Philadelphia Union is preparing to take on Atlanta United this weekend, and on matchday -2, Head Coach Bradley Carnell caught up with Digital Club reporter Sage Hurley over coffee to discuss his team, their week of training, and what to expect come Saturday night.
You're coming into this match against Atlanta following a little bit of a difficult stretch here after a really hot start to the season. What were your conversations like inside team meetings this week?
I think it's a lot of perspective, right? We come into the season, new team, new players, new coach. How does this all blend together and fit in? Because the players took on the information as well as they did very early on in preseason, we were able to get off to a very flying start. I wouldn't say, just because the results were there, but I think just the cohesiveness in what we were trying to do, the philosophy, expectations, and almost just going through to the nuts and bolts of what we're trying to do, caused it to play out the way it did.
Then the club had a hotter start, and I think it was just a byproduct of the work put in, and that's where it starts. You have to work hard. We pride ourselves on doing that. I think even in times where it's not going our way, we're still working hard. We still committing. We are still working tirelessly to try and get a result. Some games might not go our way, but then there's always a bigger picture and a silver lining, in my opinion.
One thing in this league, it's a long season, you could have a s good start, go a little cold, but it's all about consistency in getting points and bringing performances. And I think we brought the performances. We just have to have one or two more points in the bank right now and again. You look at the log table, and you see a conference winner behind you. You see a conference finalist behind you. So that's why I look at perspective. And we're only going into matchday 8 now, and that's the exciting. There's so much more to come, and I think there's a lot of twists and turns where this road is going to take us.
You had a full week of training this week -- you won't have a ton of those coming up in May as it'll be a very busy month. Outside of your staff's normal progression of the week has there been any other additional areas of focus for this group?
I think we pride ourselves in the development of the player as well as the person. You can see players get challenged in certain ways, and then how that affects you mentally, personally. We just try and, as much as we can, to the best of our ability, try and help guys develop still, off the field in certain aspects, right?
We have a group of guys that we work in with our development plans. What you see Monday through Friday is quite a lot of it, but then there's so much more behind the scenes. There's video learning tools that we use, there's the cognitive learning tools that we use. Behind the scenes, there's still a lot of action, a lot of learning taking place, and I think that's the best for coaches and staff just to get involved in because you connect with the players on a different level, then it's more personal. It creates a bit of a different setting. Players can be free, open, and expressive, and that's what we try and get out of the whole group when we're in together. So to learn more about everybody is a good thing.
We're heading into a match day against Atlanta United -- so let's talk about that opponent a little bit. They also brought in a new head coach this year, Ronny Deila, as well as some pretty top talent players like Emmanuel Latte Lath and Miguel Almirón. They've only won two matches this year, but they do have the talent. What have you seen from that team?
It's still early and there's many twists and turns, and their season will come, right? For sure, there's far too much talent on that team for for things not to progress in the way that they need to, it might take a little bit of time.
It just shows you and puts context into our situation. Miguel Almirón comes back, and he's a dangerous threat. He's very good in the transition. He's electric on both sides of the ball.
He's got a lot of pace and he runs a lot. They can hurt you in many ways. To be fair, we're going to have to be at the top of our game to mitigate them for the full 90 minutes. Where we've been good at is shots against and shots on target and stuff like that. So we just try and find moments to continue learning, because it never stops.
They're gonna come in pretty hungry just like your side will. What are your keys to a favorable result this weekend here at home in front of the fans?
Well, that's the thing you're playing at home and we have to make the home games count. Whether that's travel for the away team, whether that's the wind, whether that's the weather, whether that's the fan noise, whether that's our intensity and aggression against the ball.
There's a lot of ingredients that we have to put into this sort of cake we're making, and come game day can we turn it into the best possible product for us at home.
I think it's about a good start. I think it's about intensity. I think it's about having the ability to be aggressive, not just with the ball, but also against the ball. There's a lot of the things we've been working on, and one of the things that we pride ourselves on, whether that's service from the wide areas, or whether that's movement off the ball in behind, or whether it's our progression play through the flank. There's a lot that we have to work at and we feel there's an opportunity to be had, because our boys are driving a high standard right now and we're holding that accountable, and holding that level for sure.
I think we're pushing, and for sure, that creates a lot of tension, and this week in training, I felt a lot of tension, which is good. It's healthy competition. It's good positivity in terms of what we're trying to do and right the wrongs from last week. I think it starts with us and ends with us.
