NYCFC Preseason: Malachi Jones Injury Rehab

We continue this afternoon's press conference. We have head coach Pascal Janssen. If you have a question, please raise your hand. We'll get started with Chris

Hi, Pascal. Chris Campbell from the outfield. I'm curious as to how the progression of Malachi Jones is going through the offseason. I know he's coming off the broken leg last year. How is his progression going? What's the plan to get him back incorporated with the first team? Thanks

Well, we're trying to get him close to the first team every day

However, in every rehab, you have moments where it goes fast, it goes according to plan, and sometimes there's a delay

But we're going to take our time, and Mally is working really hard in order to get back to the team as soon as he's ready

But as I said, we're going to take our time and make sure we do things right. Scott

Hey, Coach. How are you? Scott Church from Street Punks. Hi, Scott. Hi

Talk a little bit about the progression through Coachella right now. You've had a few weeks under your belt since the last time, you know, and a couple of weeks since we last talked

What have you seen that's different from maybe a couple of weeks back? Thanks. Well, as I mentioned, I'm not sure if I mentioned it to you, though, but what I'm looking for is a higher intensity in training

so we can apply that during games. I think if you look at our games in Coachella

you see that we're able to keep that intensity in games and make sure that we have a lot of attacking play on the pitch

Yesterday was a game that we got to try a few other guys

who've been part of the roster since the beginning of preseason. But as we are progressing towards the 22nd of February

I hope we can maintain the intensity in training and in games

in order to be more successful. Eduardo? Yeah. Hey, Coach, thank you for your time

Eduardo with 365 Football Mania. Going back to the San Diego FC game

we saw Justin Haag not letting San Diego FC striker Irving Lozano do much

staying close and strong physically. What was the game plan defensively in terms of trying to control their star striker

Thank you. Well, we expected Chucky to play. It was either the left side or the right side

For us, it doesn't change that much. We just have to make sure that we maintain and are in control of his strength

And I know Chucky from the Eredivisie in Holland. And I know he has a lot of pace and good movement behind the defense

So that's something that we were prepared for. But we also knew that if we play really tight, if he plays against the ball

That is something he doesn't like. So in that game, it worked out perfectly

And not only Justin played him in the right way, but to be fair, it was all the players in the area

where Chucky was playing this game. Alex? Hi Pascal This is Alex Winley from AM New York Hi Alex With just a game left in your preseason how close do you feel the squad is to being fully prepared for the season opener in about a week

Thanks. Well, this is the moment that we're preparing for. So once we started on the first day

we mentioned the 22nd of February is the moment to be ready as a team

So we're progressing every day and we'll be ready once the 22nd is there

in order to be competing again for the MLS. Roberto? No response

Hi, I'm muting this one on the phone. Okay. Hi, Pascal, Roberto Abramowitz

I do the Spanish radio for your team. Good to finally meet you

Nice to meet you too. When we're going to see the team play against Inter Miami in about nine days now

what are going to be the differences that we're going to see between the team that we saw last year and your version of the team

Because it's mostly the same players, but I'm sure there's going to be some tweaks in style

So what are we going to see that's going to be different? Well, it's a game itself, so it's hard to compare

But I've mentioned this a few times that the intensity has to go up

And that's what we've been working on in the past few weeks. Of course, in offense, we have some other details that we're looking for

Deep runs is a big part of our approach at this moment

And defensively, we have to be more stable in order to be competing at a different level

Consistency is more required. But we are looking for going into attacks with more determination, if you will

and making sure that we will be more in control defensively. Michael

Hey, Pascal, it's Mike Ander from Blue City Radio. Thanks again for the time

Hi, Mike. I guess a question we always try to figure out when you have a new coach is

how long of a leash or how much opportunity you're going to give a certain player to lock in a position

and make the position their own, whether it be something they've historically held

or something you think that they've earned. How much time do you give them to make mistakes

That's a good question, but that's very individual-based, based on performances in training, of course, but also in learning capacity

So an individual will always be helped in my approach. But I need to see progression on a daily base

And that will determine how long I will stick with the same idea or not

So those are the things that are very important. Chris? Hey, Coach. Chris Cameron from the outfield again

Hi, Chris. Two preseason games ago we saw Luzas and Alonso get some time together on the field and last season at least you know they were really playing the same position often not together Was that really just to kind of see what you know potential there is with the two of them

Or to try them out together to see what kind of chemistry there is

Or was that more just looking for minutes from those guys? Thanks. No, it's the first part

Looking for a collaboration between the two players. You use the word chemistry, which is very important

because you have to feel each other out as attackers. Both of them are good as a number nine

but both are also able to score a lot of goals. So for me, it's a great opportunity to see them work together

And this was the perfect moment to apply it during a game. And to be honest, I was quite satisfied with the things I saw during this game

So it helps us to have more tools in our toolbox once we go to battle for the competitive games

Scott? Hey, Coach. One more, if you don't mind. Thanks. One of the challenges that happened last year

and this is a frustration for the fans a lot, was a lot of second-half goals

Has this been something you've been focusing on from, say, minutes 70 through 90 this season

Not in particular. If you take the full season, it was very inconsistent in in in several parts of the season which also shows like you described

from 70 from the 70th minute on onwards in a game that they were also by times

inconsistent I think it has a lot to do with the the physical aspect how well you're trained in

order to have consistency over 95 minutes, as I always tell my boys, because a game is not played

within 70 minutes. Or you should be able to take the game in your own hand and make sure you control

the game from the start and that you will not get into trouble after the 70th minute. So I think

it's a combination of those factors. And we've been trying to work on this from day one in order

to be more consistent. So hopefully this will work out during the league games

Oliver? Hi, thank you. This is Oliver Strand with Hudson River Blue

I watched both of the games. I'm sure that many of the other members of the press here have as well

Is there anything that you would draw our attention to that maybe we didn't notice because of the nature of the camera angle

because of what we could see on TV. So we were looking at the results and at the run of play

But what did you see? What would you point out to us to take note of

It depends what you're looking for. I look at the whole game as one

looking for certain things that we've been working on in training. So you have to be more specific what it is you're looking for

Can you give us an example of something you've been working on in training that you saw play out on the field Well if you see the first goal that we concede is after having two big chances in possession So we been working on controlling possession more on the opponent half

so we can get a better shape whenever we lose possession. So that was something that was really spot on

However, we did concede a goal from a set piece, losing possession just before we conceded that corner kick

So that was something that was very interesting to see because that is something that we've been working on really hard

We did concede from that set piece. And I was very curious to see if my team was able to stick to the plan as we had talked through and trained on

So that happened. we recovered and stayed in control and were eventually more effective in our attacking play

and better balanced in the moments that we lost possession. We'll wrap up with Christian

Excuse me. Hello, coach. Hi. You talked about the importance of chemistry there

A lot of this squad has carried over from last season. And I'm curious, how important is that continuity for you

when you're trying to introduce new ideas, knowing that the squad already really know each other

Yeah, that's a big benefit for me coming in as a new coach because the players, obviously, they know each other on and off the pitch

which helps the chemistry on the pitch. My mission is to mould a team that is compatible for every game in the MLS

be more consistent throughout the MLS competition. So that's a big challenge

But the chemistry being there, that helps. Having young players on the roster who have grown during the past season

and will be more mature this season helps a lot. And I must say the learning capacity and the openness

and the willingness to exchange new ideas has been fantastic so far

So that is something that we're looking forward to once we start to be competitive again next week

And if I can just follow up, Matt Fries spoke very glowingly about you just now

in terms of the person you are and the person he's come to know in the short time you've worked together

I'm curious, from your perspective, how have you found him? Because obviously he's been with the US for the first part of pre-season

Yeah, interesting because, of course, there's a lot of opinions about Matt and his progression and his development

Matt has grown a lot in his personality, but also as a player, as a goalkeeper on field

you see he brings a certain appearance with him. He brings the level to the game

which allowed him to be invited for the national team as well. So you see he's making progress all over

So we've had a few interesting conversations throughout the last weeks, and I'm very happy that he's part of my squad

because he helps me a lot in the dressing room, and being the leader that he is able to be

helps the team as well. So we're very happy that he's part of our roster

Great. Thank you, everybody