brining us out of our concept.
On the large amount of possible fixtures this season…
First of all, I love that, that we have super chances to play many games. I think this is a big chance to grow and I am not the coach crying with too much games. I am completely on the opposite. I love it to play many games. I think we have right now the situation to plan the roster in this direction. We know that also the Open Cup will hopefully not be a short time for us. We will go for a long time in the Open Cup. I think longer like the last season, and we were also in the last season maybe you can remember in the semifinal and in the end, I think all the games help the players grow and also I think with a big roster, we have the possibility to come in a good circle to come in a good transitional starting eleven. We can bring many players in game time, especially for young players, is one of the most important thing to develop is not the artificial training time it is game time and game time is the biggest leverage to develop. I think in this direction we have in this season a very good chance to bring players in many games and I like that.