LouCity post-Charlotte Independence press conference
Coach John Hackworth | Wednesday, August 22, 2018
On what the result means for his side moving forward:
“I think it hopefully builds a little confidence in how we’re trying to play and some of the ideas and concepts that we’ve been working on in training for the last week and a half. I’m really proud of this group. Their mentality was great before I got here but it’s not easy for them to deal with some of the changes they’ve gone through. I’m really proud of the way they’ve accepted some points from me and how we’ve collectively worked together to solve some problems and I think you saw that tonight in a pretty comprehensive win.”
On if the team is adjusting to his style:
“Yeah, I think we’re getting there. I thought we were excellent in our build-up play, I thought our possession really wore Charlotte down in both halves and that opened up a lot of space. I think the players are adapting a little bit and I think that’s great to see. I still think we can get better at it in moments. We made some mistakes that allowed their team a chance, but at the same time I’m proud of the way we performed and the willingness of the guys to go do it. To come on the road is never easy. They had a decent crowd here tonight so to get a road victory and to do it with a shutout is something I’m really proud of.”
On what forward Cameron Lancaster brings to the team:
“Anytime you have a forward like Cam… he’s vital. That first goal allowed us to really start dominating the play, but he earned that. The second one was fantastic. I thought Kyle did a really good job, specifically with what we were working on in practice. It happened in that play. Charlotte made some good adjustments out of the locker room and we had to absorb some pressure there in the second half but I thought, again, we did a good job of making some adjustments and then going and getting that third goal.”
On Luke Spencer’s return:
“I don’t know when the last time he scored was… I know I wasn’t here. Long time coming. I’m happy for him. Anytime a guy is coming back and now is contributing and hitting the back of the net, that’s fantastic.”
On his reaction to the win:
“I don’t have that many emotions. I’ve been in enough soccer games to realize that if you do things the right way and have the kind of team that we have here, the success and the wins take care of themselves. We just have to keep constantly looking for little ways to improve. I’m happy, don’t get me wrong. I’m really happy for these guys. It allows us that first chance to move forward in a positive way.”
On the key to a quick turnaround with Richmond on Saturday:
“The key is that all the guys in the locker room and our training staff do the best job possible of trying to recover and re-gen from this result to be ready for another tough road game after another day of travel. Those are all cumulative factors. So, we need the guys who were on the bench tonight to be ready. The guys that didn’t play tonight might have an opportunity and I expressed that in the locker room so we’ll hopefully get these guys rested and see what we can do about going out and doing the same thing again.”
