It’s a quick turnaround for the Indomitable Club this week as the Indomitable Club hosts Orange County SC Wednesday night at Papa Murphy’s Park at 8 p.m. PT.
Mark Briggs’ men are fully focused on the game ahead and looking to rebound from the club’s first loss on the 2020 USL Championship season. Before they do, it’s time to take a look at what the squad had on their minds ahead of the midweek matchup against SRFC’s SoCal rival.
It’s a quick turnaround for the Indomitable Club this week as the Indomitable Club hosts Orange County SC Wednesday night at Papa Murphy’s Park at 8 p.m. PT.
Mark Briggs’ men are fully focused on the game ahead and looking to rebound from the club’s first loss on the 2020 USL Championship season. Before they do, it’s time to take a look at what the squad had on their minds ahead of the midweek matchup against SRFC’s SoCal rival.
Head Coach Mark Briggs
On Wednesday’s opponent…
“Orange County got a great result on the weekend, they beat Phoenix, so they’ll be in good spirits. They’ll be confident coming in here. They’re a good team, they’re an experienced USL team, they have many players that have been in the USL for a number of years, they understand what it takes to win games at this level so it’s going to be a difficult game for us but it’s a game that I’ve said to the players, these are the games you want to play in. You want to play against good teams and the better players in the league and you want to show what’re capable of.”
On if the starting lineup might change given the number of games in such a short period of time…
“I’ve got a roster where I’m comfortable with whatever player I decide to select. I’m comfortable with what we’re trying to do, obviously we have three games in a very short period of period, a short period of three games within one week, which is a lot. So we have to look at rotations in certain areas, based on the amount of games we have in a short period of time so you’ll see a few changes tomorrow to the team just in regards to getting fresh legs in there and we need to be able to play the way I want them to play.”
On bringing physicality to the game…
“You have to bring that every single day. If you don’t turn up and you don’t work hard, then whatever talent you have becomes irrelevant. You have to bring the ugly side of the game every time you come out here. You have to run, you have to tackle, you have to communicate, and you have to have that desire, that hunger, that passion to win the game. For me to be better than you, for me to work harder than you if I’m playing against you, that has to be the attitude, that has to be the culture. The ability in that group is there, but the culture and the attitude and the mentality has to be there every time.”
Head Coach Mark Briggs
On Wednesday’s opponent…
“Orange County got a great result on the weekend, they beat Phoenix, so they’ll be in good spirits. They’ll be confident coming in here. They’re a good team, they’re an experienced USL team, they have many players that have been in the USL for a number of years, they understand what it takes to win games at this level so it’s going to be a difficult game for us but it’s a game that I’ve said to the players, these are the games you want to play in. You want to play against good teams and the better players in the league and you want to show what’re capable of.”
On if the starting lineup might change given the number of games in such a short period of time…
“I’ve got a roster where I’m comfortable with whatever player I decide to select. I’m comfortable with what we’re trying to do, obviously we have three games in a very short period of period, a short period of three games within one week, which is a lot. So we have to look at rotations in certain areas, based on the amount of games we have in a short period of time so you’ll see a few changes tomorrow to the team just in regards to getting fresh legs in there and we need to be able to play the way I want them to play.”
On bringing physicality to the game…
“You have to bring that every single day. If you don’t turn up and you don’t work hard, then whatever talent you have becomes irrelevant. You have to bring the ugly side of the game every time you come out here. You have to run, you have to tackle, you have to communicate, and you have to have that desire, that hunger, that passion to win the game. For me to be better than you, for me to work harder than you if I’m playing against you, that has to be the attitude, that has to be the culture. The ability in that group is there, but the culture and the attitude and the mentality has to be there every time.”
Drew Skundrich
On the team creating plenty of scoring chances but still searching for more goals…
“Every team goes through phases and maybe that was a phase that just hit us. It could be a mentality thing, a concentration thing, so we’re just trying to replicate realistic moments in practice, trying to get that engrained into our minds, get our confidence up and just focus on taking care of every opportunity that we have.”
On if having played a match against Tacoma was an advantage, given Sunday was Reno’s first since returning to play…
“There’s definitely a certain level of accountability. We don’t have zero accountability, but we don’t have enough yet and that’s on us as players. [Coach Briggs] can keep us accountable as much as he wants but it’s not until we start taking responsibility for our actions and what we do on the field that we get to the level that we need to be at. That’s on us as players to take care of that.”
On focusing on trying to create and capitalize off set pieces…
“That’s a huge part of the game offensively and defensively, we got scored on off a set piece last week, so we need to take care of that. We scored off a set piece against Tacoma, had a few chances against Reno and LA as well. Just getting all the timing down, the repetition from set pieces helps a lot. From an organizational standpoint, we’re still trying to all get on the same page for the entire game because there are times when we’re switching off and that can’t happen. We just need to work on the timing of when to press, where to be, when to help each other out in certain situations, so it’s a big focus.”
Drew Skundrich
On the team creating plenty of scoring chances but still searching for more goals…
“Every team goes through phases and maybe that was a phase that just hit us. It could be a mentality thing, a concentration thing, so we’re just trying to replicate realistic moments in practice, trying to get that engrained into our minds, get our confidence up and just focus on taking care of every opportunity that we have.”
On if having played a match against Tacoma was an advantage, given Sunday was Reno’s first since returning to play…
“There’s definitely a certain level of accountability. We don’t have zero accountability, but we don’t have enough yet and that’s on us as players. [Coach Briggs] can keep us accountable as much as he wants but it’s not until we start taking responsibility for our actions and what we do on the field that we get to the level that we need to be at. That’s on us as players to take care of that.”
On focusing on trying to create and capitalize off set pieces…
“That’s a huge part of the game offensively and defensively, we got scored on off a set piece last week, so we need to take care of that. We scored off a set piece against Tacoma, had a few chances against Reno and LA as well. Just getting all the timing down, the repetition from set pieces helps a lot. From an organizational standpoint, we’re still trying to all get on the same page for the entire game because there are times when we’re switching off and that can’t happen. We just need to work on the timing of when to press, where to be, when to help each other out in certain situations, so it’s a big focus.”
