Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
On what NYCFC did in the first half
"First of all congrats to NYCFC on the three points, they deserve it. They had more spirit than us and I think they wanted it more. And when you don't have the right approach like we had the whole game, and how important this game was for us and playing this game against NYC here and having one man up very early, it's an opportunity you cannot just let go. It's not totally what NYC did as much as what we didn't do. It's all about us. As I said congrats to NYC but we weren't sharp, we weren't in the game. We didn't have the right approach or spirit. Any changes that we did was a very small improvement. And for me it's the attitude. Yes it's hard but it was hard for NYC as well and they were one man down which should be more difficult for them. We weren't sharp, we didn't move the ball, we didn't create superiority, we didn't dare with the ball, maybe in the second half a little bit more, but when we had more urgencies but not good enough. This isn't the way the Chicago Fire plays. This is not the way we have to present ourselves to the public. It's a long way to go we haven't done anything and now you see how tough it is when you don't put into the game everything you have."
On taking positives from the second half
"I think the guys that came in, David, Djordje and DJ, they tried to do what we were asking. That was a small reaction but that wasn't good enough. This is the game that we have to learn from and this is the game we have to, once we have our conclusion, we have to move forward and the next game is the most important game for us at Kansas City. So as soon as possible we have to recover from this effort and this disappointment and come back with the spirit we had in previous efforts and recover as soon as possible."
If the loss is easier or harder to accept based on the team's form over the past few months
"Forget about it. We win, we move forward. We lose, we move forward. We are not looking to stats in this way. We will look at the stats when we win, when we are in playoffs, when we win something. Looking backwards is not great even when you have a good streak or a bad streak. Just have to move forward to next game which is an opportunity for us to fix it and get back on the winning streak. And that's what we are looking for to just play and win and move forward."
Bastian Schweinsteiger, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On what NYCFC did to frustrate the Fire
"First of all NYCFC is a good team. We knew it in advance so they have a team where everything more or less is working automatically on the pitch. So they have a good team. Of course when you play against 10 men, it sounds weird, but it's not so easy and we didn't do well. We were not playing today with the ability we usually do. So when that happens then it's not easy for us and we can lose games. So on one side I don't like to lose games but maybe it's good to wake you up and be ready for the next match."
On lessons to take from this match
"We did a lot of good things in the first half of the season. On our team everyone has to work together and then we can play really well. If we are not on the limit we will also lose matches and that happened today. But still we have to work on it and we have to talk about it and we have to try to play better especially these kind of games. Now we have a tough game away at Kansas and we have to prepare for that game."
If the extended break impacted the team
"Yes it definitely felt different. That's unfortunately normal. At the end of the day our goal is to qualify for playoffs and from there I think it's down to who will be the champion in the league. There are a lot of good teams. I think when we are playing to our limit every player then we can be there with the other teams like New York, Atlanta, Toronto, and Kansas but first it's important to qualify for playoffs."
On the level of preparation for this game
"We prepared very well for this game. Our coach prepared us very well for this match. So everything was normal. We just couldn't follow exactly the plan that's a little bit sad. Usually we do it quite well. Today was not our day and that happens. It's a long season and I hope we can move forward and change things for the next game."
David Accam, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On playing NYCFC when they were down a man
"It's not them. It's about us. We were really slow today. I don't know what happened but we didn't pass the ball faster, we kept moving the ball backwards. I don't think they played really well but they took their chances and we just didn't play at all."
On scoring the goal
"I just wanted to give the team energy. I came on with positive energy and tried to go forward a lot. Luckily I got a goal."
On getting more aggressive towards the end of the match
"At the end we started getting better but it was too late for us. We should have done that earlier in the second half."
On losing a match after a good stretch of games
"We will lose games. That's part of the game. We have about 14 games more to go. For us, we will try to take the next game and win it. It's part of the game to lose. The way we react in the next game is more important so we need to be sharper and try to win the next game."
