Less than three days before the Portland Timbers’ visit to Stade Saputo, this Saturday at 3pm (TICKETS – TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690), a clear message emanated from Centre Nutrilait, where Impact players met media: they have to stay together. And while there is a sense of urgency within the squad, this energy is positively channeled towards the collective effort.
“We have to be more consistent in our collective approach to the game, when we have the ball as well as when we don’t have it and, mostly, everybody has to be on the same page,” explained assistant coach Wilfried Nancy. “The idea is that we can take a decision all together at the same time and, if one player does not take the right decision – which can happen –, that we can repair this error. When we make a summary of our past ten games, three of our four losses have come by only a goal. The aim is to repair those mistakes to be successful. We are close to our objective. We have to keep working every day, as we are almost there.”
“We have to finish our chances, we have to work on our preventive coverage and see out games,” said defender Kyle Fisher. “If we push many numbers forward, we have to make sure we have the discipline and balance.
“We gotta get back on track. We don’t have unlimited time,” carried on the 22-year-old American. “We have to understand that, as we are almost done with a third of the season. We saw it during training this week: I’m telling you, it has been chippy.”
“It is pretty complicated and frustrating at the moment. I understand the criticism and people are disappointed, but we have to stay together to get out of this bad patch,” said defender Laurent Ciman. “Each time we make an individual mistake, we pay immediately. It is rare in a league. For now, the tide is against us, but we have to remain solidary, work and hope it will get better through our hard work. I hope our supporters will be at the stadium on Saturday, as we need them to get out of this small crisis.”
