Quotes:
Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On looking towards next season
“I’ve been looking to next year for a little bit moving forward. What went on in tonight’s game defines our season: not quite good enough to win the game, but we kind of did okay in the match. It’s been 18 draws now; we’re not quite good enough to win games and see games out. It’s where we’re at right now; we’re looking for next season and what we need to do moving forward, as every coach is. It’s disappointing not to win tonight; I thought we did enough to get at least a win tonight.”
On the likelihood of tying 18 games
“It’s pretty tough. As the game goes, and you’ve been watching enough games over the time following the Fire, there’s a lot of good players playing the game. To get those many ties, I wouldn’t say it’s easy or hard to do, but it’s not usual. The thing for me is, at least we didn’t lose some of those games where we could’ve, and I think we probably could’ve won a few more that we tied. This is a difficult one, but something we have to work on.”
On the likelihood of playing a younger lineup in the coming weeks
“We’ve made some changes over the last week for the lineups. I think we have enough guys to cover each position, but it’s proven over the season we’re not quite good enough to win a lot of games. We’ll see what we’re going to do in the next few matches, but we won’t completely overhaul the roster to give a bunch of guys games; you have to earn your spot, and I think I will continue to do that.”
On Alex’s injury
“He got a big bang on his foot, so it’s pretty swollen. I wouldn’t say it might be broken, the x-rays will show that. But it swelled up pretty good, and he immediately had to come out, so it was a bad one.”
On the inability to win at home this year
“I think all in all, when you work with the team, you're either good enough or you're not. I've always said that we'd love to make changes and help the team out. What was given at the start for me, it wasn't a ton of room to make a ton of changes. So, we had to go on with what we had. If you look at Mike Magee, he's been out most of the season or been struggling with injury most of the season. Patrick Nyarko has been out most of the season, and they're two quality guys that last year I thought did very well for Chicago. So, I'm not making excuses, but we didn't get the chance to really change the whole roster over and it's not a slight on the guys we have playing for us, but we need to make changes and get more quality in the side. And, what I will say, I think the guys have battled hard, really tried their best to get results, especially at home. We've been a little bit unlucky at home, but, again, the results on the table never lie. So, we've got to deal with that and work with it.”
On making changes to the roster for 2015 and if it will look different than the current roster:
“I think if you look at our team, we need some difference makers in our lineup. I think if we add that to our roster, that's the difference between a tie and a win. I think that's a big thing that we are missing. We couldn't quite get over the hump in a lot of our games. I felt if we could dominate possession, get another goal, and that's the difference makers that make that, and then you win more games. And then the confidence comes through the back, defensively, and you tend to win more games and are more comfortable going into games. I've felt actually comfortable in every game we've played. We've had some blowouts in a couple of games here or there where we haven't played well. But, that's normal. Most of the games we've played, especially at home, I've felt confident we could get a win. We weren't quite good enough to get that win, and I think that's the difference. So, it's up to me and the staff to add to the team we have, add some real quality to it. And, as we proved in the window, we're willing to spend money, we want to spend money. I just need to spend it in the right places and get this team better. I feel confident we can do that.”
Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson
On the defensive performance
“I think tonight we were a little unlucky. For the first time in a little bit we put together two halves of football. We were able to create opportunities for ourselves and limit opportunities for the other team. I think those are positives, obviously, but not having won this game takes us out of the playoff picture. But we have three very important games coming up that we have to go out there and fight and play well. It’s a good group of guys, but now is a real test for us especially our character to go out there and really compete these last few games.”
On being eliminated from playoff contention
“It hurts; I hate ending the season early and having an early offseason. It shows that we have to work harder, and it doesn’t stop at the end of the season, in the offseason we have to continue to work. We have search for ways to make ourselves better and to get into the playoffs next season. We don’t just want to edge in, we want to solidify a spot early. It’s up to me and some of the veteran guys to figure that out from an internal standpoint to try and get us going.”
On the ups and downs of the season
“It’s been an emotional season, a roller coaster if you will. It’s very frustrating to know we haven’t lost many games, but at the same time to tie so many games is just unbelievable. This many ties is crazy, it’s just absurd. We just have to keep trudging on these last few games and try our best.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Harry Shipp
On all the Rookie of the Year talk
“If you know me at all, you know that I’m more concerned with how the team’s doing. In college, I wasn’t concerned with individual accolades. Yeah, they came my senior year, but my first three years there I was unrecognized and I kind of got used to not getting individual awards. For me, it’s all about how the team does, I’ve said that the whole year. Logan’s [Pause] about to retire in a couple of weeks, and you just want to end the season on a high note even though the playoffs are unrealistic at this point. We still want to play well, for us it’s not even about results, it’s about how we’re playing. We came out in the first half and played pretty well, but you know it’s kind of a theme – in the second half we just kind of stopped playing. We were getting impatient and frustrated with ourselves for not scoring, and we kind of changed how we were playing. If we want to be a successful team in the future we need to pick a style of play and stick with it for 90 minutes, that’s what’s going to be successful in the future.”
On how to be more consistent
“It’s about how we’re able to dictate tempo. I think sometimes we let other teams dictate the pace of the game – whether it’s going to be fast or slow, up or down or a possession based game. It’s not us who are dictating that. It’s kind of like we’re listening to the other team, playing off them. I think for us to be successful we need to do what the best teams in this league do and dictate how the game is played. For us to be championship caliber team, before we start getting results we have to learn to dictate tempo.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Logan Pause
On playing in his second to last home game
“I don’t know how to feel. I play every single game with every ounce of energy and put every ounce of commitment into the time I’m on the field. When you see the end is close, it’s right around the corner, it’s definitely a little extra motivation for sure. Of course it gets emotional. I know that my time is coming to an end, but to be honest with you, it’s a joyful emotion. The game and this club have been so good to me for the past 12 years that of course I’m going to miss it, but I’m not leaving sad.”
On the result
“The result has really been the story of the year. I think that this group is going to go into the offseason hopefully learning a lot from this year. The fans deserve better, the ownership deserves better, the front office and players deserve better than what’s happened this year. But if we use it to our advantage and learn from this what it means to win and how to win, we’ll be better off in the future. ”
On what the team needs to do in the future
“First and foremost, it’s an honor and privilege to represent this club and play here. In my eyes it’s the best club in the league. I think getting guys to understand that is important, and also to understand that every single day matters – both on and off the field. Those are things that I try and hammer home, especially with the younger guys of the world like Harry Shipp and Chris Ritter, who will hopefully be around a lot longer than I was.”
