The Impact looking ahead to this weekend’s game against the Red Bulls
After a loss like the one the Montreal Impact experienced on Friday against the New England Revolution, the most common thing you might hear in the locker room afterwards usually goes along the lines of forgetting and moving on. Although this thought was reiterated by the Montreal Impact’s players after the game, they’re also using this defeat as a learning opportunity.
“I think you need to learn from a game like this,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “Of course, the circumstances were different with a man down, but it can happen again, so we need to be ready. We did some things good and others bad, but you can’t completely forget a game like this.”
The task of winning away from home against a team in good form was made that much harder when the Impact’s Designated Player Saphir Taïder was handed a red card near the game’s quarter-hour mark.
“Saphir is a player that works really hard, both offensively and defensively,” added Piette. “He’s the one that touches the ball the most in our team usually. He covers a huge area of the pitch, something we missed during the game against New England.”
Unlucky break
Unfortunate, because the Impact had started off on a good note, taking the game to New England and creating some interesting opportunities. Saphir’s ejection meant the team had to adjust tactically, and although the Bleu-blanc-noir managed to keep the score at 1-0 for a while, New England managed to break through again deep into first half stoppage time to make it 2-0.
“If we look at the first 15 minutes specifically, we had moved up the field quite well at times,” said Impact head coach Rémi Garde after the game. “New England is a team that likes to put pressure on its opponents, and they weren’t able to do that much at first, choosing to push back instead.”
The Impact will now use this week to ready themselves for a game against the New York Red Bulls, this Saturday at 1pm, at Red Bull Arena. Saphir Taïder, suspended after being served the red card, will be unavailable for the contest, meaning the Impact will have to find some way to replace the Algerian’s presence.
“He’s a very important player for us,” said defender Jukka Raitala. “When something like this happens, other guys need to step in. It’s part of the deal.”
