Some quotes from D.C. United practice. Work your way through, and you’ll find what seems like a pretty good defensive lineup hint for Saturday’s showdown with the Red Bulls.
D.C. United head coach Curt Onalfo
On how he’ll use Luciano Emilio, if the Brazilian is available: “It’d be in a reserve capacity. It logically makes the most sense. He needs a good understanding of how we play, and he’s only trained with us two days. But having said that, he’s a lethal forward that when given the opportunity, knows how to bury the ball. He’s a great option, assuming he has his clearance to play, in the second half.”
Onalfo also said he was pleased that Clyde Simms was healthy and Juan Manuel Peña could play 90 if he had to. I’d put money on Simms starting over the Bolivian defender.
On the need to try and protect returning players from further injuries: “We don’t have necessarily the luxury to do that. Certainly, you want to be intelligent about it. But we have a lot of guys that are out for injury, and we have four games, counting the game we played on Wednesday, in ten days, so we gotta make sure we’re intelligent about as best we can, but knowing that we gotta get some guys healthy and on the field.”
On New York: “They’re the top team in our division. They’ve been very good all year. They’re extremely well organized. They’ve scored timely goals, especially [Juan Pablo] Angel, that’s what he’s made a living doing. He’s such a good finisher. We know we have a very big challenge ahead of us. Having said that, we’re extremely confident going into the game, and we’re ready to put up a fight, knowing we’re going to be in front of our home crowd. We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure we get the points that we need and the points that we feel we deserve.”
Danny Allsopp (fit and available for selection)
On the battle at forward, given the inclusion of Emilio and two goals from Adam Cristman on Wednesday: “It was good for Adam. I was pleased to see that. Obviously, Luciano has been before, and that’s great as well. It’s good to have more players up front, more players to play with. Everyone has to do their best at training, and the coach has to make the decision so it’s a good in all ways.”
Carey Talley
On defensive morale: “I think we’re in a pretty good spirits right now. I don’t think it’s something where we can relax. We’ve got to know that this last game was something that should’ve been expected from game one. I think what ended up in the Dallas game is that we just went out and we ended up out-working the other team. That’s definitely what needs to happen. I think defensively, when we’re all working on the same page, it helps. You can’t just blame the back six, back four. It’s everybody out there defending, and so I think we did a pretty good job defending against Dallas. That’s definitely what we’re going to need to bring against New York because they have some threats with speed and in front of the goal.”
On defensive rotation given United’s busy schedule, including guys like Jordan Graye, who played Wednesday: “I think Jordan earned his shirt again from Curt. He did a good job the other night. He started out a little slow but for a first game. Heck, my first MLS game, I got taken out at halftime so I think, good for him. Now he’ll be a little more ready, I think, for what’s going on. This is what a team needs when stretches come around, when you’re playing tournaments, when you play a busy schedule. You’ve got to have young guys or guys that aren’t seeing the field regularly be able to step in. Right now, we do.”
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