Chicago Fire 3:0 Colorado Rapids
Quote Sheet
Recap
Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
On the home unbeaten streak
“Undefeated and I think playing and developing good soccer here at home and I think the mentality is great. Huge effort, huge job by the team and congrats to our guys. I love the attitude in our locker room. When we ask them what they need, they said the next game, we want to win the next game and that’s the attitude we were looking for, for a long time. The guys are confident, the guys are really happy and enjoying playing soccer and winning games so I believe we’re doing a good job with the team and the team believes it. Now we just have to keep it up we just have to think about the next game against D.C. and how to recover how to prepare well and go and compete there.”
If he’s surprised with how quickly Nemanja Nikolic adapted to Major League Soccer
“I’m not, but I know you guys are. We were 100% sure who we were bringing into our locker room and in our team and you know Nemanja and his hunger for scoring goals but also in the meantime helping the team. That’s the attitude and mentality that we want in everyone and fortunately we have everyone on the same page everyone working the same. Some of them are goal scorers, some of them are assisting, some goalkeepers and stopping the opponent’s attackers, defenders, midfielders working hard for Nemanja and other guys to score. So that’s the team everyone plays their role trying to do their best and also I want to appreciate the effort from the guys who are not participating but working hard and looking for the opportunity in the coming games.”
On what has made Niko so successful
“I think he, as I said, has that natural hunger for scoring goals. When I spoke to him before I brought him here, when we were actually talking to him, he said that ‘I’m not happy when we don’t win and I’m not happy when I don’t score so you just know that I’m going to always try to score goals give my best.’ He’s a proven guy, he did that in the past he did that very well he was successful and the importance of all that is that he also knows how to put his role and work for the team. In his career I think he scored so many goals so right now we have him in his prime that’s important for us and you know strikers, they live for streaks like this, scoring goals and sometimes you know when they don’t score a goals obviously they are nervous we know that we have to manage with that and we always support our guys.”
On the contribution from David Accam
“I always think that everyone is important and everyone really matters to us and David is one of the players who is showing when he is fit, when he plays the role for the team like everyone has to work sometimes off the ball and give the team when the team is struggling give the necessary running and necessary distances in a game before he can deploy his qualities and his talent which obviously he has a lot and we appreciate that from him. We appreciate that he knows that it’s very important to be a part of the team and never disconnect and I think David this year is completely different. But, this year we have to know that we are in the first third of the season still haven’t qualified for the playoffs so that means we still have to keep improving consistently and work hard for the team and most of everything. It’s not just working hard, it’s working with quality, working with purpose and working with sense.”
Nemanja Nikolic, Chicago Fire Forward
On continuing his scoring streak
"I think that the most important thing is that the team plays really good. I don't do anything special. I think that my teammates do a fantastic job for me, I'm in the right place all the time. Today, I didn't really have a difficult job to finish the action. Thanks to my teammates, I adapted really good and fast. For me, this is most important, and also our team, our game, our style. We have 18 points, so fantastic job. We need to keep going, we need to improve our game away, so now our chance will be against DC. We need to prepare, we don't have too much time for this, but we'll try to give our best to be 100% for that game."
On leading the league in goals
"I try to do my job. Like always, I don't think about this, the season is so long, so we have a lot more games. Of course that every striker wants to score every game and to be top scorer at the end of the season, but I think it's too early to speak about this. My game and the game of the team is really good. For now, we need to keep doing the same things and, of course, to improve because every day you can learn new things to improve your game."
On adapting quickly to the league
"For me, the most important is that the team plays really good; for the strikers, this is the most important. My game and my style, I need the players behind me to give me a really good boost and to not have a difficult job to finish the action. Like today, Brandon gave me a fantastic ball for the first goal, Michael de Leeuw gave me for the second. These are the things that we practice in training. Of course, the club brought me here to score the goals, they know me very well. In my previous club, I scored a lot of goals. Of course, when you move to a new country and league, you need time to adapt, but until now, everything is great, I'm happy because of this. Looking forward to the new games and new challenge, so as I said, we need to improve on away games. We played really good against New York, against LA, so we need to keep doing the same things and to start winning points in away games."
On Brandon Vincent's assist
"These are the things that we practice in training, these are the things that we spoke about before the games. Brandon gave me a fantastic ball, and the most important thing is to have players inside the box, not one. This is what Pauno wants all the time, to have three, four players in the box to finish the action. In that moment, I don't have a really difficult job, the ball was perfect in the space between the keeper and the defenders. That ball, for the defenders, is the most difficult ball; for the strikers, it is the easiest. You need to be in the right place, at the right moment and just finish the action."
On his teammates' praise
"I need to say thanks to them, because the third goal that Michael gave me, he understands football, he works with the football, this is a goal for Michael, not me. I finished the action, and I need to be there, but that attitude that he had in that moment, this is team spirit, things that we need. For me, it's also easier when I have close to me the kinds of players who don't look just for themselves, who look at their teammates, who is in the best position. I'm the type of striker that scores these kinds of goals. They told me that my style was that I'm all time in a good place, good time. I try to be in the box all the time, I try to be close to the goal to finish the action. Today, the team makes a big effort to win this game. It was not easy after the Seattle game, we spent a lot of energy in that game, it was a totally different game after two days. The weather was not so good for playing football, but we don't find an excuse. We played really good, we put all of ourselves on the pitch, and won this important game."
David Accam, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On differences from last season
"I think, this year, the biggest difference is that we keep the ball most of the time. When you keep the ball, you tie the opponents and you have a lot of space. For me, that's what we're doing best at the moment: we're just keeping the ball and try to get in open space, to an open man to play. So far, it's working for us. Now we have a lot of fans getting involved because we're winning games, and obviously that's going to happen when you play well and you're winning games. It's good to have the fans coming to the game and supporting us."
On having better talent surrounding him
"Yes, of course, because they draw a lot of players to themselves and for me, I just need to be in a good position to be the open man to get the ball. So far, they're playing really well and creating a lot of chances for me. I'm trying to get to a good position to try to do my own thing."
On the play of Nemanja Nikolic
"He's a great finisher and he's got really good movement. Every time I get the ball, I try to look at him and see where he is, because I know if I get a ball to him, he's going to score. When he moves, he takes away defenders from me to also get in space, so it's good that we have him on this team."
