NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 4, FC DALLAS 2
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION ASSISTANT COACH PAUL MARINER
On the win:
"We really thought this was the start of our end-of-season run. We really need to start our season off again. We've been winning and losing, winning and losing, and it's not really our pattern. We wanted to impose ourselves. We've worked very, very hard in training this week, emphasizing that we need to get the ball in out wide to Steve [Ralston] and Khano [Smith] and it just seemed like they both did exceptionally well tonight."
On the second half:
"We thought we could take it to them a little bit more then we had been. Obviously they're very dangerous on the break. Carlos (Ruiz) is a master at holding the ball up and keeping the team playing. We were very cautious about that. But, we wanted to put their back four and the midfield on the back foot and I thought we did that."
On preparation for the game:
"There was a lot of hard work and there was a lot of running for the midfield players. Pat [Noonan] and Taylor [Twellman] split very well tonight and Shalrie [Joseph] and Jeff [Larentowicz] sort of mash in the midfield very, very well."
On playing at home:
"We have to win as many games as we can at home. We've found that most teams like to sit in a little bit on us, so we really do have to use the width (of the field) and we have to be a little more patient ... the players want to do well for themselves, and for the home crowd."
On the goals conceded:
"We need to get back to clean sheets. It's all about possession of the ball. As you can see, the quality of the league is improving. Carlos' (Ruiz) goal was a very good goal from their point of view, a very poor goal from our point of view. The service in was very good. Obviously we'll look at that on the DVD, but we need to start to address that. But it's a collective thing; it's not just the back three and (Matt) Reis. It's a collective thing."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD PAT NOONAN
On scoring his two goals:
"It felt good because we won the game. It was a big win for us, a confidence booster against one of the top teams in the league. Hopefully we can build on that win."
On New England's second half:
"At halftime we made adjustments, people finding the ball more and finding the holes more with more movement, giving us more options and keeping the ball on the ground. We were able to do that. People kept moving off each other and we created opportunities. We got the ball wide, got some services and Khano (Smith) and (Steve) Ralston started taking guys on and played some balls in."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE RALSTON
On his team's performance:
"We thought we outplayed them in the first half, as well. They are very good at set pieces. We gave up too many free kicks, but I thought we did a good job in the first half, it's just that the final passes weren't there. The second half was really good, I thought, one of the better halves we've played in awhile."
On next week's game against New York:
"We have to keep going with this momentum. I thought we played well and we hope to continue next week against New York and do the same thing. We've had some problems with consistency and being up and down."
On Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner:
"Paul could be a head coach for any team in the league. We have so much respect for him and think so highly of him ... We got him the game ball and were real happy for him."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER KHANO SMITH
On his performance tonight:
"(Steve) Ralston, Shalrie (Joseph), Jeff (Larentowicz), Avery (John) ... all the people getting the ball to me did a good job getting it to me a lot. My confidence just kept growing and growing. Stevie (Nicol) gets on me a lot for going outside and then going inside too much so I've been working on that a lot. "
On the reaction after his goal:
"I pushed Jay (Heaps) aside because I wanted to celebrate. It took me 23 games to get on the score sheet."
On assisting Noonan's first goal:
"Before the game we talked about making those near post runs. I just put it in the spot and Pat (Noonan) finished it. I just put it in there and it was a tremendous finish by him."
FC DALLAS FORWARD CARLOS RUIZ
On the game:
"We made a lot of mistakes and we lost bad against New England, 4-2. We're disappointed and everything and we have to look forward now. We have a game next Tuesday against Chicago and then we have to go to LA and play against the Galaxy and we need a win both games."
On the team's performance:
"In the first half we played better and we don't know what happened in the second half. Maybe we didn't have control of the ball in the middle of the field. Every time New England went forward they created chances to score and they scored against us because we made a lot of mistakes."
