DC UNITED
Ben Olsen
Overall thoughts
Our inability tonight to show up for the entire game was the difference. Give them credit - they came with really good energy in the second half. They turned it up, and we turned it down. We thought it was going to be another night when we squeaked by, and when we don’t have to stay at a certain level. When you do that, it’s a dangerous game that you play, and we got bit. We’ve been asking to get bit a little bit. Hopefully, this is a lesson for all of us to get back that chip that we need to win in this league.
On using the defeat as a tool:
I hope so because we didn't have a lot of answers for Poku and Villa in the second half. We just had too many guys in the second half that were not up to speed. Again, give them credit. They put a lot of effort in today, and I thought Villa and Poku - who caused us fits in the first half and the second half — they were great.
On Halsti:
I thought his range of passing changes our team. He got leggy there and so we have to get his fitness up to be a 90-minute player. But I thought he was very good.
Chris Rolfe
On the change in the game…
“Thought we had one of our best halves in the last few weeks at least. Coming out in the second half we were confident in continuing that path. They put it to us. They had a lot more energy. They were confident in what they wanted to do, and it showed.”
On Poku…
“He had a great game. He’s a handful. He had great composure when he got in the box. Our guys seemed to have a lot of trouble with him. He has great size. I thought he was really good tonight.”
