Post-match interview: Simon Elliott

Below is the post-game interview with Sacramento Republic FC manager Simon Elliott following last night’s 2-1 win over Colorado Switchbacks FC. With the win, Republic FC move to 4-2-0 on the season, and are on top of the Western Conference table with 14 points.

Well Simon, another 90 minutes in the books. It was a tale of two halves in my opinion. What did you see out there this evening?

I agree with you. It was a tale of two halves. I think the longer the season goes on, more teams are going to know about us...the more they’re going to be prepared. I thought Colorado was very well prepared in the first half, and we ended up playing side to side instead of looking to play forward.

In the second half, we just got in better spots in the midfield. Got a couple high lines, got on the half turn, and all of sudden, what do you know...we’re able to play forward and threaten them behind, so you know, we got there, but we made it a little harder than it needed to be.

We talked a little about about Cameron Iwasa last week and how he’s maybe playing the best football of his professional career. Again tonight, he scores one goal and probably should of had a second. He just seems to be a force out there.

Yeah, he’s a handful. He’s strong, has got a lower center of gravity. He can get in behind. He’s been scoring goals and had a great one tonight. I’m sure he’ll want the one-on-one back, but that’s the life of a striker.

I love the way he works for the team when he doesn’t have the ball either. He’s putting his hand up and he’s done it every game. We’re pleased with where’s he’s at.

What did you talk to your squad about at halftime with all those opportunities and controlling the game like they were?

We try and prepare appropriately for every team that we play. We wanted to see what we were doing in the second half the whole 90 minutes. Obviously, we’re not going to do that the entire 90 minutes, but there needs to be more of that in the first half. That’s what we talked about.

We need to start games better, we need to be more in-tune...perhaps as coaches, we need to give more explicit information. It’s these little tweaks, [but] we’ll keep tweaking until we start getting 90 minutes of performances.

Who was a standout for you tonight and really getting the job done?

I think we have competition for places now. We have guys coming back from injury, so I think that spurs guys to greater heights. Adam [Moffat] hasn’t had a lot of games in the last year, but he’s had a lot of games in the last couple of weeks. There’s a reason why he’s an experienced player. I thought he did well. Cameron Iwasa did well. I think Villyan Bijev has been really consistent.

Carlos Rodriguez hasn’t played, and then the last two games, he’s played 90 minutes. His attitude when he wasn’t playing was fantastic. He’s been very professional and has come in and performed.

We’re starting to get that in every position. I think part of the reason is that we have guys that maybe are not playing, but they are training well, and are right there, so if someone is not doing their job, we have someone else that can do it.

How is Elliott Hord looking?

Elliott has been working very, very hard since he’s had surgery. We’re pleased with his progress. I think we’re hopeful he can play soon. We don’t have a specific date, but we’re looking forward to seeing him back out on the pitch.