COLUMBUS – Charlotte FC interim head coach Christian Lattanzio remains undefeated in his first two matches in charge of the Club. His second match was against a tough Columbus Crew that left him happy to come away with the Club’s second-ever point on the road.
“My rule is that if I can’t win at least I don’t want to lose. Towards the end, I could see they were doing a little bit of what Red Bulls did and throwing strikers and attacking players. So, I solidified. I wanted the team to come away with at least a point, and to try and give them the best chance.
“Credit to Columbus who are a good team with good players. They kept pressing us, it was difficult to go higher like we did in the first half and part of the second half. This is something we need improve. I already spoke with the guys that this is the way we want to play.
“Our objective is to try to get continuity over 90 minutes in the way we want to play. But I’m happy with the point, I’m happy for the boys with their effort. And even when we had to change and be more conversative, I think the boys looked pretty solid.”
CLTFC conceded a demoralizing goal off of a rare mistake from goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina just minutes before going into the half. Lattanzio described his approach for halftime and his players’ ability to overcome adversity.
“Two things you have to do when you manage halftime, in my opinion, is to look at what tactically can be changed and secondly is to keep the boys in good spirit to go out. To concede after 43 minutes, 2 minutes before halftime is always a difficult moment to concede...
“You think it’s going to get tough and it is tough. But I know our boys are a really good bunch that can come back against anyone and so I had faith in them... but this is good to have these difficulties because we will find this again and we will be able to solve it quicker.”
After every match, Lattanzio likes to reflect on what he has learned from his team as a whole and his players individually.
“Tonight, I learned something that I kind of already knew, that we are a tough team. Young as a club but we have an identity of we will fight and that they can come back against everybody, home and away, in difficult environments. So I learned that we can hold our own against teams and now they have the belief I knew, but it's important that the players know that. ”
