New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch, defender Aaron Long, and midfielder Sacha Kljestan addressed the media on Sunday following their crushing defeat in Seattle.

Video credit and special thanks to Prost’s John Zielonka.

Marsch, disappointed, commented on the team’s performance:

“I don’t think we played very well. I don’t think we had very many individual performances that were good and collectively that meant that the game had slipped away from us too much.”

Marsch summed up the match as the perfect storm of errors by noting:

“When you go on the road against a good team and you don’t have any good individual performances and then you wind up making grave errors and mistakes that just give the other team goals, then you have a recipe for a loss.”

On a positive note, Marsch acknowledged it is still quite early in the season being Match Week 3. There are leaps and bounds to be made in improving a leaky defense and obtuse offense.

Central defender Aaron Long, who has thrust himself into the starting line-up this season, shared his thoughts on playing in Seattle:

“It felt calm, it felt normal, it felt like home.”

Long was signed by the Sounders in 2014 and did not feature with the team during their MLS campaign. He found success the following year playing under the Jet City’s USL club partner, Seattle Sounders FC II.

Captain and playmaker Sacha Kljestan, highlighted the fundamental  mistakes which cost New York:

“We weren’t good enough on the ball, our spacing [and]our movement just not at the level we need it to be right now in order to win games on the road…we aren’t creating enough very good goal scoring opportunities.”

Yet despite his frustration with the result against the Sounders, Kljestan seemed hopeful for his return to the United States men’s national team:

“It’s the biggest honor in our country to play for the national team as a soccer player. I’m excited to get there…and help anyway I can”.

Sacha Kljestan and fellow MLSer Matt Besler were added to the USMNT roster after Bobby Wood reportedly sustained a back injury while playing for Hamburger SV in Germany.

Kljestan and the USMNT will play Honduras on Friday, March 24th in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.

Despite a shameful display, Red Bull fans should not be alarmed just yet, Seattle is a good team and this was always destined to be an uphill battle despite the Sounders having struggled in their last two fixtures. Results will come, but as we have seen year-in-year-out, we have to be patient. Poor results may continue to come for a while but once we hit our stride and tighten up our touches on the ball, we are sure to flourish as we have in previous years.

The New York Red Bulls return home on Saturday, March 25th to face Real Salt Lake.